New Orleans Saints
By Ross Jackson
There have been many differences in this year’s offseason approach by the New Orleans Saints. Many are due to the collaborative efforts of the team’s new coaching staff, but spearheaded by new head coach Kellen Moore.
The latest known adjustments go beyond schedule, scheme and a focus on player experience. They center around how the team practices on the field.
“Call It” Periods
Every team has a variety of ways to build a training camp practice day. Some rely heavily on pre-scripted periods where the offense, defense and special teams units have a running list of plays that are to be run and under which scenarios.
The Saints still use this, but have introduced daily “call it” periods where Moore and defensive coordinator Brandon Staley are actively calling plays while working a situation.
New Orleans has done this before, using two-minute drills at the end of the first half or end of games as a means of working with the team under given circumstances and calling plays in the moment that fit them. However, adding this approach as a daily routine is something specific to Moore over recent staff.
The inclusion of four-minute drives during camp day nine combined with backed up scenarios is another example.
Scrimmage
On Sunday, Moore and the Saints plan to run scrimmage work on Airline Drive. Whether or not that will be a fully timed sequence or just a drive at a time remains to be seen, but the word “scrimmage” alone isn’t one that’s been often heard at Saints practices.
This should bring another level of intensity and excitement to practice.
It will also be an intriguing statement for the quarterback battle. Sunday is set to be Jake Haener’s day with the first team in camp’s rotation. However, the Saints could deviate from that after giving Haener his first second team snaps of camp and giving Spencer Rattler his first third team reps on Saturday.
Moore is introducing new ways to drive competition and development across his roster by putting them through in-game scenarios. He’s not reinventing the wheel along the way, either. He’s simply relying on tried and true processes (with his own innovations included) to achieve the team’s training camp goals of preparing its players for the season.
