The New Orleans Saints were shorthanded in the wide receiver room, and that meant an extended run for the birthday boy, Bryce Lance.
The rookie out of North Dakota State turned 23 and celebrated with his heaviest run yet with the first team. He was targeted six times by Tyler Shough, hauling in five of them, including a 20-yard gain over the middle of the field and a pair of touchdowns in the red zone.
"Good work. Contested catches against really talented corners," head coach Kellen Moore said. "These guys have some good players on their defense, and so I thought it was awesome for him."
Coverage brought to you by Trane: It's Hard To Stop A TraneIt wasn't until last Thursday that Lance caught his first ball from Shough all of camp, but that connection is quickly growing. The biggest play was a beautiful throw over coverage to Lance, who ran a fade from the slot and stacked Quentin Lake well in coverage. The catch looked routine, in part because Lance's 6-3 frame allows him to catch high balls with ease over smaller defenders.
On the next set of team he crossed the face of Lake for a 10-yard touchdown.
There's still a long way to go in Lance's development, but it's great to see him impacting the offense this early and in a competitive setting. There will be opportunity for young players to step into with Jordyn Tyson's extended absence, and Lance made a statement that it should be him.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
There were no surprise injury notes to monitor, but the Saints did opt to give WR Chris Olave and LB Kaden Elliss the day off after a heavy workload on Tuesday. Neither player will suit up on Saturday, either, meaning that both will effectively get a five-day break in between full practices.
Here are the players I didn't see participating on Thursday:
- WR Jordyn Tyson (hamstring)
- WR Chris Olave (rest)
- WR Mason Tipton (PUP)
- CB Rejzohn Wright
- CB Quincy Riley (groin)
- RB Audric Estime (ankle)
- RB Alvin Kamara (knee)
- DT Christen Miller (shoulder)
- LB Kaden Elliss (rest)
- LB Chris Rumph (ankle)
- DE Cam Jordan (hamstring)
There were a few injury situations to watch, most notably for Cesar Ruiz, who went out in the second team period with what looked like an ankle injury after center Erik McCoy was knocked back into his legs. Ruiz could be seen getting his left ankle taped. Moore did not specify the nature of the injury after practice. Ruiz returned the sideline and was moving well, but did not return to practice. He was replaced by rookie Jeremiah Wright.
The other injury was to CB Dalys Beanum, who went down after an interception in team drills. He was playing up a line on the depth chart due to the injury to Quincy Riley earlier in the week. The Saints are quickly thinning out in the DB room.
The good news is we did see the return of DT Davon Godchaux, who had missed a little over a week with an ankle injury. We also saw RBs Kendre Miller and Devin Neal continue to pick up full workloads after extended absences due to injuries. Devaughn Vele was also in action after pulling a rest day on Tuesday.
ON THE DEFENSE
I shifted over back to the offensive side of the ball for this practice, so my notes are culled mostly from conversations with Deuce McAllister and Mike Hoss. You can hear a quick breakdown from Deuce in the video below.
The Saints got a pair of interceptions on the day, both off of Rams backup Ty Simpson. One went to rookie TJ Hall and the other to Dalys Beanum, who was hurt on the play. The Saints continued to rotate in depth players with the 1s, which can partially -- but definitely not completely -- explain why they had no answer for the Matthew Stafford-Davante Adams connection.
With Riley out, Martin Emerson Jr. got the first shot with the 1s. That's a change from earlier in camp when it was Isaac Yiadom getting the rotational reps in place of Riley and is an indicator that his recent run of strong play has not gone unnoticed.
The Saints pass rush continued to make an impact. Each of Carl Granderson, Chase Young and Davon Godchaux got through for sacks. That's not something we could say when these two teams met in Week 9 of last season. There were a few chunk runs from Blake Corum and Kyren Williams, but the Saints did a good job of keeping things corralled and there was very little outside of the tackles.
THE PASS GAME
Tyler Shough continued to play efficient offense, completing 14 of 22 (64%), including the big plays to Lance above. My only issue is those plays were the only big plays of the practice. We did see some nice connections to Devaughn Vele over the middle of the field, but there's been a notable lack of downfield passing in general.
It's worth noting that Shough was under pressure early and often. At least two passes were battled down at the line. That LA pass rush is scary, even without Myles Garrett practicing. The Saints are also lacking some of their weapons. Barion Brown was notably quiet in this practice. On the whole I think Shough is playing and reading the field well, it's more about guys getting open.
THE RUN GAME
It sure was a good thing that Devin Neal and Kendre Miller got back this week, because there was plenty of opportunity. We saw Travis Etienne get a handful of reps early in practice, but it was clear that the Saints were trying to keep his workload limited. It's notably that of the rest of the backs, it was Ty Chandler who got the first reps with the 1s and he took advantage, finding the edge on a stretch run to the right for what might have been a house call. If not, we're talking at least a 30-yard gain.
It was Neal with the 1s after that, with Miller starting with the 2s before moving up later in the day. Miller looked particularly sharp despite the missed time, and it's always frustrating how quickly he can win me over despite the long absences. He's just an incredibly talented player and you just can't help talking yourself into his potential. He's a bit of an upright runner but has elite contact balance and he's a load to bring down in the open field. Neal isn't as dynamic of an athlete, but he's a shifty runner and is as elite as you'll find for a young player in pass protection.
The Estime injury was ill-timed. If Neal and Miller can avoid major injuries the rest of camp, they're still my picks for the roster. But that's a big if.
QB2?
We still don't have an answer as to who will start week 2 of the preseason between Zach Wilson and Spencer Rattler, though Moore said that conversation would be had Thursday evening.
"We'll work through that," Moore said. "Both those guys are playing good ball."
It's worth noting that Wilson pulled the first reps with the combined 2s and 3s today, but that seemed more about balancing out reps than a depth chart change. It is pretty clear that Wilson's performance in the preseason opener has changed things a bit, because Moore had no issue declaring early that Rattler would start the preseason opener. Both got 12 reps in the practice. Wilson had the best throw of the day between the two on a perfectly placed ball downfield targeting Trey Palmer.
LAGNIAPPE
This was a shorter practice, with both coaches agreeing to a decreased workload. The good thing is there was nothing even resembling a fight, which is good, because the NFL isn't messing around when it comes to fines. The Saints and Cowboys just got dinged for $500K. ... Jeremiah Wright got extended run with the 1s and I thought held up well. He's clearly in his element against the run and his footwork can get away from him in pass pro. He did well picking up stunts today. Steps forward for the young guard, but I still think the Saints should look at bringing in a veteran backup. ... The Rams practice setup is pretty elite. They even have real-time replay screens where you can turn and watch the play that just happened on a loop until the next play comes in. I talked to one coach who said it's an elite tool for coaches so they can give players immediate feedback and hold them accountable rather than wait til film review. I don't know how that type of thing would hold up in 100 degrees and humidity, but it's always interesting to see how other teams manage their setups. I think it's a coaching advantage (and I also appreciated it for my own note-taking). ... There was no kicking in today's practice, and that's in part because there was nowhere to kick to. The Rams facility doesn't have permanent goalposts, which is odd. The next time we see Tanner Brown and Charlie Smyth kick will be at SoFi.
