Saints Clips
Wide receiver Chris Olave and defensive end Chase Young practiced for the Saints on Friday, but the team isn’t ready to guarantee they’ll be in the lineup against the Ravens on Sunday.
Olave, who has a hamstring injury, and Young, who is dealing with a calf injury, were both added to the report as limited participants on Thursday. They were limited in Friday’s practice as well and head coach Kellen Moore said they will carry questionable designations into the weekend.
Defensive lineman Christen Miller (toe) was injured on Friday and Moore said he’ll also be listed as questionable. Linebacker Isaiah Stalbird (shoulder) is listed as doubtful and long snapper Zach Wood (calf) will be placed on injured reserve.
Moore said everyone else is good to go, which puts running back Alvin Kamara and defensive end Cam Jordan on track to play for the first time this season.
The Ravens welcomed several players back to practice on Friday.
Reporters at the open session of practice shared that wide receiver Zay Flowers (hamstring), defensive end Trey Hendrickson (finger), left guard John Simpson (groin), and left tackle Ronnie Stanley (toe) were all suited up for the team’s final workout ahead of Sunday’s game against the Saints.
Flowers left Week 1’s win over the Colts with his injury and head coach Jesse Minter called him day-to-day earlier this week. The Ravens also lost rookie Ja’Kobi Lane to a fractured wrist in the win, so having Flowers back would keep them from being overly thin at wideout this weekend.
The Ravens will release injury designations later on Friday.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has a record of 77-31 as a starter. That’s an impressive winning percentage of 71.3 percent.
That’s very good. Here’s what’s even better — Jackson is 25-3 against NFC teams.
It translates to a winning percentage of 89.3 percent.
He puts that record on the line against the Saints on Sunday, the first of four NFC South sacrificial lambs who’ll face Jackson this season.
In those games, Jackson has thrown 52 touchdown passes against nine interceptions, for a ratio of 5.8. (By way of comparison, the historic Aaron Rodgers career TD-to-INT ratio is 4.29.)
It’s happened too often to be a fluke. And the simplest explanation is that the teams in the NFC don’t see Lamar Jackson often enough to know how to stop him.
Not that they don’t have a plan. But it’s one thing to have a plan. It’s another to implement it. Teams with players who have little or no experience in trying to slow him down have a hard time doing it, when they’re only doing it once every four years or so.
The dynamic will work in Baltimore’s favor, if the Ravens ever get to a Super Bowl. Where they’d face an NFC team that may never be able to fully prepare for what is about to happen.
Josh Allen’s skills were on display in Buffalo’s win over the Lions on Thursday night and his performance was the latest reason why any quarterback should be excited about being compared to the Bills star.
That was where Ravens defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver went when he was asked about Saints quarterback Tyler Shough at a Thursday press conference. Weaver said that he believes the “sky’s the limit” for the second-year quarterback during an answer that included a comparison to Allen.
“Yes, I like that kid,” Weaver said, via a transcript from the team. “We played them towards the latter half of the year when I was in Miami last year, and I was impressed with him then as a rookie. He reminds me a little bit of like a poor-mans Josh Allen. Has all the arm talent in the world [and] can run. I don’t think he gets enough credit for how good [of] an athlete he is. So, particularly as you get down to the low red [zone], we are constantly going to be conscious of just his ability to scramble and create those extended plays.”
Calling someone a “poor-mans” version of something could be seen as damning with faint praise, but Shough is preparing to make his 11th NFL start so anything that brings Allen to mind is a good sign for where his career can go. A win over the Ravens would be a step toward getting there, but Weaver isn’t going to get caught off guard this Sunday.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara plans to make his 2026 debut on Sunday.
Kamara missed the opener while he continued to recover from a knee sprain he suffered this summer, but has been a full participant in practice both days this week and he said on Thursday that he will be in the lineup against the Ravens.
“I’m going,” Kamara said, via the team’s website. “If it wasn’t right, I wouldn’t be in. I feel great, moving well, really no limitations. I feel good.”
The Saints signed Travis Etienne this offseason and he had nine carries for 46 yards against the Lions last weekend. Kendre Miller also got nine carries and Kamara said he’s ready for whatever role the team has in mind for his return.
“You really never know when your number is going to be called,” Kamara said. “I feel the same as if I’m leading or not, that’s more for the coaches to figure out. My job is to be ready, so I’ll be ready.”
Official word from the Saints on Kamara’s status will come on Friday. The team will also share any injury designations for wide receiver Chris Olave, defensive end Cam Jordan, and defensive end Chase Young after they were limited in Thursday’s practice.
With Zay Flowers dealing with a hamstring injury and Ja’Kobi Lane on IR with a fractured wrist, the Ravens are looking for some help at receiver.
