Payton Discusses Raiders Game

NewOrleansSaints.com
Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 1:00 PM

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Opening Statement:

“There’s really nothing new on the injury front; we had the two hamstring injuries like I mentioned with (Greg) Fassitt and (Adrian) Arrington and with Usama Young’s shoulder, fortunately the X-rays were negative so we’ll just have to see how long the treatment and the rehab takes with him. There’s a good chance that he probably won’t play this Thursday but we just have to get him ready for the start of the season.”

Was yesterday’s game a product of your team looking really good or the Raiders looking really bad?

“One thing about the film of games is that it kind of brings you back. Sometimes when you think you played really poorly, you put the film on and you see that you did some things pretty well and then in a case like yesterday, when you think you played real well you put the tape on and there are a number of things that you have to clean up. I liked the effort and the energy; I thought we played hard. I thought we handled the warm weather pretty well. But there are a number of things that we’re going to have to work on and fortunately we still have two weeks before we get started. I think we’ll be able to point those things out with our players today.”

Do the penalties irk you?

“Looking at them, they were good calls. The first touchdown called back was a hold and the second penalty was a messed up formation where we had two guys off of the ball – a receiver and a running back that weren’t on the same page, and then the third penalty the tackle was too deep. I’m thinking of the one drive in the second quarter where we just went backwards. We would’ve been better off running quarterback sneaks. Those are things that we have to clean up; those are things that kept us from scoring a touchdown yesterday and we had to settle for a field goal.”

Do you wish the game was more competitive so you could’ve played your starters into the third quarter as you had planned?

“Really the plan was to give them ‘x’ number of snaps and what happened was that we got those snaps earlier than expected. Our plan was to go a half, come out in the second half and we thought we would’ve been close to 30 snaps there but we got to that number a little quicker. Having said that, I think the feeling offensively at that time was to get to the next group. The things that concern me are that I wanted to see the first group get a two-minute drill – we’re practicing it and we work on it against our defense and hopefully we can keep emphasizing that and keep working on that – but we weren’t able to get that yesterday. There are a few things by the way the game unfolded that we didn’t get to cover. We didn’t have a goal-line situation with the first group yesterday. You’re not going to get it all but hopefully in practice we’ll make up what we missed in the game.”

Do you think you can keep four running backs on the roster, including Lynell Hamilton?

“I think potentially (we could). He’s battling – he’s one of those guys – and I like the way he runs; he plays hard. He’s working hard – I don’t know that there’s a player that worked harder in the offseason than Lynell Hamilton. Any time you came by here you probably saw him in here lifting or working out. I think the ball security thing is something that we can coach and he can improve on. I was encouraged with how he played and how he finished runs. He ran hard. All those guys got a lot of work yesterday, which was good. In a game like that, even towards the end we’re not taking a knee because we’re trying to get as many snaps to evaluate these players. We’re not as concerned with managing the clock; we’re trying to really give these guys opportunities and carries and I thought he handled it pretty well.”

Is having too many running backs a nice problem to have?

“P.J. (Hill) and Herb (Donaldson) have both done a good job as young players. They have similar running styles; both of those guys carry their pads pretty low and never seem to take clean hits. To answer your question, I think it is. It makes it a tough decision and hopefully we can keep working and training these guys and give them more work next week and gather as much information as we can on them.”

Do you have a plan yet for how much your starters will play Thursday?

“Probably very minimal with the starters. Typically in this game, what we’ve tried to do is maybe give them a series and that’s it, if that, and then get everyone else involved.”

Do you start game planning for Detroit now?

“The process begins fairly soon. Tomorrow the players are off – we’re trying again to give them a schedule similar to the season. I thought last week moving to the one-a-day practice ended up helping us some. Coming off of training camp and then a Houston trip with two-a-days, the concern we had was the amount of practices in the short period of time that they’ve had so we switched schedules a little bit. I thought we handled the travel pretty well; the weather was warm. In regards to Thursday’s game and our schedule this week, there will be some preparation for Miami of course and a lot of preparation for Detroit.”

“I thought he did pretty well. Looking at the tape, I thought he did pretty well. It’s good to see him progressing. I made this point a week ago that with Bushrod, Usama Young, Robert Meachem – those guys have all to some degree come into their own and improved and we’re going to need that from that class and it’s good to see.”

Do you think Reggie Bush will play this week and if not are you concerned with him missing the final three preseason games?

