Bduhon Saints@Patriots Post Game Report

The tempo from the 1st team defense and offense looked much better from last week. The extra pre-season game is going to help this team a lot especially since they are implementing a new defense.

The battle between Sean Canfield and Luke McCown got a lot of action tonight. McCown looked jittery at times, but seemed up to the challenge of leading the team as a game manager. If he had to start a game for the Saints, I believe he would be successful with the 1st team offense.

Two guys who had stellar performances tonight were Tavaris Cadet and Andy Tanner. Both players had sticky hands catching a lot of balls. Tavaris Cadet continues to make a case for the final 53. Cadet will have a strong chance as Chris Ivory struggled with his vision and ball security again tonight.

Best player on defense tonight was Curtis Lofton. Lofton was all over the field taking excellent routes to the ball carrier and using great technique in tackling. If he stays healthy it is going to be interesting to see how good he can be in this new system.

Jonathan Casillas had a good game in 2nd team defense and special teams. He looked like the early healthy Casillas fans and coaches fell in love with his first year with the team.

Juneyah looked like a first round draft pick tonight. When people asked me in the off-season who would benefit the most from Spags, I answered with Juneyah. He has so much speed off the ball and is very strong in off balance sets. Spags' defense puts a lot of situations where the DE's drop back in coverage and Juneyah has flourished more than any DE on the team.

Akiem Hicks showed his skills against bigger guys with his strength and brains. You can tell from just watching his feet work and routes to the QB that he is a very smart player.

Will Herring got some early 1st team defense work and he looked good. Herring was fast and always around the ball but just seemed to fill the wrong gaps a couple times causing him to be out of position against quick RB's.

In the wake of multiple injuries at the CB position, Marquis Johnson and Corey White stepped up. Both guys were always around their guys and showed good hands when playing on the ball.

The one player who dropped off a little tonight was Jermon Bushrod. He was abused the whole time he was in the game by a rookie 1st round pick DE. Bushrod left the game with what seemed to be a minor hand injury.

Overall the team looked good especially the defense against a quality QB. The penalties are a little alarming but the pre-season is the best place to get that bad stuff out of their systems. It was great to see the good technique and quality of tackling by all defensive units.

Questions?