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Day 17 Recap: Look back at Seattle; final few days of public practices begin
By Chris Pika, August 14, 2005; 11:00 pm, NewOrleansSaints.com
Aug 14, 2005 – 11:00 pm

The Saints returned to the practice field in full pads on Sunday afternoon in an intense workout after their preseason opener against Seattle two days before.

The workout was moved indoors 15 minutes after the start of practice due to lightning in the Metairie area and the squad did not miss a beat.

"That was something where no one said anything, but they just came out and practiced well," Saints Coach Jim Haslett said. "They were into it, so I commend them. I hate to lose games like we did -- turning the ball over, but our guys came out and worked hard today. That says something about your team."

Haslett had an opportunity to look at the game tape vs. the Seahawks in depth and this was his assessment.

"I said after the game that I thought the first group defense played pretty well, except for the one play that went for the touchdown -- the second play of the game," he said. "We made them punt four out of the five times. We got them in third and long; we had pretty good situations. Then it kind of went downhill after that. The second and third groups didn't play very well. We didn't tackle very well. The first group did, but the second and third groups didn't tackle very well. We had a lot of miscommunication out there, and we didn't get lined up right a bunch of times. On offense we ran the ball well, and I thought we played very physical. I thought Aaron (Brooks) played really well. He could have hung in the pocket a little longer on one play. I thought the line played really well. Jammal (Brown) played outstanding. We have to get the passing game going. We kind of rushed it in that area, but I think we'll be all right. The fumble skewed it, and we had three turnovers in 26 plays. That's not real good."

WR Devery Henderson and LB Roger Knight were back out on the practice field on Sunday, but LB Cie Grant was not and LB James Allen was limited.

"He (Grant) has patella tendonitis," said Haslett. "It's the same thing that happened last year, so I'm not exactly sure what is going to happen. I would say he is out for a while just based on what the trainers tell me, but as far as long-term I really don't know. He was doing well, and I thought he was playing pretty well. It's the same thing he's had the last couple years. Hopefully he can recover from this sooner than he did before, because I think he's at the crossroads right now. Knight practiced, but Allen was very limited and didn't really do anything."

There are two days remaining of open public practice -- Monday's 9 am walkthrough at Tuesday's 3-5 pm workout.

PLAY OF THE DAY: Under heavy pressure from the defensive ends, QB Aaron Brooks stepped up and threw a 50-yard toss to WR Joe Horn, who battled a defensive back to make the reception.

NEXT UP: The Saints will hold a walkthrough starting at 9 am Monday at the Metairie facility


http://www.neworleanssaints.com/news...articleid=1630