CARSON, Calif. — Marshon Lattimore and Ryan Ramczyk are rookies.

There were times they made it clear they were making their preseason debuts on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. Both Saints’ first-round picks had some moments they’d like to have back and others that stood out positively.

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So, no, it wasn’t perfect, and it shouldn’t have been expected to be. There are high hopes for both players, and perhaps even some pressure since they are expected to play significant roles early in the season with offensive tackle Terron Armstead out for the first few months of the season with a shoulder injury and cornerback Delvin Breaux recovering from a broken fibula.

It’s too soon to know if the focus should be on the good or the bad against the Chargers. It’s one preseason game. So, conclusions should be tossed aside until there further evidence is collected. But we can only react to what has been shown to us so far.

Let’s start with the good.

Lattimore received the start and proved he can cover. If you isolate his passing snaps from everything else that happened, it would be hard to find fault with his performance. He was in coverage for 11 snaps and was never targeted. And the list of players he was up against (Keenan Allen for one snap, four times against Travis Allen, five times against Dontrelle Inman, and one against tight end Hunter Henry) can play.

"I wanted them to throw it to me bad, but they didn't," Lattimore said. "That means I was doing something right. I'm good, though. It will come."

It wasn’t that the quarterback never looked his direction. He did. Lattimore was just always in phase and never get let anyone get open. A good example was when he refused to be fooled by a stutter step on an out route, which helped buy time for defensive end Alex Okafor to record a sack.

The only moment when Lattimore looked poor was when he froze on a Melvin Gordon run and allowed himself to get juked in the open field. That, hopefully, is something that can be coached up.

"I just need to shoot my side. I was supposed to be closer to the line," Lattimore said. "I just can't stop my feet. It will be better, though. It will come in time just knowing the tendencies of running backs and anyone, period."

Otherwise, he looked good. It appeared the Saints were in man coverage on many of his plays. The Saints were in zone a couple times, including once when Lattimore passed his man off and dropped down to cover a running back in the flat.

If Lattimore continues to progress, Sunday’s game gave some insight into what the team is planning to do at cornerback. Lattimore and P.J. Williams started in the base defense. When the team moved to nickel, Williams slid inside, and De’Vante Harris played on the outside. It's too soon to call anything, and one of those spots could still be claimed by Sterling Moore or Ken Crawley until Breaux returns healthy, but it looks like Williams will cover the slot.

Now the bad.

Not everything about Ramczyk’s performance was bad. He had some good moments, including a key block that helped spring rookie Alvin Kamara for a long touchdown. He also had some good moments in pass protection, and it should be noted that he matched up against two quality pass rushers in Melvin Ingram (seven plays) and Joey Bosa (five plays), which is no easy task.

But if he starts at left tackle this season, Ramczyk is going to face quality pass rushers throughout the season, and he’ll need to be better than he was on Sunday.

Things started out OK for Ramczyk, but things fell apart after the first two series. On the last play of the third series, he missed a block against Ingram and allowed a sack. On the next set of downs, he failed to get a strong block on Ingram which forced quarterback Chase Daniel to throw the ball away.

On the next series, Ingram again beat Ramczyk, this time on a spin move, and the rookie was forced to hold to prevent a sack. And on the final drive, defensive tackle Tenny Palepoi beat Ramczyk again.

"I think it was good to get in a game and play a game and feel the speed of the NFL and really feel what the game is like even though it's a preseason game," Ramczyk said. "It really shows how important those little fundamentals will be in crunch time or when you get tired in the game. (I have to keep) improving on those things and staying consistent."

Overall, Ramczyk was on the field for 12 passing plays and allowed at least four pressures. That isn’t going to be good enough when it counts. And it’s a little bit more concerning considering the issues the pass protection endured this week against the Chargers during joint practices.

But it’s too early to be up in arms about his performance. For a rookie player, the preseason is about correcting mistakes and adjusting. It's not Ramczyk's job to get on the right side of things.

And if it doesn’t work out, and the issues continue, the team can always move Andrus Peat to left tackle and put Senio Kelemete into the starting lineup. But it's too early to think about that.

These ups and downs are something the Saints must endure. That’s what happens when you’re hoping rookie players fill two important spots. The key is getting to a point during the season when they stop reminding you that they’re new here.