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New Orleans Saints - Sunday Conversation with Head Coach Sean Payton

Sunday Conversation with Head Coach Sean Payton

David Lawrence, NewOrleansSaints.com
Sunday, August 26, 2007 - 3:00 PM




Opening Statement


“Today we released four players – linebacker Desmond Sims, cornerback Joe Porter, quarterback Jason Fife and wide receiver Aaron Hosack. The players that didn’t practice today were Mark Campbell – he’s day-to-day with a back and we’ll see where he’s at tomorrow. Jamal Jones is still nursing his knee injury. Brian Young got some field work done and he’s coming back pretty well but he officially didn’t practice. Jamie Martin had some back spasms; I think he will be able to go tomorrow but he didn’t practice. Curry Burns has a bruised knee and he’s day-to-day; we think he’ll be able to go tomorrow. Rob Ninkovich got some limited field work along with Brian Young. Jason David we backed off some with a quad and a hamstring, but he should be fine.”


You still have three cuts to make by Tuesday. Do you anticipate when that might occur?


“That’s exactly right. We’ll see, we just have to make them by Tuesday so we have 48 hours still. But we haven’t set a time.”


Are you at the point where you have a rough estimate of your 53-man roster?


“You're always working off a list, but there are still obviously some tough decisions to make. Really beginning the last two-and-a-half weeks, you work off of a list and go through it in your mind how you see the roster shaping up. Right now we have three cuts to make before Tuesday and then the final cuts after the Miami game.”


Now that you're in a regular season practice mode, are you concentrating more on Indianapolis than Miami?


“We’re trying to take a period or two during practice that emphasizes some things that we want to do against Indianapolis, but still go against each other some like we would in training camp. So there’s a little bit of a mix, but we are taking a little bit of an emphasis in regard to some of the things we’ll see from Indianapolis and still preparing to play Thursday night against Miami.”


After reviewing film from the Kansas City game, how impressed were you by the team’s performance?


“I thought we played with good energy and effort; I was pleased with that coming off of a short week. We had played Saturday, broke camp – which is always a challenge when you're moving logistically from training camp back home – but I thought their focus was good. There are some things that we need to clean up but I was pleased with the energy and the effort level. Any time you go on the road two weeks in a row, it’s tough, but I thought we had pretty good effort and it looked like their feet were underneath them and they ran around pretty well, which was pleasing.”


What were your thoughts on the performance of Pierre Thomas?


“He played well. He’s done a good job and did some things in that game that were impressive.”


Did anyone else jump out at you on film?


“I thought our effort to the ball on defense was good. We did a real good job in our kicking game – we changed the field position a few times and just had the one muffed punt. Offensively, there was a real good rhythm early on especially. We’ll try to build on that and keep these guys healthy.”


Are your red zone problems tempered by the fact that in the regular season you probably would have kicked field goals as opposed to going for touchdowns in those situations?


“I mentioned afterwards that it’s a lot easier in the preseason to make a decision to go for that than it would be in the regular season. Periodically last year we chose to go for it on fourth downs, so some of that is a feel for how you think the game is unfolding. There are a couple of things that we can clean up with those early opportunities inside the red zone. You want to come away with touchdowns and we’ll continue to work on that. We had a chance to get into goal line and we came up short. But again, some of the lessons learned there will help us down the road.”


Is your challenge with the offense this year to try and amplify what you did last year without getting too creative and getting away from what was successful?


“You always have to be mindful of what your players do well. You have to be careful that you're not getting too cute. There are certain things that we try to hang our hat on from a philosophical standpoint - things that the quarterback does well, things that we do well in the run game. We’ll tweak those formations and based on the opponent we play each week and decide how we want to attack, but I think the key is just having that balance.


Did Jammal Brown do anything today?


“Yes, he went most of the practice.”


Any chance that he’ll play this week against Miami?


“I think there’s a good chance. He took all the reps with the offense, so that was encouraging.”


Anyone else that you might get back for this week’s game?


“When you look at this list, we’ll see where Mark is at with his back and know a little bit more tomorrow. Jamal Jones will probably not be back this week. I probably won’t play Brian Young. He’s close enough to where if we were playing this weekend, it would be a questionable decision. We will have Jamie Martin back. I think we’ll have Curry Burns back. Ninkovich – like Brian Young – we’ll probably hold and see where he’s at.”


Could Marques Colston and Devery Henderson play?


“They took reps today and could easily play.”

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saintsrule

So great stuff to hear in that interview. I like how he said, they let the players do what they do best. But I also hear that he wants Reggie to go up the middle more, and for Deuce to go on the outside more. That would confuse the defenses more than they already do.