Because the Saints injury report is so long and I didn't want to take up the entire front page with this post, you will have to make the jump to check this one out. 

When did Chris Reis get hurt?

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Check out the official injury report for Sunday's matchup. This was taken from the San Francisco 49ers official website. This information was no where to be found on the Saints official website. Surprise.

San Francisco 49ers

New Orleans Saints

I know pre-season games are usually sloppy and sometimes boring, particularly the final one, but man, this was awful. 99 total yards of offense?!?! Obviously this wasn't our real team, but c'mon! That said, the good news is that the defense still seemed to look pretty good and last weeks performance against Cincinnati may not have been a fluke. Heck, even Jason David played well. All of the attention and work the Saints have put into that side of the ball seem to be paying off. If that's the case and this continues, then we should definitely expect big things this season. I am officially excited again!

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Today we continue with the second half of our in-depth analysis of last weeks pre-season game against the Bengals. Here we go.

Saints Defense First Drive

• After Mehlhaff finally boots one into the endzone for a touchback the Bengals start from their own 20 yard line. Their first play is a run to the right side. Randall Gay makes a nice tackle coming in for support as the play only gains 3 yards.
• Another run up the right side and Chris Perry hits a big hole and gains 13 yards for the first.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick, now the quarterback, tries the left side but Harper and Porter are all over it. Nice coverage. Very un-Jason David like.
  
• The Bengals then try a run up the middle but Fujita does a great job stuffing it at the line.
  
• On third down Fitzpatrick completes one to Chatman who is in the gap between the line of scrimmage and the secondary. Vilma brings him down from behind just shy of the first down. Bengals punt.

Review: Glad to see the defense still looks good after the half. The run defense wasn't so hot but, and I can't believe I am going to say this, the pass defense came through for us. I think Vilma has been looking pretty good but he just does a lot of things that don't usually get noticed. I'm a fan. I think it would be safe to buy his jersey.

Saints Offense First Drive

• Saints take over at their own 28. Sit back and relax, because the Pierre Thomas extravaganza is about to begin. It starts with Thomas to the right side for 5 yards. The O-line (Nicks, Bushrod, Lehr, Strief) does an awesome job of making room and they actually force their will on the Bengals plowing them all to the right side. Had Reggie been out there, he might have actually cut it back to the left side and been gone, as there is no one there. I am starting to wonder if maybe the problem with the run game lies completely with the first team offensive line. 
• Brunell throws a quick one to the right to Meachem for 4 yards.
• Third down and two tight ends. Pierre tries the right side, gains the first down, sheds a tackle and spins away from a second before being taken down for a gain of 14.
• Play action. Brunell completes one over the middle to Terrance Copper. Pierre Thomas does a great job blocking in the backfield and keeping Keith Rivers away from Brunell. The kid does it all.
  
• They give it to Thomas again up the middle and he gains 9 yards after avoiding one tackle. To be fair, the tackling looks weak.
• Brunell is forced to roll left and overthrows Copper in the endzone on what seemed like an improvised play.
• Third and 1 as Pierre cuts it back to his right and up the middle for 4 yards and the first.
• Brunell hurrys a throw to Pierre Thomas who is covered. Pass incomplete.
• On second down Thomas takes it up the right side. He eludes one tackler, barely keeps his knee from hitting the ground, then fumbles the ball as he spins and falls down. Bengals recover.

Review: Ugh. Not that I think the fumble will really cause Payton any distrust, but everything was looking so good. Had that fumble not occurred, I think all Saints fans, myself included, would be up in arms about letting Pierre start and referencing this very drive to make our point. If Pierre is always going to fight to stay on his feet, then he needs to remember to hold on to the ball tight. Regardless, the drive looked good. Pierre looked better. By the way, I love it when Pierre uses his hand and puts it on top of a defenders head to push him out of the way as he passes him.

Saints Defense Second Drive

• Cincinnati gets the ball deep in their own zone. Perry tries the right side. Lance Schulters comes in and makes the nice stop for only 3 yards. Then proceeds to take a stupid 15 yards Uneccesary Roughness (classic movie) penalty.
• First and ten now from the Bengals 23 yard line. Chris Perry tries the left edge and guess who comes in with the nice tackle and the stop for no gain. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? It's Jason David!
• Fitzpatrick completes short over the middle for 4 yards. Troy Evans makes the quick tackle.
  
• Third down and Fitzpatrick throws a short  incompletion to Kenny Watson. Chris Reis was all over him with great coverage. Bengals...you know. Skyler Green gets nowhere on the return.

Review: This was actually a good showing for the defense, minus the penalty, particularly the secondary. They showed great run support on two plays and tight coverage on another. After going through this game in depth, I think this defense looked even better than everyone is giving them credit for. It was solid all around. Even Jason David. I am very impressed.

Saints Offense Second Drive

• Palko checks into the game now and starts from the Saints 33. The first play is a short dump off to Pierre Thomas over the middle for 5 yards. No hesitation going back to Thomas after the fumble.
  
• Palko checks down to Thomas on a flare to the left. With plenty of room to work with and nice blocks from Matt Lehr and Tim Duckworth, Pierre turns it into 25 yards up the sideline. He does that hand on helmet thing to another would be tackler. Watch for it, its funny! It's almost like he uses them for more speed as he pushes off of them.
  
• Meachem shows off his running ability on a reverse. He gains a respectable 13 yards.
• Palko takes too much time in the pocket and is sacked by Keith Rivers.
• 2nd and 18 as Palko completes a short one over the middle to Thomas for 3 yards.
• Palko tries Thomas again on a short dump off. Not much doing.
• Mehlhaff nails a 45 yarder. He then kicks a blooper to only the Bengals 16 yard line. He is visibly upset as he walks off.

Review: More awesomeness from The Flying Frenchman. The drive just stalled at the end as Palko couldn't find anything downfield. This offensive line deserves some credit for working hard and looking pretty solid out there. None of Thomas' success would exist without some good play from those guys. Mehlhaff shows some inconsistency. I don't think it is looking as good for Mehlhaff as it once was.

Saints Defense Third Drive

• After a false start, the Bengals have 1st and 15 from own 30 yard line. Jeff Rowe now takes over for the Bengals and tosses one quickly to the right. Aaron Glenn, looking great in run support, wraps him up quickly for a gain of only two.
  
• The Saints line flush Rowe out of the pocket and forces him to scramble right and throw it away.
• Rowe tries over the middle on a crossing route but Glenn is on top of him and breaks it up which is good because the Saints sent eight guys in to rush and didn't have much help in the secondary. There had to be someone else open downfield that Rowe just didn't see. Bengals punt and Skyler Green lets it bounce before fielding it and losing 4 yards. Not pretty.

