SAINTS COACH KELLEN MOORE

Opening statement:

"Good game. Good battle. Obviously, a unique circumstance in tying a football game, but our locker room was happy and excited. Our guys played really, really well down the stretch and made some big-time plays with some big-time opportunities. There were some really good lessons for our guys throughout this game, starting fast and getting better from that standpoint, and we will just keep growing."

On if he thought there was time left on the clock

"We were hoping, give everyone what they wanted, which was one second, but it didn't happen."

On quarterback Spencer Rattler's performance:

"That was a big moment and opportunity for him to have that great drive going down the field, you throw an interception and have to respond. He responded really, really well to put the team in an excellent position. He did a great job with situational football in the two minute drive, and his ability to play with his feet came up in a number of situations. I just thought our guys did a really good job in the two-minute just handling and understanding what the situation was."

On if it was a tough decision to play Rattler over quarterback Jake Haener:

"It was tricky because obviously, the one downfall to how this game played out was that we had less drives. Jake (Haener) didn't get a chance to go in there, which we certainly wanted him to get in there, but I thought it was important just from an evaluation standpoint on (Rattler) just to get a critical moment in a tough situation where you have to respond."

On the quarterback battle:

"We're just going to keep building through this process. We think we have three really good ones here, and we will keep building."

On if the starting QB will be named prior to the preseason game Saturday:

"We'll see. Obviously, we got our first sight here (at the Caesars Superdome), but film will be an important aspect of this thing, and we will just see how everything progresses leading into this week."

On if he was hoping to have a decision on the starting QB:

"Not necessarily. Sooner always is better, but these guys are competing and giving us everything we can ask. We're going to continue to evaluate."

On what he needs to see to be able to make a decision on the starting QB:

"Just the decision-making and the process. We have to make sure that we are going through the right decision making in certain circumstances of the game. There are some contexts that you have to know and understand what the guys are going through. Again, this is an evaluation phase for these guys, just like so many other positions on our team. Film is going to be really important."

On the quarterback battle:

"All these QBs aren't making this easy because I think they're all doing a really good job, and they're all having their days where they're taking advantage of the opportunities. It's an evaluation, and we will take it where it needs to go."

On receiver Mason Tipton:

"He's just done a phenomenal job since the first day we all got here, collectively as a staff. To see what he just continues to do day in and day out—his work ethic, his habits. He made a bunch of big plays. It felt like when we needed a play, he was there. For him, facing adversity with the interception, he was the one running the route and stuff. We just think the world of him. He's progressed in such an awesome way. Again, I think when these guys take advantage of the opportunities, more come your way, and he's just following that trend line."

On center Torricelli Simpkins III:

"He's playing a ton of reps through two preseason games, and it's been incredible to see. The moment is never too big for him. I think that's the cool thing. He's hopped into some situations where he's played early in these games, earlier than anticipated and played against some challenging opponents. He just hops in there and plays ball. We are really excited for what he has done."

On the qualities of Simpkins that stand out:

"I think just consistency, and the most important thing is his play style. We love how physical he plays, how aggressive he plays. It's not all perfect. It's not expected to be perfect at this stage of his career. His play style is everything we want."

On if they need a game where everyone will play:

"We will see. We're going to build this thing out this week, and we will see where it is. We will have three practices, and we will have the game against Denver on Saturday. We are setting ourselves up for a really good work week this week to kind of build. We will see how that Saturday plays out."

On Rattler's interception:

"It was a slant, and there was a little bit of a traffic situation for Mason, and their corner made a phenomenal play. He jumped it, and he made a phenomenal play. Obviously, it's something for us to look at. He ran a similar play a couple of times, one too many. I thought the kid made a phenomenal play, and Mason got stuck in a little bit of a traffic jam where he wasn't able to finish through the route. It was a challenging situation."

On if the QB has time to recognize the traffic situation and timing:

"It's a tricky one. We will evaluate it and see truly what the picture looked like. In the moment, it felt like he gave us a good opportunity on that throw. It was a single-high opportunity, two over two. Then, the corner made a really good play."

On the message to the offense after the interception:

"Yeah, it was just all about how we respond. We had a big-time opportunity. We were still down 8. Our defense made a big-time stop there and put us in the position to go and battle for a tie. It was really fun to see those guys respond."

