Saints Training Camp Day 8: Energy and vibes tip the scales

New Orleans Saints

By Ross Jackson

Metairie, La. – Thursday’s New Orleans Saints training camp practice was the most exciting and energetic practice we have seen on Airline Drive in years. For me, ever. Everything that’s been said about the positive vibes, the energy, the camaraderie and the competitive nature all proved true in camp day eight.

The Saints’ defense was invigorated. The banter between both sides of the ball was loud and jovial, yet biting, and the action had the real feel of game intensity.

The Most Entertaining Series

To wrap up practice, the Saints went back to two-minute drive simulations just like they did on Wednesday. This time, the scenario was set as the end of a 20-24 game with the offense trailing. There was 1:40 left on the clock and after two unsuccessful drives by quarterbacks Spencer Rattler (crossed midfield into Hail Mary range) and Tyler Shough (couldn’t sniff midfield with operational issues and pressure), Jake Haener got his opportunity.

After a rough start that included a pair of false starts, a sack and an incredible throw to wide receiver Dante Pettis down the seam in tight, double coverage, a controversial pass interference penalty in the back of the endzone by cornerback Rejzohn Wright against wideout Mason Tipton (who had made several plays already throughout the day) set up an untimed down from the one-yard-line.

Following the flag, a ton of arguing ensued with the officials, which the Saints have had present every day of camp thus far, which added another level of entertainment. After everyone settled in and the call was enforced, the back-and-forth between the players became a bit of back-and-forth between the coaches.

Head coach Kellen Moore sent the offense out to run their potential go-ahead play, but before the ball was snapped, defensive coordinator Brandon Staley cheekily called a timeout. Trying to ice a quarterback in practice has to be a first. It also gave Staley a chance to play up the gamesmanship. With a look at the offense, he then made adjustments to the defense as they re-huddled.

The final play was a sprint out by Haener, moving to the right side of the field while the receivers ran in the same direction working in a levels concept. Haener let one loose to the back corner of the end zone to Tipton, who secured the catch for a touchdown.

Cheering, jeering and laughs followed. Which included defensive end Chris Rumph II having a flag playfully thrown while bickering with an official followed by boisterous response.

This was undoubtedly the most fun I’ve ever had covering a practice.

Biggest Plays of the Day

Haener completed an incredible pass to Dante Pettis down the left seam in tight, tight coverage. Might be the best pass of camp so far.
After a Shough pass was broken up, Nephi Sewell snagged an interception on the tip drill.
Shough connected with Tipton for an eight-yard touchdown in team drills.
Rattler found Rasdhid Shaheed in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown.
Shough connected with Moliki Matavao for a huge completion in the middle of the field off of play action.
Jordan Howden undercut a deep Shough pass for an interception at the goal line

Kellen Moore on the Energy

“It was an awesome practice,” Moore said during his media availability. “ Really, really good practice. We were back inside, it was kind of the second (consecutive) day in pads so the energy and the effort was spectacular. It was a lot of fun. We had a great day.”

The Quarterback Battle

It was a banner day for Haener in two-minute drills but another solid day for Rattler outside of that. Shough had a rough showing, throwing a pair of interceptions on the day before seemingly falling victim to a sack-fumble during hurry-up work.

Shough, however, did look his most aggressive of camp, so far. While he did have his first turnovers of camp so far, they were the product of taking more risks and shots than we’ve seen.

Rattler was with the first team, Shough took snaps with the twos and Haener got reps with the third team.

Rattler Rep Charting

First Series of Team Drills (Drive advancement, plus territory)

First-and-10 (40-yard-line): Clyde Edwards-Helaire run right
First-and-10 (40-yard-line): Edwards-Helaire run middle
Second-and-5 (30-yard-line): Edwards-Helaire run right, Chase Young with a quick stop crossing the formation
Third-and-one (25-yard-line): Rattler incomplete to Cam Akers (Demario Davis in coverage), Davis made immediate contact at the catch point, keeping Akers from making the catch

Second Series of Team Drills (Drive advancement, plus territory)

First-and-10 (40-yard-line): Rattler complete to Jack Stoll on the right sideline, yards after catch opportunity
Second-and-five (35-yard-line): Rattler complete to Alvin Kamara on the right sideline
Third-and-eight (28-yard-line): Rattler complete to Mason Tipton (Julian Blackmon in coverage) left sideline, timing route good for a first down
Third-and-four (24-yard-line): Rattler sacked by Carl Granderson, Granderson offsides, would have been a free play but excellent coverage downfield kept Rattler from getting the ball out

Third Series of Team Drills (Red zone, down and distance, moving chains)

