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The Saints put a wrap to their practice week this afternoon indoors as heavy rains once again fell in the New Orleans metro area.

Saints head coach Sean Payton’s final injury reports lists running back Pierre Thomas will be a no go Sunday, that means Mike Bell will share the bulk of the carries with Reggie bush

Finally, Jeremy Shockey did not practice on Friday due to an ankle injury and is listed as probably for Sunday’s game. Also Payton added that left tackle Jammal Brown, who is still recovering from a sports hernia surgery, would undergo a scope procedure to his hip on Friday.

TIME TO KICK IT OFF

The regular season is finally here and the NFL 2009 season is already underway with the Super Bowl Steelers edging the Titans 13-10 in over time.

So, how will the Black and Gold do this season, will it be another disappointing underachieving year, or will we be talking about meaningful football late December and January? Like many fans and media out there, I’m in agree that the Saints have improved in some areas, add that to a group that should have performed better the previous two seasons and that makes me feel as if this is a talented team. That schedule scares me when you factor in the Saints will have to play the NFC and AFC East Divisions. The Cowboys, Redskins, Eagles, and Giants are tough teams. Dallas is the perennial team that should make the playoffs every season, Washington made the most noise spending wise this offseason, the Giants were in the playoffs last season, and Philly went to the NFC Championship game.

In the AFC East, everyone is giving the title to New England, and with the return of a healthy Tom Brady at quarterback they’ll be good, the Jets aren’t bad, heck they started out 8-3 last season. Miami won the division surprising everyone, and Buffalo well they just fired their offensive coordinator.  So six of those eight maybe seven should be competitive teams at the least, throw in the three NFC South Division opponents in Atlanta, Carolina, and Tampa, the saints will have their work cut out for them.

I believe the Saints will go 10-6 and yes that’s enough to win the NFC south. So indeed I see a playoff season. First though you got to take care of business on the field and that starts with Detroit in Week 1.

The Lions didn’t win a game last season and the saints are anywhere from a 13 to 15 point favorite. Saints players all week however have warned this ISN’T the same Detroit team the Saints embarrassed 42-7 the second to last week of the season.

Detroit has 31 new players on the current 53-man roster, a new head coach, and new starting quarterbacks in top overall pick Mathew Stafford. In fact, the theme all week at Saints camp has been not overlook this team.

“This is basically a whole other team. They don’t have many guys on this team that they had last year. They have a whole new coach, whole new atmosphere, whole new team,” says defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis. “It’s a clean slate, it’s a new year. There is no gimmes in the NFL.”

Stafford has a strong arm and played well at times in the preseason, he also has the benefit of having a very good receiver in Calvin Johnson. Johnson as a rookie had 78 catches for 1,331 yards to go with 12 touchdowns.

“Did a lot of film study on him and the biggest thing is that he’s a big strong physical guy so, you don’t want to get up in there to much and battle with him at the line of scrimmage cause if he gets that one rip on you, it can a long day for you,” says Saints cornerback Tracey Porter who also believes Stafford could use Johnson as a security blanket in the game when in trouble. “You definitely want to be on top of your P’s and Q’s when you’re on him.”

PREDICTION

As for how I see the game going on Sunday? The Saints have the better talent and should come away with a win. 31-13 is how I see it, an important win in the first quarter of the season in which the Saints play Detroit, Philly, Buffalo and the Jets. The Saints need to start 3-1 before the meat of the schedule kick in.

The Saints began their first regular season workweek indoors in shells and shorts. Head coach Sean Payton is hoping to take advantage of the bonus day this week, usually on Mondays the team just reviews game film and players receive treatments.

GEARING UP FOR DETROIT

The Saints on Sunday kick off a highly anticipated season that has many fans predicting late January football.

Detroit is looking to win its first game since 2007. The Lions went 0-16 last season, the first team to go winless in NFL history.

It didn’t take long for Saints head coach Sean Payton on Monday to be asked if he thought his team might overlook the Lions this week, in advance of next week’s Eagles game at Philadelphia. “We have players that are pretty intelligent and they understand that they need to play well to have a chance to be successful,” Payton said in his media session Monday afternoon. “This league is too good. It’s not like college where you look past someone. Every week you prepare and you focus on playing your best game regardless of who the opponent is. This is an entirely different team than a year ago when you look at the roster, the coaching staff, and the make up, it’s completely different. So the focus is really on us and playing our best football, eliminating mistakes and things that keep you from winning.”

