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New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Training Camp Media Availability
Thursday, July 31, 2014

Opening Statement: “We are kind of back to our A schedule routine after yesterday. ”

Can you talk about the energy at practice today?

“I thought it went well. I thought it was up and down. Coming off a day off, a lot of times it’ll be a little rusty. I thought the latter part of practice defensively we did some good things early on and some of the passing periods early offensively. It was pretty positive. We will look at the tape. The officials were here and they will meet with our players and kind of go through the new rule changes. I think they will have a chance to meet with you guys at some point and then we will have them for tomorrow’s practice and also Saturday’s scrimmage. We will spend some time on the points of emphasis this year and have them kind of make calls out here and communicate with the players. It is a pretty good time of the year, we will be in the meeting rooms and the players can ask them questions as to how they see certain plays.”

With nine days to go before the first preseason game, is this the part of camp that picks up intensity?

“I don’t know that there is any focus on the first preseason game. I think there’s always a little bit of up and down with training camp and it’s our job as coaches to try and make sure we’re up more than we are down. You fight a handful of battles. I think the players are getting plenty of rest. The temperatures have been fantastic. There are some challenges that you have with the heat that you don’t have as much here obviously with the breaks we take don’t have to be as long. I think the players are hydrated and yet there still has to be that element where we’re pushing. We are kind of right there.”

Cam Jordan said he made an effort to bring the intensity up a level.

“Absolutely, we get X number of days with pads on, not as many as we used to and so it is important that we learn to play as best we can in a game mode and create the competition necessary each day. That’s something that we can’t be afraid of.

Are you going to monitor Marques Colston’s snaps this preseason?

“Yes and we have paid attention to how much he has gone. We have some younger receivers that are receiving a lot of reps. I think with guys like Marques and Champ (Bailey), there are handful of veteran players that you really have to pay attention to. What they are doing daily and making sure it is not too much but still making sure it’s enough where they are not rusty.”

How is Marques Colston looking?

“I think he is doing well. His weight is down for this training camp and I think that helps him.”

What have you seen from Stanley Jean-Baptiste?

“He is big, long levered and he plays bump and run well. He’s still learning the defense and there are some nuances to playing corner and understanding coverages and adjustments especially with our defense. It would be the adjustments; the technique and those would probably be the same things that most young players are working on. Specifically for him at corner, it’s making sure that he hears the adjustments, the communication and then his technique when he is up in press and then when he is not, how he is handling off coverage.”

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