New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Article New Orleans Saints offense has uncharacteristic off day

When a quarterback completes more than seven out of 10 passes, as New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees in 2009 to set an NFL record for completion percentage, it's safe to say the unit has few bad days

But Monday at the Saints training camp may rank as one of them.

In the morning session, working on third-down plays, Brees and the offense were clearly out of sync and the reigning Super Bowl MVP hit on just 2 of his 7 attempts. Those numbers probably went a long way to explaining why, after just about every player had hit the locker room, Brees still had the quarterbacks on the practice field working with receivers Marques Colston and Robert Meachem, both of whom are sure to be key cogs in the Saints offense but both of whom are currently on the physically unable to perform list and consequently not involved in practice.

No one is concerned about Brees, of course, but the immediate payoff from the extra morning work was hardly apparent in the afternoon when he connected on just four of eight passes, and two of them were very close to being intercepted, especially one over the middle that hit safety Malcolm Jenkins right in the hands but was dropped.

To be sure, it wasn't all on Brees. In the morning, a wide open Reggie Bush dropped a deep ball, albeit not one perfectly thrown but still one that should have been caught, and Bush later dropped one Brees threw low at his feet. In the afternoon, Bush seemed confused on a route and stopped when Brees threw deep. Bush turned in a solid performance that he lost the ball in the lights but that didn't excuse him from the conference Coach Sean Payton requested immediately thereafter.

And the defense didn't stand around, either. On Brees' first attempt of the day, to wide receiver Courtney Roby on a short out pattern, the pass seemed a sure completion until cornerback Jabari Greer broke sharply on the ball and, closing fast, broke up the play at the last minute.