On if the interception factored into Rattler having another drive:

"Yeah. For sure, I think it's critical when these guys go through these situations, the big time moment of how you respond is how we evaluate these guys all the time on. It was a goofy situation. It was tricky. I would have loved for Jake (Haener) to have been in there, but I felt like it was important for us from an evaluation standpoint."

On right guard Cesar Ruiz and injuries:

"I think he's fine. We had a few guys that kind of got a little banged up, but we'll get the reports. We will see how it goes."

On improving slow starts:

"That's a great question. I don't have an answer to that one. For our whole team, just playing a little bit faster. We have to play faster. We have to open up the first quarter and play better. That will be something for us to learn, especially with a noon kickoff. You have to be ready to rock and roll. We will grow in that aspect."

On adjusting to movement on the line:

"I would say it is something we definitely have to evaluate, and we have to get better (with). Line movement exists in this league. It is a challenge. It is hard for offensive linemen. There was pressure for sure on one of them with the safety, but movement happens. We have to be able to respond to it. It's being all coordinated and being on the same page."

On how much of the team's playbook is shown in preseason games:

"We are obviously conscious of that. We want to give our guys an excellent opportunity to be successful. We don't want to shortchange them in any way. There's naturally some things we will continue to build throughout the regular season."

On how he evaluates the quarterback battle while not showing everything in preseason games:

"There are a few game management items that just come up that we may play out a situation a little differently if we saw it in a regular season game. For the most part, we are competing and playing ball. Schematically, there are a few items that maybe you don't do during the regular season or during the preseason that we do during the regular season, but I think these guys are going out there and competing."

On seeing the two-minute drive unfold:

"It was awesome. It was just a good example for our guys oftaking walkthroughs to practice to games and the stuff that goes into that because there's situations every single Sunday that sometimes you get one shot of during an August walkthrough. That's hopefully going to come up, and when we played out of a couple of those at the end and for those guys to be on the same page and to understand what play was coming, what the situation was and what would have to be the response based on the clock, I thought our guys just did an awesome job.

On the running game:

"Running game, I think, we just continue to feel like there's more out there. I think our play style is getting better. Our finish is getting better, but we have to get better en masse."

On if the tie felt like a win for the team:

"I felt like our guys just loved how we faced adversity and we met the challenge. I think there's a lot of energy, a lot of juice in our locker room. It felt like a win in many ways from the standpoint of how it ended. We were put in a challenging situation, fought ourselves back. The offense made some big time plays there to score. Defense had a great response. (Jonas) Sanker's pick was awesome. I wish we had one second so we could put Charlie (Smyth) out there, but you know, it didn't happen."

On the crowd not appreciating punting on fourth down:

"I'm going to get a few of those. Those are always those fun challenges—fourth down decision-making. It is what it is. Some of those you're going to love. Some you are going to have to bite the bullet, so to speak. I felt like our defense was playing really well. We were still in a one-score game, so we punted. They had a three-and-out, so that was good."

On whether a punter battle played into the decision to punt:

"No. No, it's all game circumstance."

On if he called the game as if it were a regular season game:

"There's just a couple. There's just a couple, but I think it's a really good exercise for all of us, especially those types of game situations – the timeouts, playing defense in four-minute mode, playing offense in two-minute. Our defense did an awesome job in the end, right on field goal range, because their field goal kicker just kicked a 70-yarder last week. We were playing in a really good, contested situation. Our guys did a really good job contesting the receivers and made a play."

On the decision to make receiver Chris Olave active:

"(Brandin) Cooks and Juwan (Johnson) played last week. Then, we had a plan of flip-flopping those guys with Rashid (Shaheed) and C.O. in this game just to get themselves acclimated back into a game instance. 8-12 plays, which puts them in a position to play for a little while as well. We will see how the third game plays out."

On everyone seeing the field despite limited snap count:

"I think it's good for any of these guys to get out there and play the game, no matter what the length is. We will try to do that with as many of them as we can, but we will see how this week progresses."

On left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr.:

"Kelvin's done a really nice job. When you add those two (preseason games) and a joint practice at the Rams, he has gotten some really good work now against three teams. Different schemes, different exposures- he just needs all of that. He just needs to keep responding in the right way. I think that's the beauty of the player he is. He's going to do a ton of really good things for us. When something doesn't go his way, he hops up, and he's ready to play the next day. We think he's heading in the right direction."

