WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson Jersey .Va. -- Drew Brees stood on the sideline throughout the Saints first scrimmage of training camp on Saturday, resting a strained abdominal muscle on his left side and likely watching with envy as his backups cashed in on the big-play potential of rookie receiver Brandin Cooks. "Hes explosive and hes a guy that, if you can get the ball to him in space, he has a chance to give you some run after the catch -- and he did that," coach Sean Payton said of Cooks, New Orleans first-round draft pick. "Youve just got to keep working with him on a lot of the nuances and specifics of the passing game, but it was good to see him make a few plays." Cooks racked up more than 100 yards receiving on six catches. His highlights included a twisting, falling catch along the sideline of Ryan Griffins deep pass. Cooks beat veteran cornerback Patrick Robinson on the play, which gained about 40 yards to the 1-yard line. Later, Griffin found Cooks along the sideline, and the receiver stopped suddenly to elude defensive back Rod Sweeting before sprinting nearly 30 yards down the sideline to the end zone. He also had long returns of both a punt and kickoff. The Saints did not make Cooks available after the scrimmage, but teammates unequivocally praised the rookies performance. "Hes electric," Saints career receiving leader Marques Colston said. "He can run all the routes and hes a big-play guy. ... Hes a guy that comes to work every day with the right mindset and I think thats why hes able to be as productive as hes been -- and I dont really see a change in that coming." Saints defenders agreed. "Obviously, today we were going against our offence, so I was quite upset, but its an amazing thing to watch," outside linebacker Junior Galette said. "Hes everything that we expected him to be so far." "I see that hes zero to 60 real fast. Thats why we took him with the first-round pick," inside linebacker David Hawthorne said. "Hes a young guy with a heck of a lot of potential." Also scoring touchdowns were tight end Jimmy Graham (on a short pass from Luke McCown), as well as running backs Mark Ingram, Travaris Cadet and rookie Derrick Strozier. Ingram scored on a 5-yard run, while Cadet used a hard cutback to his left to score from roughly 25 yards out. Strozier ran in a sweep from about 10 yards. New Orleans running game, which ranked 25th in the NFL last season, thrived in the scrimmage. Ingrams day included a long run through the middle. Right tackle Zach Strief said he can sense the chemistry between the offensive line and ball carriers improving. "Guys are more comfortable with it," Strief said. "The more confident you are in what you are in what youre doing, the faster youre going to play. And thats the key to this game, you know, how fast can you make the right decisions. ... There were some good creases there." A crowd of more than 4,200 fans filled stands and an embankment along the Saints picturesque training camp fields at The Greenbrier resort in the Allegheny mountains. Some could be heard expressing disappointment when they realized they would not get to see Brees play. Brees was disappointed as well, Strief said, but the star quarterback is expected to recover quickly. "I know its really hard for Drew to stand there and not be in pads and not be with his guys," Strief said, a playful smirk emerging as he continued to speak. "We do a lot of hugging and make sure hes feeling OK. Ive rubbed his obliques a few times. Im sure thats helped. ... The great thing about Drew -- you know hes going be in the training room twice as much as anybody, and hes going to get himself right." Notes: Beside Brees, others sitting out the scrimmage included CB Champ Bailey, S Jairus Byrd, G Ben Grubbs, WR Kenny Stills, NT John Jenkins. While Payton has declined to discuss specific injuries in training camp, he said Bailey should be back soon, adding he doesnt "think its anything serious." ... WR Joe Morgan, trying to make a comeback from a serious knee injury that sidelined him all of last season, saw limited action and made a catch. ... Newly acquired S Marcus Ball had an interception of McCown. Marshon Lattimore Saints Jersey .Y. -- Florida Panthers captain Ed Jovanovski finally has something to show for all the pain he went through in overcoming a string of injuries that kept him sidelined for much of the past two years. Marcus Davenport Jersey . Neither player was available Saturday for the Knicks 107-98 loss in Atlanta. "Were going in a different direction and weve got to figure out another spot or two for our ballclub," coach Mike Woodson said before the game. http://www.shoptheofficialsaints.com/Elite-Drew-Brees-Saints-Jersey/ . Wade is posting a short film on his website next week, with a sneak preview scheduled to come out Wednesday.Vilified to vindicated. Henry Burris, quarterback for the Ottawa Redblacks, finally led a team not to a win but to a dominant win, 42-20 over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Statistically