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Saints seeing signs of a better pass rush early in camp

By BRETT MARTEL
— Aug. 7, 2017 9:38 PM EDT



METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Saints defensive end Cam Jordan sees sacks as more of a team statistic than an individual one.

And as a team, New Orleans is trying to figure out which mix of players up front provides the best chance of improvement on its No. 27 ranking in sacks last season.

"The D-line will be feared," Jordan said after a recent practice at training camp. "We have the talent to do a lot of things. ... We've got to reset the line of scrimmage. We have to create havoc in the backfield, more so than we did last year."

Jordan believes that's possible despite the fact that Nick Fairley, New Orleans' top interior defender last season, was placed on injury reserve because of a career-threatening heart condition. The first glimpse of whether Jordan might be hoping for too much will come in preseason games, the first of which is at Cleveland on Thursday night.

In practice, defenders are forbidden from hitting quarterbacks. The best they can do is try to disrupt a quarterback's rhythm and vision, or run past the QB before the throw, which coaches would view as a likely sack. And there has been evidence of pressure in the backfield, particularly lately.

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