New Orleans Saints RB Mark Ingram
Press Conference
Monday, December 10, 2012
Do you agree with Coach Vitt that you feel the team is pressing?
"I feel like we needed to win. We're killing ourselves (with) turnovers, a lot of kickoff return yards. It's' a team effort in all phases. Offense, defense, (and) special teams have to do better."
How frustrating are the turnovers when you're trying to sustain these drives and moving forward what will it take for it to change?
"It definitely hurts. You're driving the ball. Then you give Eli (Manning) and that offense another chance to score and the turnovers definitely hurt. We just have to be more aware of holding onto the ball, making better reads. (We just have to concentrate on) taking care of the football."
Do some of the turnovers come from trying to make bigger plays, maybe trying to turn a four-yard gain into a six-yard gain?
"Squeeze the football when you're in traffic and get a hit and try to get open and catch the ball so we're not tipping the ball up in the air. You have to be conscious everytime you're on the field to take care of the football. That's your number one priority as a football player and ballcarrier to take care of the football or bad things happen."
You guys were very productive in the first half running the ball. Did you feel that you were controlling the line of scrimmage?
"I thought that we controlled the line of scrimmage pretty well. I felt like the offensive line was getting a good push. We had a lot of success running the ball. Even with all the turnovers, it was a 13-14 game with two minutes left in the (first half), we went down and scored. We went into the half with a lot of confidence that a lot of things didn't go our way in the first half. We came out in the second half and were down three touchdowns in seven minutes. We still battled back into it, got it back to within a one score game, but we kept hurting ourselves."
Even though the playoffs are a longshot, how important is it to make a good final showing?
"Very important. We have a very prideful group in our locker room. I think our focus going forward should be just getting better everyday, getting closer together as a unit and improving individually and as a unit everyday. I think that should be our focus in finishing out the season strong, because, we if we had three straight losses, it would be nice to have three straight wins to close out the season."
What was it like losing on Sunday, in a fashion where guys around here haven't lost and you didn't lose in college?
"It's not a good feeling at all. It just seems a lot of the guys were together since 2006 to turn this program around and have (had) them winning the last seven years. For the last three years it was the winningest program in the league, so it's definitely tough. These guys aren't used to it and it's not something I'm used to being a part of it last year and my three years in college. It's not a good feeling. It's not something you want to get used to."
