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New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees
Conference Call with New Orleans Media
Monday, December 16, 2013

What is the message going forward into a challenging road game?
“We know what we’re playing for; we’re playing for the divisional championship and the two seed so it doesn’t get any bigger or better than that. It is going to be a challenge for us. Obviously we understand our deficiencies on the road here the last couple of trips. It is great motivation for us to really hammer down this week, find ways to improve and get better.”

Have you been able to point to any reason for those deficiencies on the road?
“I think some of it is execution. I think some of it is maybe over-complication. Obviously you understand that when you go on the road there are elements that always have to be dealt with. There is crowd noise, the environment and other things. I think maybe at times we might have tried to get a little too complicated. I think we can simplify. By doing that, I think you allow guys to play faster, to play with more confidence. I think, also, it is a bit of a mentality. These last couple of trips on the road we have gotten down, by a lot in a short amount of time in the first half, and haven’t overcome that or haven’t kind of had that resurgence or that resiliency that maybe we had in the past. I think that has just been a learning experience. There have been many, many occasions since we have been here where we have gotten down early whether home or away and we just kind of find a way to chip our way back and win the game. I think that is part of the learning and growing process for this team, and maybe for some of the young guys too, is just establishing that feeling, that when we do get down that we are never out. We are built to be able to overcome any scenario or situation like that but we’ve got to go out and do it. A lot of that is mentality. We have to establish that with this team.”

Can you talk about the mentality that you need to have and the mentality you had going in to this game?
“We played this team a week ago. So we’re going to start watching film and a lot of it is going to be the same film we watched leading up to that game as well as when we played these guys. There is going to be a level of familiarity. And you understand that we are going to make adjustments and they are going to make adjustments. At the end of the day, we know what we’re playing for here. This is for the division, this is for the two seed. Let’s not make it any bigger than it already is. Let’s just go out there and find a way to put together our best effort, execute as well as we’ve been able to so far this year, and we know that will be good enough to win.”

Is there anything that you feel that you or the other offensive lineman need to do or say in regards to Charles Brown to get him right?
“Here is the thing, I have all the confidence in the world in Charlie Brown. There were a couple of rough stretches yesterday and I know a change was made at one point. (Zach) Strief played very well, Bryce Harris played very well. The fact is that we have three very capable tackles and whoever is there I am confident will do a great job. I think the continuity between all of those guys, the way they play together, is great.”

Drew Brees: "There's a lot at stake this Sunday"

New Orleans Saints Linebacker Curtis Lofton
Conference Call with Local Media
Monday, December 16, 2013


Now that you are moving past yesterday, what is the message coming out of today?

“I would say that the sky has not fallen. We know we have a good team. We just have to go out and execute. We have to play better on the road. We have to get rid of that stigma that we can’t play on the road because right now we are proving everybody right. We just have to go back to practice, do the little things right, just keep focusing on the process and the results will come.”

Is there anything you can do in changing your approach to playing on the road?

“I think that when you are playing on the road you have to be focused and you have to have energy from the play one. You can’t play catch up football and I feel like that is what we have been doing on the road. We have to come out and start fast, not only start fast, but we have to finish strong. We have to do that against Carolina.”

Are you surprised that you didn’t start fast yesterday?

“I think that everyone knew that (it was a significant game). The game was very important. It is just disappointing as a team that we had a chance to clinch a playoff spot which is rare, but at the same time we still control our own destiny. We have Carolina and Tampa Bay left so, like I said, we control our own destiny so we have to go out there and handle business.”

Read more: Curtis Lofton: "We have to start games faster"