Early odds have the Saints favored by 13 points. That line was before the Lions named Mathew Stafford, the top overall pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, as their starting quarterback, a move announced late Monday morning.

Stafford had his moments in the preseason showing off a strong arm, but also showed the usually rookie mistakes. “He’s a tremendous talent so he’s someone that you saw a lot on Georgia film do a lot of good things,” Payton said of the former Bulldog QB, whose play in the preseason as well will be used to prepare for.

PLAN IS FOR GRANT AND SMITH TO PLAY

Starting defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith practiced today as the NFL has yet to formally suspend them as their appeals have yet to be ruled on. “Right now our focus is playing them in this game until we’re told otherwise,” Payton said of the team’s approach to having them available. Typically the NFL doesn’t announce possible suspensions or moves that would put a team at a disadvantage by providing decisions early in the week. Payton feels tomorrow would be the day the league would inform him if both players were not allowed to play this Sunday.

“We’re waiting to hear from the league that’s really the proper channel. The League will keep us up to date and advised as to how to proceed, and right now we’re proceeding with the idea that these two players are playing,” Payton said.

BUSH BACK, PIERRE NOT

Running back Reggie Bush was back on the practice field for the Black and Gold, while Pierre Thomas was not seen at the facility. Payton said he would wait until Wednesday, the first day the NFL mandates teams to report injuries, to update the status of Thomas. Thomas suffered a sprain MCL against the Texans in preseason.

BUMPS AND BRUISES

CB Randall Gay was held out of practice of the flu.

Thanks Gus for another great story.

PS…   http://www.gkattsports.com/  is looking great !

Saints tight end Billy Miller’s season is likely over. Millers suffered a torn right Achilles tendon in Thursday night’s preseason finale. The injury occurred in the second quarter in the Saints 10-7 loss to the Dolphins.

Miller on Friday told media he didn’t think the injury was serious at first, “I was running a route and I thought somebody kicked me in the back of my heel,” Millers recounted. “I was laying there and just wanted to get up and didn’t necessarily have much pain at all, but after this morning it was pretty clear cut.”

On the sidelines following the injury, a tearful Miller was surrounded by many teammates expressing well wishes, a gesture that was not lost in the moment. “This locker room is my family and they understand that. If it takes my Achilles or whatever for this team to be successful I’d give them anything I got,” said Miller. “Now that I might be sidelined for a while I’m still going to the games, be as supportive as I can, and try to help some of these young tight ends out to try and make sure Shockey is not barring the whole load, and that we get some guys in there to help him.”

“It’s heartbreaking just cause you know what he means to the team. He is the prototypical guy that we look for we look for for this team,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said of Miller. “Extremely high character, nothing has ever been given to him, he’s always had to fight for every inch ever since his first game in the league. My heart goes out to him, he’s a great friend, a great teammate and I’m very confidant that he’ll come back stronger than ever. He might end up missing the whole season but he’s a guy who I know will come back better than ever.”

The Saints were thin at the tight end position prior to losing Miller. Currently the roster has just a pair of healthy tight ends in Jeremy Shockey and Buck Ortega.

A tired Saints head coach Sean Payton addressed the media Sunday morning as the team arrived back in New Orleans from a 45-7 preseason bashing of the Radiers in Oakland just after one in the morning. The Saints win set franchise records for most points and largest margin of victory for a preseason game.

Sunday Payton “I like the effort and the energy. I thought we played hard. I thought we handled the warm weather pretty well, but there are a number of things that we’re going to have to work on,” Payton said. “Fortunately we still have two weeks before we get started and I think we’ll be able to point those things out to our players.”

The Saints played as well as you could have asked for in the first half scoring 31 points by the half and getting a pair of turnover via strips of the ball. Are the Saints this good, or are the Raiders that bad? “One thing about the film of games, often times it kind of brings you back, sometime when you think you played really poor, you put the film on and you see you did some things pretty well,” Payton said of his reviewing of the game Sunday morning. “In case like yesterday, when you think you played real well, you put the tape on and there’s just a number of things that you have to clean up.”

Oakland is not a very good football team and while the Saints are undefeated in the preseason and have looked impressive, back in 2007 the team looked just as good and started the season out 0-4. “This is an entirely different team than the ’07 team. I think you’re always guarded to some degree in the preseason. I do think however my experience is, regardless of the end score, you do want to do well when your ones are in there,” says Payton. “Typically if your ones are playing well there is some carry over into the regular season vice versa if they’re not, that’s important. It’s important to look good, but that being said there’s a bunch we got to work on. I like the effort. I think there’s some things that we can coach off of that’s encouraging.”

