New Orleans Saints WR Lance Moore
Conference Call
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Can you talk about the Falcons game coming up on Monday night and if there's a little extra motivation added to this game?
"For you guys, yes. For us, it's the most important game of the year. It's the next game that we can play and obviously the significance of this game is huge in that we still stay alive for the second seed, and if we win this game we win the division which is huge. Obviously, Atlanta is one of our rival teams so we want to beat them."
Do you get a little more motivated to specifically play the Falcons with how close the matchups have been in recent years?
"It's a situation in which it's a divisional game, so we're familiar with one another. Neither team wants to lose to the other. That's just kind of how it is. People get bragging rights, but we're more focused on letting it be one game. We can't make it bigger than what it is. Like I said before, it's an extremely important game but we can't put any extra pressure or stress on ourselves for this game. We just have to go out and play."
Does this feel like last year in reverse with the standings going into this game?
"I hope not because we went in there and were able to get that win late in the season. The situation is obviously similar in that we're the one that's in the lead in the division and we can lock up the division with this win. Hopefully, we'll be able to get that done."
Do you think you guys are as locked in as ever right now on the offensive side of the ball?
"I think we're playing well right now, but if you look at just the last game, we had a bunch of penalties and those two turnovers. We can get better offensively and those numbers can get even better. Our stress this week will be taking care of the ball, which we've done for the most part in this stretch run that we've had excluding the last game. We'll try to eliminate some of those penalties and definitely try to right that ship before the end of the season."
What does it say about the team when you make those mistakes and still win by 22 points?
"You kind of have to look at each game. Minnesota is a team that's struggling with injuries and depth at a lot of different positions, so that game is going to be different from Tennessee where you go on the road and have to struggle to win that game. Each game is different, but it is kind of encouraging that we've had those mistakes in the past couple of weeks and we're still able to come up with big wins. We just need to kind of put it together in a complete manner so that all sides of the ball play well and hopefully we can do that moving forward."
What does it say about a game like St. Louis and you can't overcome those mistakes?
"It's the NFL. Any team can beat you any given Sunday if you don't come to play."
Can you talk about Drew Brees in the context of possibly breaking the Dan Marino record for passing yardage in a single season?
"I think it's an awesome accomplishment to even get this close. Obviously we were close a couple of years back and he wasn't able to break the record, but this year it's even better because we're leading this division and we're in the playoffs. In 2008, we were out of the playoffs. I think it's great that we're winning games as well. I promise you that if Drew could choose the record or winning another Super Bowl, he'd go with winning another Super Bowl. Our main focus is winning games. If we're playing well, the rest will kind of take care of itself."
Do you kind of marvel at Drew Brees and how he does so well year after year?
"I tell people all the time he's just Drew being Drew. It really doesn't surprise me that much when he's able to do what he does each and every Sunday or Monday, whatever day we happen to be playing because he prepares himself in a way where he's able to play at that high level. He's able to continue to do that. It's easy for us other guys to just go out there and play knowing that Drew is back there."
It seems like he continues to get better each year.
"He is definitely getting better. He works in such a way that he has no choice but to get better. He's not going out there and wasting time or wasting reps. His intent each and every day is to improve himself in one or many ways. Obviously you would have to ask him the specifics of that, but I definitely think he's going to continue to get better and he's obviously leading our team as such."
How is it that every player on this team is unselfish and is that the key to success here?
"I think it can be, but I think that's the thing that makes this thing go so well. There are guys that are more worried about the team's success than their own individual statistics. Obviously, we'd all like more touches, but we're not going to cry about it. We're not going to go yell at any coaches or yell at Drew or get mad at each other for getting more touches than one another. We're winning games. It would be different if we were 0-13 or 0-14 and nothing else was going on for us. We have a pretty good team here and we think we can do some great things. He'll keep spreading it around and I think that's what helps this offense roll.
What stood out in your mind about Atlanta's defense the last time you played them?
"Their defense is aggressive. They're fast and extremely opportunistic. If you don't take care of the ball, they will beat you. Carolina a couple of weeks ago had them on the ropes, Atlanta got a couple of turnovers and that game flips so quick. That's a huge thing for them. If you put their offense on a short field, they're going to make you pay for it. We'll definitely have to pay close attention to how we're taking care of the ball this week at practice and hopefully that translates into the game on Monday."
What did summer workouts do that would translate to today?
"Those are kinds of things that you can look back on and say they helped out. I wasn't a member of those workouts, so I can't really give you too many specifics about them. I trained on my own and I had a group of guys I trained with at home. Those workouts were obviously important because when most guys weren't getting the reps with their teammates, Drew had the guys down there getting a bunch of reps and once training camp started it was almost as if guys had continued over from what was going on during that lockout run. I think especially offensively, it would be tough for a defense to do a bunch of stuff during the lockout because it's structured differently. As far as plays go and routes and things like that with the quarterback, those are things you can always do and always improve on."