Review: Gotta love three and out. More straight up solid play from the defense. This drive was all Aaron Glenn. There isn't a doubt in my mind that Glenn makes this team. He looks better and better every week. I don't think he will start but its great to know he's there. Honestly, seems like you take away Jason David, and this secondary doesn't look half bad. We should probably give it a little more time and observation though.

Saints Offense Third Drive

• Saints start from their 12 yard line and Palko throws a quick pass to Meachem to the right. He gets six yards as the defender drags him down by his pants, ala the Coppertone girl, as Meachem refuses to go down.
  
• Next is a hard run up the left side by Lynell Hamilton for six yards.
• Palko completes a pass to Lance Moore for 14 yards.
• 1st and ten now, as Palko throws a bad pass nowhere near Terrance Copper that almost gets picked off.
• Lynell Hamilton takes it up the middle for 7 yards. He looks very powerful. End of third quarter.
• On third down with 3 to go Hamilton takes it again, this time to the left side for 4 yards, picking up the first.
• Palko throws an interception on a deep pass intended for Terrance Copper. The throw was into double coverage.

Review: It would have been nice to see this drive continue. Hamilton was looking pretty impressive. As bad as I feel for Pierre Thomas and Aaron Stecker, I will feel even worse for Lynell Hamilton who will most likely not see any playing time with this team though he looks pretty good. I can't find anything in Palko to get excited about.

Saints Defense Fourth Drive

• We have to pick up this drive from 3rd and 7 since the broadcast team favored doing some piece on how Fujita would make the best Olympian over showing us the first two plays of the drive. And what a wonderful place to pick up from, as we're just in time to see the dynamic duo of Jason David and Josh Bullocks get beat on a 9 yard pass that keeps the drive alive. They were both right there and still couldn't make a play! How much longer must we suffer? Even on a night when everyone else is looking great, these two manage to suck. Who are we going to make fun of after Payton hopefully cuts these two?
• First down now and a short completion to the right side for three yards.
• Another Rowe pass to the right for 10 yards as Craft is no where near his receiver.
  
• After a Kenny Watson run for only two yards, Rowe dumps it off over the middle for 9 yards and a first down.
• On first down now and Bobby McCray shoots through the gap and gets the sack for -8 yards. I can't say enough about how fast he is.
  
• Rowe completes a short dump off to Kenny Watson but the Saints react quickly and McCray and Harris stop it for -1 yards.
• More pressure from the line again as McCray, who is forced to take the long route behind the quarterback, doesn't give up and eventually beats his man deep in the backfield and gets to Rowe to disrupt the pass. Bengals punt.
  

Review: I think this drive is very telling. This was the Bengals longest drive of the night play-wise. Bullocks, Craft and David, who all saw a lot of time in the Saints secondary last year were all out there against the third team and still having trouble. What does that say? Bobby McCray saves their butt however as he was a monster on the last three plays. Can't wait to see what he brings this season.

Saints Offense Fourth Drive

• Saints start at their six. Hamilton runs for two yards.
• Palko looks good as he avoids a safety and shows some nifty moves eluding would be tacklers and running for 9 yards. A personal foul call takes the Saints to their 32 yard line.
• After a botched snap, Palko fires a bullet to the right side for Buck "Naked" Ortega for 17 yards.
• Hamilton then makes a short three yard catch on the left sideline.
• Palko goes to the left side again and finds Meachem for 7 yards and a first down.
• The Bengals' Angelo Craig notches a sack for -4 yards. Duckworth failed to pick up LB Corey Mayes who broke through the line, caused disruption and barely missed the sack himself.
  
• A draw to Hamilton up the middle for six yards.
• Palko, looking solid on this drive, fires another rocket, this time to Todd Blythe, over the middle for a gain of 15.
• After scrambling left Palko throws a short 6 yarder to Hamilton. Holding on Bushrod.
  
• 1st and 20 now as Palko throws another dump off to Hamilton who has room to turn it into 16 yards.
• Palko throws two straight into tight coverage. The first one should probably have been picked off.
• Saints go for it on fourth down but Palko is forced to scramble to the left and throw it away.

Review: After a nice start to this drive by Palko, the Bushrod penalty and some poor passing decisions kill it. Tyler is just too inconsistent for my taste. A couple of nice hard passes mixed in with poor decisions and botched snaps. That's just not gonna cut it. Bushrod has been the culprit on quite a few penalties this pre-season and really needs to fix that.

Saints Defense Fifth Drive

• Carson Palmer's younger brother Jordan comes in to lead the charge. First play is a run up the middle for a gain of two.
• Palmer completes a short one to the right but Chris Reis is right there to bring him down quickly.
  
• Scrambling left, Palmer gets the needed 2 yards for the first down.
  
• He follows that play up with an interception to Lance Schulters to end the Bengals night. Jason David, whose receiver it was, was behind the play, but Lance, probably figuring David wasn't going to do anything, decided to jump the route and pick it off.
  

Review: Good sign from Schulters. Maybe he is the help this team needs over the top. He was very aggressive on the interception as Jason David stood there and watched. Literally!

Saints Offense Sixth Drive

Nothing important to report about the final drive. Lynell Hamilton runs for 2, 3 and 3 yards to run out the clock.

That does it. I was very happy with the teams performance after watching the game the first time. Having taken a closer look I have to say I am ever happier. There were a lot of good signs and we can only hope that this is a better representation of what we can expect from the defense and the team in general this season.

It's time for the second half of our breakdown of the breakdown. I am glad you guys enjoyed this post yesterday and I will try to do it every week. That being said, let's put these guys under the microscope.

Saints Defense First Drive

• Texans start at their own 32. First play of the half is a quick pass to the right that Aaron Glenn jumps in front of and bats away. One of the best plays of the night for the secondary. Might have been able to pick it off.
  
• On the second play, Bobby McCray puts a move on his guy and blows past him into the backfield, so quickly that he overshoots the runner and misses the tackle. A little more control and that is probably a tackle for a loss. As it is Marvin Mitchell takes him down for a gain of a couple.
  
• 3rd and 8 after two nice defensive plays. Another decent display of pressure as Josh Savage gets to Rosenfels just a half second too late. The pass is over the middle completed for 13 yards. It's Tracy Porter's man. The drive stays alive as the second half continues in the same manner as the first.
  
• After a Slaton run for 12 yards in which huge holes were created by the Texans offensive line, it's a Rosenfels pass for 20 yards down the left sideline to Jacoby Jones. Tracy Porter is, oh, 5 yards behind him. I am praying hoping assuming that the defensive strategy here for Porter is too keep everything in front of him. More likely, Jones made a nice play by immediately button hooking, leaving Porter still streaking down the sideline.
  
