Saints Gab

The Saints have made a roster move, Pro Football Talk.com is reporting that the team has dumped David Patten. Here is the report:

Saints have announced that the team has released veteran receiver David Patten.

The move clears $2.25 million in cap space for the Saints.

The Saints got some bad news today in their passing game, as tight end Jeremy Shockey is expected to miss between three and six weeks to surgery for a sport hernia. He has been somewhat silent in the passing game so far for New Orleans, as he has 16 catches for 151 yards in the team going 1-2.

It’s Shockey’s second big injury in two years, as last season he broke his left leg in December with the Giants and missed the teams postseason run that ended with an upset of the Pats in the Super Bowl. The Saints have already lost Marques Colston for a few weeks, that took place in week one in a win over Tampa Bay. He had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb and is not expected back for another month.

Right now that will put the pressure on wides outs David Patten, Devery Henderson, Lance Moore, Robert Meachem and Terrance Copper. The teams other tight ends are Billy Miller and Mark Campbell.

From what I have seen so far this year the Saints have the deepest roster in the NFL. For non Saints fans this may seem like blasphemy but hear me out. I literally looked at the depth chart for an hour yesterday and at several positions had no clue who the team would want to cut. There is not a position on the field that they can lose a starter in and be out of playoff contention.

You can argue the QB position but that goes for any team. Even Mark Brunell is better than lots if not most backups in this league. The Saints main focus this year has been heavy competition at every position which increases the level of play. Even with 9 projected starters held out of the first pre-season game you could still see how solid and crisp the play was from 3rd and 4th string players in a 24-10 win.

I will start with defense and then work my way over to offense specifically the WR position. The Saints have all of the starters on the defensive side off the ball back this year. That is a huge statement considering four of them are projected to NOT be starting this year. New Orleans may not have the very best starters at every position but do not have a significant drop off at any position either.

Read more

The Saints first team offense, took the field Thursday night without starters Deuce McAllister, Marques Colston, and Jeremy Shockey. You would not have thought that because Drew Brees and company drove down the field, capping the fist drive with a Drew Brees sweet touch pass to David Patten.

Coach Payton?s first play call of the night was a end around reverse, but after that he kept the play calling simple. The Saints managed to take almost seven minutes off the clock. Brees was 6 of 7 for 40 yards and a touchdown and was pulled after the first series. You could tell Coach Payton had seen enough of the pro bowl QB, and did not want to risk an injury.

Mark Brunell took over duties with the rest of the first team, but failed to keep things going. Brunell finished the night 10 of 12 for 119 yards, but at times seemed lost, and took a big sack down in the red zone. Brunell?s best throw was to second year man, Robert Meachem in what seemed to be a slightly over thrown ball, Meachem dove arms stretched out pulling in the pass.

Tyler Palko did not look comfortable under center. He went 6 for 11 for 144 yards and one touchdown, but he fumbled the snap 3 times, and was just not in sync with the plays being called. He did cap off the night with a 60 yard touchdown pass to Meachem.

Reggie Bush, held his own, and had a nice run around the left end, but it was negated by a holding penalty. He finished the night with 7 carries for 22 yards.

Pierre Thomas returned a kick off for 58 yards before being pushed out of bounds, but he failed to make any big plays while at the running back position. To his defense the offensive line was not doing a great job of blocking, and was allowing defenders to slip through making contact as soon as the hand off was taken.

Aaron Stecker showed he still has a little punch left also; he finished the night with seven carries for 39 yards, and a touchdown.

The New Orleans defense was not great, but not bad either. They did give up a big play on third and long, with newly acquired CB Randall Gay getting caught out of position.

The defensive line was able to get some pressure, but overall the defense still showed signs of weakness, and you could tell that there was no unit cohesion. It?s still early so there is still time to work on it.

The player of the game would have to go to Robert Meachem, he came into last nights game with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove, having been the only first round pick of last years draft to not see any action the entire 2007 season.

He had 4 catches for 129 yards and 1 touchdown. His mentor, David Patten was surely pleased with Meachem?s performance, and the battle for the number to wideout position is sure to last to the end of preseason.

Either way, both Patten and Meachem looked great and the Saints offense should be even better than it was last year.

Penalties were also abundant, so you can be sure Coach Payton will address that in the coming days practice. Gary Gibbs still has some fine tuning to do on the Saints new look defense as well.

Overall the Saints first team offense got an A minus, with the Saints first team defense only making a C plus.

After months of speculation about how good they really are, the New Orleans Saints did little to distinguish themselves in their 2008 pre-season opener, with the exception of Robert Meachem. Perhaps the most impressive was that there was not a noticeable drop-off in talent once the starters rested and the team had only one turnover.

Drew Brees (6/7, 40 yards) scored first with a pass in the end zone to David Patten, capping an 80-yard drive that used up close to seven minutes of the quarter. Mark Brunell (10/12, 119 yards) saw action for the rest of the half, coming out rusty and unable to score in the red zone. Brunell did connect with Meachem for 49 yards on a drive that ended with Pierre Thomas stepping out of bounds before reaching the goal line near the end of the second quarter and missing a second attempt to run it in. Pierre Thomas was the highlight of the special teams with a kickoff return for 57 yards.

The running game took over in the beginning of the second half. Aaron Stecker gained 39 yards and ran in for a touchdown halfway through the third quarter. Tyler Palko (6/11, 144 yards) came in with about five minutes to go in the third quarter and quickly hit Adrian Arrington for 33 yards. Rookie Taylor Mehlhaff hit a 33-yard field goal near the end of the third quarter. Palko’s bright spot was a short pass to Robert Meachem in the fourth that he turned into a 60 yard touchdown run. Palko did turn the ball over halfway through the fourth.

Read more

While the Saints did not reach the heights they did this past season as they did in 2006, they still have a solid base for the future, and one player who is expressing his desire to be a part of that future is wide out Marques Colston.  The Sun Herald is reporting that Colston is one of a few players who will be a free agent following the 08 season, but that the wide out wants to stay with the team that took a chance on him late in the draft last season.

He is set to make $445,000 this season, and he hopes that his agent, Joel Segal, can ink him a new deal before the 08 season kicks off.  “I would love to because there is no other team that I would rather play for,” he said. “I think we’ve got a great thing going here in New Orleans. We’ve got a great core group of guys and probably the greatest fans in the game. I would love to get a long-term deal and be locked in and let everyone else know that I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

Colston is a large reason why the Saints were able to march to the NFC Title game last year, and keeping him around would be a wise thing for the Siants to do.  The Saints already may lose wide receivers David Patten and Devery Henderson, who will both be free agents, so making sure Colston is locked up would be a smart thing to do for now, as well as for the future.