WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was in the zone Thursday – mostly the end zone – as he picked apart the New Orleans Saints' injury-depleted secondary.
Brady completed five touchdown passes in the first rapid-fire set of team drills before Drew Brees and the Saints’ offense even took their first turn on the field.
The Saints do have a partial excuse -- they were still playing without their top three cornerbacks and top two safeties because of injuries, and they rotated in some of their backups’ backups as the drills went on.
But those backups fared much better against Brady on Wednesday before struggling mightily on Thursday.
Cornerbacks Travis Manning and Brian Dixon got beat deep by receivers Matthew Slater and Josh Boyce, respectively. Tight end Rob Gronkowski scored twice – once against safety Rafael Bush. And cornerback Josh Wilson got beat on a red-zone throw to receiver Chris Harper.
“I mean, everybody knows Brady’s a Hall of Fame guy,” Saints defensive tackle Kevin Williams said. “He was making his calls, making his checks, kind of at his own pace out there doing his thing. I mean, he’s a great quarterback. What more can you say?”
It seems unlikely that any of the Saints’ four starting defensive backs will play in Saturday’s preseason game between these teams at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Nickel cornerback Delvin Breaux could be back, though. Breaux suited up for the first time in full pads on Thursday since suffering an unspecified injury in last week’s preseason opener. He did not participate in team drills, though.
Cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Brandon Browner and safety Kenny Vaccaro were all spotted watching from the sideline at some point during Thursday’s practice. Browner feverishly worked the exercise bike while dancing and fist-pumping to the Saints’ warm-up music.
Safety Jairus Byrd was not spotted, though coach Sean Payton told ESPN’s Britt McHenry on Wednesday that Byrd remains on schedule and the team has a goal of getting him back during the preseason.
As for the Saints’ offensive response to Brady’s display on Thursday, it was good but not great. Brees and Ryan Griffin split time with the first-string offense – sometimes alternating during drives.
Griffin dropped in a gorgeous deep TD pass to Saints receiver Brandin Cooks behind cornerback Bradley Fletcher. Brees moved the ball into scoring position twice with nice throws to Cooks, Benjamin Watson, Brandon Coleman and Mark Ingram, among others. But he couldn’t crack the end zone.
Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler, who got picked on a little by Brees on Wednesday, made a terrific pass breakup on a fade route intended for Marques Colston in the end zone at one point. And one or two of Brees’ drives stalled when he was either sacked or forced to throw the ball away.
