New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - NewOrleansSaints.com Quotes from Sean Payton's Monday presser

Opening Statement: “We will be back to a normal schedule this week. We have another road game on Sunday. The players for the most part came in, watched the tape and lifted on their own. Tomorrow will be their day off. Wednesday will be base.”

Can you talk about how adaptable this team has been so far?

“I thought yesterday was a good example of it. We felt there were a handful of things besides ball security. We were going to have to play that game maybe a little differently than we have played some other games. It was the first team we played in a while this year where we received a lot of spot drop zone which meant that we were going to be patient with the football. I thought we were. I thought when we threw the ball underneath I thought the runners or receivers who caught it, secured it, advanced it, so a simple check down maybe that you think you are going to get four yards from you got six yards. I thought we handled the short yardage situations in those critical situations pretty well. Late in the game we drew some penalties. I thought overall I was real pleased with the penalty numbers. I think the one thing we tried to preach all year is each game takes on a different, not a different meaning, but they are not necessarily played the same way. Understanding as a team what it takes to win that specific game is something that if your team gets and I think we are beginning to is an important trait. We felt like we were playing a good team that could take the ball away. They were explosive. The quarterback (Jay Cutler) has a strong arm. They had some balance with (Matt) Forte. I thought the early part of the game where we forced the three and outs and we had them in the long yardage situations and forced them to punt (was significant). The whole first half seemed to be spent on their side of the field. That was significant. The score before the half was significant. But again, that game was much different than other ones we have won earlier in the year. I think it is just understanding and being able to play smart football.”

Can you talk about how harped all week about not turning the ball over and you had zero turnovers this week?

“Our numbers without any turnovers, we are not the only team that is like that. Clearly that hasn’t been the case when we lost there. When you go on the road, when we play on the road it is tough to get wins when you play on the road against a good team like that. There are going to be certain things you have to do that give you a chance to win and that was one of them. I felt throughout the course of the game, I never felt like the ball was loose or out there. I think there was one time on Pierre’s (Thomas) touchdown that the ball kind of came free and he recovered it, but I thought we handled that element real well.”

Can you talk about you are winning the time of possession battle but only running the ball for 80 yards a game?

“I don’t know that there is a formula to explain it, it’s just being productive with down and distances. Third down numbers were decent offensively, (but) they were better for us defensively. How you get the first downs, how you move the chains, I mentioned the type of defense we saw yesterday was predominately a lot more zone and so it meant taking advantage of a checkdown as opposed to an incomplete (pass) down the field. It meant when you did run it of trying to have success. We took a few shots. I thought we, look the one to (Robert) Meachem was set up well and I know it wasn’t a penalty called but it very well could have been. It is complementary football. If we are on the field for x number of minutes, just take the game time and then you can tell exactly how long we were on the field defensively. I think both sides of the ball are doing that well. I felt the kicking game was outstanding yesterday. I mean, Garrett (Hartley) in those conditions did a great job. The surface was difficult. Obviously if you are a kicker with wind kind of gusty a little bit and then I thought (Thomas) Morstead did a great job and when we had to cover we did with an elite returner. All those factored in, but the time of possession was significant.”

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