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New Orleans Saints wide receivers spent most of Thursday night's preseason opener in Cleveland holding a football.

Any time the receivers weren't in the game, each of them carried a ball on the sideline. Sometimes they gripped it as if they were running, other times, they would throw it to themselves and catch it.

While it was a peculiar sight, it wasn't rare for the receivers. Since the team hired Curtis Johnson to coach wide receivers in February, he's been telling the players in his position group to hold a football as often as possible -- whether in meetings, practice, games or at home.

"When you're sitting, you might as well do something," Johnson said.



Johnson said he's emphasized the same method throughout his 30 years as a coach, and because he held the same position with the Saints from 2006-11, it's not new to Sean Payton.

But, none of the team's wide receiver had played for Johnson until now, so the technique is new to them. Many of the wideouts think the added emphasis will help them as they prepare for this season.

"He just wants us to always have a feel for the ball at all times, so I think just walking around the sidelines, still playing with the ball kind of keeps your hands ready for when you go out there to play," Ted Ginn said.

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