First-and-10 (20-yard-line): Rattler scramble left, Nathan Shepherd on the stop, five-yard gain
Second-and-five (15-yard-line): Rattler incomplete to Stoll (Isaac Yiadom in coverage) Yiadom pass breakup over middle, Alontae Taylor with pressure
Third-and-five (15-yard-line): Rattler incomplete to Kamara, tipped at the line by Bryan Bresee

Fourth Series of Team Drills (Red zone, down and distance, moving chains)

First-and-10 (20-yard-line): Kendre Miller runs right, Taylor on the stop, gain of three
Second-and-7 (17-yard-line): Rattler completes to Stoll at the left numbers, back hip-level throw to keep Stoll from running into traffic, terrific adjustment and catch by Stoll
First-and-goal (five-yard-line): Rattler complete to Shaheed (McKinstry in coverage) McKinstry stopped Shaheed at the one-yard-line

Fifth Series of Team Drills (Red zone, down and distance, moving chains)

First-and-10 (20-yard-line): Rattler incomplete to Chris Olave (Kool-Aid McKinstry in coverage) great coverage by McKinstry
Second-and-10 (20-yard-line): Rattler complete to Devin Neal in middle of the field for eight yards
Third-and-two (12-yard-line): Rattler complete to Rashid Shaheed (Taylor in coverage), Rattler rolled left, found Olave in the back of the end zone

Sixth Series of Team Drills (End of game two-minute drill with 1:40 left on the clock down 20-24)

1:40 – First-and-10 (435-yard-line): Rattler incomplete, pass batted at the line by Granderson
1:37 – Second-and-10 (35-yard-line): Rattler complete to Stoll
1:20 – Third-and-short: Middle of field target by Rattler (Penalty: Defensive Pass Interference)
1:16 – First-and-10: Rattler scramble up middle for two yards
0:51 – Second-and-eight: Rattler scramble middle again for one yeard, Granderson stop
0:32 – Third-and-seven: Rattler completes to Miller in the middle of the field, Miller with yards after catch to pick up the first down, time out called to stop the clock
0:24 – First-and-10 (Plus-40): Rattler incomplete to Shaheed (Yiadom in coverage)
0:19 – Second-and-10 (Plus-40): Rattler complete to Neal (McKinstry nearest defender) left side for two yards
0:03 – Third-and-eight (Plus 38): Rattler spike to stop clock

At this point, Moore decided not to attempt the Hail Mary pass in the practice environment without having worked it first and in order to avoid unnecessary collisions.

Shough Rep Charting

First Series of Team Drills (Drive advancement, plus-territory)

First-and-10 (40-yard-line): Shough incomplete to Olave (Terrell Burgess and Yiadom in coverage) deep middle of the field (Penalty: Defensive Pass Interference)
First-and-10 (35-yard-line): Akers run right
Second-and-5 (30-yard-line): Neal run middle
Third-and-one (25-yard-line): Shough complete to Cedrick Wilson Jr. (Rico Payton in coverage) right side, first down

Second Series of Team Drills (Drive advancement, plus territory)

First-and-10 (40-yard-line): Shough complete to Moliki Matavao (Jonas Sanker nearest in coverage) play action, intermediate middle for a nice gain and some yards after the catch
Second-and-five (35-yard-line): Edwards-Helaire run up middle
Third-and-eight (28-yard-line): Shough incomplete to Bub Means (Rico Payton in coverage) taking a shot to the end zone on the right side, ball falls out of bounds
Third-and-four (24-yard-line): Shough incomplete to Wilson (Danny Stutsman and Payton in the area) ball popped up into the air and intercepted by Nephi Sewell

Third Series of Team Drills (Red zone, down and distance, moving chains)

First-and-10 (20-yard-line): Miller ran a middle zone read, Chris Rumph blew it up, no gain
Second-and-10 (20-yard-line): Shough intercepted by Jordan Howden targeting Matavao (Burgess and Howden in coverage) deep middle, Howden intercepts at the goal line and runs the ball out for a decent return

Fourth Series of Team Drills (Red zone, down and distance, moving chains)

First-and-10 (20-yard-line): Shough complete to Kevin Austin Jr. open at right sideline
First-and-goal (four-yard-line): Edwards-Helaire run right, no gain
Second-and-goal (four-yard-line): Shough sacked by Jonah Williams
Third-and-goal (eight-yard-line): Shough complete to Tipton (Riley in coverage) middle of the end zone, touchdown

Fifth Series of Team Drills (End of game two-minute drill with 1:40 left on the clock down 20-24)

1:40 – First-and-10 (35-yard-line): Shough incomplete, pressure by Fadil Diggs and Burgess
1:34 – Second-and-10 (35-yard-line): Shough sacked by Rumph or Vernon Broughton
1:21 – Third-and-very long: Shough sacked by Isaiah Foskey, sack-fumble recovered by Shough

