Canal Street Chronicles: Fleur-di-Links 8.4.09

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CPT23 Great day at the office. Very productive - both sides of the ball. Time to rest. See ya'll in the a.m.

saints83 Good day the run game looks real good, Reggie and @CPT23 along with some young RBs are doing a great job hitting the hole. Time to sleep!   

drewbrees Two good practices today. Defense got the best of us this time around. Young running backs look impressive. A lot of work left to be done     

Linkage

Saints DTs aim to stop run, help pass defense - The Advocate

"In this league, you have to earn the right to rush the passer," said Johnson, a highly-respected line coach for the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos the last eight years.

"To do that, it’s important to be able to stop the run. "When we got here, we talked to the tackles and the ends about stopping the run," he added. "But it’s not just the big guys in the middle. You need the coordination and the scheme of the defense working together to stop the run."

-Bill Johnson

"Going into a new season, you always look at the things you didn’t do well the year before and thing about the things you need to do to get better," Clancy said. "Basically, you do what it takes to get better."

-Kendrick Clancy

"To play any kind of pass defense, you have to be good against the run," said Ellis. "That’s a staple of football, period. If you allow them to run the ball, they have no need to pass. So you have to establish yourself against the run on first and second downs, and then rush the passer."

-Sedrick Ellis

"In order to get the privilege to rush the passer, you have to stop the run," said Clancy, reciting the mantra of NFL defensive line coaches. "If the whole group plays together, we’ll have a chance to be good."

-Kendrick Clancy

"It’s definitely more mental," he said. "In the NFL, every team has the talent. It’s really a matter of will, and you have to exert your will over the other team. That’s the basis of football … that’s what football is about.

"You can always get better at anything you do with hard work, so I think we’ll be just fine. We’re going to play good against the run and be better against the pass. But that’s just my expectations, we’ll see."

-Sedrick Ellis     

"Getting a guy like Rod does a lot for a team," Clancy said of Coleman, who is also strong against the run. "He was probably the best defensive tackle in the league for a while, and we’re going to learn a lot from him. I watched a lot of film on him early in my career and I know he’s a real good player."

-Kendrick Clancy

"It doesn’t matter what team you’re playing, you have to emphasize the run defense and make them pass the ball," he said. "That’s our ultimate goal. If you’re a great pass rusher, you want to get them in passing situations. "This league is about stopping the run. And somebody has to do the dirty work."

-Rod Coleman

"Hey, you have to be strong up the middle and strong up front to stop the run," he said. "You have to have those anchor points in the middle. You just have to find ways to make the other guys not run the ball.

"You need to do whatever it takes. If you can use seven (defenders) to stop the run, you use seven. Or eight. You just keep adding more until you’ve got enough to get it done."

-Bill Johnson  

With a handful of acquisitions and a new approach, the Saints' secondary has the makings of a strength rather than a liability - Times-Pic

"I was open-minded and tried it, and when I heard that other players had tried it and used it, I knew it at least wasn't going to hurt me, "

-Darren Sharper

"Anything I could do to help myself out and have some longevity, I was going to do it, "

-Darren Sharper

"It's creating havoc, and that's actually pretty fun, " said Prioleau, who has played under Williams with four different teams in his 11-year career. But he said this is the deepest group he has been around, "as far as experience, athleticism and just guys that can play."

-Pierson Prioleau

"He's in the books as being able to make plays on the ball, and that's why he's here -- to help us make plays on the ball, " Williams said. "I have to help keep him fresh, but the instincts and the ability to make plays on the ball -- that's Darren Sharper. That's not us, that's not me."

-Gregg Williams

"I like that Coach Williams tells guys to attack, attack the run, attack the pass and force the offense to have to react to us, " Sharper said. "A lot of defenses try to react to the offense. We have the philosophy that we're going to make the offense react to what we're doing, and I love playing with that aggressive style."

-Darren Sharper   

 News and notes from Monday's Saints practice - Times-Pic

PLAY OF THE DAY

Thomas had the most impressive run to date at camp when he broke free for a 65-yard touchdown Monday morning. The line created a nice hole for him up the middle, and he made a nifty cut to get past safety Darren Sharper and had just enough gas to get to the front corner of the end zone before safety Roman Harper and Porter caught up to him. 

Kristian: STC Day 4 – Practice 2 - WWL

Bush, Clancy hurting as Arrington returns - New Orleans Pro Football

Saints march on without first-round pick Jenkins - WWL

"We've got three guys (with the first team) that have started in the NFL and played well when they've been in there," Saints secondary coach Dennis Allen said. "There's some guys behind them who continue to get better day in and day out. We've got a pretty good group of guys to work with."

-Dennis Allen

"I'm still protecting it with the wrist brace," Porter said. "Other than that, I'm going out there like I had never had the injury. If you let the injury linger in your mind and you try to protect it, it's possible you could injure something else."

-Tracy Porter

"(Greer) plays the game like a professional," Allen said. "He studies the game. He understands splits and route combinations on top of the fact that he's got excellent speed and excellent quickness."

-Dennis Allen

"The best thing we've got going on right now in the back end is competition, and that's going to make us all better,"

-Dennis Allen

"When I first started, you had two three-day minicamps so if a guy wasn't there, you really couldn't do a lot of installation back in the old days," Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said. "Now, you have a lot of (organized team activities) and (Jenkins) was able to make a healthy number of the OTAs. He has a good, firm grasp of what we're doing.

"Obviously I want him here as soon as he can but that's just a part of this business. I really don't worry about that. I worry about the guys that are here getting coached. Once he gets here, he's going to have to compete and interview just like them and get ready to go."

-Gregg Williams    

 Saints encouraged by Reggie Bush's health, strong start in training camp - Times-Pic

 New Orleans Saints receiver Robert Meachem has been off to impressive start in Year 3 - Times-Pic

Audio

From WWL's Sports Talk. They are recorded live from training camp. The first features Warren Moon and the third includes Randall Gay. 

Video