New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com

25 Saints on injured list
06:30 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Mary Foster / AP Sports Writer

It was a painful day at the New Orleans Saints camp on Tuesday.

Not only did the Saints drop their preseason opener to the Philadelphia Eagles, 25 players were injured -- ranging from bumps and bruises to a group that will not be on the field Saturday when the Saints play their second game.

"That's a lot," coach Jim Haslett said.

Some of the injuries happened during practice last week, some happened in the game.

Included in the two-page injury report was quarterback Aaron Brooks, who had a neck strain but was expected to be ready to practice Wednesday.

Twelve players will be out through Saturday's game with the New York Jets. Three of those had or will have surgery -- rookie guard Chad Setterstrom on a knee ligament, tackle Scott Sanderson had a hernia repaired, and rookie tight end Spencer Frederick, who tore a knee ligament, will have surgery Wednesday.

After looking at the film of the game, Haslett had little good to say about his team's first outing.

The quarterbacks played pretty well, he said. Brooks completed 3 of 6, but had two completions nullified by penalties and two drops. In all, Saints receivers had eight drops of balls they should have caught and there were 12 missed tackles.

"We missed five tackles on one play," Haslett said. "You see a 30-yard pass or a 20-yard pass, they're all because of missed tackles. A 5-yard pass turns into 30 because you miss five tackles."

Some of the problems were caused by first game nerves of a young team. No. 1 draft pick Johnathan Sullivan was hyperventilating before the game, Haslett said.

Some were caused by players that haven't yet jelled into a team and learned to trust each other to complete their assignments, Haslett said. On defense, players panicked or tried to do the wrong thing, he said.

"You could tell why the Eagles were in the NFC championship game the last couple of years," Haslett said. "They executed really well, had a great tempo going, they got in and out of the huddle. They did the little things, they caught the balls and made the plays when they had to. We were just the opposite."

Some of the problems with tackling are because the team has done so little of it, Haslett said. He intends to add extra tackling drills this week to try to improve it.

Haslett held Deuce McAllister out of the game because he wanted to see Curtis Keaton play. Keaton was acquired from Cincinnati last year to back McAllister up, but has not been impressive. Last season Keaton played in six games -- his biggest game was 19 yards.

Although the offensive line did not open as many holes as Haslett would like, Keaton did not help himself, Haslett said.

"There's some things Curtis could have done better," Haslett said. "He could have caught the ball better, he could have run some routs better. He lined up wrong a couple of times. He could have hit the hole better."

The Saints have one practice on Wednesday, two on Friday and leave for New York on Saturday.

Although he's disappointed, Haslett said he's not worried. He believes the team will be faster and better this year.

"The speed's there," Haslett said. "The players are there. They're a bunch of new guys now. It takes some time."

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

http://www.wwltv.com/sports/saints/W...s.2ffba64.html