New Orleans Saints offense wants to fire on all cylinders after first-game flop
 

There wasn't a trace of panic coming from quarterback Drew Brees or Coach Sean Payton after the New Orleans Saints' first-team offense got off to a slow start in the Aug. 12 preseason opener.
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Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune
Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints' passing offense have yet to catch fire during the first three weeks of training camp, with an even mix of highlights and lowlights.
Make no mistake though. They don't like the taste of three straight three-and-outs, even if the game is a mere dress rehearsal.
So getting the offense untracked will be a top priority for tonight's exhibition follow-up against the Houston Texans.
"Obviously (the goal) is to look better than we did in the first preseason game," said Brees, who completed just one pass for six yards while playing a total of nine snaps last week against the San Francisco 49ers.
"Obviously, we want to look sharp, we want to get a good roll going, try to spread the ball around a lot, get guys a lot of touches. Just get everybody involved and feeling like they have an opportunity to make plays," Brees said. "That's always important, just from a confidence standpoint. And every year you just want to re-establish yourself and your identity."
Payton agreed that it is important to play well and see progress from week to week in the preseason. He said he plans for most starters to play between 20 and 25 snaps tonight, which should fall somewhere in the second quarter and should allow the Saints enough time to reboot the offense before Brees calls it a night.

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I don't care how much they hype it, it is still preseason to me. I just won't get too excited no matter what happens.

Brees could go 10/10 with 150 yds in 1 quarter, Meach could catch everything close...it won't give us any brownie points against the Pack.

Did I ever mention that I detest preseason?

It would be nice if they could demonstrate some competency in blocking, route running and recognizing which is the hole to run through and which is the hole that will get you crushed under a flesh pile.

Pre-season is glorified practice. Its not a real good indicator of how good/bad your team will be when it counts, but you can get a good idea about certain players and certain units' strengths and weaknesses.

After game 1, it was obvious our O-line still needs some work.

You could also tell that we have some young guys who look promising.

The final score is meaningless, but you can a good look at a alot of things that aren't meaningless. Antonio Pittman found out the hard way.

The 3rd game of preseason is the best indicator of how well the team is performing. The 1st and last are merely to help trim down the roster. Tonight's game will be extra vanilla I would assume since we are playing the Texans in week 3

Not to worried.. It's the preseason, coming off an off season from hell..The offense will be fine.. They will get it going..Timing was a little off..

You might detest pre-season but it serves a valuable purpose. Aside from the obvious evaluation of talent, the coaches also use it to work on plays, schemes etc they feel need more developement. Its never been about winning or losing, but attaining the goals the coaching staff has laid out for the team. I know the season ticket holders hate it b/c of having to pay full price for those two games, but hey, you prolly could sell those 2 off or just go and think of it as fan preseason and use those games to round yourself back into regular season fan form.

pres season is pre seaon - I agree

Did I ever mention that I detest preseason?[/QUOTE]

I understand your take...

BUT...

Preseason serves the purpose of warming up teams & of allowing new ideas & new players w/o it meaning anything real.

The injuries are an unfortunate byproduct - I also think 4 games is too many, 3 would be Ok. :greendevil: