New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton joined Bobby Hebert and Zach Strief on the Saints Radio Network on Monday night to discuss his team's Week 7 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
"We had some young guys step up," Payton said of the 27-24 win. "Obviously, Marquez Callaway had a big game. We were short-handed in Detroit at corner(back) - we found a way to get out of there with a win. And yesterday, kind of the same way against a good football team in Carolina."
The Saints' dynamic backfield of Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray set the tone once again in Sunday's win, tallying 204 all-purpose yards.
"There's not an exact formula," Payton said when asked how he divides the snap counts between the two backs. "Yesterday, when you convert like we did and we got to a lot of third down and manageable numbers, pretty soon you start looking at your pitch count offensively, and you've got a lot of plays for a lot of players."
The New Orleans Saints (4-2) travel to Chicago to face the Bears at 3:25 central time Sunday, Nov. 1.
"Our red zone numbers right now are really poor," Payton said of the Saints defense. "And that's the one area where I know that we've got to improve on. Those are certainly the key things that you're seeing. We're seeing the same thing. The same things, look, our fans are seeing. People are real educated in our game and they're seeing the same thing in those areas. We're getting ready to play the No. 1 red zone defense in the NFL in Chicago. So all of those things really matter when the games become important, and we recognize that."
