POSTGAME QUOTES FROM NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON
(on injuries) “Two guys we’ll check out regarding injuries: DT Abrayo Franklin, his right knee and RB Chris Taylor
, his right foot. The x-rays came back negative on Taylor and with Abrayo it appears to be his MCL. We’ll have a better read on this tomorrow.”
(opening statement) “We’ve got a lot we’ve got to do. Some valuable lessons will come from this. We struggled defensively in the first half. We get down to the red zone, come up with a turnover and then don’t score until later in that quarter. I thought it was sloppy and I think there are a lot of things the coaching staff, myself included, need to get better at. There is no way to sugar coat a loss like that. It’s important for all of us to recognize that there isn’t too much time left in this training camp. We still have a lot of work ahead of us; still in training camp mode. We’ve also got a lot of decisions to make as far as our personnel.”
(on the defense having any vanilla schemes) “It’s preseason so we’re playing to get evaluations on players. I credit Houston on playing very well tonight. They did a good job with their execution. They whipped us. We’ve got a lot of room to make improvement.
(on running back versatility without former Saint, Reggie Bush) “I think from a scheme standpoint we’ll still do everything we’ve done in years past. We’re not doing it now, but I don’t see us changing at all with the loss of him.
(on how RT Zach Strief played) “His name didn’t jump out in any negative plays so that’s a good thing. I thought we ran it pretty well in that first series. We’ll have a chance to see later on though and we’ll give RT Charles Brown some work. When we rotate those two like we do, because of LT Jordan Black’s position we’ll see him taking some snaps at the next tackle.
(on his thoughts about the 43 yard pass to WR Robert Meachem and general pass play) “We came off a penalty and we were backed up. We looked at it as an opportunity to catch him at a right coverage and get behind him. If not, QB Drew Brees is good at coming underneath with the throw if the down the field throw wasn’t there. WR Robert Meachem did a good job of closing the cushion in the corner. Of course the corner stumbled three or four strides into the play and we were able to come up with the big play.”
(on his thoughts about the first drive outside the fumble) “It’s hard to say outside the fumble. You don’t really feel good about anything after there is a fumble. There is a lot we have to grade off of tomorrow and a lot that we have to show our players on Monday. Our job is critical after a game like this, as coaches. We look closely at what we’re doing, who’s doing it well, who’s not, and then what we are asking them to do. I thought we weren’t as crisp as we would have hoped so we’ve got to get back and work on it.”
(on if he is surprised at this step back) “In the preseason nothing surprises me. This is a time of the year where often times, teams can kid themselves on whether they are ready to play or not. I’m not saying that is what happened with us tonight, but we’re not a finished project yet. We’ve got a long ways to go.”
(on if he is ok with the timing of how things are going offensively) “I’m not ok with anything right now. We’ve got a lot of work to do and the time is clicking.”
QB DREW BREES
(on reaction to first drive) “I thought it was a good first drive, mixing the run and the pass. It was a lot of positive plays only to get down inside their 10 yard line and then have that turnover especially at my hands is unacceptable. That can’t happen. Especially on first and goal or second and goal. It turns into that situation where maybe you just take the sack, they got you and just move on to the next play. ”
(on whether the offense and defense is good at being vanilla) “Just by the way it felt, it felt like we moved the ball well. We mixed the run and the pass effectively and were able to spread it around and put it in a lot of guy’s hands. We ended up getting ourselves into a third and long situation in the second drive and then weren’t able to capitalize. Obviously we went down to the third drive where we were able to get a touchdown. We did all our base stuff and we should be good enough with just our base stuff to get the job done. We only come away with seven points in three drives, when really it should have been at least 14 or maybe more, so that part is disappointing.”
(on RB Mark Ingram in the end zone) “That’s just one of those situations where you’re at the one or the half yard line and everyone in the stadium knows you’re going to run it and you still have to find a way to get that yard. Our guys did a very good job of punching that in.”
(on transition with personnel changes and developing offense) “We got two new offensive lineman, (C) Olin Kruetz and (RT) Zach Strief, although Zach has been a part of our program going on six years now so I wouldn’t really call him a new guy in that role. I feel really comfortable with those guys. I feel continuity in very important, especially at that position amongst all those guys communication has to be really good. I feel like they all have that. Are we where we need to be right now? No. We aren’t even close. I feel like we’re on track but we have a long way to go.”
(on if the team is ready for season opener against the Green Bay Packers) “We’re only 20 days into camp and I feel like we did a good job of handling the lockout during the offseason well. As far as the work we were able to get in, I feel like we came into camp ahead of where we would have been otherwise. The fact of the matter is we open up our season in Green Bay against the defending Super Bowl champs. We hosted that game last year and now we are going on the road. It will be here before we know it and we’ll be ready to play our best football. Tonight is motivation for us to get going.”
(on WR Joseph Morgan’s performance) “He’s a talented guy. You can’t teach speed. He’s a guy that’s progressively gotten better as camp has rolled on. I’m excited for him when he takes advantage of opportunities he’s given. We have a lot of young guys we are trying to develop and see if one or more of them has the opportunity to contribute.”