“That’s a good question. I’m hopeful that we can get him some work like we did Lance (Moore) yesterday. I am confident that he has gotten plenty of work in the practices, but I’d like to see him get some work in this game – maybe a quarter if it’s possible. We’ll just see where he’s at, and if not, we just have to be judicious as we bring him back in.”

Does your success from this preseason compare to the successful 2007 preseason and does it concern you since you started that season by losing your first four games?

“This is an entirely different team than the ’07 team. I think you’re always guarded to some degree in the preseason, but I do think that my experience is that regardless of the end score, you do want to do well when your ones are in there. Typically if your ones are playing well, there’s some carryover into the regular season and vice-versa. It’s important to look good, but that being said, there is a bunch that we have to work on. I liked the effort and I think there are some things that we can coach off of that are encouraging.”

How big is it for Drew Brees and the offense to get into a rhythm early?

“He has a way – one of the things that’s really interesting if you ever go back and look at the tape and you guys can see it live at practice – he does a good job with the tempo. It’s up and down and pretty quick. He tries to – and this is something that he does a good job with – he tries to press the defense some with the tempo and the rhythm. I thought we handled the weather yesterday pretty well. It was a little warmer there than I think normally would be expected and I thought he did a very good job with the tempo of that game starting off the way he did. He had to convert a couple of third downs, too, which helped. That was good.”

How much does it help that rhythm when the defense is forcing turnovers?

“Regardless of your rhythm on offense, if you’re getting turnovers on defense – you can look at it two ways in that it takes a possession away from them team that turns the ball over and it adds a possession, so it’s really like a two-possession edge. That’s a big plus.”

Does it excite you to see guys constantly trying to strip the ball?

“No question. Players see it on tape. Our defensive coaches have done a great job of making that a focal point and understanding that it’s one aspect of the game that is so telling. It’s good to see that early on we’ve been able to carry onto the field what you guys have seen in practice.”

Would you like to get John Carney some more kicking opportunities this week?

“I’d like to give him more opportunities. Certainly he’s done it a long time. Again, just getting him into the Superdome and getting the footing. The surface is new there. They change it every year. I think in his case it will be good to give him more work and I think you’ll see him get more snaps in this game.”

Is there concern that Pierre Thomas won’t be ready for the season opener and when will you make the first round of cuts?

“Number one, there would be some concern, although I think very little that he wouldn’t be ready for Detroit, at least based on the information now. The feeling is he’ll be ready for that game and would probably be listed as questionable for Thursday night’s game. I think tomorrow in the a.m., we have at least three more releases to make. I would anticipate that taking place tomorrow.”

Are you considering keeping Adrian Arrington despite the injuries?

“I think he’s certainly one of those players that’s competing for a job. If that’s the case, that same term on the bubble would be equivalent to competing for a job. I think he knows he’s being evaluated and knows these snaps that are important. You have players like Rod Harper, Lynell Hamilton/Skyler Green.aspx">Skyler Green, Courtney Roby, (Matt) Simon. All of these guys are trying to find that niche for that fifth receiver position, potentially the sixth one which we’ll see about. I think the answer to your question is yes.”

How much does special teams factor into that decision?

“When it comes to the fifth receiver, we had Terrence Copper a few years ago. That player has versatility and needs to play (special teams), when they’re not playing (receiver). Otherwise they wend up being inactive a lot, because the special teams coaches can’t get them involved in the game. Then, you have a player you’re dressing that can’t play many snaps. That factors in a lot with these decisions, not just at receiver, but at linebacker, tight end…When you get to the guys that aren’t starting games, they almost have to be contributing to some degree. Occasionally there are a few offensive linemen that don’t play a whole lot and might not get in a game. Outside of that position, it’s tough.”

Is Anthony Hargrove/Joey Harrington.aspx">Joey Harrington making a push to be Drew Brees’ backup?

“I thought he played well yesterday. He made a good throw for us on the touchdown to Lynell Hamilton/Skyler Green.aspx">Skyler Green. He just keeps working and we’ll see. Mark (Brunell) is the same way. One thing about is that those guys have received a lot of snaps in the last two weeks with the Houston practice workweek and then in yesterday’s game. They’re both working through some of the nuances and trying to improve.”

Is it a potential consideration to play Malcolm Jenkins/Chip Vaughn.aspx">Chip Vaughn and Darnell Dinkins this week?

“I don’t know with Vaughn. With Dinkins, we have a pretty good shot of getting him some work. I would guess in Darnell’s case, he has a better opportunity than Chip.”

Is putting Vaughn on injured reserve a consideration?

“We’ll see. I wouldn’t rule anything out.”

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