• Chris Reis makes an awesomely hard hit to stop a run.
  
• In the redzone now and the Texans run a couple of times for medium yardage. The defensive line is getting pushed around a bit.
  
• Jo-Lonn Dunbar makes a quick stop for two yards on a shirt pass to the right sideline.
  
• Two more nice runs from Taylor puts the Texans in the lead.

Review: This drive started off promising for the Saints defense then quickly turned sour after giving up yet another 3rd and 8. Knowing Jason David isn't out there anymore and assuming they might meet a little more resistance in the secondary, the Texans decide to keep it on the ground, and instead, make a mockery of the Saints run defense. Taylor had his choice of holes to run through for the last half of the drive. Add that to the poor cornerback play toward the beginning of the drive and you've got the makings of an awful defensive showing.

I'm starting to like this guy. (Getty Images)

Saints Offense First Drive

• Stecker has two decent runs for 5 and 8 yards. He's actually got some decent sized holes to run through as the offensive line gets some good pushes.
  
• Brunell throws to the right side and finds Billy Miller wide open. Miller, sadly, drops a pass that any of us could have caught. I say that with a decent amount of confidence.
  

Review: This drive is only three plays but still revealing. I feel about Stecker the way I feel about Pierre. The guy has done nothing but prove himself worthy yet he stays under utilized. The only other explanation would be that our second team offensive line is more dominant then Houston's second team defensive line which would be pretty good news itself. All of that happiness is quickly lost when Billy Miller blows a sure thing and the thought of the Saints leading the league in dropped passes again causes me to throw up a bit in my mouth. Watching the game the first time, I didn't notice the myriad of dropped passes.

Saints Defense Second Drive

• Texans start on their 39 with a run up the middle but Kendrick Clancy is having none of that. He gets a great jump off the line and manhandles his lineman, getting into the backfield and making the tackle for a loss of 1. Very nice play by Clancy.
  
• Second play and McCray blows by his man on the outside. Dude has got a motor. So fast in fact, he yet again overshoots and tries to catch Rosenfels from behind. Rosenfels does his best Favre impression and overhand shovel  passes it to Slaton for a couple of yards. Jo-Lonn Dunbar is all over it and stop him immediately.
• Rosenfels drops back to pass and its more great pressure from McCray and Josh Savage. Both overshoot (McCray overshoots, Savage might have been blocked away). McCray almost gets his hand on the ball as the pass is released. The pass is into almost triple coverage by the Saints and Craft leaps in front of it as the interception goes off his hands and eludes him. He probably should have actually come up with it. Texans punt.
  

Review: Best defensive series of the night. In fact, this was the first time the Texans punted. McCray and Savage look pretty good. McCray needs to control himself a little more. Hope is out there.

Moore is like a vacuum. (Getty Images)

Saints Offense Second Drive

• Saints start from their 18. The first play is a Brunell pass for 13 yards to Lance Moore. The announcer says the same thing I always do, "...Lance Moore who simply catches everything thrown his way..."
• On the next play, Lance Moore doesn't make the catch. However, its thrown behind him and a defender is all over him and gets a hand on the ball. Brunell mouths, "My bad Lance" and taps himself on the chest.
• Stecker gains 5 yards through some decent holes. This is so backwards. The first team should be opening holes like this.
  
• Andy Alleman: false start.
• Brunell throws a nice pass to the right for Terrance Copper and a gain of 17. I remember this pass during the game. Brunell put some mustard on this one and I remember thinking the old guy still has some left in the tank.
  
• More Stecker. This time 7 yards after cutting back to the right and finding a hole. That is followed by a 2 yard run up the middle.
• Alleman: false start.
• Brunell and Moore connect for 42 yards on what seems to be the same play Brees and Patten connected on earlier. The results are identical. Moore streaks down the left side line, totally beating his man, getting separation and makes an over the shoulder grab that is perfectly placed by Brunell. Is this guy our backup? Saints on the 6.
  
• Two plays later (one a defensive penalty) and Brunell connects on a bootleg left with FB Kevin Dudley.

Review: Lance Moore might make a good replacement for Devery Henderson. Pretty darn good drive for the second team offense. Alleman surely got a mouthful from Payton on the sideline.

Don't know how they got this picture. He didn't have too much to celebrate. (Getty Images)

Saints Defense Third Drive

• Texans immediately get to work carving up our secondary some more as Rosenfels hits David Anderson for 43 yards to the Saints 34 yard line. It was Tracy Porter's man but Porter slips and allows the receiver to get 5 yards of separation. David Roach comes in to help but does an very poor job of tackling and its Porter who has to hustle to catch Anderson and take him down.
• Slaton between the tackles. Orien Harris with the tackle
• Aaron Glenn gets beat when Rosenfels rolls out and completes an out route just before the sideline. This play killed us all night. I hope they work on it this week.
• After a nice run stop, the Saints defensive line gets pushed around and Slaton makes it look easy up the right side through a huge hole. 

Review: Just more crap from the defense. Not much to say about this drive. I think Porter's injury is definitely hampering his play. I am trying to be optimistic here guys! By the way, because of his performance in this game Slaton earned the right to start Houston's next game against the Cowboys.

Saints Offense Third Drive

• Meachem makes his first catch of the night for 11 yards.
• Jermon Bushrod: false start.
• Pierre Thomas gets a nice chunk of 9 yards.
• After a bad, uncatchable throw that was over Robert Meachem's head on the previous play, Brunell gets tripped up and taken down from behind. It was Zach Strief who slips in the backfield and allows his man to get past him and make the sack. Saints must punt and its a nice one from Waylon Prather for 60 yards. It's downed on the 3.
  

Review: Nothing special on this drive, but they've been doing a pretty good job so I'll cut them some slack.

Saints Defense Fourth Drive

• From deep in their own zone the Texans start. Alex Brink comes in to quarterback. Completes a 4 yarder after scrambling. Orien Harris with the tackle.
  
• Brink continues to throw all over us like his two predecessors this evening by completing a 8 yard pass on 3rd and 6 and converting yet another third down. Craft was on the coverage.
  
• Slaton runs up the right side and the Saints look weak in trying to take him down.
  
• Slaton right side for only 1 yard. Orien Harris with the tackle.
• Brink sneaks it for the first. Then, on first down, Slaton left side for 1 yard. Orien Harris with the tackle. You getting the point?
• Brink botches the hand off and the Texans lose 11 yards.
• 3rd and 20 as Slaton gets another 11 yards through a giant hole. Texans must punt.

