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With only one practice to go before the Black and Gold Scrimmage, the Saints moved indoors for Friday's afternoon session. It was a pretty good one too.
Let's run through some injury and roster notes before we get started.
Greg Fassitt was waived from injured list.
Your normal trio of Darren Sharper, Clint Ingram, and Robert Meachem all sat out and remained on the Active PUP list. Scott Shanle also was still out as well as tight end Tyler Lorenzen. Rookie Patrick Robinson took it easy as well and stayed on the sidelines. Jimmy Wilkerson was also held out.
The Saints did a lot of "two-minute drill" work throughout this practice by way of walk-throughs and full speed. The early practice walk-throughs looked pretty good with Patrick Ramsey standing out a bit. It wasn't that he did anything overly impressive, but his passing is greatly improving.
Some notes from this afternoon's practice:
Pierre Thomas with strong, good running this afternoon. He looks to be totally healthy and is really looking impressive in camp. He did get bottled up by the entire defensive front though on one play for only a two-yard gain.
Drew Brees went 3 for 3 in the first 11-on-11 drills with a dump off to Lynell Hamilton, a screen pass to Thomas, and another pass in the flat to Hamilton.
Ramsey again looked better in practice during his turn behind center. He went 2 for 3 with the only incompletion being batted down in tight coverage by Usama Young. My personal opinion is that this is the best Ramsey has looked thus far in camp.
Play of the Day: Chase Daniel was only under center for two plays, but he made it count. The pocket began to collapse and Daniel had nowhere to throw so he ran out of the pocket and down the right sidelines. Daniel went a full eighty yards with a cut back at the end to get into the end zone. Tremendous speed shown for a quarterback here as it was a great run.
Sean Canfield continued to look sub-par as he was 2 for 3 but his incompletion right into the arms of Jo-Lonn Dunbar that should have been an interception but the linebacker bobbled and dropped it.
No real punt return work, but the punting unit was out on the field to get some practice. Lance Moore, Reggie Bush, Tracy Porter, and Rod Harper were back catching punts.
The end of practice saw the "two-minute" drill work that began with the first team offense led by Brees and driving down field, but only getting close enough for what would have been a 52-yard field goal attempt by Garrett Hartley.
Rod Harper did go down with a hurt left hip after making a diving catch during the two-minute drill. No word yet on how he is, but they believe it isn't serious.
Lots of blitz packages shown here by Gregg Williams' defense with Jonathan Vilma and Usama Young getting into the backfield on a few occasions.
Daniel got his offensive unit furthest down field ending with a 20-yard touchdown to pass to Courtney Roby in the corner who then spiked it with authority.
Cornerback Tracy Porter stopped to talk to the media after practice and feels good about his team and the chemistry the secondary is developing.
"We are doing things together on and off the field. We're in the classroom or going out places. Thing is that we stay in constant contact with each other. It's all about communication no matter which part of the team you're on. Communication is going to get you good chemistry."
When asked about Patrick Ramsey's performance in camp, Porter had a positive outlook.
"He's a strong arm guy. He's putting it all out there. He's out there working and he has a really good shot at making the team if he can just keep it up."
Porter was also asked how he felt about the play of the defense this past week.
"Everyone has their days. We got out there and just played hard and stepped it up. Everyone has their days...this happened to be our week, our day."
The Saints will play their Black and Gold Scrimmage tomorrow morning at 11 AM with gates opening at 10 AM to the public.

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