Saturday morning practice notes
 

OK guys, here is what i saw in today'f practice:

QB's- Brees looked good throwing the ball, but it is clear that he has some work to do on his timing, especially with guys like Lyman, Lewis and Chris Horn. Martin looked ok...solid not spectacular...Bouman was himself, and McPherson has a great arm but he was hot and cold. Eugene, who already is a fan favorite, really only threw to the running backs in their drills so i didnt see too much of him...but the fans love him.

RB's-Deuce looked good to me, he was able to find a crease and make a run that would have been a long gainer, and he seems to be at a good weight..he didnt look overweight at all. Bush made a handfull of cuts that drew praise from the fans and he was able to outrun the defense to the corner on a couple of runs...Bennett showed good hands catching balls out of the backfield.

WR's-I will start by saying that in the beginning of practice when only the special teams were working, the only person on the sideline doing any work was Joe Horn...he had one of the staffers throw him some balls low so he could practice catching passes at his feet. When the drills started, he didnt miss one single ball...whether it was 1 on1, 7 on 7, or 11 on 11 Joe Horn and Chris Horn caught everything thrown their way...they really stood out to me. Chase Lyman made some nice plays and only dropped one ball. Henderson looked really good up until he flew by Jason Craft for what would have been a 45 yard TD but dropped a perfectly thrown ball by Martin in the end zone. Horn and McKenzie had some good battles with Horn winning every one...C. Horn abused Joey Thomas all morning.
Stallworth did not practice and i thought it was because he was rehabbing from shoulder surgery, but come to find out, he and Payton had a little talk that led Payton to tell him to not even worry about practicing because he wasnt focusing and his mind wasnt into it...lets see where that leads. Sorry Whodi. Oh, and Mike Hass cant work with the team till his class graduates...thats an NFL rule.

I cant really tell you much about the o-line in helmets and shorts, but i do know that the first team o-line was Stinchcomb, Mayberry, Faine, Nesbit, and Brown.

Same goes for the d-line...i do know that Charles Grant would have had at least 1 sack in the team drills. Whitehead and Young were the first team DT's.

LB's-It caught me off guard, but the first team LB's were Simmons, Fincher, and Fujita...the 2nd team was Polley, Foreman, and Melton...leaving Bockwoldt on the 3rd team with Kaule and Iwuchukwu. Not good news for all of you Colby fans. Fujita is extremely tall in person, didnt realize he was that big. Polley made some nice plays going to the sideline chasing down backs coming out of the backfield. Bockwoldt was burned a few times by Hilton.

DBs- I didnt get to see much of them in individual drills because they were on the other side of the field, but they all caught the ball in their INT drills that i watched. Phillips, Lay, and Joey Thomas were beaten all day long by the WR's. Ray Williams, one of the undrafted rookies, made the best play of the day after letting a WR get behind him and he took away what looked like a TD by jarring the ball out of the WR's hands in the end zone. Harper broke up a pass on a one on one drill intended for Zach Hilton...very nice play. Dwight Smith looks like a beast and i really dont want to see him go. Bullocks and Stoutmire ran with the first unit early in practice, and later in practice it was Smith and Bellamy.

A few other notes, Coston, the 7th round pick at WR, showed some good hands but was repeatedly getting jumped on by the coaches for running with the ball in his wrong hand. Lyman looks like a player in shorts, but we will see what he can do with pads on. Hilton and Campbell caught the ball very well. Reggie Bush has the quickest feet i have ever seen. He had the crowd in awe a handfull of times. Joe Horn seems like the consummate pro, he never sits and does nothing, he finds someone to throw him passes. I also saw him giving Chris Horn some tips on the sideline. The team seems to have fun with each other, they seemed relaxed.
I also saw Hollis Thomas and Sullivan lined up next to each other, WOW!!!