Payton said one of the disappointments of not having more of a competitive game, was that his starters on offense didn’t get to go through a two-minute period or work on goal line plays.

BUMPS AND BRUISES

CB Usama Young landed on his shoulder early in the first quarter attempting to intercept the ball. X-Rays were negative and Young on Sunday in the Saints locker room said he’s sore and just needs to rest it. “I’m not really sure how I fell. I know it hurt when I hit the ground,” Young joked who was not in a sling after he described his shoulder as throbbing with a sling on. “I don’t think it’ll be too serious.” Payton expects Young to miss Thursday’s game to close out the preseason against Miami.

Payton said that WR Adrian Arrington and CB Greg Fassitt suffered hamstring injuries. Arrington has been hampered by a hamstring injury most of the offseason and could hamper his chances at making the roster. “I certainly think he’s one of those players that’s competing for a job so, if that’s the case then that same term on the bubble would be equivalent to competing for a job,” Payton said of Arrington’s need to play. “I think he is a player that knows he’s being evaluated and knows that theses snaps are important. You got players like Rod Harper, Skyler Green, Courtney Roby, these guys there all trying to find that nitch for that fifth receiver position, potentially that sixth one we’ll see.”

HAMILTON GETS KUDOS         

Saints running back Lynell Hamilton had 95 yards on 16 carries Saturday in Oakland. Due to injuries to running backs Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas, Hamilton got a heavy dose of work backing up starter Mike Bell. “I like the way he runs. He plays hard. He’s working hard. I don’t know if there is a player that’s worked harder in the offseason than Lynell Hamilton has,” Payton said of the back that regularly was at the facility. “I think the ball security thing is something we can coach and he can improve on. I was encouraged with how he played, how he finished runs, he ran hard.” Payton added there is a chance the team could keep four tailbacks.

BUSH TO GET WORK THURSDAY, IF HEALTHY

Payton said Sunday morning that he would like to see RB Reggie Bush get some work in Thursday night against the Dolphins. Bush has not played a down in the preseason as he’s been held as he recovers from knee surgery and now a strained calf. “I am confident he’s gotten plenty of work in the practices, but I’d like to see him get some work in this game, maybe a quarter if it’s possible. We’ll just see where he’s at and if not then we just have to be judicious as we bring him back in.”

 Thanks Gus for another article !

The Saints practiced Tuesday outdoors under cloudy skies that at times solicited remarks from those watching, that it was unseasonable cool for late August. The low humidity helped the Saints defense fly around as they enjoyed yet another dominating day.

In individual drills or team drills, defensive backs routinely knocked down balls, defensive ends put pressure on the quarterback and linebackers cause havoc. CB Randall Gay had a nice pass break up while covering WR Lance Moore. Linebacker Jonathan Vilma had a pair of interceptions. Linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar also picked off a pass in team drills.

Throughout training camp the defense has had very good days at Saints camp and in the pair of preseason games played, they have been able to get turnovers as well. An area of concern has been the slow starts however in the games.

Against Cincinnati it seemed to take a while for the defense to assert it self and in Houston last week, the Texans took the opening kickoff and scored a touchdown rather easily. What’s the problem?

“Don’t know. Honestly we don’t know,” Vilma said following Tuesday’s practice.  “We know we try to come out here and practice fast and get into the swing of things early here at practice so we’re hoping that’s going to correlate and help us in the game.”

BATTLE FOR FINAL WR SPOT

Receivers Marques Colston, Lance Moore, Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem are all secure and have roster spots at the position group. The question that’s coming up is who will pick up that fifth spot, assuming that the team keeps just have wide-outs.

Sklyer Green, Courtney Roby, Rod Harper and Adrian Arrington all are fighting for that spot. Saints head coach Sean Payton has said that the fifth receiver must be a receiver that can play special teams. Green, Roby and Harper have seen time as kick returners, while Arrington has not. Harper helped himself with a punt return for a touchdown in last week’s preseason game.

“I know we have 50 or 60 practices before preseason and only four games before the season starts. So a lot of our evaluation happens in practice,” says Harper. “I joke around with some of the guys, its like every day is a game for us. We really have to approach it like that. We have to come out and want perfection just like a game.”

Payton has said that Green has had his best camp since joining the Saints and Roby was the returner for the team in games last season. Arrington appears to be the odd man out, amazing considering that this time last season he was being talked about as a player to keep an eye on. Injuries however have hampered Arrington.

