Joe Vitt Gives Final Preview Before Contest Against 49ers

New Orleans Saints Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Joe Vitt
Post-Practice Media Availability
Friday, November 23, 2012

Watch Vitt's Press Conference

Opening Statement: “Junior Galette did not practice today. Charles Brown did not practice today. Corey White did not practice today but continued to do some of his land-based stuff. Elbert Mack was limited and looked good. Zach Strief was limited, he’s continued to improve. Ramon Humber went full today after he had a little virus yesterday. Darren Sproles was full. Today, the emphasis was on red zone. Really, these two offenses, San Francisco’s and New Orleans, kind of mirror one another. They have limited trips into the red zone but they’re highly efficient once they get down there. San Francisco does a real good job on third down in the red zone. Defensively, San Francisco has the second least (amount of) snaps defended down there. They just don’t let people down there. When they do, they sack the quarterback and they play real good red zone defenses.”

Do you have game determinations for Galette and the other players?

“We really don’t yet. We’re going to hold off. I would say that Junior is a longshot. I think Charles Brown is a longshot. The rest of these guys have an outside chance. Elbert has to pass the concussion protocol. Again, he was limited today and had no residual or ill-effects. We will wait and see.”

After starting 0-4, what has been key in that locker room?

“Again, this is a daily question that we’re asked. Number one, we’ve got players that are just unbelievable. They’re accountable to one another, they don’t point fingers, they continue to just keep their head down, work every day and keep their eye on the target. Our coaching staff has been phenomenal. Aaron (Kromer) did a great job keeping this team together when we were 0-4. Our coaching staff has worked hard to put our players in position to make plays and at 0-4 their resolve just got stronger. It’s a tribute to our coaching staff, our players and certainly a tribute to this organization.”