The pads came finally came on at Saints training camp, and the field definitely seemed tilted in one direction: Toward the defense.
It was a heavy run day, and there wasn't much room to be had, something the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert is viewing as a positive sign at this point in camp.
"I thought the defensive line set the tone, which is a good thing," Hebert said. "We struggled against the run [last year]. … You want that balance, you want to be able to stop the run but you want to be able to run the ball.”
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It was also a day that saw the ball hit the ground several times due to punchouts, though some came after the player would've been blown dead. Still, that's a gold star for the defense, and a bit of a red flag for the backs and receivers who got stripped.
“Until you hear the whistle and you’re handing it to the official, you have to treat that like gold, you cannot let it on the ground because you never know, you always can have the back end of a punchout," Hebert said, "and give it to the defense, that means they’re hustling, they’re not giving up and then obviously as a running back, receiver, you have to protect that ball."
MORE FROM HEBERT
On the QB battle
“I thought at times Tyler Shough was real hesitant, not as accurate as he needs to be. Spencer, I thought, was more consistent. If I didn’t know any of the quarterbacks and I just came out here and watched, Jake Haener is hanging with them. I don’t know if that’s good or bad or whatever, but the competition, it is truly like, I think, three guys up there, and not to say that Haener is going to legitimately have a chance over the other two, but no, watching him making plays, I thought Spencer Rattler had a nice long ball that’d have been about 40-45 yards to Rashid Shaheed, you expect that.”
More on the run game
“I was a little disappointed. ... I think we ran the ball 4 or 5 times, we were getting stuffed and then finally Kendre Miller had a nice run that’d have been like 9 yards, great vision, a couple of cuts, but you need to see more of that. In theory, Kellen Moore, what would you do as a head coach, because you don’t want just the offense to win or the defense to win, you want it to be OK, we stuffed them, we stuffed them, oh, that was a nice run. So, in theory, like 50/50 and then the same thing when you’re doing the 1-on-1 pass blocking on the line. You don’t want the offensive line always to dominate, that ain’t good, and you don’t want the defense dominating.”
