Saints Vs Titans Preseason Opener

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Starting lineups for the Saints: LDE Will Smith, DT Hollis Thomas, DT Brian Young, RDE Charles Grant, WLB Colby Bockwoldt, MLB Alfred Fincher, SLB Scott Fujita, CB Jason Craft, CB Fred Thomas, S Omar Stoutmire, S Josh Bullocks. On offense, QB Drew Brees, RB Aaron Stecker and RB Reggie Bush in an offset-I formation, LT Jammal Brown, LG Jamar Nesbit, C Jeff Faine, RG Jahri Evans, RT Jon Stinchcomb, WR Joe Horn, TE Mark Campbell, WR Devery Henderson.

Team captains were QB Drew Brees, DE Will Smith, RB Fred McAfee and S Steve Gleason.

Injury reports: RB Deuce McAllister didn't play but traveled with the team and dressed... RB Aaron Stecker went down with an apparent ankle injury on the first play of the second half and it looked very painful. Xrays were negative, so there's no break, but his high ankle sprain could be problematic all season... DT's Willie Whitehead and Rodney Leisle didn't dress, and as a result Tony Bryant slid inside a lot... QB Adrian McPherson is okay after sitting out the second half because the Titans' mascot rolled his foot with a scooter during halftime warmups. McPherson did see action on kick coverage teams and would have liked had a chance to return a punt in the second half. Did not play: QB Jason Fife, P Mitch Berger, CB Mike McKenzie, LB Tommy Polley, G Montrae Holland, T Chad Setterstrom, LB Russel Rabe, G Stephon Wheeler, G Jermane Mayberry, DT Rodney Leisle, WR Donte Stallworth, WR Michael Lewis, TE Ernie Conwell, DT Willie Whitehead.

Defensive line: Grant, Smith fail to take advantage of young inexperienced tackles
DE Charles Grant jumped offsides on the second play from scrimmage, but followed it up by helping bring down Titans RB Chris Brown on the next play... On the third play of the game, Tony Bryant lined up at DT in place of Thomas... QB Billy Volek showed some mobility, freezing in the pocket and causing DT Brian Young to wiff on a sack opportunity... Tackle Jacob Bell and Grant exchanged snaps where one abused the other, but Grant didn't collect any sacks, was frequently defeated in the running game and was in on only three tackles... G Zach Piller defeated Brian Young near the goal line... Rookie Brandon Villareal made a nice plan in the running game in the third quarter but otherwise didn't stand out... In his third day as a Saint, DT Josh Williams jumped offsides but then got a forced fumble when he sacked Titans and former LSU QB Matt Mauck late in the game... DE Rob Ninkovich wiffed on a clean shot at Vince Young late in the game, an easy thing to do.

Linebackers: Fincher invisible, Bockwoldt active
Early in the game, LB Colby Bockwoldt ducked under the block of lead fullback Troy Fleming in the hole as Bockwoldt went forward at Chris Brown. Fleming's facemask caught Bockwoldt's shoulder and it flew off. S Omar Stoutmire went through Fleming's head on the ground to make the tackle on Chris Brown... Bockwoldt was very active. At times he attacked the hole and was aggressive. At other times - including the goal line stand of the Titans early in the second quarter - Bockwoldt paralleled his position and didn't come up to make the play. On that play Bockwoldt strafed to his left inside the goalline, got caught up in some blocking trash and was actually standing in the end zone when Travis Henry hit him to score the touchdown. It is that sort of play that probably had Joe Vitt steaming out of the ears... Fincher finished with no tackles, and split time with Jay Foreman during the whole game. Foreman had three tackles, an assist and a hurry. Fincher looked aggressive at the line sometimes, but more often got caught up in the trash or simply found a blocker instead of the runner... LB Terrance Melton couldn't chase down Jarrett Payton late in the game but made some good tackles earlier on...

Secondary: Safeties active early with starters
Both starting safeties Omar Stoutmire and Josh Bullocks were active... Jason Craft has been having the best camp of all the cornerbacks, but was beaten badly by Drew Bennett deep as Stoutmire was late coming over. Bennett just couldn't hang on to the ball... Stoutmire lost TE Ben Troupe over the middle, but Volek didn't. Gain of 26 yards...

