NEW ORLEANS SAINTS POSTGAME QUOTE
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2012

HEAD COACH AARON KROMER

(On the overall game)
"That was a good performance by us today. I'm proud of the team. It was a well-fought game. You look at the game and you say to yourself, 'We're down 14 points. We're down 14-0.' We have the resolve in our locker room that I keep telling you guys about and you're starting to believe it. This group never gives up and they keep battling. We found a way to score 28 unanswered points and get up in that game and then finish better than we have in the past. So, what we did was we had a strong offense, defense, good complementary special teams, complementary football, team football, that helped us win that game today. I'm proud of the team and I'm proud of the group, because they just keep battling. That's what we talk about and I continually say that we're getting better each week and that's what we're doing. It's starting to show on the field."

(On CB Malcolm Jenkins preventing WR Vincent Jackson's touchdown)
"You talk about a game-changing play, and a guy that's not going to give up. He's going to finish on a play. We talk about winning the fight of each play and Malcolm running [Jackson] down, obviously, and getting that goal line stand was a huge turnaround in that game as far as just not allowing (Tampa Bay) to get that score. It really boosted our confidence and gave our defense the confidence they needed."

(On the team's improvement)
"I'm happy for the team. I'm happy we won today. I'm happy we won last week. I'm really happy that we took a team that was not playing well early and we continued to practice, we continued to work, continued to believe and won two games in a row; we're going for our third."

(On what he's learned being a first-time head coach)
"I still believe it's about the team. It's about the organization and I'm glad. I'm happy for (Defensive Coordinator) Steve Spagnuolo. I'm happy for (Special Teams Coordinator) Greg McMahon and (Offensive Coordinator) Pete Carmichael. They did a good job today and we won this game. We're looking forward to Denver."

(On the play of QB Drew Brees)
"We've seen Drew, as the receivers got healthy in the last four games, really up his game. We talk about in town, after practices, that Drew plays best when his players around him are playing well, and that's what happened today. Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and Lance Moore, obviously, on third down did a wonderful job of converting third downs for us today. Obviously, missing Jimmy Graham, but we were able to overcome it with other guys stepping up."  

QB DREW BREES

(On the impending return of Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Coach Joe Vitt)
"Obviously he's a big piece to the puzzle. We all love Joe Vitt. He brings a certain element, a certain intensity. I miss his stories. I miss sitting next to him on the bus ride over to games. I miss just seeing him every day; I think we all do. I'm definitely excited to have him back."

(On the second consecutive win)
"That's all we want to do. We want to get on a streak here, but you've got to win more than one before you're on a streak. Now we've got two. We want to keep that going."

(On the significance of the goal-line stand)
"You look at that sequence: all of the sudden (Tampa Bay was) about to tie the game. The (New Orleans) defense has a goal line stand. Now in their mind they are thinking, 'Hey we went for it on fourth down because now we have them pinned back. We're just expecting to stop them, and get great field position.' But we had a different plan in mind. We got a big first down in one play and then all of a sudden we're going down and making it a two-possession game. That was a huge sequence of events, a huge momentum shifter."

(On bouncing back from the team's slow start to the game)
"They came out fast. But what I like is that despite all of a sudden being down 14 points and doing all the things we said we wouldn't do – which was turn the ball over, give up some big plays and all that – we still remained calm, together, and we were just methodical. To put together the drives that we did, four in a row – defense coming up with some big stops to give us the opportunity to two-minute drive at the end of the half to get more points – that was big."

(On WR Joseph Morgan)
"Joe Morgan's young. He's raw. He's a talent, but, just like any position, especially the receiver position, you know it takes time. Certainly there's a rapport with it that I want to build with him. There are a lot of great things that he can do and I just want to continue to take baby steps with him. As you can see he can make some plays when given the opportunity. It's just a matter of picking and choosing our spots, but certainly we'd love to see an expanded role with him within the framework of what we do."

