New Orleans Saints Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Joe Vitt
Post-Practice Media Availability
Friday, December 14, 2012
Opening Statement: "Charles Brown did not practice today. Corey White did not practice today. Malcolm Jenkins did not practice today. Zach Strief did not practice today. Chris Ivory did not practice today and Jed Collins was limited in practice today and really came a long way. Today in practice our emphasis is the red zone. Tampa Bay's offense is doing an outstanding job when they get to the red zone. Their percentage of possessions as opposed to touchdowns in third in the National Football League, scoring when they get down there. They do an outstanding job of mismatching those big wide receivers on corners and safeties. They do an excellent job with the running game down there. They do an outstanding job with stack releases, which are stacking receivers versus zone and man (coverages). Defensively, they're doing a good job. They're going to play their normal defense getting to the ten-yard line. At that point, they play what we call bracket coverages and try to double the most dangerous receiver no matter wherever he is and then go to zero coverage and bring the house. We had good work today. We had a good body of work in the red zone."
Who has the best chance of playing of the players listed?
"I think Jed Collins has the best chance of anyone of playing. He participated today, did a good job and we'll see where he is tomorrow based on his workload today."
Whenever you see a dropped pass or tipped ball, because your receivers are so sure-handed, does is surprise you?
"We play one play at a time and we have a dropped pass and any kind of miscue with the ball, the next play is going to be the most important play. You can't get caught up in the moment and you can't be kicking your feet in the dirt because of a dropped ball, missed tackle or missed opportunity. One of the things that this team has always been is resilient, so it's on to the next play. At the end of the game when we critique our body of work, then we'll work on those things we need to work on and get better for the next week. It's on to the next play one snap at a time."
Is it the nature of football?
"It's not a perfect game played by perfect people. This football team and coaching staff works to be as hard as we can and it's not okay and not acceptable, but we go on to the next snap."
How long has Jimmy Graham been wearing a brace on his wrist?
"I think it's been ongoing the whole season. At this time of the year in week 14, you're going to have nicks. I don't have an exact date. I think Jimmy has done a good job this year of working through his nicks. Jimmy is still in the early part of his career. You talk about how long he's played football and how short his college career was, there are a lot of things he's seen for the first time. His body's reacting to a long season. You couple that to the breakout year he had last year, he has no gimmes this year. He's getting banged at the line of scrimmage. He's being taken over in coverage by a linebacker or safety and most people are protecting over the top against him. He's getting looks he's never seen before and he's working through that. The only thing it's going to do is make him better."