Offensive Line: Brown struggles at LT
C Jeff Faine and Tennessee Titans DT Albert Haynesworth (92) battled all night. Early in the game, Faine leveled Haynesworth down field following Reggie Bush. Later in the game, Haynesworth would toss Faine aside near the goalline and bury Reggie Bush. Faine doesn't have the physical stature to overpower bigger DT's unless he is in ideal position and technique and we'll see more of the same this season... Regularly, the Titans overloaded one side and the Saints by design allowed a man a clear run at the quarterback. Teams won't overlook that... DE Lamar Odom played most of the first half for the Titans and was up and down against the Saints' tackles. RT Jon Stinchcomb followed through on the block and buried Odom on the first play of the game. Jamal Brown saw more of him in the first half. One play Brown buried Odom in a dominating show of force that looked familiar to his work last year at right tackle. But on the next play, Odom swam right by Brown and helped drop Stecker for a loss. In a disastrous series of plays late in the second quarter, Brown was beaten by Odom again, who was able to nail Jamie Martin after the pass. The next play, Odom beat Brown again to drop Stecker behind the line, and that was followed immediately by DE Travis LaBoy pushing straight through Brown's outside shoulder on his way to sack Jamie Martin. Not good- on each play Brown was beaten a different way each time and most concerning is that he simply couldn't move his feet fast enough to keep himself centered and on balance. On the last play of the first half, Martin had to jump out of the way of a diving LaBoy, who had beaten Brown to the punch again... Liked what I saw out of G Jahri Evans... Brown and Nesbit were beaten by a stunt by Haynesworth and LaBoy... T Ben Archibald was the second string left tackle, and showed a lot of mobility when he pulled and buried a defender in space... Liked what I saw from Strief. He used his long arm well against a variety of rushers.

Runningbacks: Reggie Bush looks fantastic, plays like a champ
RB Reggie Bush showed speed, power and agility. Most importantly, he showed a fearlessness of a mini-Jim Brown, finishing every run by plowing into somebody and running like a much bigger man. His lifespan as a runningback in the NFL won't be any longer for it, but it'll be more exciting. On one such play, Bush headed toward the sideline but instead of allowing CB Pacman Jones to escort him out or deliver a cheap shot, Bush gathered and slammed into Jones, capping off a 10-yard dump off pass gain. It riled up the crowd and infuriated Jones, who drew a taunting penalty when he exchanged words and butted facemasks with Bush... Great awareness by RB Aaron Stecker on an ad lib by Brees, who floated a pass over Stecker's head and away from the crowd into open space... RB Jamaal Branch showed something. He's a big guy and runs downhill a little too upright but with power. He showed some good outside speed too and made the most of his opportunity to play when Stecker went down.

Receivers: Deep corps of receivers help out Martin, Bouman
WR Devery Henderson dropped a very catchable crossing pattern pass from Brees... WR Marques Colston played a lot early and the Saints are really growing to like him. He made some great moves to catch and evade on the sidelines... Chris Horn appeared to be the slot receiver with Donte Stallworth out and Henderson starting... Joe Horn had a pair of great catches from Brees in the second quarter. One was a timing buttonhook and one was a deep improv. It's obvious that Horn has it down with Brees... WR Mike Hass made the catch of the game, however, in the third quarter when he went up high in traffic and held on after getting slammed on the ground for a tough gain... TE Billy Miller didn't impress with poor blocking... WR Lance Moore looked great when thrown to, including a juggling catch on a crossing route and hauling in Todd Bouman's ugly-looking spiral for the game winning touchdown... It was probably Bouman's best game as a Saint so far, and it was aided by the great play of a very competitive and deep group of receivers who all caught well late in the game.

Special Teams: New faces at KR, PR without Michael Lewis
Backup punter rookie Steve Weatherford had a good night and placed his punts well. He also made an impressive play in bringing down Titan Pacman Jones on a punt return that would be called back due to penalty anyway... Jamal Jones was the first punt returner... Bethel Johnson played a lot at KR and PR but didn't catch a pass... Lance Moore also saw a lot of time at kick returner and punt returner... What happened to special teams? A bad uncalled penalty on a big return in the first half helped on big Titans' gain, but the big return in the second half by Roby looked just like a clean breakdown of coverage lanes.

For more on this article check out NewOrleansFootball.com

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