Review: Orien Harris shows up on the stat sheet with six tackles for the night and the team leader for the second time in a row. Some of those tackles were nothing special and just being at the right place at the right time, though that does take some skill. Not sure what kind of chance this kid has of making the team but he sure does take his shots in the limited amount of time he's gotten in these first two games. The defensive line continues to get pushed around. Please tell me that Houston's O-line is just that good.

Saints Offense Fourth Drive

• Saints start off from their own 16 yard line. Palko now in for the black and gold. He starts of with a pass to Moore for 10 yards.
• Palko does a nice Michael Vick impression and dances along the sideline but a Bushrod holding penalty brings it back.
• Six yards for Pierre Thomas on a catch and run.
• Zach Strief: false start.
• Tyler throws wide out of bounds intended for Copper. After the play he points to his head and mimes to the sideline that he didn't hear the play call. I'll give him that one.
• Meachem is open over the middle and jumps as high as he can. Unfortunately, its not high enough as Palko's throw sails way high.
  
• Saints decide to go for it on fourth down. After the announcers remark how Payton probably wants something positive for Palko to end the game on, he throws a short dump pass off his back foot to a wide open Billy Miller. It hits the ground in front of Millers outstretched hands. Poor throw.
  

Review: Well this wasn't a good drive at all. Penalties killed this drive as they did earlier in the game. Stupid penalties are commonplace during pre-season football but that doesn't make them alright. Strief, Bushrod and Alleman all had two each. That's a quick way to piss off a coach and make him think long and hard about cutting you. Palko looked like crap but I am willing to chalk it up to the fact that he just came off the bench and had no time to get into a rhythm. His mechanics looked bad and to be honest, I'm not really sure where this Payton pet project is going. The scramble and the run down the sideline looks good, though didn't count, and he didn't bobble any snaps, so good news there.

The Texans ran three run plays just to run out the clock so we don't need to discuss that. Of course your thoughts and opinions are welcomed and encouraged.

Those of you who know me (in the internet sense of the word) know that I talk "business" sometimes. I wanted to give you guys all a shout out because participation has definitely been on the rise. Glad to see a lot of lurkers or shy people out there getting involved in the conversation. That's what this thing is all about. For those of you out there who are still "just browsing" you don't have to worry. We won't bite. Hard. (sorry, had to) In all seriousness, if you think you don't know what you're talking about or you're scared someone might make fun of you, you should be. And then you should remember that it's the internet and nobody has any idea who you are. This whole thing is about the sharing of information and the uniting of people with a common interest love obsession. Make your contribution and put your stamp on this website. The more the merrier. As I said earlier, things are coming along great and the community is ever growing, but it can always be better. If you've read CSC/The Chronic for a while, you may get the impression that I am pretty much never satisfied, and you'd be right, so get off your butt and say something. I promise you will be welcomed warmly. The season is almost here and it's going to be a good one with lots to talk about. The only thing missing is you!

    It's time to put last weeks performance behind us and move on to our next challenge, the Houston Texans. Last years matchup against Houston still makes my blood boil when I think about it. If, for some reason, you ever get nostalgic and start missing Eric Johnson on our team, just watch that game and I promise you, sympathy is not one of the emotions you will feel. The picture becomes clearer with each game and with the return of Devery Henderson, Marques Colston and the one and only Deuce McAllister combined with Tracy Porter's first appearance, more answers will be revealed as we get ever closer to the season. 

    Below is what to keep your eye on during this weeks game and what the Saints need to do to improve on last weeks performance.

Running Backs Deuce is loose baby!! Coach Payton said himself that he expects D Mac to strap it up this weekend for the first time since that fated MNF game (you've never heard 70,000 people get so quiet so fast). How scary cool will it be to finally see Deuce take a hand off in an actual game situation. There is a good chance we will see a deluge of articles from the media this week about Deuce's return, so prepare yourself. Personally, I say they ought to put Deuce and Pierre out there with the first team just to see what would happen. Put Reggie out in the second half with all of the third stringers and let him go nuts. Now that would be interesting. It might actually look like his USC highlight footage. C'mon, it's pre-season, lets mix it up a bit. In all seriousness though, this is our first chance to get a glimpse of Deuce and maybe get a feel for what we can expect out of him this season. This team really needs to step up its running game this year or we are doomed to mediocrity and a dose of Deuce, healthy of course, would do wonders. Hopefully we see some big runs. Pierre will probably yet again over achieve, have a great game and still get no love in regards to first team reps.

Bush has something to prove. (Photo Source)

Reggie Bush Why didn't I just include him in the running back paragraph above? One word: revenge. I don't care what Reggie says, he wants to show everyone that the Texans made a mistake by passing him up and that he is the real number one draft pick from 2006, even if it is just pre-season. He might only play a quarter or so, but he will no doubt be looking to show off his moves and prevent further articles, like this one, to be written. Nothing would make Saints fans happier then to see Reggie run right over Mario Williams and into the end zone.

Cornerbacks We didn't see much in game one from anyone and I think more questions were raised then were actually answered. Certainly nobody stepped up and wowed us. I'm not okay with the "Our defense just needs to be mediocre because our offense is so good" philosophy some people have. We need to be a little bit better than average. I certainly don't think average defenses win Super Bowls. It sure would be nice to see these guys not only break up passes but make big plays and force turnovers. Again, this is where I will be paying close attention. Tracy Porter will be making his debut after missing last week. He certainly has some ground to make up and nothing would help his cause more than a big game on Saturday night. Randall Gay needs to atone for getting caught in soft coverage last week. Usama Young keeps getting some good press but still hasn't seemed to take that next step. He's got a good chance to start but at some point he needs to come up big in an actual game and say, "I'm here, and I'm not going away. You will notice me."

Receivers Of course, everyone will be looking to see if Meachem can repeat last weeks performance and prove he ain't no flash in the pan. Unfortunately, that will be pretty tough. As long as he looks decent, I will be satisfied. This should continue to be the most interesting battle of the pre-season. There are a lot of players on the bubble and they will all be hungry. Devery Henderson will be good to go and he's got a lot of ground to make up. Terrance Copper, Lance Moore and Skyler Green all want to have big games. This position took a hit this week however when Adrian Arrington was diagnosed with turf toe. Just when it was getting good! One of the local news stations here reported that it was more serious then originally reported and the IR list might very well be in AA's near future. Saints fans should talk solace, however, in the fact that beloved Marques Colston will be participating in this weekends showdown.

