New Orleans Saints Defensive End Cameron Jordan
Training Camp Presented by Verizon
Friday, August 16, 2019
Post Practice Media Availability

What have your impressions of the two days of work out here been?
"Work here? It is 72 degrees and sunny. The struggle is so hard to overcome sometimes (joking). Sometimes when adversity stacks up so high, the measures you have to take are immense. You have to find a reason to loosen your back and loosen (your) joints. But no, when you talk about being able to come to a joint practice with the Chargers, I wouldn't say I mark it on a training camp schedule, but when you get out here and you get to work against somebody else it's nice to hit somebody else that's not your guy you're going to see five minutes after practice."

How productive is the work out here against a quality team?
"With pads on? Amazing. They take pads off in training camp. It is mind blowing. It is exciting. When you have the ability to go against a team that is a high caliber team, this is a team that went to playoffs last year. You're going against a defense that has been anchoring, at least the strength of, their team. Against their offense, you're going to go against one of the top gunslingers (Philip Rivers) in the league. This is time to sharpen all your tools, know exactly what you have, and be able to go two days (in) competition periods where things can be stretched. It makes you realize what you have, what you need to work on and emphasizes exactly what we have to focus on to be better."

What are you hoping to see from preseason game one to game two?
"Growth. You're always looking for that step forward. When you talk about game one and game two, you're looking for pressures on the quarterback. You're looking for a turnover on defense and you're always looking for that next step forward. So whatever that is for us, that's what we've got to get better at."

Is there a mental break for you guys just getting here and getting away from the heat for a few days?
"Oh, you mean where it's not 95 degrees, (and) 100% humidity? It's taxing. I will tell you it's a real try to somehow wake up and in California and have this cool breeze hitting your face. God, I don't know how people do it."

Do you find that you get more veteran days off than you used to?
"I don't know. I think this started up last year. Somewhere around year eight they start caring about your body. It's crazy. It's all part of the plan and whatever coach (Payton) and the staff sets up, I'm more than willing to follow the plan. What's important to me is winning games and whatever puts us in the best position to do so. If that's vet days, if that's working all throughout, I don't really care about the workload. I care about the ability to get better each and every rep I take."

There is not really a day off because you are still on your feet at practice. How do you get the same thing out of practice as you would if you were in pads and practicing?
"Mental reps. It is one thing to watch it on film. It is one thing to watch it in person. When you take to the field, you are always trying to find one aspect of an area to improve upon and not only improve on, but to see how you'd would adjust to a certain situation. If you've got tight bunch, if you've (got) tight end off ball or whatever it is, see how you'd attack and see if how you'd attack would go ahead and put it into the game film. If you can get better from practicing, you get better in the game. If you can get better in the game, hopefully you win that game."

Everyone always says mental reps are important, so you're kind of focusing maybe on what one teammate is doing?
"I look at the left end and take that person and put myself there. So I necessarily don't see his moves. I see my moves. At the end of the day, I feel that I'm going to be one of the best 11 players on the field and taking those reps for me is just as draining mentally as it is physically."