Transcript of New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton's postgame press conference following Thursday's loss to the Carolina Panthers:
Obviously it's a disappointing loss. We put ourselves in a hole, clearly in the first half with how we played. The turnovers, the sequence, the blocked field goal, that's a 10 point swing. Two weeks in a row now we are struggling just to kick a PAT or a field goal, it's disappointing.
What are you planning to do to address some of these issues?
That's a good question, we will see. We have time to work on it. Obviously we have a lot of new faces but that being said, it's disappointing.
What did it seem like the issue was on the blocked kick?
It looked like it was low to me. The block it looked like it came a little deeper in the rush. Typically when that happens, it's a low kick.
Did you like the pace at the end of the game, did you think it lacked a sense of urgency or was that what you were going for?
No, I was good. You want to have some tempo and yet knowing what they are doing defensively it required some run, some screens or you can pick up the pace and throw deep into coverage you know with an interception. We put ourselves into a position with some timeouts, two minutes and all of a sudden we are in great situation there, so I was comfortable with the clock.
Getting into the hole at the beginning was that more of what you were doing or what Carolina was doing?
You have to credit Carolina. I thought early on both teams were a little sluggish. Defensively, both teams played a little better. And yet, there are some things that you have to be able to do at our level. We have to be able to address and fix some of those things.
What are some of the things that Carolina did defensively when you guys were throwing down the field?
They do a good job with their quarters coverage with the two high safety look and their front's playing well. It forces you to come underneath and a lot of the looks are match or man type coverage looks that you have to be able to win inside, separate inside. We forced one, on the one pick down the field but it was more a patient approach.
Defense keeping you in the game.
It was encouraging. The whole first half was spent on our side of the field. That's what happens when you have the turnovers or when you have a kick blocked like that. We felt at halftime if we could eliminate some of the mistakes, some of the things that were keeping us from moving the football that we put ourselves in a position to possibly be there and we came up short.
What changes will you make to help the kicking unit?
Like I said we have a long break here and take a look at it all.
Did you detect and sluggishness tonight?
No. It's a quick turnaround but I thought the tempo you asked earlier was good. There are just some basic things when you really watch the tape, but I felt like we handled that week pretty well.
You mentioned things that you have to be able to do at this level.
Yeah, fundamentally we have to be able to kick an extra point. If we come up short we have to be able to kick a field goal that's a makeable one. We have just struggled in that area. It cost us in New York, it cost us last week in Denver and it cost us again tonight. We have to be smart enough in the game early, to understand the turnovers aren't good, and punting is not a bad thing. When you are playing a good defense like this you put yourself on a short field and it's going to result in points. We already know that we are playing with a close margin of error or else you win 50 of these you lose 50. So I think that we have to be a lot smarter and certainly as head coach I have to do a better job of that point of emphasis.
