Costa Mesa, CA – The Los Angeles Chargers and New Orleans Saints held a joint practice on Thursday and Friday, ahead of their matchup on Sunday at the StubHub Center.
Fans from both teams filled the stands as the Chargers and Saints went through individual drills, competed in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11.
While the competition level was high, Chargers’ coach Anthony Lynn was pleased to make through practice without any fights.
“A good, clean practice. A lot of good teaching tape,” Lynn said. “Exactly what I expected from a Sean Payton team. A lot of good character guys and hard workers.”
Offensively, the Chargers’ wide receivers were the highlight of Thursday’s practice. Undrafted rookie Artavis Scott beat defenders on multiple occasions, including a back-shoulder catch in the end zone for a touchdown.
Keenan Allen had a solid day of practice. Allen made a sensational one-handed catch during 7-on-7 and had numerous touchdown catches during team drills.
“I’m getting my groove back,” Allen said. “I’m feeling comfortable right now. The game and the speed is coming back to me.”
Saints running back Adrian Peterson was spotted chatting with Melvin Gordon after practice. Peterson had nothing but praise for Gordon and his work ethic.
“Obviously, he has nice size and is very explosive, (but) I didn’t realize how fast he was,” Peterson said. “Once we got on the track, I was able to see how fast he was. He has some real good speed.
Chargers running back Austin Ekeler had the highlight of the day during Friday’s practice. Ekeler scored on a catch-and-run in the red zone, reaching for the pylon before he is hit out of bounds.
Linebacker Denzel Perryman returned to practice on crutches and watched from the sidelines after undergoing surgery on Tuesday.
