By John DeShazier, The Times-Picayune

While the affirmative case for offseason training activities was made by the New Orleans Saints‘ and San Francisco 49ers‘ first-team offenses that slopped around for a few series in the first quarter Friday night, backup quarterback Chase Daniel solidified his case as Drew Brees’ understudy at the Superdome.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Saints quarterback Chase Daniel showed promise in the win against San Francisco.

It wasn’t all that spectacular. But it didn’t have to be, either.

Daniel directed a couple of scoring drives in the first half — one ending on Garrett Hartley’s 47-yard field goal in the first quarter, the other culminating with Mark Ingram’s 14-yard touchdown run in the second — to lead New Orleans to a 17-3 lead at the break.

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By Pat Yasinskas

We know the New Orleans Saints can play offense and there’s no doubt that will happen when the regular season comes along. But the Saints didn’t even need their offense in a 24-3 victory against the San Francisco 49ers in their preseason opener at the Superdome.

The defense and special teams gave the Saints a fast start as Drew Brees and most of the first-team offense didn’t even stay in long enough to get a first down.

New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams looked like he was prepared for a playoff game, not an exhibition. He blitzed like crazy and the first-team defense was all over San Francisco starting quarterback Alex Smith. Safety Roman Harper spent as much time in the backfield as any of San Francisco’s running backs. Heck, Williams was even calling run blitzes.

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By Kevin Spain, The Times-Picayune

You know what you’ve got with the New Orleans Saints offense, a great quarterback, a good group of receivers, a solid running game and the ability to score a lot of points. (Check out our game updates here).

The question mark coming into this season was how well the defense, which had a fairly complete makeover in the offseason, would come together.

Against the San Francisco 49ers in the first preseason game of 2011, it was the defense that looked more ready for the regular season, as it dominated when the first teams were on the field, and the Saints won 24-3.

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You saw the promise last year, but Malcolm Jenkins said that’s not all you’re going to get.

I sat down with the free safety for the New Orleans Saints after a recent camp practice in Metairie, La. and discussed where he’s at as he heads for his third NFL season and second as a starting safety. Jenkins, a first-round pick in 2009, spent his rookie season playing cornerback.

Last year, he made the switch to safety.

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Mark Ingram, running back, Saints. He’s gotten off to a very good start in camp and he’s really the only New Orleans rookie who is not being brought along slowly. You can take that as a sign that Ingram’s going to play a lot as a rookie. He’s been getting lots of first-team work in camp. He’s going to split snaps with Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles. But running back usually is an easy position for rookies to pick up. If Ingram can show he’s got the playbook down and can protect Drew Brees from blitzes, he’s going to get a lot of playing time from the start.

By Nakia Hogan, The Times-Picayune

By Pat Yasinskas

METARIE, La. — The New Orleans Saints just put out their first unofficial depth chart. It included a few surprises, highlighted by the fact the Saints aren’t trying to hide anything.

They have veteran Olin Kreutz ahead of Matt Tennant at center. That’s a bit refreshing because that’s the way the Saints intend to go. But, the flip side is they have rookie Mark Ingram as the No. 3 running back behind Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles. I will be shocked if Ingram is not the starter, or at least the feature back, by opening day.

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By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

More than a week into New Orleans Saints training camp, it’s worth pointing out one thing we haven’t been seeing – any signs of post-lockout sloppiness.

In fact, I honestly hadn’t thought about the idea of the “lockout hangover” until colleague Mike Preston from the Baltimore Sun checked in with me to ask how the Saints are looking, compared to the Baltimore Ravens, who have been off to a sloppy start. According to Preston’s research, the Ravens aren’t the only ones.

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