Offensive Line Some better blocking than what we saw last week would be nice. Early reports from this weeks practices with the Texans seem to allude to the fact that Houston's D-line was looking much better than the Saints O-line and thats not surprising. Houston has a pretty darn good front four so I would say anything better than average from our linemen should be pretty promising. We all know an improved running game is pertinent for the Saints chances of success this season and would make a great complement to our awesome aerial attack and it all starts with the big guys up front. If the Saints get into a goal line situation like last week, make sure to watch for better results and a bigger push this time around.

The Return Game It would be sweet to see Jason David back returning a punt just out of pure curiosity. I will be the first to admit I'm a bit skeptical. It's entirely possibly this is a last ditch effort for the coaching staff to find a reason to keep JD on this roster and that his pass coverage just ain't cuttin' it. We should be seeing some Skyler Green back there as well. These punt returns are actually very important to the players trying to make this team and they will be very hungry so it will be exciting to watch.

Defensive Line Pressure!! Last week looked good so let's keep it up. Sedrick Ellis should build more confidence with each game so lets hope to see better play from him. Again, its all about seeing improvement from week to week and with a decent showing in the first game, the pressure is on. Pun intended. A sack or two would certainly be nice.

Quarterback Tyler Palko better not even think about bobbling a snap!

No Injuries Please.

This is probably everything everyone will be discussing in the media leading up to the game. Feel free to add your own thoughts and observations.

The team has off today as they make their way back to Metry. Having gotten a clearer picture of just what this team looks like, I thought what better time to throw out another attempt at predicting just who will make this team of 53 and who wont. This, of course, is meant to spark conversation and your input is welcomed and awaited. Where did I go wrong and where did I go oh...so...right? Let us all know what you think about who makes what will inevitably be the greatest Saints team of all-time.

Offense

Defense

Special Teams

Here is my thinking on some of this:

• Brian Young's health concerns me. If it continues to be spotty, the staff may say to hell with it and go with one of the other talented options in Antwan Lake and Orien Harris.
• I went with Reis over Roach at safety.
• Yeah, I went with six receivers. Copper and Moore both contribute on special teams. Skyler Green was so close I practically flipped a coin for this one.
• I only went with one fullback. We should expect better blocking from our tight ends. Maybe keep another fullback on the practice squad in case Karney is injured.
• Jason David is still around. I just don't think the coaches are going to give up on him. I don't really feel we have seen enough from Tracy Porter, but I gave him a shot anyway.

For a good laugh, compare it to my roster prediction back in May. Also check out  how much nicer looking my tables have become. We've come so far.

The floor is now open. Take it away.

This will be the only practice of the day since Coach Payton has canceled this afternoon's practice.

Must Reads

Fox 40's offensive notes form the morning practice.

Fox 40's defensive notes from the morning practice.

New Orleans Saints official website report from the morning practice.

Times-Pic's notes from the morning practice.

Larry Holder's notes from his blog.

Here is the transcript of Coach Payton's press conference today, per the New Orleans Saints official website.

Opening Statement: The afternoon practice today is cancelled. We’ll go two tomorrow. We livened it up a little bit this morning and got some full contact work, which was good. Andy Alleman has a hip contusion; he didn’t go and I think he should be ready tomorrow. Adrian Arrington is still working with the turf toe – it’s pretty serious. Bobby McCray should be ready tomorrow – he didn’t practice. Jeremy Shockey – the same way, did not practice. Brian Young – the same. We signed long snapper Ryan Senser who we had at the beginning of camp and James Reed was placed on reserve/injured with the Achilles injury he had yesterday. Our numbers are still at 80.

Q: Is Adrian Arrington still at camp?

A: Yes. He was in the training room because of the nature of his injury. It’s pretty significant; it’s going to be a little bit here for him. It will be at least a week. We’ll see where we’re at then.

Q: What exactly is Arrington’s injury?

A: It’s a grade two turf toe, which is the ligament below the big toe. He hurt in the game the other night and he’ll have to rehab that.

Q: Terrance Copper had his leg wrapped in practice. Is he alright?

A: He’s fine.

Q: Did Reed tear his Achilles?

A: He tore his Achilles yesterday.

Q: There was a lot of emphasis on the run today in practice. Is that more for the defense?

A: It was for the offense as well. We went in with the idea that we’d back off this afternoon and we wanted to have a physical practice in the running game. You get accustomed to this “full-go up” and then when you go live, it changes things. I wanted to see the backs finish and people on the back end with their run fits, and I think we got good work. Guys stayed healthy and played hard on both sides.

Q: How has Jason David looked? Has he improved since last year?

A: He’s doing well. I think so.

Q: Will there be meetings this afternoon or are the players completely off?

A: There will be a normal meeting schedule this afternoon and evening; that’s the same. They’re just going to be off their feet and we’ll have two practices tomorrow.

Q: Do you think you need to be better in short yardage than you were last year?

A: Our short yardage numbers last year were pretty good. There were goal line situations that concerned me a little bit more that come to mind. One was against Philadelphia at the end of the season where we got stopped on three plays, and it’s definitely an emphasis. It’s hard in training camp to get all the work, but the preseason games give you an opportunity to see where you’re at. But both goal line and short yardage need to be areas that we operate efficiently in; especially the goal line. If you look at last year’s numbers, that’s an area that I think we can do better in – our goal line running game.

Q: In short yardage defense, how much of it depends on the defensive tackles getting push at the point of attack?

A: It’s a push both ways. You’re pushing offensively and defensively you’re having to fit your gap and get penetration. Part of it is the scheme you choose to do with your running game, but part of it is that 1-2 and being physical. It was good to get some of that today. Some of it came up in the script where it just happened to be third-and-one as we moved the ball. Again, getting off the field on third-and-one defensively is critical and being able to convert those downs offensively as well. Knowing that there is a good chance that you’re going to run the football and the defenses know that and still being able to get the yard-and-a-half that you need is important.

Q: Did we see Thursday night just how valuable Mark Campbell can be?

A: He’s coming off of a year without playing, so I was encouraged in that first preseason game to see him make some tough catches, take some hits and get up. I thought he did pretty well for the first preseason game. He’s done a good job.

Q: Was that your high school coach out there today?

A: No, he was here this week and left yesterday. Bill Mallory – who used to be the head coach at Indiana University came in yesterday and will be here for a few days. I think that’s who you saw out there today. Bill’s son is with us as the assistant special teams coach, Mike Mallory. He knows a few of the guys on this staff and he’s come to visit with us, which has been good.

Q: Who has been consistently getting good performance reviews in the offensive line/defensive line areas?

