Today marked the final Saints-on-Saints practice as the focus will turn to the Miami Dolphins tomorrow, then it’s all about getting ready for the start of the season. There were twelve players not seen at Tuesday’s session:
G Cameron Tom
G Marshall Newhouse
FB Zach Line
RB Dwayne Washington
WR Keith Kirkwood
WR Austin Carr
TE Jared Cook
DT Mario Edwards
LB Alex Anzalone
LB Craig Robertson
LB Josh Martin
DB Saquan Hampton
Sean Payton: your evaluating the whole body of work of a player ...but 4th preseason game still important for a number of positions pic.twitter.com/yLFqBb5suf
— Steve Geller (@SteveGellerWWL) August 27, 2019Lattimore peaking
There were times during training camp this year, and even last that corner Marshon Lattimore seemed disinserted in being at practice. But, he’s picked up his play off late and is looking more like the Lattimore from last postseason. He made an amazing play last preseason game to strip the ball away and come away with it. Today he managed to pick off Drew Brees in the endzone as the offense was trying to score in a hurry-up drill. You could really feel the entire defenses' energy bouncing off the walls of the indoor practice facility.
“We’re just clicking, talking,” said Lattimore. “The communication is there. That’s all we needed. We know we can do it physically. But just mentally; communicating, we’ve got to be on the same page. I think that’s what you’re seeing. Just us clicking, really. That allows to play fast and win.”
Lattimore better be clicking for week 1, as he faces the tough task of covering Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins.
.@Saints @shonrp2 if you wanna lead the league in “Takeaways” you have to practice taking it away. When the #Saints won their #SuperBowl they lead the @NFL in “takeaways”. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/Se2Kta0Zfj
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) August 26, 2019Coaches and teammates confident in Deonte
Even though undrafted rookie Deonte Harris is small in stature and comes from a small D-II school, he has big play potential that was evident when he brought a punt back 78 yards for a TD last game. Coach Payton said his teammates on the sideline could tell the 5ft6, 170 pound receiver was going to break one soon and feels the NFL “is not too big for him.” It sure feels like it is safe to put Harris’ name down in ink on your 53-man roster projection.
Taysom has become Brees’ shadow
Everybody wants to be THE MAN, but it’s obviously not easy to replicate what a guy like Drew Brees does on and off the field. Taysom Hill has the benefit of being in the same building as the future Hall-of-Famer and is trying to follow in Drew’s footsteps. Literally.
“I do what Drew does. You can ask anybody here,” Hill said with a laugh. “I follow him around, I’ve adopted his schedule, and I’ve adopted his workout routine. I’ll add a few things there and there just to make sure that I am still capable of doing everting that I’ll be asked to do throughout a season. But overall I do what he does.”
Coach Payton recently caused a stir comparing Hill’s athleticism to yet another HOFer in Steve Young. He has shown improvement as a passer and seems to have a quality about him that inspires his teammates.
