New Orleans Saints Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan
Post-Practice Media Availability
Friday, November 14, 2014

What is your assessment of last week?

"We have to finish. We are beating the same record but we have to be better from it.  We have to learn from it.  We talked about it as coaches.  We talked about it with our players.  We have to finish.  We are playing better but with no finish in these games they are all close, we are playing all good teams, these playoff type teams.  You have to do better.  It is a 60 minute game or longer that we have proven this year and we just have to keep getting better."

Is there any common theme with Cleveland, Detroit and San Francisco?

"The common theme is we haven't come through obviously.  We have to come through.  Trust me we have done everything.  We've gone back to look at calls, how can we help our guys, what's our philosophy, what do we want to do with our philosophy in this situation.  We want to all be on the same page.  We always want to advance a plan of the Saints, not my plan, not somebody else's plan.  At the end of the day we need to win this week and that is all we are looking forward to is going forward."

Why do you think that some teams have games that they get blown out and the Saints have always been teams in it?

"I think we have really good football players and we prepare hard.  We don't get blown out.  I think we've had one game that just wasn't good.  We are a better team than that.  I think you see some inconsistencies in the league but that is not us.  We know we obviously have a lot of talent and a well-coached team.  We are going to be in every game.  We just have to finish and execute, taking the ball away and all of these things are huge for us and we have to work on it."

What did you think about Keenan Lewis' effort last week?

"He's been doing that all the time.  He plays hurt, he practices, and the guy gives us everything he's got.  He is on the sideline, we are in that last situation in the game, what are you calling, here is the call, alright I'll go in.  He's given us everything that he has and he doesn't have.  But our whole team needs to step up on defense.  I think we have to play with everything we've got, all the passion, everything we have for the entire length of the game.  We can't slip up.  We are done.  We are sick of that.  We can't do that anymore and we are not going to."

What is keeping you up late at night about the Bengals?

"Marvin Lewis is one of the best coaches in the league.  He has been coaching forever.  They have got an excellent passing attack.  They have got a good running game.  This LSU kid (Jeremy Hill) is a good prospect. The quarterback gets rid of the ball really fast and he has two Pro Bowl receivers he's throwing to.  Obviously that is the challenge this week.  Every week is unique on the personnel and this game is all about the players.  People can talk about scheme all they want but this is a player game and they have a lot of good ones."

What is your assessment of Kenny Vaccaro's season?

"I think he's playing really well.  I think we all started terrible.  Out of the gate we all stunk.  That's the way it is.  I stuck.  They were not as bad as me but sometimes they were not very good.  We're playing better.  We're working as hard as we can.  We're working as a unit and good things are coming for us.  We just have to keep working and keep believing in this process, keep believing in the Saints mentality and how we've been assembled as players and coaches.  We all have something to prove and we have to prove it."

What was your take on how the fourth-and-10 play late in the fourth quarter where Colin Kaepernick had a 51-yard completion to Michael Crabtree was defended?

"The quarterback bought extra time on the play and that's where breakdowns occur. That's where Kaepernick, we know that is where he extends plays and does the biggest damage.  The guy, they made a great play, he made a great play.  He has a great arm.  I do not know how many guys in the league can throw that ball all the way across his body 115 yards like he did.  It is what it is.  There's no crying here.  We just have to pick up our boot straps and go to work."

When you breakdown that series analytically, emotionally and equivocally, when you get them to fourth and 10 means that right away that by and large they are in the process of having a great defensive series and then…it is crazy how the game works.  How do you view that?

"It is any way you look at it.  We played those guys last year and we have two great two minute stops on two drives.  It is what it is.  Obviously it was not good enough.  We have to go look at what we called, how we called it.  We can't afford a breakdown like that.  That is this league.  When you have two great teams like you had last week going at it, you have to be perfect.  You have to be precise.  And even then things can go array when a guy like (Colin) Kaepernick who is a special player makes a special play, that's what happens."