A: I thought Jonathan Goodwin had a good game the other night. Jon Stinchcomb has been solid. Those guys up front have been pretty solid. There are some things that we needed to clean up with the second group. Jammal Brown has had a good camp and he’s healthy. This time last year he had that injury and that kind of set him back a few weeks to the start of the season. He’s healthy now and he’s had his best offseason since we’ve been here and I think that’s carried over to how he’s playing. Defensively, we have some guys that are nicked up in Brian Young and Bobby McCray, but both ends – Will Smith and Charles Grant – are healthy. Sedrick Ellis is getting a lot of work and a lot of reps and Kendrick Clancy is doing a good job. He’s in there battling with Hollis Thomas and he’s been consistent. We have a lot of time still and a lot of practices left. We’ll have two tomorrow and then break camp and the focus then goes to Wednesday’s and Thursday’s practices with the Texans as we prepare to play them then on Saturday night.

Q: Do you see Carl Nicks as competing for a starting role?

A: He has a chance to compete. We wanted to get the 1s going and then at some point get Nicks some reps with that group because he also had to go to tackle in the later part of the game. In order to get him some work at guard, we did it a little earlier. He’s big and he’s done some good things. Mentally, there are some things that he has to work on. He had a (mental error) in the game the other night that Reggie Bush turned into a big run. As a rookie, there are some positives but there’s still a lot of work ahead of him to develop. He has size and he’s powerful.

Q: Who do you see as being the key figures in the punt and kick return game at this point?

A: There are three or four guys that we’re going to look at as punt returners: Reggie Bush, Lance Moore, Skyler Green, and then we’re going to look at Tracy Porter and Jason David. In the kick return game, you saw Pierre Thomas the other night with a big play, Aaron Stecker, Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson – all of those guys throughout this preseason are going to be called on to get work.

Q: Do you see Green and Moore competing for one spot?

A: I don’t know if it’s just those two competing for one spot. Certainly Skyler is competing for a roster spot and Lance is competing both at the receiver and the returner spot. There’s a lot of competition there and you have to take into account what these guys can do on special teams when it comes to your final 53.

Q: What would set one of the two kickers apart if they’re playing for one spot?

A: One thing about the kickers is that you can really chart every kick in practice and in scrimmages and then in the games and begin to get percentages to understand a) their accuracy when it comes to field goals and PATs, and then b) their kick hang-time and location when it comes to kickoffs. That’s unlike a lot of other positions, so there is a little bit more exactness to their performance and that’s a good thing. Over a period of time – and what’s important is time – through training camp and preseason week one, two and three, you begin to get an idea of who is batting at a higher percentage and that’s important when it comes to evaluating that position.

Q: So it’s a lot more intricate than just missed and made field goals?

A: It’s a confidence level as to what their efficiency is. When it comes to the preseason games, you don’t have the same percentages. Maybe Mehlhaff just had one kick the other night and that’s it. But every kick they kick out here in practice is charted, so I think they understand that not only is it charted but the snap-hold time is charted and you begin to know fairly soon as to who has been more consistent. That being said, I think both of them are in a strong battle. Both of them are competing and the good news is that they have three-and-a-half more weeks still with more games to play and more practices. It might be a little bit easier to evaluate that position than some others that might be a little bit more nebulous.

Q: How much patience do you have with that? It seems that Gramatica has been more consistent but does Mehlhaff being the rookie with potential carry extra weight in the decision?

A: I think it’s really important for us to play the best player. Martín has been consistent. When we brought him in last year, he came in in a tough situation and did a good job. For Taylor’s case, he has a challenge to beat out a player like that. He has to beat him out. I think both of those guys are doing a good job right now, so we’ll see.

Q: With Arrington’s injury keeping him out for a while, have you had enough of a chance to evaluate him at this point?

A: Even in the minicamps he had done a lot of things that had encouraged us and again early in this camp. He had a slight hamstring which kind of slowed him down some, but I like the prospect. He’s big and he’s smart and he knows what we’re doing. The key is just getting healthy and that’s tough.

Q: Can you discuss the contributions of Scott Fujita since you acquired him?

A: He is somebody both Gary (Gibbs) and I both had with the Cowboys and he was a free agent when we came here and we signed him. He’s played outside linebacker. He’s somebody that has really had to earn a lot. He was a walk on in college and a late draft pick in Kansas City. He’s been a guy that’s worked hard, detailed his assignments and he’s one of the veteran players on this team. Still, there are certain areas and specifics you’re looking for improvement on, but he does provide veteran leadership and is one of our core players.

Q: Can you discuss how he is so consistent?

A: He keeps himself in shape, he works hard in the offseason. He’s a good athlete who’s big and has range. There are things he’ll give you and things he’ll continue to work on and improve. He’s been a good acquisition for us.

Q: You hear a lot about Fujita, Jonathan Vilma and Mark Simoneua, what about Scott Shanle and his play?

A: He had a good game the other night and he’s playing well. He has good foot speed, he runs well, is athletic and gives you good nickel snaps. He’s had a good camp, he’s stayed healthy, so that’s been encouraging.

Q: Is the kicking competition close and would you consider keeping both on the roster?

A: I think you consider that. But until you get to those final cuts until you look at the comparison at that point you are comparing the second kicker to someone else who will get a certain number of snaps. Right now the competition’s close. That’s something that down the road will become one of the tough decisions we will have to make. Right now, it is a competition that is very close that you potentially weigh in. The challenge isn’t keeping two on the 53 (man roster). The challenging is keeping two active when you go from 53 to 46. That’s the trick, because now when you get to that 46, if you’re taking two kickers, which we’ve done before, now you’re taking one less tight end or one less cornerback. That’s the trick.

Q: Is it impossible to now stash guys on injured reserve due to rules changes?

A: You have your practice squad and you have your active roster. Your practice squad doesn’t secure a player. A player on the practice squad can be claimed by any team. The key is the player receiving enough reps and us receiving enough looks to make the proper evaluation. The thing that keeps you up at night right now is knowing you have some decisions to make and wanting to make the right one.

Q: Dallas gave the kicking job to a rookie last year and other teams like New England have done so in the past. As a head coach, knowing that you play only 16 games and the magnitude of each game, are you a little concerned about going with a rookie?

A: I’m not concerned with giving any job to a rookie if we’ve seen enough, like we did with Marques Colston. You can’t completely compare a receiver to a kicker, but we saw enough from Colston to feel like he was playing better than the starter playing ahead of him. It’s the moment of truth where you make the decision and you that what you have gotten is what you will receive during the season. At some point, and I’m not talking about Taylor (Mehlhaff), these kickers started somewhere. Somebody had to say that he’s going to kick for our team whether they were rookies or maybe they didn’t kick their first year. At some point, a coach said that one of these guys was going to be his kicker and then you go from there. We’re going to try to keep the one who’s most consistent and not factor in that one’s been a draft pick and one hasn’t. That’s been our approach. Those two guys both know that. The key for us is to make the right decision based on what we’ve seen.

