Kellen Moore made it clear heading into training camp that he wasn't worried about mistakes in the QB Competition. They're inevitable. He was more interested in how his players responded to them.
Well, Spencer Rattler made his mistake today on a slightly underthrown deep ball in 7-on-7s that was intercepted by Quincy Riley, and the QB responded with some of his best moments of camp. That stretch included another ball attacking the rookie deep, this time to Mason Tipton for what would've been a 50-yard TD in team drills.
Even more impressive was his showing in the first set of situational drives of this camp, a 14-14 scenario with about 1:45 left and one timeout to use. Rattler -- leading the second team for this practice -- completed his first three passes, two checkdowns to Kendre Miller for positive gains and a ball to Dante Pettis that the receiver took for a 20-yard gain into opposing territory.
The adversity came when Rattler was sacked (I believe it was D'Marco Jackson, but didn't get a great look) setting up 3rd and 10. Rattler dropped back and surveyed the field, allowing the coverage to get downfield before taking off up the middle to set up a first down at the 35-yard line. After an incompletion targeting Devin Neal, the mad-hatter Kellen Moore took over with a draw called to Velus Jones that caught the defense flat-footed, with the converted WR taking the ball 35 yards to the house.
You want any camp to be somewhere close to 50/50 between the offense and defense winning. We definitely saw the offense respond today.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
The lone absence to start the day was J.T. Gray, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, but there was certainly some concern coming out of practice.
Three players left with injuries, including TEs Juwan Johnson and Treyton Welch, and DT John Ridgeway. Moore didn't offer specifics on what the injuries entailed, but they did occur during Wednesday's session.
Johnson's health will be an area of significant interest considering just how thin the TE position appears behind him. With the absences it was Jack Stoll taking on a bigger role in the offense along with rookie Moliki Matavao, neither of whom are expected to be heavily involved in the passing game this season.
A new face in attendance was 6-9 offensive lineman Jonathan Mendoza, who was among a group of tryout players earlier this week. Mendoza has familiarity with two Saints players, starting his career at Yale with WR Mason Tipton before transferring to Louisville last year where he was teammates with Tyler Shough. Moore said the connection to the young QB wasn't the reason Mendoza was signed, but it also doesn't hurt. He took the roster spot cleared when the team waived Josh Ball.
QB WATCH
This will be a lot shorter today considering we already hit on Rattler's performance above, but it wasn't Rattler or Shough working with the 1s. That distinction belonged to Jake Haener, who got his second such day. The interesting part is that he's been third team in every practice he wasn't with the 1s, making it clear there is some gap between the other two.
Rattler is the only QB to not have any days with the 3s.
Still, it's impossible to watch Haener and not see a confident player who really has nothing to lose. He's letting it rip and I'm certainly enjoying it. He hit one of the few deep bombs of practice in the first set of team drills, finding Chris Olave downfield alone for what would've been a 60-yard touchdown. Alontae Taylor was in coverage with no backend help, which was more likely a bust than anything else.
Haener also took a sack by Carl Granderson to start his situational drive, then found Olave and Kamara twice to move the ball near the 50 with 42 seconds to go. On 2nd & 10 Haener targeted Shaheed with a backshoulder ball that was well placed but broken up by Kool-Aid McKinstry. There was no panic, though, with Haener finding Kevin Austin for a contested catch against McKinstry to convert a first down into opposing territory.
A false start by Trevor Penning, who had a strong day to that point, pushed things back and after an incompletion he found Cedrick Wilson over the middle of the field for a short gain. With time expiring the only option was to spike the ball and attempt a 63-yard field goal, which Charlie Smyth was unable to knock through -- one of the first times we've seen him miss from that distance.
Shough worked with the 3s again and had a solid day, though his group didn't get any situational work. The ball came out with much more urgency in 7-on-7s, with the rookie completing his first three passes (Michael Jacobson, Dante Pettis and Velus Jones) before a missed connection with Cedrick Wilson.
