Saints OC Nussmeier Has Strong Opinions on Scripted Plays...

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Late Addition/IR Move for Saints

Late yesterday, the Saints were awarded cornerback Decamerion Richardson off waivers from the Raiders. Originally a 4th round draft pick of Las Vegas in 2024, the tall 6' 2" corner has totaled 57-tackles in his two seasons with the Raiders along with three pass deflections. No word yet as whether or not he will be added to the practice squad or directly to the roster with the movement of safety Lorenzo Styles Jr

The Saints fifth round draft pick in April, Styles was placed on the Injured Reserve/Designated to Return list earlier Tuesday. The rookie injured his calf during the preseason game at the Rams. He is expected to return after the first four games of the season.

Coordinator Day

Yesterday, we heard from the special teams coordinator Phil Galiano and defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Today, Doug Nussmeier, the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator, gets his turn.

The media was interested in hearing about the development of Tyler Shough and Nuss brimmed with complements.

"If you go back to this point in time last year," Nussmeier reminisced, "when we were going through the process of trying to decide who was going to be the starter, the biggest thing with Tyler was, you could see he was seeing things, but he just wasn't able to get there fast enough. His eyes were seeing what they needed to be seeing, but he was just a little bit late. We were able to get him on the scout team and actually speed up his play. So, what you're seeing is a guy that knows the timing of it, and now you're starting (to see him) evolve to the next step of things.

"There's always little things the quarterback saying he wants to (get better at). The best players in that position in this league, playing 15, 18-years, those guys are always working on something because the game's always changing and their bodies are changing and they're always a different way to make this type of throw or a different footwork on that type of throw.

Could See When Shough's Skills Clicked.

"You always worry as a coach when you hold a card up and it's like 'Throw it to that guy' or 'Do that,' it's a lot different when you've (the quarterback) got to call the play, get up to the line of scrimmage, and be able to process everything. We already started to (see that). His eyes were in the right place. He was seeing things I think probably in Week 4 or 5, you really started see he's starting to get it."

Scripting Practice? Not for Him

Fans are used to seeing coaches with large laminated cards on the sidelines. There are a certain number of plays that are scripted to be run in a specific order. Though a game is one thing, Nuss is not into that for practice sessions.

"A lot of guys are 'coach off the script' coaches," the Saints OC told the media. "I don't believe in that because, to me, you don't know what the player knows. As coaches, sometimes we fool ourselves, because we may know it and we can recite it, and we can have a player look at a script and say 'Oh, yeah.' Your players aren't stupid. When you script it, they know what's coming, and (the coaches are) like, 'Does he really know that or did he read the script?' To me, call it periods (when the quarterback has to read what the field gives him and make the play call) are phenomenal, because you get to see guys play."

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