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The New Orleans Saints weren't having a great practice Wednesday. And everyone on the field could sense it. It was one of those early "dog days" of training camp, where things started to get a little sloppy during one period in particular. And if Coach Sean Payton had been there, he would have chewed everyone out and made them start over again.


Interim coach Joe Vitt said it's goal to make sure the players don't feel anything is different without Sean Payton being at training camp.
Instead, replacement coach Joe Vitt chewed everyone out and made them start over again.

"The reaction from everyone was basically, 'Yeah, we knew that was coming,'" said right tackle Zach Strief, who described Vitt's reaction as "exactly what Sean would've done."

"If the tempo's not there in practice, it's not because Sean's not here. It's because it's camp, and that happens every year," Strief said. "But the good thing is that it's been so consistent here for so long, that we know what to expect and we know how it's supposed to be done. Sometimes it'll be the veteran guys speaking up to the younger guys.

"And Joe's done a great job of feeling this team out. When to push and when to pull back. That's something you might miss with your head coach not being here. But we're not."

As expected, quarterback Drew Brees has also done his best to fill the leadership void while Payton is serving his year-long suspension as part of the NFL's bounty punishments.

"You know, little things will happen, and I'll just kind of think for a moment, 'What would Sean do?'" Brees said. "And honestly, in a way, I try to mimic that and I try to be that voice at times. But in my way, and within my personality."

That doesn't mean Payton hasn't been missed during the first week of Saints training camp.

Brees and Strief both admitted that they miss Payton on a personal level and notice his absence.

And Vitt continued his run of blunt honesty when he shot down the idea that camp has felt the same this year as years past.

"No, listen to me, at the end of the day it doesn't feel the same to me, because Sean's not here," Vitt said. "But it's our goal to make sure it feels the same for every other coach and every player and everybody else here. The program is set, the standard is high. The guys know what we're supposed to do, where we're going, and we're just staying on track."

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Rugby Saint II

There won't be any dog days of summer next year......not for long anyway.

The Dude

Im ok with Vitt but Charmichal scares me. I dont know if he's enough of a motivator to lead the whole team.

|Mitch|

Other teams wanted to interview him for the head coach spot last year, I'm not worried.. Payton wouldn't let them talk to Pete though, I think

ChrisXVI

Pete's not the one to worry about... Aaron Kromer's probably gonna be the coach when Vitt's gone. Kromer was also courted to be a head coach by other teams recently. I've gotten the impression the past year or two that Carmichael doesn't really have much desire to be a head coach at the moment.

QBREES9

As long as Drew is there. I have no worries

Halo

I agree, but we need a Coach!

halloween 65

It going to be a long, hard road without him!!

dizzle88

Vitt reminds me of payton in many ways if you watch his interviews and so on.

Its going to be difficult with him out for the first 6 weeks though and I hope we don't struggle but we will definitley miss the leader on the sidelines.

As for interim the best candidate may be Kromer, he finds a way to make our O line the best in football every season, out of all of them he'd be best

I think you've got to let spags just run the D and thats it, he's best when he's just focusing on the D

Your bonehead creator picked a fine chapter to omit from your memory bank....let me ask you, does a machine like yourself ever experience fear? - Vegeta, DBZ

ChrisXVI

Kromer will be the coach when Vitt serves his BS suspension because that allows Pete Carmichael to run the offense and Spags to run the defense without any distraction.