The New Orleans Saints won’t just be practicing against the Los Angeles Chargers this week. They’ll have an NFL officiating crew on hand for the first time this summer.
Head coach Dennis Allen recently observed that teams are usually given two weeks with referees at training camp to help them develop better practice habits, work on smoothing out areas of concern, and highlighting points of emphasis as annual rules changes come into effect.
Allen added that the Saints will have referees on hand for both of their joint practice sessions scheduled with the Chargers in California and the Houston Texans when they return to Louisiana next week.
They’ll need it. The Saints were fouled 9 times for 81 yards in their first preseason game, giving up a first down and wiping out several big gains; for comparison, the Kansas City Chiefs drew 7 fouls for 61 penalty yards. New Orleans still found a way to win, but those self-inflicted wounds made it more difficult than it should have been.
Offensive holding was a big problem against the Chiefs — the Saints were fouled for it 6 times, twice on special teams. Jake Haener’s interception was set up by a Jimmy Graham holding penalty that wiped out a 13-yard run for Ellis Merriweather, prompting the rookie to try a throw on 2nd-and-18. The blockers up front have got to clean up their hands, and getting a couple of days of practice in front of referees should help.
But this could be a big moment for some of the Saints’ training camp battles, too. Cornerback Paulson Adebo led the team with 10 penalties last season, though 3 of them were declined or offset by the offense. All of his fouls fell under defensive holding or defensive pass interference, and we’ll get a great idea of his progress with an officiating crew watching him carefully as he runs with talented Chargers wideouts Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Josh Palmer, and Quentin Johnston.
That might tip the scales in Alontae Taylor’s favor if Adebo is still a penalty magnet. Taylor was only fouled 5 times as a rookie (with 1 penalty declined) for defensive pass interference, defensive holding, and illegal use of hands. For context, he played 663 snaps last season, so that’s one penalty for every 132.6 reps. Adebo played 814 snaps and was penalized once every 81.4 reps on average. If all else is equal but one player hurts his team with fewer fouls, that could be a clinching factor in this heated training camp battle.