On playing a preseason game at home:

"This dome was awesome. The Caesars Superdome is home, and we got treated like that. It's going to be big time. It's going to take this entire community, our team, everyone, rallying together. It's got to be a place where it's a big-time opportunity for us to win at home and control this place."

On the tackling performance:

"I took a note on it. It felt like there were opportunities where it felt like when one guy missed a tackle, there were three or four in a couple of instances. Off a screen, they missed a couple of tackles there that turned into a big gain. Something we will have to keep an eye on."

On missed tackle evaluations:

"We will evaluate it. There's obviously a lot of fundamentals associated with it that we will continue to build and practice. We just have to harp on it."

Saints quarterback Tyler Shough:

On receiving his first start:

"It felt good. I felt really comfortable. We stalled out on a couple of those third downs. It was a lot of fun. We just have to capitalize on some of those little mistakes. We will keep improving and keep getting better."

On the third drive:

"We just (were) moving the ball really well. Protection was good. We kind of found a rhythm and got the ball moving. We just didn't end up getting to finish it in the red zone. I think the decision making in the first half was good, but we just have to finish those drives on third down. I think we did a good job in the second half of bouncing back and finishing strong."

On the intentional grounding:

"I was just trying to play ball. In that part of the field, you are going to be backed up. I did not anticipate him coming free. I tried to burn it down to the checkdown in the flat. I have to be better there by throwing it way out of bounds and not even giving them a chance. I knew I was backed up, so I didn't want to be too close."

Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler:

On how did it feel:

"It was a fun one. I thought we could have finished a little better in the red zone. Throughout that second half, I thought we shot ourselves in the foot. We should have had multiple scores down there. I thought we moved the ball well. The receivers stepped up and made big plays. (Mason) Tipton flashed big time today. We made some big plays. I thought the O-line played really well. We did not take many sacks if any in the second half. A lot of guys made plays. We just have to finish more."

On if he had more big play opportunities this week:

"For sure. I think last week it was our first time live and we all have to get settled in. We needed to play cleaner. Coming into this week, we wanted to be more aggressive. I wanted to be more aggressive. I wanted to play free and play my style of ball within the offense. I wanted to get it to the playmakers. Guys did great on the check downs and on the down the field throws. Those are momentum changes and gets you in the right position to score."

On the two-point conversion:

"They had the perfect defense call for it. They zoned it up. They played it perfect. I had to extend and scramble. They let me leak out. I saw the edge and hit it.

Saints wide receiver Mason Tipton:

On how fun was the last drive:

"It was awesome. We are at home. I definitely did not want to leave here with a loss. I definitely did not want to leave here with a tie either. I think it shows the resilience that we have. I think I spoke about this last week. There is a lot of love and a lot of camaraderie with this team. I think we showed that by making some plays at the end of the game I think that is the highlight of the day."

On making plays down the stretch after the interception:

"That is a play that I have to make. I am mad that. Spencer (Rattler) ended up throwing an interception and that was my fault. Coming back and making plays is the kind of player that I am. I'm always going to double down after a mistake."

On what he should have done during that play: "I should have run through it. There is no way the defensive back is supposed to make that play. I have to run through that slant so he can't even make that play."

Saints safety Jonas Sanker:

On the last play of the game) "They are at about the 40-yard line and they are trying to get into field goal range. We are tightening up the coverage a little bit. You could feel the energy with the whole team and everyone on the sideline. We were just rallying and showing how much that we care. It was definitely special.

On if he knew where the clock was and if he got out with one second left:

"When I looked up, I thought I did. I probably could have played it a little safer and out a little earlier."

On his tackling progress:

"Coach (Brandon) Staley emphasizes the physicality and that has to be the identity. It was definitely a point of emphasis coming into this game. I think I did a good job today of being physical. I think the team did a really good job. In the run game, the whole part of our game was physical. Being able to finish was a big part of our game."

Saints linebacker Jaylan Ford:

On the interception:

"I was playing the call. I got back on my drop and I read his eyes. I could see where he wanted to throw it. I worked my way over there. I saw the ball pop up in the air and my instincts just grabbed it."

On Coach Staley's defense playing with vision:

"Absolutely. He is a great teacher. He has done a great job of teaching us how to play the right technique within our scheme and make it work. For linebackers, being able to play with vision is everything."

On special teams:

"I try to do everything that my coach asks of me. I never complain. Every day you have to come out here and put your hard hat on and work. I learn from the veterans and continue to grow as well. I try to earn my keep and hopefully my coaches see it."