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From the Winning Locker Room
Doug Miller, NewOrleansSaints.com
Monday, October 15, 2007 - 6:44 AM
HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON
(Opening Statement…) “I was proud of the way that they fought tonight. You know it’s a good team we played on the road, in a tough environment. We had a chance I felt in the second half to break this game wide open. And I kind of backed off a little bit and was being smart with this lead, maybe a little to conservative, but I wanted the clock to move. I thought our defense hung in their exceptionally well. Our special teams came up with a big play like we talked about. And that is an important win for us, right now. We certainly needed one. I thought we played well up front offensively. But we blocked them pretty well.”
(Has the team turned the corner after tonight…) “There is no corner. We’re 1-4 and we won a game. We have to get back and have a good week of practice.”
(How important was it to win on the road…) “I think this is a tough environment and I tough place to play. I thought our guys early on came out prepared. We got out here (in the lead) tonight early. I think our preparation leading up to this game, there was good focus. Just getting the win was important. So, we’ll take it home or away.”
(Was there a special attempt to throw (David) Patten the ball today…) “I thought he was going pretty good in the first half. He fought pretty well.”
(Thoughts on Drew Brees tonight…) “I thought he had good command of what we were doing. We had some good long drives. We had a turnover and it was troublesome. We had a big third down drops right there at the end, that would have been a touchdown. I thought he did a good job of hanging in their and directing us at the end of the half for a score. That was really encouraging. There were a lot of encouraging signs and he played with a lot of confidence.”
(Thoughts on David Patten…) “He was healthy and running. He is someone that has played well throughout the preseason. We just have to find out ways to keep him involved. (Marcus) Trufant started matching up a little bit with David in the first half. He (Patten) went to the other side and made some big plays.”
(Was it easy to set the tone with that early turnover…) “Obviously the snap was low and went over the punters legs. And it gave us a good start.”
QB DREW BREES
(On his feelings on getting his first win…) “It feels very good. Obviously we had a big first half, second half a little disappointed with our performance offensively. We had a great drive going down in the third quarter and end up fumbling and not getting any points. Then having another opportunity when they kicked the onside kick and we didn’t get any points. Obviously we should have won that thing going away, kind of made it interesting in the end. But I am going to enjoy this. Our whole team is going to enjoy this. It’s a great feeling just to get that first one and now we can move on.”
(On his good night and connecting sucessfully with David Patten…) “He played great. They actually did some things defensively in the second half that put us in that direction a little more as far as the way they were matching up the corners and that sort of thing. But that last drive, the two minute drive at the end of the first half obviously David (Patten) had three or four big catches and that one deep ball. It was great to get him involved and obviously he is a big weapon. I think that all around we were able to spread the ball around quite a bit where everyone was getting opportunites and was able to take advantage of them.”
(On taking his first offensive snap already ahead 7-0…) “Yeah that is nice. It doesn’t happen too often so when it does you take advantage of it.”
(On the impact of the first win…) “No. 100% this is obviously a tough place to play. They have done a great job with the 12th Man. It was loud at times especially early on and any time you can come out and have success usually you can silence the crowd and I felt like we were able to do that a little bit. In the second half we controlled the ball quite a bit, just no points to show for it. That is disappointing but we will get that corrected.”
(On how well the offense played in the first half…) “Hey that’s us. You know rhythm, tempo, converting on third downs. I felt like we did a great job with that today.”
RB REGGIE BUSH
(on getting on the NBC Horse Trailer…) "I don’t know how I ended up on the Horse Trailer."
(On getting the team’s first win…) "It’s just the first of many wins. We have to focus on just one game, one win. That’s all we wanted to do, was just win this game and that’s all we can worry about. Now we have to focus on Atlanta. This game is behind us now, and that’s it."
(On feeling more comfortable…) "I’m feeling pretty comfortable. Today our offensive line did a terrific job. The holes, they were huge. They did a great job, and a lot the credit really goes to them. I thought that gave our receivers a chance. It opened up the path for them and for Drew, and that’s really what it is all about. We have to get our running game going. We have to force the linebackers and the secondary to respect the run, and then hit it over the top with the pass. I think we played a solid game today."
(On the plan today…) "Our plan was just to win. The plan was to win the game, however we had to do it. I definitely feel like a lot of credit can go to the running game. It really opened things up for the pass and for Drew."
(On the success of the offense…) "We’re just playing good football. Those first four games, a lot of the losses came in the second half, because we didn’t finish. Tonight we struggled a little bit to finish too, I think. That is something we definitely need to work on, because you don’t get too many opportunities, especially when you are playing in a hostile environment like this, and against the Seattle Seahawks, who are a really good team, especially at home. It is hard to beat them at home. We definitely have to work on finishing games, I think, and then we’ll be all right."
DE WILL SMITH
(On getting their first win…) “It was a great performance. Defense and offense came out. Special teams also; we got a blocked kick. It was a complete game for the New Orleans Saints. We’ve been looking for that fire and we finally got it. We have to use this momentum and get ready for Atlanta. The win is great but we know we have another challenge next week.”
(On aggressive defensive play calling…) “We got a lot of pressure on him. We blitzed a lot and when we didn’t blitz we still got pressure from the inside guys; Charles (Grant), myself. We got a lot of pressure on the quarterback. Coach told us that was one of the keys to victory; stop the run, get pressure on (Matt) Hasselbeck, and force turnovers. We completed all three.”
WR DAVID PATTEN
(On the win…) “Without a doubt. Finally, just to have some positive things go for us. That first turnover, that first big play we had on special teams, that really just sent a little shock wave through our team. That’s what we needed. We just needed something good to go our way. Something we really didn’t earn but it kind of got the ball rolling and gave us extra fire.”
(On trying to get off to a fast start at Qwest Field…) “That’s something Coach, he presses every week. For the past four weeks we haven’t been able to do that but tonight with the big play special teams-wise the offense comes out and gets to score early on. It kind of gets things rolling. Now we can play from the standpoint of confidence; feel like we’re in control of the game and we were able to hang on to it until the end.”
DT HOLLIS THOMAS
(On the win…) “We needed one victory. We’re trying to right the ship and we have to start somewhere. It was good to come out in front of the whole nation and put our best foot forward. We still made some mistakes and stuff so we have to get back in and shore up some things. We’re just trying to show everybody that we’re not giving up. We’re trying to right the ship so we’re taking one game at a time. We still have to take this one game at a time. We made some mistakes tonight and the other team has played in the playoffs so they’re going to make some plays. As you know we weathered the storm when they started making plays and when they started making plays we were able to stop ourselves from reeling so fast. The Saints were able to come out with a victory. We did what we were supposed to do. We finally did it.”
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