RE: Saturday morning practice notes
 

jimmy b thanks for the post and news man. stally getting into some stuff with the coach huh. i am liking paytons no nonsense attitude. probably what these guys need after haz

Kenny Wilkerson made a comment about how there are a handfull of guys that are used to acting a certain way because the previous staff let them get away with it, and now Payton is not putting up with it. He also mentioned that Dwight Smith is doing whatever he can to do what this staff is asking of him because he heard the rumor of going to Tampa and he wants nothing to do with the Bucs and mainly Gruden. So maybe thats a good thing.

Poor Joe....has anybody told him that Aaron Brooks isn't the QB anymore? :D

Thank God!!!! I would not want to lose the best guy in our secondary. Bullocks is o.k. but gets beat alot on the big plays & I really don't want to start Harper as a rookie. :?

hey i think you can listen to wwl on the internet or locally about the saints mini camp now. if u cats r interested

Thanks for the info... Hollis Thomas and Sullivan next to each other would be ideal for me. Hopefully they'll get into shape and that's going to be the meat we need up front. When I look at the O-Line on paper, it doesn't look so bad... hopefully I'm right. Smith and Bullocks are our best options at safety... I pray that we aren't stupid enough not to realize that and continue to pursue trading away Smith. If Harper is going to be our future, Smith will be a very good person to learn from. CB depth looks bad... sign Plummer goodness.

Poor Colby... I was rooting for him. :cry: Oh well, go Chase! :mrgreen: Man if he gets injured, I'm going to hear it all year long from everyone.

Look the Safetie heavy list has CB/S guys all over it. look for them to do alot of the nickel and dime packages. Some of the older CB will hitting the streets IMO.
alot of new vets in the LB corp. Colby is not out of the picture yet. he is learning a new position and the coaches are looking for the right mix. Colby is young and a haard worker. he fits the patton mold. I think he would do we in a 34 D also. I think he will be around. Look for others to get cut or traded first. Thanks for the update.

BREAKING NEWS.........

CHASE LYMAN TEARS SCRODUM IN AFTERNOON PRACTICE.

Sorry Papz, i couldn't resist. :D

gandhi1007 - That is freaking hilarious... You sure come up with a good one!

:moon: :moon: :moon: :moon: :moon: :moon: :moon:

How you like them apples?!

Dwight Smith is awesome? Who knew? ME that's who. Why we trying to trade this dude? Don't be a fool coach Payton. Poor Donte. I still have faith in him, but get your head on right kid. Sully starting? Ugh. But at least we have good LBs now. Many of us have said Colby would not start on most teams in the league, and now he is not starting on this one.

I hope no one got confused...when i told you that i saw Thomas and Sullivan playing side by side, it was with the 3rd team defense...and Colby is no longer playing MLB, he is playing his natural position...on the 3rd team.

Payton has been public in his criticism of last year's play at LB...he said they werent very good, he said they looked bad on tape, and it looks like all the LB's that played here last year wont be playing here this year. Allen, Watson, McKinnon, Slaughter, Hodge...Bockwoldt? I like the way he is taking this team over.

Nah, just saying that's who I'd like to see starting for us. Whitehead and Young are the first teamers right now... it was pretty clear.

It's still just minicamp... a lot of things can and are still going to happen prior to the season. Everything is far from set in stone. I do like Payton taking control of everything... it's nice having a plan for once.

... I'm all for putting the best player out there, and I am sure that Payton is going to start the best LBs once the season comes around. While I am not really "rooting for Colby", I think that at this juncture what Payton is doing is trying to figure out what he's got, so he's going to give everyone a chance to prove what they can do, and that's why it seems everyone is being given a shot at MLB. I don't doubt that Fujita is going to start, and most probably Simmons, yet Payton still has to figure out who's the best LB at which position and situation (run play, pass play).

... we'll see who sits on the 3rd game of the preseason

Thanks for posting the news..
It might take Horn a little time to figure out that not all QB's throw knee high passes..

Good info JimBone, feel if though I was at the mini camp too.

ty jim, and anyone else that offers what they see, its great stuff for us fans nowhere near the action.

Stallworth leaving this team one way or another seems to be a forgone conclusion. They were trying to trade him before the draft and he's still not getting along with Payton. I say lets get something for him now.