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Another day, another big victory for the defense at New Orleans Saints training camp. After shutting out the first-string offense during Saturday's scrimmage, the Saints' first-string defense was even more dominant Tuesday in one of the most competitive drills of all of training camp -- the simulated two-minute drill.
The first series lasted only one play, when safety Roman Harper jumped in front of receiver Lance Moore to intercept Drew Brees and run it back for an apparent touchdown.
Safety Roman Harper intercepts a Drew Brees pass during the 2-minute drill during morning practice at Saints headquarters in Metairie on Saturday, August 6, 2013. (Michael DeMocker, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune)

"You know, Drew threw it right to me. It almost looked like a drill. So whenever you get those, you've got to take advantage," said Harper, who has struggled intercepting passes throughout his career. "It's something I've always tried to work on. I've been better at it the last few years, getting my hands on the ball. But I've just got to continue to work on it."
Harper came up big again when the first-stringers returned to the field a few minutes later. The defense again shut down the offense on just four plays, including an apparent sack by Harper on second down and a batted pass at the line of scrimmage by outside linebacker Will Smith on third down.
Brees' fourth-down pass attempt to Moore was a nice throw behind safety Malcolm Jenkins, but Moore couldn't hang on to make a diving catch.
"This is an offensive-minded league. Especially here in Saints camp, it's offensive-minded," Harper said. "So anytime we get some stops out there it's always good, especially in two-minute, because most games in the league come down to that.
"That was good for our first day (of two-minute drills). We've gotta continue to improve, we still have some corrections on the mental side we have to work on. But overall we have to continue to be pleased with the effort."
Colleague Katherine Terrell will go more in-depth on the importance of the two-minute offense and defense later this afternoon.
Naturally, Brees was frustrated by Tuesday's results:
"We want to score every time. If we don't, we're upset. Period," Brees said. "We have a little more to be desired than what we left out there.
"We've got some work to do."
The defense also kept Brees and Co. out of the end zone on the final red-zone drill of Monday's practice, yet another spirited camp drill.
Smith, however, cautioned that he knows the offense will come back and win some of these battles soon.
"You know, it's back and forth every year with our defense against our offense," Smith said. "They win one, then we win one the next day. It's back and forth, back and forth. That creates the competition level. That creates the intensity."
Still, Smith admitted it's nice to rack up these first few victories early in camp.
"Oh, absolutely," Smth said. "It's always good to get a win in and talk a little trash for a couple days until the next time we see 'em."
Smith is right to be cautious.
Although it's a great sign that this revamped defense is seeing some early returns, there's no doubt it will remain a work in progress under new coordinator Rob Ryan. I like the Saints' increased confidence and the intensity level. And I think the new attacking style and increased talent in the secondary will help greatly. But I'm not expecting an overnight overhaul -- more of a return to what they were in 2010 and 2011.
And while the offense hasn't looked very explosive yet in the first two weeks of training camp, I still expect big things from that unit this season. Individually, I expect huge bounce-back years from Brees, Jimmy Graham, the tailbacks and the meat of the offensive line -- all of whom have had some individually impressive moments throughout the summer.


Defense stays dominant: Mike Triplett's first take from Tuesday's New Orleans Saints practice | NOLA.com

Danno

WTF???

rezburna

I said the same damn thing.

CharityMike

Must have had double sided tape wrapped around his hands.

TheOak

Drew throwing the ball "right to" a defender concerns me a smidge.

rezburna

My second thought upon reading this.

Please don't tell me we've got Drew Favre.

TheOak

Fave-Brees

Freshens the air after it is thrown.

rezburna

Nice. Lol.

TheOak

That being said...... Manning hit Porter in the numbers.

Crusader

Growin up all Peyton Manning dreamed of was throwing the winnning TD for the Saints in the Superbowl. And he did!