According to the league’s daily transaction wire, Brandin Cooks worked out for Baltimore on Thursday.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports no signing is imminent, but Cooks could be an option for the club moving forward.
Cooks, who turns 33 later this month, appeared in 15 total games with five starts last year. He began the season with New Orleans, catching 19 passes for 165 yards. He then went to Buffalo where he had five receptions for 114 yards in five regular-season games.
He then had five catches for 78 yards for the Bills in the postseason. But he infamously didn’t handle a downfield overtime throw from Josh Allen in the divisional round, leading to an interception and an eventual loss to Denver.
Cooks has appeared in 173 games with 149 starts since being selected at No. 20 overall in the 2014 draft. He’s caught 734 passes for 9,811 yards with 60 touchdowns for the Saints, Patriots, Rams, Texans, Cowboys, and Bills.
The Saints have added a few players to the injury report on Thursday, but at least one isn’t much cause for concern.
Receiver Chris Olave (hamstring), edge rusher Chase Young (calf), and long snapper Zach Wood (calf) were all added to the injury report on Thursday.
Olave and Young were limited participants but Wood did not participate.
According to Nick Underhill of neworleans.football, Olave left practice as a precautionary measure and his injury is not expected to be a problem. Underhill also reports Young experienced calf soreness with the team feeling optimistic about him.
But Wood is a different story, as Katherine Terrell of ESPN reports he could miss 4-6 weeks with a calf strain. In his 10th season with the Saints, Wood has not been sidelined for a game since he signed in 2017.
Tight end Juwan Johnson (illness) was a limited participant on Thursday after he did not practice on Wednesday.
Linebacker Isaiah Stalbird (shoulder) remained a non-participant.
Tight end Oscar Delp (hamstring) and edge rusher Cam Jordan (hamstring) were limited participants.
Running back Alvin Kamara (knee) was a full participant.
Defensive lineman Davon Godchaux received a rest day.
The Ravens are practicing without several key players again on Wednesday.
Wide receiver Zay Flowers remains out of practice with the hamstring injury that knocked him out of the team’s Week 1 win over the Colts. Head coach Jesse Minter called Flowers day-to-day earlier this week, but another day out of practice Friday would be a bad sign for his availability against the Saints this weekend.
The Ravens will be without rookie wideout Ja’Kobi Lane after he had wrist surgery this week, so Lamar Jackson will be working with a thin group of wideouts one way or another.
Reporters also noted that linebacker Trey Hendrickson (finger), left tackle Ronnie Stanley (toe), left guard John Simpson (groin), and cornerback T.J. Tampa (knee) are not participating during the open portion of practice.
At halftime of the Week 1 matchup between the Lions and Saints, New Orleans was down 7-0.
The Saints had moved the ball a bit, but quarterback Tyler Shough was 10-of-22 for 85 yards with an interception.
Then in the third quarter, the Lions got up 21-0 and the game seemed like it might be over.
But that’s when things changed, with New Orleans eventually tying the game at 24 with Shough’s 9-yard touchdown to Juwan Johnson with 1:07 left in regulation.
Then Shough hit Noah Fant with an 8-yard touchdown in overtime. New Orleans could have tied it up again, but instead elected to go for the victory with a two-point conversion. But Shough’s pass to rookie Bryce Lance fell incomplete.
What was the difference after the slow start?
“There was a lot to clean up just as a whole offensive unit, especially myself,” Shough said in his Wednesday press conference. “I wish I would’ve just kind of gone through my operation and had cleaner feet earlier on. My feet were too quick and I was trying to be too perfect. Like I said after the game, they did a good job early on. But I feel like once I settled in — and it’s the first game, I’m not going to be perfect, there’s going to be new stuff. But I just kind of took that pressure off myself and just played football and that’s part of it.
“I’m still pretty early when it comes in to that aspect of it, and I had a lot of fun being able to kind of have some adversity — some of that stuff just happened. So it was good to build off that. And the whole offense, we kind of were not on the same page [in the first half] and we were able to get things going.”
Shough finished the game 35-of-56 for 410 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions and a lost fumble.
While the Saints will again be on the road in Week 2, Shough will try to keep the momentum rolling against the Ravens.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara appears to be on track to play against the Ravens in Week 2.
Kamara did not play in the season opener because of the knee injury he suffered in August, but head coach Kellen Moore said at a Wednesday press conference that he “probably could have gone” but didn’t have enough practice time after returning to the field earlier in the week. Moore said that the Saints “feel good” about Kamara being able to play this week.
Defensive end Cam Jordan (hamstring) also missed the opener and was a limited participant in practice. Tight end Oscar Delp (hamstring) was also listed as limited.
Tight end Juwan Johnson (illness) and linebacker Isaiah Stalbird (shoulder) were full participants on Wednesday.
