Saints camp observations, Day 14: Defense turns up the heat in final preseason tuneup

Day 14

The New Orleans Saints held their final 2022 training camp practice in front of fans at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Thursday.

After the offense stole the show Wednesday, the defense responded with a stifling performance Thursday.

Here were the highlights.

Attendance
These players did not practice Thursday: Quarterback Jameis Winston, defensive lineman Jaleel Johnson, linebackers Pete Werner and Zack Baun, and defensive back Alontae Taylor.

Marshon Lattimore returned to practice for the first time since Aug. 4, but his participation was limited to walk-through and position-specific drills.

Defense’s turn
A day after Andy Dalton carved up the defense in seven-on-seven drills, the secondary came back with a vengeance.

The seven-on-seven drills feature only skill position players — no defensive or offensive linemen, no blitzes — so there’s never a rush to contend with. That’s notable because Dalton spent much of the drill holding onto the ball, waiting for receivers to separate.

They rarely did, and the results bore that out. Dalton completed only 2 of 6 attempts in the drill, misfiring on his first four passes as the secondary was glued to the receivers.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson started the period by breaking up a Dalton pass intended for Jarvis Landry, and Bradley Roby followed by picking Dalton off on the very next play. Neither of the next two attempts, intended for Nick Vannett and Tre’Quan Smith, were catchable as the defenders gave them little room to operate.

Dalton had some more success when the practice shifted to a full-team setting, finding Adam Trautman, Chris Olave and Vannett for scoring strikes in a red zone period. But the defensive line also took a turn making things challenging.

Defensive ends Cam Jordan, Carl Granderson, Payton Turner and Taco Charlton each flashed in the full-team periods, either getting home for “sacks” (defenders can not hit quarterbacks in practice) or collapsing the pocket and forcing a rushed throw. Granderson, in particular, has stuck out with his rush skills in camp.

Play of the day, offense
On his last snap of the full-team red zone drill, Dalton rolled right on a sprint out. Nobody was open, but he kept scanning the field and finally saw Vannett moving with Dalton toward the pylon at the back of the end zone.

Dalton made the play happen, waiting for the defenders’ eyes to turn and throwing against the flow of the play, effectively throwing Vannett open. Vannett halted his movement, the defender kept running, and he hauled in an easy score.

Play of the day, defense
Alvin Kamara is really, really hard to cover on choice routes. He kills defenses with them because he is a ridiculous athlete with elite balance, quickness and change-of-direction skills, and he also is an intelligent player who deeply understands leverage and space.

That is why Tyrann Mathieu’s pass breakup in team drills was so impressive Thursday. Kamara usually has three options on this type of route, all catered toward what the defense tells him, and Mathieu didn’t present a clear choice. When Kamara broke his route inside, Mathieu jumped it and got his hand on the ball.

Three stars
WR Kawaan Baker: Thursday was a good practice for the second-year wideout, who hauled in all three of his targets in competitive settings, including back-to-back catches in a two-minute drill to move the chains.

DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson: He got his hands on passes in both the seven-on-seven and full-team periods, and he was physical throughout practice.

Andy Dalton’s hard count: With the defensive line harassing him (and maybe jumping his count), Dalton turned to a hard count to get players to jump offsides on consecutive plays during the two-minute drill. Granderson and Turner were the guilty parties.

Up next
The Saints travel to Houston on Friday, where they’ll play the Texans in their first preseason game Saturday at 7 p.m.

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