New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton looks back on Thursday night victory over Minnesota Vikings
 

Opening Statement:
"The one injury to report is Anthony Waters. He came in this morning with a (sore) hamstring, to what degree we'll probably get a feel for as we come off these next couple days when we're away. That was the only one of note. I thought some of these other guys held up well. Jonathan Vilma did a real good job considering his groin and the reps he had taken in practice. Tracy Porter the same way. We mentioned it last night after watching the tape and meeting with these guys, certainly we played a good team last night. Anytime you can get off to a 1-0 start with the home opener that's important, especially against an opponent like Minnesota. Once again we're faced with a little bit of a unique schedule that we don't play for 11 days. The players will be in today lifting, watching the video. They'll be off Saturday, Sunday, Monday and will have a bonus day Tuesday, be off Wednesday, which would be our normal routine and then we'll get into our base preparations Thursday, Friday, Saturday and then we close out the week."

Was the score a little misleading in terms of evaluating the productivity of the offense?
"Certainly you'd like to score more. It ended up being a game in which it was closer than you would have hoped and yet what is most important that you're able to finish with a win. When you watch week one's game tape, maybe it's a cliché, but it's a chance to make a lot of progress as we move forward. You can look at a number of things that could have helped us, like more points. I was pleased with the effort. We can clean up some things and this first meeting today gives us a chance to do that, which is a little different than the preseason where you might be looking at a quarter of film with a group. This is four quarters of a game. On third down, we can be better, when you see the numbers there, but overall, the thing that is hard is you don't know how the game's going to unfold. You're going to look back at last season and some weeks you get into a game that I just finished telling the players that sorts out differently than you expect and yet you have to be able to play and win that game."

How would you evaluate Drew Brees' performance?
"He was sharp. I thought he graded very well. I thought with the offensive line, the game ball went to the guys up front. Number one, I thought their pass protection was outstanding. It was early in the second half when we mixed up the run and the pass, specifically when it came down to winning the game in the final minutes. When you look at the tape those guys played real well and so when you look at a lot of the things, you'd expect more point, but it was what it was.

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the wall up front, great game men

We were right in another post about who got the game ball!!!

Game Ball O-Line

I thought with the offensive line, the game ball went to the guys up front. Number one, I thought their pass protection was outstanding. It was early in the second half when we mixed up the run and the pass, specifically when it came down to winning the game in the final minutes. When you look at the tape those guys played real well and so when you look at a lot of the things, you'd expect more point, but it was what it was.

Didn't we bring in a new O line coach last year? If I remember correctly we did. Regardless, in the last couple of years the offensive line has gelled into not only a good pass blocking unit, but they run the ball much better and get upfield to throw blocks at the next level.

Yeah, I think I have to agree with that. The O-line was terrific.

O-Line MVPS! Great job fellas!