New Orleans Saints out to tackle fundamentals tonight against Houston Texans
 

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and the receivers stayed after practice nearly 30 minutes on a sweltering summer day Thursday, working extra to prepare for tonight's preseason game against the Houston Texans at the Superdome.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune
As New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins flies by, linebacker Jonathan Casillas finally tackles New England Patriots receiver Julian Edelman after a huge gain during their exhibition opener a week ago.
That extra work is to be expected from Brees, the Super Bowl MVP and team leader.

But on one of the team's side fields, away from the adoring fans waiting for autographs, linebacker after linebacker took turns attacking a tackling sled, trying to perfect the fundamentals that were lacking in last week's 27-24 preseason loss to the New England Patriots when the Saints missed countless tackles.
"That's definitely something extra," outside linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar said of the post-practice drills. "You've got to do the work. You see Drew out there working. If Drew's out there working, you had better be working."
The performance against the Patriots was certainly behind the motivation for the extra work.
"That's one of the things we did horribly at -- tackling," Dunbar said. "We didn't do a good job of getting guys to the ground, taking good angles to the ball. All those little things that we usually do well around here, we didn't do well against New England. That's one of the main emphases around here."


New Orleans Saints out to tackle fundamentals tonight against Houston Texans | NOLA.com

Tackling was my biggest concern last week. After that I was worried about the O line cohesion which was almost nonexistent against New England. I'm hoping that tonight against the Texans that we see a vast improvement in both areas.