New Orleans Saints Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Joe Vitt
Post-Practice Media Availability
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Opening Statement: "Charles Brown did not practice today. Martez Wilson did not practice today. Johnny Patrick was ill and did not practice today. Everybody else was full go."
"Obviously we have our hands full this week, we're playing the defending world champions in their building. They're coming off a tough loss to the Washington Redskins and that football (team) always performs well under Tom Coughlin off of a loss. Offensively, they're protecting the quarterback better than anybody in the National Football League right now. Eli (Manning) is playing at a high level. He is tough, he's smart, he's accurate. He does a great job of throwing off his back foot. They've scored 85 points, the most out of anybody in the National Football League inside the 50-yard line so they've done an outstanding job offensively. They're averaging 150 yards rushing the ball per game in their wins. Defensively, they've taken the ball away 30 times which is a phenomenal stat. It is going to be our number one stat this week. If we can't protect the football it's going to be a long day for us."
What was Martez Wilson's injury?
"Toe."
You mentioned Eli being able to throw off his back foot and that's usually something you don't want a quarterback to do…
"Most quarterbacks, when you play them you want to disrupt the inside tackle box from guard to guard so that the quarterback cant step up and get some power behind his throw. Eli receives the ball and can throw off his back foot and has the ability to just turn his shoulders right at the last second to avoid any contact. He does all of that and he's extremely accurate. It's impressive to watch."
How much of a challenge is it to face their pass rush?
"In their wins, when they're smoking, they're averaging five and a half sacks per game. They've got prolific pass rushers there. I think Justin Tuck is playing at a really high level right now. One of the unique things about their defensive line is that they are good against the run. They can get off blocks. When that football team gets ahead or it's an obvious passing situation, they put their hand in the dirt and they come off and they're very disruptive. That'll be, really, the third key to victory for us is how we can disrupt their quarterback and stop them from disrupting our quarterback."
Can you talk about the Saints recent success with the Giants?
"I'll say this, the last two times we played them, we played them in our building and won. I equate to the times that we would have to go to Chicago and always play Chicago in their back-yard. Then we finally had the chance to play them in our building and everybody kind of saw what the results were. They're licking their chops. They can't wait for us to get off the plane. We understand that. It's a prideful football team, the defending world champions."
