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Opening Statement:

“Here’s what we have for today’s injury report. TE John Gilmore (toe) did not practice, WR Lance Moore (hamstring) did not practice, S Roman Harper (ankle) did not practice, WR Robert Meachem (knee) was full, LB Jon Vilma (knee) was limited, and lastly LB Jonathan Casillas(knee) was limited. Most of the work was on third down and nickel.”

Was the Roman Harper injury from the game or practice?

“It was from the game. We just kept him off it today and we’ll see where he’s at tomorrow.”

Do you think the 3-4 defense’s weakness is opening up run possibilities?

“They have two guys in a 3-4. You have a mirror linebacker look with two outside linebackers and two inside linebackers. I think the better question really is the deployment of the back end. Is there a safety down in that front or is there a safety back in that front if we’re talking about just running the football? They do a good job with that front. They just disguise a couple of looks and I’m not talking about any pressure looks, but where that safety supports I think is pretty important. It’s a strong front and it’s one of the reasons they’ve been successful against the run.”

Why don’t most football teams use a 3-4 defense?

“I think most teams do. I’m not talking about the teams that sparingly use it, but I’m talking about most teams that deploy it as their base defense in our league I think would be split maybe. It depends on the team. There are some teams that have been in it for a long time, the Pittsburgh’s and New England’s of the world. I think it’s a matter of how you’re set up to draft and how you’re set up to put together your defense whether it’s out of an even front or the odd look. I think it just depends on the team and really the taste of the coaches and the personnel department in which direction they head. I think there are quite a few teams, this year we haven’t played as many that are in a 34 front as a base, but you still see it. If you took the playoff teams left, you’d have Green Bay playing some of it and you’d have New England and Baltimore and Houston and San Francisco, so it’s more than you think.”

Full presser.
Payton Gives First Injury Report

lynwood

Hopfully Harper can play as well as vilma. I think we can sit the others for one more week. But as the coaches say if you can play you are on the field.

ScottF

Harper case sounds like the usual SP cat-and-mouse
Gilmore has been out awhile, but Drew is just so **** good that he can throw to anybody (including Higgins)
No reason to dress Lance at half-speed with our depth: a lot of weapons, but only one bullet

DrewDat

Lance Is A Big Part Of The Offense....We're Gonna Need Him Soon....But I Think We Can Get Past This Game Without Him

Danno

While I agree with you, I certainly wish you hadn't said it. Its just like last year when we all assumed we could get by Seattle with our 9th string RB and several other starters out.

|Mitch|

That injury report was from yesterday; and I know Harper was saying he would play and Moore was optimistic about playing the game...

homerj07

WE NEED HARPER!!

Lance wouldbe nice BUT...

WE NEED HARPER!!!!!

saintsfan1976

Ahh the dreaded 3-4 defense...

I think Payton has had problems running a successful offense against it in the past. Teams who run it well force Brees into too many 3rd and longs.

We can say that "this one's on the defense" but IMHO, we need the offense to perform in this game more than ever. Our O line needs to have it's best night.

Budsdrinker

We did alright against Green Bay and the Texans 3-4 this year scoring 74 points don't you think?