The New Orleans Saints battle the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday (3:25 pm CT on FOX).
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked about Saints coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan in a conference call on Monday. Quotes below provided by the Patriots.
On Sean Payton:
Sean obviously has a very aggressive play-calling approach. I think he just does a good job of keeping the defense off balance and he attacks really every square inch on the field, from the middle of the field to the sideline to the back end line. So you have a lot to defend with Sean's offense and he has the personnel, scheme and capability to attack everywhere. I'd say that's in a nutshell his system: he's an aggressive play-caller. It's hard to predict what he's going to do because he does a good job of keeping you off balance. That doesn't mean it's all pass plays either. He'll power run, he'll play-action, he'll throw deep, he'll throw short, he'll screen, draw – he has a good complement of plays that just continually keep the defense off balance.
On Rob Ryan:
Rob obviously comes from a great football background with his family and he grew up with it and it's a big part of his life. He's very dedicated, a dedicated coach and one who has had a lot of experience, not just in the games but like I said, growing up with it and being around it all that. He's a real student of the game. He definitely understands personnel, game planning and situational football so a lot of the things that he does are very specific to the individual game or situation on that particular play which could change from week to week. It's not as predictable just because each game and each situation is different and how he looks at that particular one might be the same or different than he looks at another one. That might seem similar because [it's] a different team, different personnel. There's definitely a level of unpredictability and aggressiveness in his overall system and play calling and style as well. But I'd say that he's defensively got an aggressive approach but they keep you off balance and they mix it up. You just can't count on him to blitz every play because that's not going to happen. But there are times when they'll three-man rush, there are times when they'll send the house and things in between. They're not just the type of defense that's going to sit in one or two things and do that all day unless on that particular play it really happens to be working well and you're having a hard time with it then you might see a lot of it. That's not really his basic style but I'm sure he would do it if he felt like that was the right thing to do.
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