Notes from Day 11:
- Gasp! Drew threw a couple of interceptions this morning. Randall "Blue" Gay and Scott Fujita were the culprits.
- The defense out performed the offense for most of the day, particularly the front seven in the morning
- Meachem and Arrington attempted returning kicks. It wasn't too pretty.
- Billy Miller looked pretty good this morning.
- Sedrick Ellis finally got some reps with the first team.
- Colston was limping today and his knee was wrapped. I am still worried about this one and I doubt Colston will play on Thursday, though Payton says if it was a real game he could go.
- Meachem made an awesome one handed catch.
- Marvin Mitchell deflected a Brees pass.
- Deuce participated in both sessions yesterday!
- Will Smith looked good and had what would have been two sacks.
- McKenzie also looked solid, knocking two passes away.
- Arrington made a nice, outstretched catch over Jason David. Ugh.
- Drew usually picks the movies for the teams charter flights. He loves "Caddyshack" while Payton likes "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
- The interception by "Blue" was the play of the day. Credit also goes to McCray who was applying pressure.
Saints Minute. Mike Nabors. Cox Sports TV. Video. Lance Moore.
Here's your WWL Sports Talk fix. The first is the guys talking with Will Smith and the second with Mike Scarborough.
This video previews the Saints 2008 season.
Another Saints season preview from a professional handicapper. This one is from Covers.com.
On paper, at least, this team probably deserves the respect they’ve been getting both in the national media and the betting markets.
The Advocate gets us more acquainted with Pierre Thomas
“Drew came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I like what you did last year and we’re going to use you more this year,’ ” Thomas said. “I feel positive about that, especially when it’s coming from Drew Brees. Now I feel like I have a lot more weight on my shoulders because I have to stand up. I have to back myself up now.
“It puts a lot of pressure on you because that’s the quarterback. He’s the boss on the field and you have to listen to what he says. So the only thing I can do is go out there and do the job.”
“It was one game, OK,” he said without a hint of arrogance. “You need seasons of that. You need about 10 games like that, so I have a lot of work to do. But hopefully, that one game has showed people that I can play at this level and I can play a full game.”
“My ribs were real sore, but I didn’t think much about it during the week because I was getting ready to start,” Thomas said. “They said, ‘We need you.’ So I just kept practicing with it and played with it.”
“If I get in, get some snaps, I’ll be fine with like three snaps (a game),” he said. “My whole thing is helping this team out however I can. I can help the team with special teams, and if they want me in the offense, I’ll go out there and help on offense. Whatever it takes.”
“We’ve all got different styles we can use to help this offense,” he said. “Deuce, he’s the big guy. He’s going to come back and he’s going to keep punching it in like he’s been doing. Reggie is versatile, so we can used his receiver and a running back.
“Aaron and myself, we have both styles — we can punch it in the holes or bust it outside. I think we’re all lethal weapons, and that’s real good because they can use all of us.”
Getting to know Kevin Kaesviharn thanks to the Times-Pic.
"I came in last year thinking that's where I'd be," Kaesviharn said of the starting lineup. "But sometimes things change whether or not (the coaches) have confidence in you understanding the scheme or whatnot. But I've always gone into each camp preparing and planning to be the starter. And if I'm not, then at least I know that if I had the opportunity through injury or something else I'd be ready to play."
More getting to know you stuff from the Times-Pic. Here is Jonathan Goodwin.
"Coach Payton told me in the offseason it was my job to lose," said Goodwin, who signed a three-year contract in February to remain with the Saints. "He said you are my guy unless you mess it up. I wondered (if the Saints would sign another center), but I trust his word, and he gave me his word before I signed."
"The experience from last year gave me a lot of confidence," Goodwin said. "I knew I could do it, and I had confidence in myself for a long time. But last year reconfirmed that, and I think it's made this camp a lot easier for me."
"It was real tough," he said. "I'll admit myself, my first two years at guard, I struggled. Once I got to my third year I played better and I gained confidence; ever since then it was something I knew I could do, especially when I moved to center I became even more confident."
Our defensive line is going to be nasty this year. Don't believe me? Charles Grant and Will Smith do!
“The best in the business,” Grant said.
“When you bring together the best in the business and everybody gets in shape, you can be the best in the business and dominate,” Grant said.
“If we have the year we’re expecting to have, it can be unlimited,” Smith said.
Here's more about our defensive line from the Clarion Ledger.
"I played (inside) year one - me and Darren Howard," Grant said. "When we were here with Coach Has (Jim Haslett), we played inside. Me and D. Howard, we were the two d-tackles and we had two linebackers play end. So it's nothing new."
"Something real, real special," Grant said of Ellis. "In every way possible. I think he can bring a lot of electricity to this defense."
"When it comes to third down, if you just look at him and watch his moves, he does the same thing Warren Sapp did in his prime. So that's a great thing if you're a defensive end - to watch him get up that field."
"I've been through four different D-line coaches," Grant said. "(Orgeron's) game is 'get off.' A lot of the other (past) coaches here, they want you to read and run through the tight end. But his whole thing is 'get off and get to the quarterback.' "
"Run and secondary - that's what the linebackers get paid for."
Question of the Day: What position battle are you most interested in watching this Thursday?
Ya know, you guys are supposed to actually answer these questions!