The New Orleans Saints seemed a bit out of sorts in Tuesday's joint practice with the Cowboys, and that was for a few reasons.
The first was that the defense had to scramble and swap to reserve offensive jerseys because both teams arrived in white (more on that below). The other was because neither side of the ball could seem to get through more than a handful of plays in a row before fights ranging from mild to WWE-level wrestling broke out between the teams. By my count the number of stoppages for fights was in the double-digits.
“This is a good example of there’s a lot of rah-rah and emotion to football and that’s part of it. At the end of the day it’s about executing and running football plays," Saints head coach Kellen Moore said. "There’s a lot of loud people on a football field, but at the end of the day it’s about executing football plays and moving it downfield or stopping it on defense. … We’ll get some good lessons.”
Coverage brought to you by Trane: It's Hard To Stop A TraneTrane: It's Hard To Stop A TraneIt was a surprising result, considering both teams had already completed a joint practice session (Cowboys vs the Rams and Saints vs the Jaguars) without any major scuffles. I was watching the defense on this day, where a majority of the discontent looked to be born out of the Saints' defense physical finishes to plays. It something that LB Pete Werner said was a focus coming into the session, and several Cowboys players seemed to take exception.
“The emphasis was going for it today, being physical and thudding up the ball-carriers and having a really good finish on the tackles," Werner said. "Sometimes when they go to the ground, you don’t necessarily want that, but you can’t control it in certain instances. The finish was definitely a priority and I thought we did pretty well.”
Several players were in the mix repeatedly, most notably Martin Emerson Jr., Tyree Wilson and John Ridgeway.
But it was the offensive side of the ball where the significant fisticuffs occurred. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer removed second-year DE Donovan Ezeiraku from the session after he threw a punch. At different points we saw Saints center Erik McCoy lose his helmet and also toss a Cowboys players helmet.
The most intense scuffle of the day involved Cowboys DB Jalen Thompson, who made the ill-advised decision to pick a fight with Saints WR Brock Rechnsteiner. He finished off the encounter with a suplex worthy of his WWE lineage.
In the end it was clear both head coaches were a bit aggravated. I'd expect players on both sides to be chastened pretty significantly.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
Let's start with the good news: After several practices missed, both RBs Kendre Miller (back) and Devin Neal (hamstring) got back on the field and more importantly finished practice without issue. It's a good start for two guys that should be able to play themselves onto the roster fairly easily if they can just ... play.
Here are the players I didn't see practicing:
- RB Audric Estime (ankle)
- WR Devaughn Vele (rest)
- WR Mason Tipton
- DT Christen Miller (shoulder)
- DT Davon Godchaux (ankle)
- DE Cam Jordan (hamstring)
- WR Jordy Tyson (hamstring)
- CB Rejzohn Wright
- LB Chris Rumph (ankle)
No real surprises there, though this is the second rest day in a span of two weeks for Vele. Considering his newfound importance to the Saints WR room, I don't mind them taking things easy on him, but it's something to monitor. Estime and MIller picked up their injuries in the preseason opener.
There were also a handful of players who left early, including Alvin Kamara who is dealing with a knee injury after taking a hit early in practice. The injury is not believed to be significant, according to a report from NewOrleans.football, but AK is still expected to be sidelines for a few weeks.
We also saw CB Quincy Riley hobble off the field with what was described as a groin injury. WR Ronnie Bell was also carted off with what Moore described as a heat-related issue.
The Saints will have a light practice on Wednesday before a joint practice with the Rams on Thursday.
SHORT GAME OFFENSE
Let me start by saying: I didn't watch the offense in this practice. I got a heavy dose of it against the Jaguars, and I'll be back over there against on Thursday. The assessment below is based primarily on clips from practice and insight from my WWL teammates Deuce McAllister and Mike Hoss.