(on trouble connecting with Darren Sproles) “It’s just live game reps. I’m not worried about (Darren) Sproles at all. I think that he’s a very smart player who’s really picked up our offense very quickly. He does so many things so well and is such a consistent and versatile player. I’m excited to watch him grow in this offense and to see the role that he plays as the season approaches.”
(on induction to Texas High School Football Hall of Fame) “It was a tremendous honor to be inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. It’s something that I’ve watched both my grandfather, Ray Akins, and my uncle, Marty Akins be inducted to as well. I was at both of those ceremonies back in 1987 and 1991. Being a part of that and being very young, I always hoped and dreamed that I would be inducted one day too. Our family is the first and only three generation family that’s been inducted and that’s something we take a lot of pride in.”
QB CHASE DANIEL
(on the start to the game) “We had a fast start, which is what you want as a quarterback with an offense when you get out there with the second group, but we didn’t make plays down the stretch. We made some mental errors, not executing the plays and trying to do too much I think out there, and we need to focus on protecting the football better.”
(on protection from the offensive line) “I got to play better and protect the ball. I think our guys up front did an excellent job. Is there going to be pressure in your face sometimes? Yeah, it’s going to happen, but that falls on me.”
(on long touchdown pass to Joseph Morgan) “We’ve been practicing that play for a while and finally put it into the game play. We have a speed burner out there in Morgan and heavy play action; we knew they were playing a lot quarters and that safety bit just enough and I saw him side footed and Morgan wasn’t even past him and I’m thinking it’s over with. He made a heck of a catch and a heck of a run, I mean that’s a big play for us.”
(on Joseph Morgan becoming a go-to guy) “He’s come on a lot. He’s done an excellent job in the return game as well. He’s done a good job of picking up the offense, he’s a smart player and a smart receiver.”
S ROMAN HARPER
(on fighting back) “Whenever a team gets you early and punctures you, we’ve got to be able to stop the bleeding. We did not stop them like we needed to. We did not force field goals like we needed to. We didn’t get in the red zone, and those are the things we’ve got to get corrected, defensively. And I’m sure we’re going to do that. The best thing is that it’s still early. Guys are mad and pissed off, and that’s a good thing. That means we all care. That means we’re ready to go back to work.”
RB MARK INGRAM
(on making the transition from college to the NFL) “All the guys are just bigger, faster, and stronger. It is a lot quicker. I just have to come out and make the right decisions.”
(on his progression from day one until now) “I’m just trying to get better every day. I’m just trying to help the team get better. I’m just trying to learn the playbook as best as I can and help the team get better.”
(on if he feels pressure replacing Reggie Bush) “I don’t feel any pressure at all. I have great teammates. It’s not really like it is all on my shoulders. We have a great backfield. It’s hard for me to feel like I have pressure on myself because I have great teammates around me to where I don’t have to have that pressure on myself.”
(on playing with a great quarterback in college, as well as a great quarterback in the NFL) “I just went from one great quarterback to another. A guy like (QB) Drew Brees is an established quarterback in this league. I can learn a lot from him.”
(on his dad and his emotions on draft night) “It’s been my dream to play in the NFL. My dad was with me every step of the way. He raised me to be the man and player I am today. He had everything to do with it.”
WR ROBERT MEACHEM
(on what he thought of the team’s performance) “It was a poor performance on our part. We got into the red zone and had a big penalty that hurt us. We had a big time fumble on the first drive. That’s bad offense for us. We take pride in our offense. We have to go back to the drawing board and learn from our mistakes.”
(on how they dominated last week and not this week) “It’s good playing against new teams. You get tired of going against your teammates every day. It was good seeing this team because we play them again in week 3.”
WR JOSEPH MORGAN
(on what he has tried to accomplish in the past two preseason games) “Right now I’m just trying to win on my route, whether he’s throwing it to me or not, that’s what I have to do as a receiver is win my route and then when the ball is in the air just focus on catch first and run second.”
(on playing a good game as an individual but losing as a team) “Even though I played well there are still little things that I made mistakes on besides the rest of the team. It’s just one of those learning things. You can never be too good. You can always get better and that’s one of the things we learn today is to keep fighting through and get better.”
(on catching the touchdown pass) “It’s probably one of our home run plays. Once I stuck it and got up field I saw the safety turn around and start running so I had him beat on the route and it was just about catching the ball after that.”
P THOMAS MORSTEAD
(on reliability) “I was told my senior year in college that, by my special teams coach, he said, ‘The NFL is not about hitting your A-ball every time. If you swing for the fences every time, you might hit a great ball but you might hit a terrible ball; it’s about hitting your B-ball every time and not hurting the team.’ You don’t have to be spectacular every time, on every punt. You’ve just got to be consistent, and the coaches have to be able to depend on you.”
(on staying hungry after winning the Super Bowl his first year in the NFL) “Everybody has team goals, obviously, but we also have individual goals. I want to be the best, and I don’t think I’ve accomplished that yet, but there’s always things to go out and get.”
(on motivation) “If you really love it, you don’t need outside motivation to work hard and be the best. You’ve just got to be a competitor.”
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