(On his thoughts during the game's final seconds)
"It's interesting, because if you're the one out there on the field and you're in the moment it's completely different. When you're on the sideline you try to become a fan and it's just nerve-racking. But also you've got that confidence that the defense is going to make this play and win this game."  

LB JONATHAN VILMA

(On his first game this season)
"It was one of those where I tried to not let my emotions get the best of me.  I didn't want to put myself in a situation where I was going to hurt the team or anything like that, so I tried not to be over-excited.  It was really a lot to prepare for, so I'd much rather focus on the preparation going into the game, and then, when I was out, I could let the emotions go."  

(On preparing for the game)
"I thought I did a good job.  I didn't have any mental errors or any mental mistakes.  I was able to prepare for the Mike (linebacker) and the Will (linebacker) and the nickel package as well, (but) that part is not the hard part.  Being able to block things out, especially during the week, it's easy.  We put in 10 or 12-hour days and it's easy to get lost in football and the other team and worrying about how to defend them."

(On the defense's goal-line stand)
"That was huge.  Really, the play before that, Malcolm Jenkins running down Vincent Jackson to put us on the goal line, then the goal line stand, those were about five huge plays right there and it decided the game.  We won by seven (points) and that's what we needed."

(On building off the win)
"We are riding a two-game win streak and that's the most important thing.  As long as we are winning, we can correct the other things, and correct the little things and get better.  But the fact that we are doing it and we are winning is great."

LB CURTIS LOFTON

(On the goal-line stand)
"Any time they get down there, you say you don't want to give up seven, you want to give up the three, and they wanted to go for it on fourth down.  We knew what play it was going to be.  We told them, 'Watch the quarterback, watch the quarterback,' and Cameron (Jordan) did an awesome job, kept him in the pocket and actually stripped him and, you know, that's how we play."

(On what the win means for the team)
"The San Diego game was a springboard; this is just building on that.  We are going to build on the next one and keep building and keep building and we can grind this one down, but just staying humble and hungry."

S ROMAN HARPER

(On the Buccaneers' final drive)
"It was good that at the end of the game, we got a stop on defense to win the game. You hate it because they got it down there and made it close, but, overall, you'll take the win just like any other time. We just need to clean up some mistakes – little plays here and there that kept them in the game."

(On winning the game)
"As long as we win, it's not even about the [positives and negatives]. To get the win, we fought hard. I think we had almost 20 plays in the red zone. We continued to fight battles and do whatever we had to do to help this team win. We got crooked in the two-minute drill a little bit and gave up some plays. I don't know what happened, but as long as we stick together, we can always fix that."

(On improving as the season progresses)
"At the end of the day, I don't know how much better we got. I know we won the game. That's always a positive. We were always finding ways to lose a game and now we're finding ways to win a game. Whether it's the offense, defense, or the special teams, there are plenty of complements involved with each other, and we're just trying to do what's best for this team. You can see that everybody is buying in and I like where our direction is and where this team is headed."

RB PIERRE THOMAS

(On the development of the team)
"Coming off this bye week, well, right before the bye week, with that victory we had against the Chargers, we wanted to make a stand right there. We wanted to make a tone to set to everybody and ourselves to say 'Hey, this is where it turns around for us, this is where it starts.' We got our first victory, you know, let's keep this feeling going, let's keep this momentum and this hype that we have going, to keep carrying ourselves throughout the rest of the season. We got to take it game by game. Tampa was a great team (and the) defense is very solid, but we came in with the attitude, 'Hey, we got to win this; we got to fight, no matter what.' We are going to take it to each and every one of our opponents, every snap. We came out here and we established that."

S MALCOLM JENKINS

(On stopping WR Vincent Jackson's long reception)
"The first (thought) is 'run.' You see him catch it and Roman (Harper) almost made a play on the ball (but) just missed it, and there is nobody around, so the first thing is just run to see what happens. As I got down the field, I saw him start to slow down a bit and saw that I was able to catch him. It was a huge break for us to get them down inside the five and just give our team a chance."