New Orleans Saints Offensive Coordinator Pete Carmichael
Media Availability
Friday, October 21, 2011

How were you staying in touch with Sean Payton and how often did you speak with him?
"He was shooting me texts.  They started at five o'clock in the morning up until about an hour before he went into surgery.  Really the biggest adjustment for me this week was early in the week was with him being away and sending his thoughts through the phone, text messages, some emails, and a couple minutes of, 'Hey, I like this play and I like this play.  Make sure that's on the list.'  That was going on and then it stopped for a couple of hours.  We got together offensively and talked about it and then they continued on in the afternoon."

Did this feel significantly different than the normal amount of input people usually have?
"Typically on Mondays I'll get together with Joe Lombardi and Aaron Kromer will get together with Brett Ingalls and we'll put together our thoughts for the run list and the pass list for first and second down.  Then Tuesday morning is when the meetings start with (Sean Payton) and he comes in, he'll have his thoughts and he'll go through what we have on paper.  He might say he likes that and we'll show him on film why we like it, or he might say he won't call it so take it off the list and add this on.  Not having him here for those two days was a little bit different."

Have you had a situation where you've had to get a play in and then relay it to somebody?
"Personally, no.  When I was in San Diego, Cam Cameron called the plays and relayed them to Brian Schottenheimer and he did that.  The thought is that you get into a situation like short yardage, Sean's not going to have to say the whole play.  He's going to say he wants to run this scheme and then it should be in my head what we want to run.  I should know the personnel and I should know the play and get in into Drew.  He's not going to have to sit there and tell me what personnel, what formation, and what play.  It should just be, 'Hey, let's get this scheme going.'"

What are your thoughts coming off of last week's game and wanting to have a stronger offensive performance?
"We turned the ball over four times last week, and obviously that's not good.  That was really something we had to make a focus on this week about ball security.  We do it every week.  In a close game, we lost a turnover battle four to nothing.  We have to be better there and our guys practiced well this week.  We're ready to go."

Are the Colts and Buccaneers the two teams closest together in cover two defense?
"I don't think so.  I think you have a lot of teams that are doing that.  Chicago is one as well, but I don't know if that's the Buccaneers' main thing anymore.  The Colts run that system, but they're good at it.  Their players are always in the right place.  They have great tacklers.  They rally to the ball.  I think the Colts are one of the best in the league at what they do run defensively."