Q: Don’t you leave yourself open to second guessing if you keep one and make the wrong decision?

A: Not just with kickers. We signed (Olindo) Mare last year and we had success the year before with (John) Carney and it didn’t work out. There’s reason to criticize and ask if we had done it over again would we have done the same thing? Probably not. You try to make the best decision based on your evaluation and what you think will help the team with these cuts coming.

Q: Do you think about that decision a lot?

A: Yes, everyday. I think about these decisions everyday. That decision is one of these decisions. I think about how the running back position will shape up. I think about how the corners will shape up and how it will sort out at tight end. Within each group, you begin to look at how you see this roster taking place without trying to pre-evaluate and really go by what you see. Fortunately we still have a long way to go here in the preseason. Hopefully the decisions will become clearer.

Q: What is the injury that has kept Jeremy Shockey off the field for much of camp?

A: It’s still his lower leg/ankle. It’s the injury he had in New York. He’s battling through it and just getting himself to where he feels 100 percent. Today we had contact, he’s part of the walk throughs. I think we’re getting to where we’ll have him full go. I don’t know that we’ll have him for the Houston game, but I think after that for those last two preseason games you see him with no limit at all. That’s kind of been the goal with him. He’s doing fine. He’s picking things up and he’s going to give us a boost when he gets in there.

Q: How did Usama Young grade out in the last game?

A: Pretty well.

Q: Is he getting a look because he’s an unknown commodity?

A: He played some nickel for us last year, so he’s in the mix there with those guys. He’s big, he’s physical and he’s in his second year now.

Q: Can you discuss the large number of snaps on defense and special teams he received?

A: He received a lot and when you take out (Mike) McKenzie and (Tracy) Porter out and all of a sudden you look at those numbers. (Jason) Craft received a lot of reps. Aaron Glenn received a lot of reps. There are players injured behind them, like at receiver. Terrance Copper was in the 30’s (reps). That’s a lot for a guy like him. With guys that are injured at some of these positions, it just forces you to play some players maybe more than you normally would.

Q: Is Mike McKenzie still progressing along the lines of where you want him to?

A: Yes, he was full go in the drills today. I don’t know if he made any tackles, but he was in the drills. He’s getting there.

Q: Is he fluid and are you satisfied with his progress?

A: Yes, he’s getting there. I don’t know if he’s 100 percent yet, but he’s getting there.

From the New Orleans Saints official website.

Most of the guys except for Adrian Arrington will be back this afternoon. Adrian Arrington has the turf toe. He might be a couple of days (out) or even longer. Josh Bullocks will practice this afternoon after not practicing in the morning. Bobby McCray has a bruised ankle. He’ll practice we think in the afternoon. Mike McKenzie will practice in the afternoon. David Patten will practice in the afternoon. Josh Savage probably won’t. He has a shoulder problem suffered prior to the game and it’s still aggravating him. Jonathan Vilma will practice in the afternoon. Brian Young will practice in the afternoon. We signed wide receiver Joe West and waived Wale Dada. Our numbers are still at 80. It will be good to get a group of these guys together at practice this afternoon when we put the pads on.

Q: What is your overview of the game after viewing the game film?

 I was pleased with our effort. I thought our guys played hard and there was a lot of hustle. You could see that not only with the offense and defense, but when you watch the special teams tape, I felt we did a good job. I was encouraged with how we played in the kicking game. We had one big return and we did a pretty good job in coverage. I think that there are some things from alignment and assignments that we have to clean up, mistakes that will haunt you in a regular season game and we spent some of the morning practice working on those now. By and large after the first week, the good news is that we still have three more preseason games and we’re going to need those practices and those games to make the changes and improvements as we move forward. I was pleased with the effort.

Q: Did you finally see what Robert Meachem can do?

It was real encouraging. For a young player, you receive more confidence when you play like that. He came up big with the post route that he dove and caught and later on he turned that crossing route into a touchdown. Those are all positive signs. He played very well, that was encouraging.

Q: Did anybody stand out on the offensive and defensive line?

I thought Jonathan Goodwin played well out front. He was a guy that graded out well when Doug (Marrone) went through the grades offensively. Defensively, I thought early on we did a good job of stopping the run. The guys on the defensive front got behind the quarterback a couple of times. He stepped up and made a pas. I thought we played with good energy on both fronts. The encouraging thing was that it didn’t appear to be too sloppy. We had one substitution problem, but by and large, guys were on the field that needed to be on the field. We had two quarterback-center exchange issues that bothered me that we have to get cleaned up, that can really hurt you in a regular season game, but both fronts played with good energy and that was good.

Q: Can you identify whey Tyler Palko has that problem so often?

I don’t know that we specifically know why but we need it corrected, because it happened with two centers. We have to a better job of seating the ball probably and not pulling out too soon. That’s something we’ll work on with him.

Q: What do you need for Robert Meachem to do to attain the third receiver slot?

I think continued improvement on all the details such as route running, the exactness of the positions. The plays he made the other night were encouraging.

Q: Will Deuce McAllister and Marques Colston practice this afternoon?

They’ll also go this afternoon.

Q: Is there another dimension on this team that hasn’t been shown yet, because of the lost or hurt players?

I think it’s like most teams right now. You play your first preseason game and your list of guys not playing is probably fairly long. You hope it’s not too big and the key is getting these guys back and getting them healthy and starting the season healthy. That’s the biggest thing. We’re not holding anything back. Other players are getting a chance to see reps though. I was glad to see (David) Patten, (Terrance) Copper and Lance Moore go in with the first group, function with (Drew) Brees, as well as to see (Robert) Meachem play. It just gives other guys a chance to get more reps and that’s a good thing in the preseason. It’s important for us to have all our guys ready for the season.

Q: What does Devery Henderson have to do to retain his spot in the rotation at wide receiver?

I think he’s competing like the rest of these guys, not just for playing time, but he’s competing for touches. There are only so many passes and only so many plays in a game. I think with him, it’s getting healthy and getting back into the swing of practice. I think all of these guys want to play their best and for the guys that are injured, the challenge is the time they missed, catching up and not becoming too rusty. His hamstring is doing better. He’ll go this afternoon and I think he’s doing better.

Q: Would you like to see these players that have been hurt step up and be more active?

Of course.

Q: Is there a mandate that they pick it up?

