“Obviously, Drew puts the ball where it needs to be”, Cooks said, via Evan Woodbery of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
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Cooks spent his off-season working out in San Diego with Brees, who sounds like he admires the young receiver’s approach. With Brees under center, Cooks caught three passes, including this 45-yard touchdown strike. Manning was 8 of 14 for 52 yards. Moore holds the edge, Fleming sends wide receiver Joe Morgan flying into the fullback, and Ryan overpowers his blocker to help make a play.
The biggest play of the game for New Orleans came on a Drew Brees connection with second year receiver Brandin Cooks.
The Patriots trailed 21-0 after a Josh Hill touchdown catch in the second quarter before finally getting on the board before the half. Robinson led team rushing, however, with 35 yards and two carries.
The defense broke on the next red-zone trip as a former Pats tight end Ben Watson breezed past linebacker Jonathan Freeny on a post route, and Brees hit him for a 10-yard score that made it 9-0 after a failed two-point conversion.
Drawing conclusions from the preseason is a perilous exercise. The shadow game behind the game is the one that’s important.
The Saints will now continue their training camp in Metairie.
But upon their return home, it was clear the Saints were eager to give an effort.
“I think [the week with New England] was beneficial for both teams”, said Payton.
The Saints have had at least one player see 125 or more targets in each of the last five seasons. “So, it just looked good to me”.
“He was throwing some dimes out there today”, said receiver Matthew Slater, who caught a touchdown pass of about 40 yards from Brady during 11-on-11 drills Thursday. It showed that he still has some juice in that highly scrutinized 36-year-old body. “I like to have that on my shoulders”. I was trying to manufacture power because it wasn’t coming from the places it should.
More importantly, Brees proved on Saturday that when he has time to sit in the pocket and survey the field, he can still play like one of the league’s best signal callers.
The result was a mechanical marvel. The Patriots barely picked up a first down the entire quarter and were forced into a couple three and outs.
While the Saints didn’t try to sugarcoat their performance on defense, they weren’t about to panic.
They also experimented with Devin McCourty at corner, but more on that soon. This was not the kind of loss like the one to the Ravens, when for much of the night the Saints looked like a wandering band of nomads – or, in other words, the Oakland Raiders.
“He’s made a ton of strides…we’re seeing his growth, like, right now”, Payton said.
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The Saints lost a meaningless battle Saturday night, but they may have won the war with themselves.
