New Orleans Saints Offensive Line/Running Game Coach Aaron Kromer
Post-Practice Media Availability
Friday, October 5, 2012
Opening statement/ Injury report: "Today at practice we had Turk McBride, left ankle, did not practice. He is out for the game. David Hawthorne, right hamstring, did not practice, he's out. Travaris Cadet, right shoulder, did not practice, he's out. Lance Moore, right hamstring, did not practice, he's out. Jonathan Casillas was limited, he's questionable. Roman Harper, limited, he's questionable. Joe Morgan, knee, was limited and he's questionable."
How do you plan to attack a stout San Diego defense?
"I think we have to mix it up and we have to keep balanced. If you watch teams on tape, they're running the ball and there's times where they are not gaining yards. We just need to stay with it and continue to crack at that running game and then do what we always do, have a good passing game."
How does having Lance Moore out for Sunday affect the offense's gameplan?
"We hope the other guys step up to be honest. We will change some formations, we'll change some plays to enable us to use the guys that we have. It's an every week thing. You lose a guy, you have to adjust and use some other players to fill in for him although it's hard to replace him. We'll do the best we can with that."
What has stunted Mark Ingram's development so far?
"I had said earlier in this week that Mark didn't have a very good offseason because he was injured. He was in doing rehab while we were practicing plays and then in training camp he was still limited so he didn't get the reps that he needed. It was a slow start for him this season and it's showing up on the field. He needs to keep working and get to a point where he is ready to run the ball and he has more production."
Is the running game drastically less effective than it has been in the past, particularly on first or second downs and with base runs? Or is it because you usually pass to set up the run and you haven't been able to do that?
"We just haven't put it all together to be honest. Obviously we did in one game and we haven't in the others. We just have to get on the same page and continue to call the runs. We get away from them early, sometimes, and we could call more but that's on me. That isn't on Pete Carmichael. I am the one saying let's throw it. Let's do it, let's make another throw. Drew (Brees) is hot, we're rolling, let's do it. That's how you end the game with 19 runs and a couple of them being short-yardage. You really only had 15 or 16 runs. You have to have 24 runs in a game to really see production. Now, we can't run for one-yard, we can't run for a loss of yardage play when we do call it. We have to do a better job blocking and running and we'll get this thing going."
Is the number of one-yard and two-yard runs something that is different than in years past?
"Yeah, we've played some stout defenses. That's no excuse, we have the capability of running against stout defenses. We haven't done it yet but we will."
Is this a good week for Devery Henderson to really step up?
"No question. Devery needs to step up. As you see him progressing through the year, he's looking faster and faster. I think our receivers as a whole, even though we're losing a receiver per game it seems, (respond to when) one guy sits out and the other guys step up. Next week, it's somebody else sitting out like Lance Moore this week. That's happened to us pretty consistently this year. I think that they are progressing. They're like the rest of the team where (they were) banged up early and you can see that they're running better now than they were games one through four."
Can you sum up your work week since Green Bay?
"We used the same approach that we did before the Green Bay game. It was very intense but we didn't use our shoulder pads. We didn't have pads and that kept us fresh for the game. We executed our technique, plays, and our assignments but we weren't banging a lot in the week and making up for that in individual drills with some technique stuff. That kept us fresh. We played harder last weekend so we did it again this week."
Was it a good week overall?
"Very good."
