Halo

The Saints began a week of practices on location Monday, eager to start washing away the bad taste from Saturday night’s 27-14 preseason loss to the Houston Texans.

They are in Oxnard thanks to coach Sean Payton, who reportedly was impressed with the facilities an assistant under Bill Parcells when the Cowboys trained at River Ridge.
The Saints are in Oxnard, Calif., thanks to coach Sean Payton, who reportedly was impressed with the facilities an assistant under Bill Parcells when the Cowboys trained at River Ridge. (AP Photo)

The Saints defense was abysmal in the game, with a sloppy and sluggish performance that included missed tackles and blown coverages.

Obviously much of that will be repaired by the use of more complex schemes and a more intense mental approach in the regular season, but the execution clearly needs to get better too.

The best reason for optimism is that the Saints were playing without cornerback Tracy Porter, and safety Malcolm Jenkins was limited. Both of them should be back in time for this week’s preseason game at Oakland and full speed in plenty of time for the regular season opener at Green Bay.

The most lasting disappointing from Saturday’s game was the loss of newly signed defensive tackle Aubrayo Franklin to a sprained MCL in his knee.

Typically that’s a 3-4-week injury. The Saints have good depth at the tackle position, with veterans Shaun Rogers and Sedrick Ellis able to handle the heaviest workloads. But Franklin was expected to be a huge asset for them against the run this year, so they want him back sooner than later.

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