Haener Rep Charting

First Series of Team Drills (Drive advancement, plus-territory)

First-and-10 (40-yard-line): Haener completes to Means (Elliott Davison in coverage) deep crosser middle of the field
First-and-10 (35-yard-line): Haener complete to Chris Tyree (Payton in coverage) quick pass left
Second-and-5 (30-yard-line): Haener incomplete to Velus Jones Jr. (Diggs in coverage) play action throw to the right, too high
Third-and-one (25-yard-line): Jones run middle, D’Marco Jackson with an forceful run stuff

Second Series of Team Drills (Drive advancement, plus territory)

First-and-10 (40-yard-line): Jones run left
Second-and-five (35-yard-line): Re-huddle
Second-and-five (35-yard-line): Haener incomplete to Means (Jayden Price in coverage) right sideline, great coverage by Price
Third-and-eight (28-yard-line): Haener sacked by Jasheen Davis/Vernon Broughton
Third-and-four (24-yard-line): Neal run middle, Price stuffed the run short of a first down

Third Series of Team Drills (End of game two-minute drill with 1:40 left on the clock down 20-24)

1:40 – First-and-10 (35-yard-line): Haner complete to Austin short left, got out of bounds to stop the clock
1:35 – Second-and-7 (43-yard-line): (Penalty: False Start)
1:35 – Second-and-12 (38-yard-line): Haener complete to Seth Green, short right
1:09 – Third-and-10 (40-yard-line) Haener sacked by Diggs and Jasheen Davis
0:50 – Fourth-and-very long (Haener complete to Dante Pettis down the seam (Davison in coverage), this might have actually been a sack in the backfield, but this throw was absolutely incredible, couldn’t have been a tighter window and it was where only Pettis could get to it, probably the best throw of all of camp
0:24 – First-and-10 (Plus-38): Haener incomplete to Means
0:20 – Second-and-10 (Plus 38): Haener completes for seven yards (we think) to Pettis in the middle of the field, lots of congestion on this one, time out called to stop the clock
0:13 – Third-and-three (Plus-33): Penalty: False Start
0:13 – Third-and-eight (Plus-38): Haener complete to Jacobson complete for 18 yards, first down
0:06 – First-and-10 (Plus-20): Haener complete to Tipton for seven yards at the right sideline, out of bounds to stop the clock
0:02 – Second-and-three (Plus-13) Haener incomplete to Tipton (Rejzohn Wright in coverage) in the back of the endzone (Penalty: Defensive Pass Interference)
0:00 – First-and-goal (Plus-one): Timeout called by defense
0:00 – First-and-goal (Plus-One): Haener complete to Tipton for a touchdown back right corner of the endzone (open) sprint out by Haener

Quarterback Rep Distribution (excluding re-huddles and penalties)

Rattler: 25
Shough: 16
Haener: 18

Much like Wednesday’s practice, the Saints had fewer scripted reps and a few more “call-it” reps wherein plays are being called in the moment. So with Haener having a longer 2:00 drive, he ends up with the second-most snaps even though he saw the fewest series.

Passing Attempts/Completions (Running Total)

Rattler: 9/12, one touchdown (61/83, eight passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and three interceptions)
Shough: 4/8 one touchdown and two interceptions (34/58, four passing touchdowns and two interceptions)
Haener: 9/12 (52/75, five passing touchdowns, one interception)

Attendance and Injury Updates

Non-PUP players not seen: Safety J.T. Gray, quarterback Hunter Dekkers, tight end Treyton Welch and defensive tackle John Ridgeway III

With Johnson back at practice, though limited, Moore updated the additional absences. Ridgeway and Welch don’t sound to be dealing with anything serious. Per Moore, the injuries are not long-term.

Tight end Juwan Johnson, who is recovering from a reported groin injury, was present but not participating. Per Moore, the injury is not serious.

Roster Moves

Moore announced after practice that the team has released quarterback Hunter Dekkers and signed punter Kai Kroeger, formerly of South Carolina and a previous teammate of Rattler’s.

Dekkers didn’t see much opportunity throughout training camp and it seems set that the Saints have their three passers. Now they just have to decide the order in which they’ll all be organized.

Blake Grupe Perfect Again

Grupe is commanding the kicker position and it no longer feels like a battle. He was a perfect 5/5 again on Thursday, this time in the indoor facility. His makes were from extra point distance, 40 yards, 46 yards, 51 yards and 53 yards. He is now 19/20 through camp.

Up Next

The Saints will be off on Friday and return in pads for both Saturday and Sunday, which are each scheduled to be the longest practices of the process.