I'd still love to see Shough get more aggressive with his throws. In his final set of 11-on-11 work he targeted Rashid Shaheed down the sideline against a depth CB (I don't seem to have it written down in my notes who that was, but it was third team). The coverage was fine, but it was a 1-on-1 situation with one of your star receivers -- that's advantage offense. The ball went there but it was delivered out of bounds where neither player had a chance at it. It was the third or fourth time this camp that it felt like the young QB had an opportunity to give his receiver a ball to win, and instead opted for a safer throw. I might be being overly critical, but it's a clear trend.
I'd like to see Haener and Rattler's aggressiveness rub off on Shough at some point.
All in all, this was probably the best day top to bottom for all three QBs in this competition. Next up should be Rattler with the 1s on Thursday, and if the trends hold, Shough will be back with the 2s.
STRONG SHAHEED
Rashid Shaheed added 10 pounds of muscle this offseason, bulking up to 190 with the hopes that it would help him play more physically on the outside. To this point that sure looks to be the case.
In 1-on-1 reps today Shaheed found himself in a battle with Ike Yiadom. The veteran CB was holding the whole way and even pulled Shaheed out of his initial break, but the WR still worked back to the ball and made the catch. He looked to the ref afterward and pointed to his exposed shoulder pad before running back to the line.
Later in practice Shaheed had to leave his feet for a pass to the boundary from Tyler Shough. The time in the air allowed Rezjohn Wright to close the space and deliver a big hit (at least by practice standards) that some WRs might've taken exception to. All Shaheed did was pop up immediately and hop up and down with excitement. He made the catch, this is the type of play he wants to win.
There was another rep later in the practice where he went up for a backshoulder fade and had the ball knocked out by Kool-Aid McKinstry, another guy having a fantastic camp, but the body control was still impressive.
OL-DL
We've heard a lot about Kellen Moore's efficiency in his camp setup and that was on full display today, with three sets of 1-on-1 drills going on simultaneously. On one end of the field it was WRs vs DBs, with the OL vs DL drills going off on the other end. On the parallel field it was TEs and RBs vs safeties and linebackers.
I can only watch one at a time, and today I chose WR-CB because they're the most fun. The highlights were the Shaheed catch noted above, as well as deep shots to Moochie Dixon and Bub Means. Means also had a nice grab going to the ground on the sideline. Kevin Austin beat Elliot Davison downfield with the ball finding his hands in stride. I try not to make too much out of these drills because they're heavily tilted toward the offense.
I didn't catch the OL-DL (that'll be my next stop) but reports from Steve Geller were nice wins from Isaiah Foskey over Josiah Ezirim and Cam Jordan breaking down Landon young. Vernon Broughton flashed an impressive spin move to get past Easton Kilty, while Kelvin Banks Jr. stonewalled Khristian Boyd.
BURNIP PLAYS
It was a going in punts day, and the rookie out of Alabama sure was impressive. Kicking from about the 45 and with hangtime in the mid 4s I watched him place four consecutive kicks inside the 10, and one down to the 3 that the coverage was unable to down (but they were there in enough time to do so). If he can be consistent with those kicks throughout camp it'll be hard not to give him that job.
As far as the kickers, it was another Charlie Smyth day. As mentioned above he wasn't able to knock it in from 63, but he did make a PAT to close out the day, as well as his first three kicks (PAT, 39 left, 44 right) before a miss from 49. He knocked through his final kick of that session from 51, but he really needs to start putting perfect days together to get back in this thing. As of now he's 10-17 (58%) including the situational kicks.
RILEY DELIVERS
There have been four interceptions this training camp, with three of those coming from rookie draft picks. Quincy Riley got his second of camp today and he's delivering on his "ball-hawking" label coming out of college.
Moore gave the young player high praise in his post-practice comments. Not a bad start to potentially getting on the field early in his career, and there's certainly a spot to be won on the outside.
STRONG KOOL-AID
I'm just gonna keep using this label because it plays. Kool-Aid McKinstry has been the defensive star to this point in camp, so much so that it's impossible to even criticize that he's been practicing with a diamond grill in his mouth. He's just playing with an absurd level of confidence for a young player, and that's good to see.
STRONG DAVON
This one is a little on the nose, but at least five different sources have taken the time to point out that Davon Godchaux is a special kind of big and strong in a league overflowing with big and strong. Khalen Saunders even went so far as to use the word "behemoth." The former LSU standout has been everything the Saints had hoped for so far, hopefully the run defense follows suit.