Hear a full breakdown from the day in the player below:
What I've heard is that Tyler Shough was efficient and moved the ball well, particularly when targeting Chris Olave. The Cowboys had no answer for the Saints' star WR, and that connection is all the more important now that we know the team will have to, at the very least, play the first portion of the season without Tyson. Unlike the Jaguars practice, we didn't see Shough push the ball downfield much. He did have nice connections to Bryce Lance, Bub Means, Juwan Johnson and Noah Fant. It was a quiet day for Barion Brown.
Shough lost an interception to Jalen Thompson on a throw that missed Chris Olave high over the middle of the field and landed in the arms of Jalen Thompson.
Rashaan Gary and Quinnen Williams had their share of penetration, but generally the OL held up well and there was good push in the run game with multiple chunk runs. Travis Etienne in particular seems to be building well in the offense.
NUMBER QUESTIONS
OK, so the Saints defense was wearing weird jerseys in this practice. This is my understanding of what happened: The Saints and Cowboys communicated prior to practice about the jersey colors, but something was lost in translation. Both the Saints and Cowboys arrived wearing white. Someone had to change into dark colors, and because the Cowboys are breaking camp this week, their dark jerseys were already packed up.
The Saints, meanwhile, had an emergency stash of black jerseys on hand, and that's what the defense changed into. They were primarily offensive numbers and in many cases didn't fit the player. For example, Pete Werner was wearing a No. 89 jersey that had previously belonged to Chris Tyree and fit him like a crop top. Meanwhile, linebackers Danny Stutsman and Kaden Elliss were wearing offensive linemen jerseys that fit like a nightshirt. Carl Granderson was wearing Bub Means' No. 16. Anfernee Jennings was wearing his jersey inside out. CBs Isaac Yiadom and Martin Emerson were wearing jerseys without numbers entirely.
To make a long story short, it was an odd, confusing situation. It was particularly difficult as a media member trying to track who was making plays throughout practice. In the end it was just a quirky subplot to one of the more unique practices in recent history.
PHYSICAL DEFENSE
As noted above, the Saints went into the day looking to be physical and finish plays. I didn't get that sense early on. Dallas was able to create running lanes seemingly at will, and the second carry of the day went for a 30-plus-yard chunk play.
From that point on I felt like the two sides were trading punches. There were a few big plays downfield, including a jump ball completion to George Pickens. On that play safety Julian Blackmon fell down and Isaac Yiadom was unable to bat the ball away in coverage. The Saints rotated some second teamers in against the first-team Cowboys offense.
Martin Emerson Jr. was particularly physical and I'd argue he was one of the bigger instigators when it came to scuffles. Still, he continued to be a pest in the secondary and didn't get beat much.
I thought Kool-Aid McKinstry had another strong day, particularly when you consider he was matched up with CeeDee Lamb for most of it. While Pickens made a few plays downfield, Lamb was held in check. Cowboys receivers were also flagged multiple times or OPI, which I typically view as an indicator of good coverage.
The Cowboys hit one touchdown in red zone, while another was called back for ineligible man downfield. On one play Jaylan Ford sliced into the backfield for an impressive TFL. I felt like the Cowboys offense was a little ahead in the scrimmage, but the two sides were well matched.
I continue to be impressed with Vernon Broughton, who impacted several plays with pressure. Granderson also seemed to be a pest throughout the day, while a lot of OL attention went to Chase Young's side.
KICKING UPDATE
It was another imperfect day for both kickers, but one that probably doesn't move the need all that much. Both went 4-for-5 with a miss to the right. Tanner Brown missed from 39, while Charlie Smyth missed from 45. The biggest concern I have right now is that this is already the third miss for Brown inside of 40. He's got a better percentage overall, but those short misses won't be ignored. Smyth has more misses (10), but only one has been inside of 40. Here's how things stack up as of Aug. 16:
- Tanner Brown: 39-45, 86.6% (misses: PAT, 39 (2), 45, 51, 54; long of 56; 6-8 from 50-plus)
- Charlie Smyth: 39-49, 79.6% (misses: 39, 44, 45 (2), 47, 50, 51, 52, 54, 56; long of 54; 6-11 from 50-plus)
