SmashMouth

Competitions between players are the most important aspect of NFL training camps, but perhaps the most exciting battle in each day of New Orleans Saints camp is between two coaches.

Wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson and secondary coach Aaron Glenn have known each other since 2008 when Johnson was in the same role and Glenn was a cornerback with the Saints. Johnson remembers pushing Glenn as a player, but since the duo became coaches on the same staff last year, their competition has reached new heights.

"When the coaches compete, the players can't help but compete," Johnson said.



The competition is apparent each day when receivers and defensive backs go through one-on-one drills. While Johnson and Glenn are both quick to tell their players what they did right or wrong on a play, they frequently chirp at each other when one of their players has an obviously win in the drill.

"We don't want to hear C.J. talking to our coach, talking smack, so if I can break a pass up and let my coach talk smack, that's what we want," cornerback Arthur Maulet said.

The coaches will talk smack to the players in the other position group, too. During last Saturday's practice, wide receivers Ted Ginn Jr. and Brandon Coleman were both yelling across the field at Glenn after one play. Cornerback Justin Hardee broke up a pass from Tom Savage to wide receiver Tommylee Lewis, but Ginn and Coleman were sure Hardee committed pass interference. Glenn responded by telling them it was an incomplete pass, thanks to Hardee's coverage.

"It just makes the practice go a little better when the secondary and receivers get riled up," Ginn said.

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