There’s no mandate; these guys are injured players. You want your injured players to get healthy, and then when they’re healthy you want to be able to practice with them. What you don’t want is to put an injured player on the field too early and then have him out for a month. The key is to go through the correct rehab and go through the correct treatment, get them healthy and have them start practicing again. That’s where we are. The encouraging thing is that for a lot of these guys, we’ll have them back this afternoon and we’ll see where we are.

Q: Will Jeremy Shockey be full-go as of now?

He’s probably going to be on a one-a-day schedule. He’s getting there. He’s certainly a lot better off today than he was a week ago.

Q: Were the two failed fourth downs in the game a result of missed assignments?

 The run was a missed assignment. We let a linebacker come through a gap and he made the tackle for a loss. On the fourth-and-one pass, we just have to do a little bit better job with execution and exactness within the route. Those are easy calls to make in the preseason; more difficult in the regular season.

Q: Will Shockey do team work this afternoon?

Yes.

Q: Is the plan for him to do more of that this week?

He should with a number of these other guys practicing once-a-day. That’s the plan right now.

Q: Are you concerned with the amount of time that Brian Young has missed in the last year?

He’s going to obviously need to get reps. He’s a quick study but he’s just fighting the knee right now. We’ll see where he is. Again, we have a lot of time here. We have four weeks before we play a regular season game. With a guy like Brian Young, the key is making sure that we’re keeping him up to speed with what we’re doing – and that comes fairly easy for him – and then just getting him the reps he needs. I quite certain that he’s going to be ready by the time we start.

Q: Were you pleased to see the Cardinals defer after the coin toss?

Barring any weather, I think the easiest thing to do is to just take the ball and that hasn’t changed. If we win the toss, we’ll probably end up taking the ball. If the weather is an issue, we could defer, but we were playing inside.

Q: How did the defensive helmet communication work in the game?

It was pretty smooth. Everything seemed to go pretty well. Mark Simoneau had it for the first part of the game and then Marvin Mitchell after that. I thought Mitchell played pretty well the other night and he had it for the latter part of the game.

Here are some initial observations after having watched the game twice (Tivo is a bloggers best friend). All discussion, agreement and disagreement is welcome.

This was the play of the game. (Associate Press)

Wide Receiver Battle Heats Up This will no doubt be what everyone is talking about today. David Patten should feel like a proud pop after Meachem's performance last night. We know the veteran receiver has been Meachem's biggest supporter and last night all their workouts together paid off. Meachem was just plain nasty! The first catch, an over the shoulder grab on an overthrown ball showed us just how much talent he has. The touchdown grab in the fourth quarter displayed his YAC ability after a spin move and a stiff arm helped him gain another 54 yards after the catch.

Meachem's performance last night was promising to say the least. It's his second year so that rookie buzz doesn't surround him anymore but it would be fair to view him as just that, a rookie. Saints fans should count their blessings because not very often do we have the pleasure of seeing two first round draft picks make their NFL debuts in one season. We should expect a lot out of this kid. Coming off a season when the Saints had the  number one offense in the league, Payton <em>still</em> used a first round pick on Meachem, so you better damn well believe he had a reason. That being said, we need to remember that this was just one game and pre-season games should never be used as accurate measuring tools. Meachem faced some pretty weak tackling.

Adrian Arrington also stepped it up last night and showed us why we have been talking about him the last two weeks of training camp. One of his two catches was nice as he came back to the ball and got his body in front of the defender.

That being said, the wide receiver battle has gotten more interesting. Meachem and Arrington both having good games means Copper, Moore, Henderson, Green and Blythe are in trouble.

Pass Rush The pass rush looked much improved. We seemed to be a step quicker and got much more pressure and penetration. Nothing amazing from Sedrick Ellis but I think he will be fine. One thing I am worried about, however, with our new pass rush that I noticed last night. Sending everyone over the line is risky. When you get good penetration in the backfield, you really have to get to the quarterback quickly otherwise the space behind those defensive linemen opens up. If a quarterback can get a short pass off quick enough, they can exploit this gap, dink and dunk, and allow the receiver to pick up lots of extra yardage after the catch. This was the case on several big plays early in the game last night.

Other random notes:

• The Saints got off to a great start, their first drive going for 80 yards. 25 of those were on penalties however.
• Brees of course was solid going 6/7 for 40 yards. The throw to Patten was pure beauty. The new goatee, however, is not. My fiance and I disagree on this point, as she liked Drew's younger new look. What does she know, she has poor taste in men!
• I am pleased with Bush's performance. Reggie tried between the tackles quite a few times but not much was to be gained. In fairness, the line was not doing a great job of blocking. Reggie also showed some promise by breaking two decent size runs, but were both called back due to penalty. Nothing last night said this couldn't be his big year.
• Brunell was pretty good also going 10/12. Good news in the horrific event that Brees goes down. Palko is just too shaky and inconsistent
  
• Lance Moore got a shot with the first team and was fairly unimpressive. His stock may have fallen after last night.
• The first team offensive line didn't look so hot. Reggie didn't have much to work with and as usual the Saints had to get it down through the air. This really needs to be cleaned up. Our running backs can only take so much of the blame.
• Mark Campbell is making a case for the second tight end spot. He had 4 catches for 42 yards. I thought for sure we might see some Billy Miller but he was no where to be seen.
• Mark Simoneau, yet again, refuses to go down without a fight when it comes to the starting spot. Simoneau had a nice sack in the first quarter. Hopefully Vilma will get a chance to show us what he's got and make his own argument.
• Stecker looked pretty solid. More reason why I really don't think we need to even be thinking about bringing in a veteran back. I think we're covered, you just have to have faith.
• Randall Gay was doing his best Jason David impression on the defensive first series, getting beat pretty badly on one play. Usama Young had to come in to make the tackle. Please not again this year...please. Jason David was trying not to do his best Jason David impression. Honestly, I don't feel like the cornerback picture has cleared up any after last night. We did not look much improved on that end. Hopefully this gets addressed or tonights performance was an aberration.
  
• Nothing too special in the return game, certainly not on Skyler Green's part anyhow. In fact, Pierre Thomas had the best run back of the game. Nothing else impressive from Pierre unfortunately.
• Mehlhaff made his field goal but skulled a kickoff. That may have been done on purpose however. The ESPN announcers seemed to think it was Gramatica's job to lose.
• Orien Harris looked pretty good tonight as well. He and Usama led the team with five tackles.
• I am glad the two Saints MNF games are home, meaning I will be in attendance and I won't have to listen to the "fingernails scratching on a chalkboard" sound that is Tony Kornheiser's voice. I do like his Ed Hochuli banter though.