OXNARD, Calif. - The Saints and Cowboys brought the edge on Tuesday, and plenty of it.
What should have been remembered as a joint practice became a wrestling match at times, with center Erik McCoy launching a Cowboys helmet about 15 yards downfield in one scuffle and undrafted rookie receiver Brock Rechsteiner getting his fingers pried off a Dallas defender’s face mask before turning to another defensive back and body-slamming him to the turf. The contact and the shouting kept building through much of the nearly two-hour workout, far beyond what “chippy” usually suggests.
“There’s some edginess to football, and we can learn from how this one navigated,” Saints coach Kellen Moore said.
Once the dust settled, the football was just as interesting. The Saints offense had its best moments when Tyler Shough was looking for Chris Olave, and the two of them kept finding ways to make difficult throws look routine.
Shough’s sharpest connection with Olave came late in practice on a goal-line snap. Lined up in the slot against rookie Caleb Downs, Olave won to the middle of the field and Shough let it go right away for a touchdown.
That pairing kept clicking all day. Shough targeted Olave eight times, and the two connected seven or eight times depending on how you want to score one contested play in which Olave went up for a ball over Downs’ helmet and came down with it in a scramble that left the ball tucked between his legs at the end.
The route tree didn’t matter much. Shough and Olave connected on a deep comeback to the right sideline, another play-action throw seven snaps later, a catch over the middle and a flat route as well.
“Just continuing to grow the trust there,” Shough said. “We're going to keep building.
We're on the same page on a lot of stuff. We may have some hiccups here and there, but it's a lot of fun when we're out there and knowing what each other is thinking.”
Shough was clean everywhere else, too. He finished 18, or 19, of 23 passes, with the only blemish coming on an interception in the middle of the field after he seemed to misread Dallas’ zone coverage.
Other than that, it was a strong day for the rookie quarterback. His second-to-last throw was a perfectly placed touchdown to Noah Fant in the back of the end zone during red-zone work.
“He's going to get to learn from a few throws, but I thought his operation, his command, I thought he did a good job of manning (the offense) the whole day,” Moore said.
The Saints offense did need a little time to get rolling, but by the end of practice it was moving with real rhythm. Shough and the unit looked far more settled than they did early, and he again looked like the quarterback who made a push for rookie of the year while starting only nine games last season.
There were other signs of progress around him. The Cowboys’ front got home a couple of times, but New Orleans handled pass protection better than it did in last week’s joint practice against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The run game also found more room, with the line opening cutback lanes that running backs kept using. Travis Etienne, Devin Neal and Kendre Miller each had what likely would have been explosive runs off those lanes.
Miller, back from a back injury, had a couple of impressive carries and worked some with the first team. Given his injury history, he may still need a strong finish to camp, but Tuesday counted as a good step.
Rookie receiver Bryce Lance also stacked another productive practice onto his camp. He caught three of his four targets from Shough, including an explosive play when he beat his defender on a double move and hauled in a hole shot down the right sideline.
The day wasn’t clean on the injury front. Alvin Kamara left early with a knee injury, Quincy Riley exited with a groin injury, and Ronnie Bell left because he was overheating.
Jordyn Tyson (hamstring), Audric Estime (ankle), Rejzohn Wright (hip/ankle), Chris Rumph (ankle), Cam Jordan (hamstring), Davon Godchaux (ankle) and Christen Miller (shoulder) did not practice. Devaughn Vele was present but sat out as part of what Moore called a rest day.
Kendre Miller (back) and Devin Neal (hamstring) both returned to practice.
Even the kicking game got a workout in the wind. Charlie Smyth and Tanner Brown each made four of five field-goal tries, with Brown missing wide right from 39 yards and Smyth missing wide right from 45.
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