In mid camp last season, Arrington suffered a toe injury that landed him on injured reserve. Then in the offseason, he suffered a hamstring injury. “It was frustrating mainly because that fact that I had to start back from the bottom when in the first week of OTA’s I was getting reps in with the first group,” Arrington said Tuesday. “Having to sit out, other guys stepped in and I had to start back from the bottom.”

Arrington had three catches against the Texans one of those a highlight type grab, but says he knows time is running short on impressing the coaches enough to earn a spot on the roster. “We got a big log jam for that fifth wide receiver spot, hopefully they make it a sixth spot,” Arrington said chuckling. “You know you never know how that’s going to work out but my whole thing is to go out here and be consistent. Show these coaches what you can do on a daily basis and ultimately it’s in their hands from there.

I feel that every opportunity I get whether its practice or in a game, it’s huge for me. Especially have sat out so many OTAs, I feel that every opportunity that I get is needed. I’m going to go out here everyday and work my hardest, to show these coaches that I’m a guy they can have faith in that can come in that game and help the team.”

With the startes likely to play through three quarters on Saturday in Oakland, the players battling for the final spot have just a few more practices, and about four and a half quarters of football left to prove they belong.

BUMPS AND BRUISES

RB Reggie Bush, DE Charles Grant, S Darren Sharper, QB Joey Harrington, TE Billy Miller all practiced on a limited basis.

— thanks Gus !!

The team released the cornerback that made many Saints fans cringe every time an opposing quarterback threw in his direction, Monday.
In Friday night’s preseason opener against the Bengals, Bengals receivers Chad Ochocinco and Chris Henry torched David.
David started 18 games for the Saints.

“I think what you try to do is you try to evaluate a body of work and I think we feel were we’re at right now at corner,” explained head coach Sean Payton of the decision. “Certainly we’ve got more depth than we’ve had in the past, that it was a decision we wanted to make.”

Payton said the positive play of free agent cornerbacks Jabari Greer and first round pick Malcolm Jenkins makes him comfortable with the release. “One of the bad parts about business is guys get cut and things like that, but business is business,” says Jenkins. “I know he’s probably down but we can’t control anything like that.”

David never seemed to fin into the Saints defense since his arrival and many fans called for departure prior to last season. Why the decision to keep the corner around all offseason and release him now?

“We were hopeful. To his credit, battled back in practice with intensity and remained focus when he hit some of his tough periods. He had some good games for us, The Green Bay on Monday last year was probably one of his better games when he was here,” said Payton Monday afternoon. “But it’s a little combination of the players now in front of him along with the body of work for him.”

Another story from Gus –

Just a light practice for the Black and Gold on Wednesday as the team prepares to open up their preseason schedule. The big question of the day was how did the workouts of linebackers Derrick Brooks and Derek Smith go and would the team sign either?

Both players had good workouts according to coaches, yet left town without a contract.

“Those guys are both in good shape, they’re in great shape. We’re not going to do anything right yet,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton following practice. “I’ve talked to both players. We’re going to get through this game Friday and into the weekend and then make a decision in regards of what direction we want to head.”

Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams said both players were put through physical drills to assess their conditioning, and the results impressed Williams. “We worked them very hard by decision. Anytime you come in the middle of a training camp there’s catch up physically, more so than mentally. Both of those guys are pros,” commented Williams of the workout. “Both of those guys have plaid in a lot of different systems, but we needed to do a conditioning check along with that. I was very impressed with both of them.”

Payton said a decision to go with either player would be made when the staff meets on Saturday. “Neither player we’d expect to play in the game (Friday) so there’s no urgency in signing a player right now prior to two days before a game,” Payton said of the decision to not offer contracts out Wednesday. “We’ll see after Friday’s game were we’re at.”

Payton also believes contract negotiations in regards to money and length of the deal wouldn’t be the reason the team would or would not sign them. “I think that both players are hungry and looking forward to an opportunity. I don’t think that would be a big sticking point.”

NO GOZ FOR FRIDAY

Payton will hold out a few players from the preseason opener against the Bengals on Friday.

WR/KR Courtney Roby will not play as he recovers from a hamstring pull.

CB Tracy Porter and WR Lance Moore will be held out as a precaution as well.

CB Malcolm Jenkins may or may not play.  The decision will be dependent on if the coaching staff determines he’s far enough along physically to be able to play.

