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There are so many nuances that go into an intrasquad scrimmage, it's hard to give one side or the other a resounding victory. Officials are instructed to blow their whistles early, there are no hits on the quarterbacks and the game-like atmosphere only extends so far.

However, if there must be a loser of Saturday's Black and Gold scrimmage, it was probably the Saints' offense, which had only two touchdowns in 12 drives. The defense had a banner day with five sacks and three turnovers.

The first touchdown was 1-yard run by running back Mark Ingram and the other a pass from third-string quarterback Ryan Griffin to fullback Austin Johnson.

As usual, the team employed the running back-by-committee strategy, using both Ingram and Pierre Thomas as the main backs, along with undrafted rookie Khiry Robinson. Darren Sproles also had a few carries but mainly focused on his duties as a punt returner.

Players on offense have insisted the run game has become a priority after they ranked among the bottom of the NFL with 1,577 rushing yards last season.

The run game had its "oops" moments, the biggest of which fell on Ingram, who allowed rookie linebacker Eric Martin to punch the ball out of his hands. The fumble was recovered by safety Rafael Bush.

"The defender made a great play," said Ingram, who has only had one career fumble. "He came up from behind me and just punched it out.

"I have to fix that. I take pride in holding on to the football, ball security."

Ingram said he has been trying to be more decisive with his cuts and hesitated a bit on the play, allowing Martin to strip the ball from behind.

Read more: New Orleans Saints offense has solid, if unspectacular, showing in scrimmage | NOLA.com

joker-saint

This is very encouraging. Each year the defense was able to outplay our offense we have had a pretty solid year on D. Go back to the first year GW was with the saints. The defense was causing the exact same kind of problems for Drew, which in turn made him a better player.

jlouhill

I see this as a positive. I'm not worried about the offense. But if the defense can cause this kind of havoc then maybe we have something to look forward to on that side of the ball.

Danno

Good point, Drew has often struggled against 3-4 defenses. Now that he'll practice against an agressive one day in and day out I expect he'll be more comforatble facing them during the season.

Things are going great, and they're only getting better.

TheOak

The offense knows what it is with or without preseason... The defense needs to prove...

Motivation is different.

rezburna

Here's hoping we recreate the magic of 2009.

Rugby Saint II

The first team offense was confused at TC in '09. That worked out well.

homerj07

This is Ok. I am happy to hear this - especially for a scrimmage.