he had his best game of the year by going 24 for 31 for 284 yards but numbers only tell part of the story. Henry showed great leadership and emotion. To take over an expansion franchise is a challenge and consider this - he could have gone to an established team and become a back-up and got paid and faded away with a nice career. Quite the opposite, he took a better contract and met a new challenge of establishing a new CFL franchise, so well done Henry. The other positive aspect of football was Jonathan Williams at running back. Hes a first-year player that has an elusive skill set that you cant teach. Often in finding football players you look for the aspects of the game you cant teach knowing you can teach just about everything else. The way that Williams can make people miss in space and congestion in accordance with his speed is a gift to be developed. The running back position is a genuine strength in Ottawa as they still have Chevon Walker on the roster who is a top CFL back already. The battle for playing time for both running backs will be something to watch as the organization develops. It may have taken 15 weeks but last week looked like a major step forward. For Winnipeg, its back to answering the question why but one answer is obvious. In four of the last five games an opposition running back has created over 100 yards of offence, in some games a lot more. It has to end before the Bombers begin to win again. With Calgary and Saskatchewan I wish Drew Tate was a free agent. Bo Levi Mitchell is a better quarterback in the extremely significant skill of deep ball ability and thinking way back John Hufnagel made the right decision between the two. But Tate has a passion to win that I think you can use and build on for any team without an established number one player. You look for tangible and intangible qualities in players and the intangible quality of Tates desire and enthusiasm is as close to tangible as there is. Calgary will not let him go but if they did he could play for half the teams in the league as a starter. With the Riders I thought they handled their quarterback dilemma perfectly. Cory Chamblin and George Cortez had to find out what they have in Seth Doege and they found out that he is not ready. At this point of the season practice is not always a good indicator of ability and the truth is always shown in a game against other good players. They took a chance and noow they know Tino Sunseri is the guy. Sam Mills Saints Jersey. My most enjoyable observation from the entire week was the look on Sunseris face when he was told he was given a second chance. You could tell just from the body language that this time was his time and he knew it and showed it by going 16 or 19 for 289. Cortez has been around and coached some of the best quarterbacks on the planet on both sides of the border. Chamblin and Cortez knew exactly what they were doing and for the rest of the season they have clarity at footballs most important position. In Toronto, Edmonton lost because of 18 penalties for 224 yards and Toronto won because they shut down John White and Mike Reilly as runners. In the Rider game the week previous the combination of Reilly/White had 302 rushing yards; in this game at Rogers Centre, 53 yards. Then the Argo combination of Steele and Slaton had over 100 yards. Edmonton became one dimensional and Toronto stayed balanced. Edmonton plays Saskatchewan in Regina next week and you will see a more disciplined Eskimo team this time around. And Game 4 was the best game to watch for me as you just did not know who would win until the very end. Hamilton has made the transition from being hesitant and passive to confident and aggressive. You often see individual players mature and do well and it is easy to see. But then, when enough of them individually go through that process, it is a process you notice as a team. Team Maturity. Mossis Madu has effectively taken the place of CJ Gable and in Kent Austins system an all-purpose running back is critical. 86 yards receiving and 56 yards running is a good day but the best is some perfect pass protection blocks that are only noticed the next day in video analysis. Zach Collaros was 33 yards away from a 400-yard passing performance and Brandon Banks is becoming a special return performer and all around player. Going back to the off-season Justin Medlock was signed and many, not just myself, thought that down the road he was going to win some games. His going 5 for 5 for 15 points was a main reason Hamilton won 19-17. In BC when you consider there was no Andrew Harris, no Stephan Logan and no Tim Brown, they played well enough to almost pull it out in the end. I hope Solomon Elimimian is voted Most Outstanding Player when the season is over with BC. Still, Adam Bighill deserves recognition for his excellence. BC just may have the two best interior linebackers in CFL football playing side by side. Fifteen weeks are gone and only five are left with the East finally playing with ability and confidence. ' ' '