JENKINS IMPRESSING WILLIAMS

First round draft pick Malcolm Jenkins, a ten-day hold out, has four practices under his belt. Is that enough for him to play on Friday against Cincinnati. If the decision to sit him comes, it won’t be due to not knowing the playbook. 

“Mentally he did a lot of studying. He really did and I said that early on that he’s a sharp kid. I went through of different testing procedures and maneuvers before we kind of lined up and said he was who we wanted. He’s done a great job on staying on top of things,” complimented Williams. “ He’s meeting us at 6:30 in the morning. When I have staff meeting with the coaches, one of the DB coaches is in the staff meeting with me, the other one is with him. They’re grinding him and the thing about it is, they’re coming back to me talking about smiles on their faces about how he’s on it. He’s got it. He does a good job.”

BUMPS AND BRUISES

CB Reggie Jones went down late in practice with a serious injury. “They think it’s an Achilles, his left Achilles. We won’t know until the doctors take a peek at it but that’s the early prognosis,” Payton said after practice.”

WR Adrian Arrington took limited reps. TE Billy Miller did not practice resting a sore knee. CB Tracy Porter was held out again as he recovers from a hamstring injury. RB Reggie Bush also did not go.

Well Gus Kattengell finally got his own web site up and running, when you have a chance check it out at http://www.gkattsports.com/ its new but its coming along nicely !

Gus thanks alot for all the reports while you were getting yours up and running we look forward to a few special reports in the future !

Jenkins has 1st practice with Saints

Saints first round draft pick cornerback Malcolm Jenkins was rudely welcomed to football in south Louisiana. Jenkins during a special teams period had to take off his pads and get cold-water sponges on his neck and drink fluids due to the heat. 

According to one Saints official, the heat index on the field in the morning practice reached 124 degrees.

“I had to kind of sit out for a little bit get used to the heat and everything with the pads and you know I got back in there and finished practice,” Jenkins said of his first workout in humid conditions. “I’ve been down here working out over at Tulane in the heat trying to simulate it but you know you come out the first day and throw on these pads and a helmet with a visor and everything it adds a little bit a element to it and it’s something I got to get used to.”

Jenkins ended the longest holdout by a Saints rookie late Sunday and checked into the team hotel at 12:30am, anxious to get his pro football career started. “You know I wanted to get into camp. I was really pressuring them to try and get me in here and I didn’t want it to take as long as it did but you know business is business,” Jenkins said after practice.

Patience was the number one issue Jenkins says he had to deal with during the negotiations, as family members and his agent expressed to him that waiting for the right deal was prudent. The football player in him however was antsy, so much so that last week, Jenkins had told his representatives that he wanted to be in camp on Wednesday. “I told them that I was going to be ready to take whatever, but after talking to them and talking to my parents and things like that and just everybody advising me just to be patient for a little bit, and hold on,” Jenkins said. “Towards the end of the week things started picking up as far as the negotiations so I just let time take its toll.”

Jenkins holdout lasted 10 days and the cornerback missed a total of 14 practices. Still, the rookie believes his biggest obstacle will be conditioning and not the playbook. “I’m not behind at all. I know the playbook, studied it day in and day out. They didn’t really install anything new since the spring,” says Jenkins of what his learning curve will be. “Really I just got to catch up physically and get into football shape.”

Last year’s first round draft pick defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis said at the start of camp, his toughest challenge was getting into football shape after a long lay off. Rookies haven’t played football at an up tempo speed since the bowl season.

“Last time I had shoulder pads on was January 5^th. That’s a long lay off and to come back and not really doing anything and jump into two a days that’s a lot,” Jenkins adds. “It’s going to take me a couple of practices to catch up to speed but I’m confident it’ll be there.”

Jenkins expects to be ready for the Saints preseason opener on Friday inside the Superdome against Cincinnati and feels that despite the holdout can and will be a big contributor to the Saints on defense this season.

“My personal goals are to start. I mean I think I’m good enough to, I know they’re some good guys in front of me, everybody’s working hard so it’s not going to be something I’m just going to walk into,” says Jenkins. “My personal goal is to start, I mean I want to be the best I can be but if that doesn’t happen, I just want to contribute as much as I can.”

BUMPS AND BRUISES

CB Tracy Porter did not practice in the morning. Porter was seen with an ice pack wrapped around his right knee following Saturday’s scrimmage. Porter had no visible wraps or braces on his leg this morning.

WR/ KR Courtney Roby left practice with a slight limp following a special teams drill.

by: Gus Kattengell