English practice squad member Alex Jenkins among those interviewed by Neil Reynolds
Thursday 17 August 2017 12:02, UK
Day five and it’s amazing how a full night's sleep (a dreamy nine hours) can leave you feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the second half of a trip. I was so pumped up this morning I even managed a brief trip to the hotel gym before setting off to visit the New Orleans Saints.
I felt quite good about that little effort until I witnessed some of the greatest athletes on the planet in action and realised I had quite some way to go. Probably best not to bother in future!
We're on the home straight now with three more teams to visit in the Jacksonville Jaguars (Thursday), the Miami Dolphins (Friday) and the Cleveland Browns (Saturday).
I'm writing this article while flying from New Orleans to Jacksonville via Charlotte and I have to say we have enjoyed lots of laughs throughout this training camp tour. Only a few minutes ago, cameraman Simon Gunby was the butt of our latest practical joke.
While driving back from the Saints, I slipped my rather bulky team media guide into his bag (I didn't want to carry it across America). When at the airport, Sky Sports NFL producer Alex Mason added his media guide to Simon's bag and a couple of very heavy camera batteries for good measure.
After virtually giving himself a hernia carrying his overloaded bag on board, Simon has just discovered our trickery. It's not BAFTA award-winning comedy but it was enough to make three sleep-deprived Englishmen giggle away at 30,000 feet.
Anyway, enough of that nonsense. The Saints rolled out the red carpet today as we interviewed Sean Payton, Drew Brees, Adrian Peterson, Mark Ingram, Ted Ginn Jr., Cameron Jordan, Sheldon Rankins, Thomas Morestead and English practice squad member Alex Jenkins.
Five observations from Saints training camp…
On recent mini-camp and training camp visits to the United States, I have watched Adrian Peterson in action for the Minnesota Vikings and he has sported a red jersey. Those are normally reserved for quarterbacks, not Pro Bowl running backs, and indicate that a player cannot be hit. That was not the case in New Orleans on Wednesday. The Saints run a physical practice and the only star off limits is quarterback Drew Brees. That soon became apparent on Peterson's second run during team drills as he was knocked all the way to the ground by the defense.
Drew Brees is a perfectionist and even as he enters his 17th NFL season, his passion and desire to be great is evident on every single snap. And I mean every single snap! He under-threw Ted Ginn Jr. on a play action pass deep down the middle of the field that would have been a touchdown during team drills and was furious… properly furious. Brees cursed at himself, stomped back to the sidelines and slammed his helmet to the ground. To see that kind of passion and desire in a pre-season practice - not a regular-season game, a play-off contest or the Super Bowl - was telling. That's why some players are merely good and others, like Brees, are destined for sporting immortality in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Brees lost a major weapon in the passing game this off-season when wide receiver Brandin Cooks was traded to the New England Patriots, but the No 1 offense in the NFL should be just fine. The high standards of Brees aside, there are other weapons. Mark Ingram and Adrian Peterson sharing the load in the backfield is mouth-watering if the latter can get somewhere close to his previous best and the receiving corps is still pretty stacked with Michael Thomas, Willie Snead and Brandon Coleman in the line-up. The Saints will continue to score points at a good clip in 2017.
And that means the elephant in the room remains a defense that has badly under-achieved and held the Saints back in recent years. Payton made a point of stressing that unit has to get better in 2017 and defensive linemen Cameron Jordan and Sheldon Rankins admitted the guys on their side of the ball must "hold up their end of the bargain". The Saints defense had a good day on Wednesday with a couple of interceptions and they feel they will be better this season - but the harsh reality is that they couldn't really be any worse.
Our Brit made a couple of plays that caught the eye on Wednesday as Alex Jenkins forced his way into the backfield for a quarterback pressure in team drills. Alex is a great story as the Saints' international practice squad player. Five years ago he was activating petrol pumps and serving from behind the counter at a Tesco service station. And now he finds himself on the same field as the likes of Brees and Peterson. Jenkins admitted the first week of camp has been "tough" and a real "eye-opener" but he has also recorded three sacks and is proving his worth. Training camp is a grind and a shock to anyone's system, but Jenkins is proudly flying the British flag and still realises that he is living the dream that so many young players across the UK will be chasing in the coming years thanks to him and others like him now forging a path in the NFL.
Sean Payton is… actually a really nice guy! And one who is able to laugh at the occasional grumpy wild man he becomes at times on NFL Sundays. Payton fondly remembers his time in the UK when he played quarterback for the Leicester Panthers in 1988 and he has been a keen observer of the growth of the game on the other side of the pond. Much is made of Brees' supreme talents, but it should be noted that Payton is one of the game's master play-callers and puts his Saints' offense in position to succeed time and again.
Quote of the Day…
"I definitely share the belief that we can win a Super Bowl and if I didn't, I wouldn't have come here. At this stage of my career it's about winning a Super Bowl and I felt like New Orleans were definitely in a position to win a Super Bowl." - Running back Adrian Peterson on why he joined the Saints as a free agent this off-season.
Quote of the Day II…
"Generally, if you don't win, you're mad at the officials and you're annoyed at the media because of it! So it's really unfair to the media." Sean Payton when asked who annoyed him more on game day, the officials or the media.
Quote of the Day III…
"Those guys are looking forward to hitting me and it works vice versa - I can take it to them as well. I've not really been allowed to hit those defenders, either." - Peterson on a Week 1 return to Minnesota when told his former Vikings team-mates are looking forward to finally being able to hit him.
All 32 NFL teams are high on confidence at this time of the year but these Saints - who have produced three straight 7-9 seasons - genuinely seem to believe they can make a Super Bowl run. Brees is adamant they have the pieces in place and Peterson shares that belief. Payton, Brees and Morestead believe a strong start is needed and that will make the Saints a fascinating follow in the opening few weeks of the season as they take on Minnesota, New England, Carolina and Miami in the first month of the new year. We will know much more about the Saints' challenge at the end of that four-game stint.
Follow the 2017-18 NFL season with us on Sky Sports and through our website skysports.com/NFL also our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsNFL
The regular season of home and away matches run from September to December 2017, culminating in PlayOffs from January 6, 2018 and the Super Bowl on February 4, 2018 at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota to determine the world champion
