<span>                

Opening Statement:

"We had Darnell Dinkins back out working on a limited basis; Marques (Colston) and Reggie (Bush) were the same way. Garrett Hartley/Paul Spicer.aspx">Paul Spicer tweaked his groin. We don't think it's significant but we held him out the rest of practice."

Was there something wrong with Will Smith?

"We sat him. He just had some abdominal pain with some of that scar tissue from the surgery breaking up. He's doing well, we just sat him today."

Did he work yesterday?

"Yesterday we had an excursion; we didn't have a practice."

What did you do?

"We were in the French Quarter with a scavenger hunt. It was a pretty interesting day. It was three hours and 21 teams. There was a group that came in and put together the package. It started downtown and finished over at Drago's in the city. It was good."

How did it work?

"There was a series of 10 clues where you had to go throughout the city – mostly in the French Quarter – and you were being graded by time and the amount that you got right."

What team won?

"Bret Ingalls' team – I can't think of the team name. We had a coach with four players on each team. They were the winners. It was contested, but they were the winners."

It has looked like in the last few practices that the defense is getting to the quarterback. Are you encouraged by that?

"Today is a good day for us. The film from today's practice is important because there is a lot of different looks that are going in, a lot of new packages on both sides of the ball. I know offensively being able to look at the film and make the adjustments and see where the guys are coming clean will be important. Defensively, the latter half of the practice went real well. It only makes you better. It's not just a four-man rush. There are a lot of different looks there that force you to mentally sort things out. That's kind of what third down and nickel has become in our league. It varies week to week and it's an important part of the game. That aspect is something that we have to be real good with, both defensively and offensively."

With Dan Morgan retiring again, will you be looking for veteran linebacker help now?

"I don't think so. Right now we feel pretty comfortable with the group. We had 10 and now we have nine. Nine is what we go to training camp with. Barring something unforeseen arising, I don't think so."

Will you move anybody over?

"We'll play around with it. (Anthony) Waters is taking some work at Sam now just so we're three-deep at each spot."

Have you heard from Morgan?

"I've just played some phone tag with him and that has been about it."

Will Mark Simoneau compete with Scott Shanle on the outside?

"He has flexibility, starting at Mike and also being able to play Will. I think you're going to see him compete for snaps not only in the base, but also in the nickel. He's probably about 90% now off of surgery and coming back well. That's a positive. He was playing real well prior to getting hurt at the end of training camp last year."

How do you feel about your backup quarterbacks? Does Anthony Hargrove/Joey Harrington.aspx">Joey Harrington have a real chance to win the number two job?

"I feel good. We have experience there. We have a relatively young player in Harrington and I do think we'll have competition at that two spot. With just three on the roster now, that will afford us an opportunity to give those guys plenty of reps in training camp, especially in the preseason games."

So that number two job is up in there?

"Yes. Those two are going to compete for that position, much like most of these jobs."

Do you think Harrington's lack of success has been due to not having good teams around him?

"We tried to just look closely at him when we saw him in Atlanta. We felt like some of his best games came the year when he started for Atlanta. We're not really as interested in where he has been. Certainly we tried to grade as much tape as we could when we brought him here, but we are interested in him. We think he has a lot of the tools that we look for at that position and hopefully this system here and this team here is something he can succeed with."

Does it surprise you that someone with his skills hasn't had more success in the league?

"It's something that we have seen before with a lot of quarterbacks that are taken early. Nothing really surprises you, but for us it's an opportunity to work with him and fit him into our system. He has done a good job so far and he's going to get a lot of reps in training camp."

What are you seeing out of Mike Bell?

"Mike has done a good job. He's working in there. After Pierre Thomas you see Mike and Lynell Hamilton getting a lot of work and then we have the two young rookie free agents and both of those guys are picking things up. It takes a while but I think Mike has done a good job. He has not been with us a full year yet and I think this offseason has helped him a lot."

Did you think the practice was a little sloppy today?

"It was a little bit warmer out there. I thought we started off a little sluggish and then picked up as the practice went on."

Is there a battle between Heath Evans/Kevin Houser.aspx">Kevin Houser and Lance Moore/Rob Ninkovich.aspx">Rob Ninkovich at long snapper?

"Yes, both of those guys are competing. I think Rob understands the challenges of making a roster and certainly Kevin with his experience understands the need to continue to work and improve. We'll have a chance to really see those guys and it's best to evaluate them live under the gun. You can see a lot and time a lot out here, but how they respond both with punt snaps and field goal/extra point snaps in games is most critical and it becomes a position that's easier to evaluate than some others."

Are you unhappy with Houser at all?

"No, it's just a chance for us to look at another player, a young player like Ninkovich who has those skill sets."

Is Jermon Bushrod your number two left tackle or would that be Zach Strief?

"Right now as we practice, Bushrod goes in. By the time you start the regular season, you're limited as to how many you can bring to the game so that might change in regards to how many we carry and who's up. You're seeing Jermon work with the second group at left tackle and you're seeing Zach work with the second group at right tackle."

When you go nine-on-nine, what are you trying to accomplish there?

"It's a seven-on-seven with a couple of rushes going on. It really is a traditional seven-on-seven but at the OTAs here, normally when we're in pads we'll have the O- and D-linemen work with their one-on-one pass rush in a separate drill but with the OTA set-up, it's just easier to get kind of a half line so they can work their movements and their twists and stunts."

How is Malcolm Jenkins coming along?

"Malcolm is doing well. It was good that we were able to get him in here and we weren't still waiting for his graduation. He's real smart; he's a quick study and I think that has helped him. He knows what he's doing. Like the rest of the rookies, they're just fighting with the reps and trying to get better."

Are you pleased with what you've seen from him so far?

"Yes, no question."

Does Randall Gay have a sore knee?

"Yes. It's nothing serious. He had an MRI done and we're just resting him until some of the swelling goes down. He should be fine."

Did Dan Campbell come out of his surgery ok?

"Yes, the surgery was fine. He'll be in rehab for three weeks."

When you look at your team do you feel like this offseason that you have filled all of your needs?

"I think so. Coming off the draft and after free agency, we felt that we were able to address the positions we were looking to address. We started with defense and filled in a few spots offensively. We feel good about the roster right now. We'll have to cut down some as we sign the draft class. Each time we sign one of those players we have to release a player and that's pretty much the norm here in the summer."

Have you had any more thoughts about bringing in another veteran running back?

"No. Right now we're content with the guys we have."

Do you feel like Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas are kind of pushing each other?

"Yes. Both of them have different skill sets and both of them understand that. It's our job to make sure we're putting them in the right positions to have success."

Did you have high hopes for Dan Morgan from what you had seen when he was here?

"The thing that was different this time was that he had just gone through a whole offseason program so there was a little more investment on his part compared to a year ago where he kind of gave it a run and then decided to sit. This time he had spent a number of weeks here with the lifting and the running and the defense. There was more time on task with him and it was a little bit of a surprise, but nonetheless I think that afternoon I realized that he was probably going to retire."

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
OTA Practice Press Conference
Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Opening Statement:

"We had Darnell Dinkins back out working on a limited basis; Marques (Colston) and Reggie (Bush) were the same way. Garrett Hartley/Paul Spicer.aspx">Paul Spicer tweaked his groin. We don't think it's significant but we held him out the rest of practice."

Was there something wrong with Will Smith?

"We sat him. He just had some abdominal pain with some of that scar tissue from the surgery breaking up. He's doing well, we just sat him today."

Did he work yesterday?

"Yyesterday we and excursion; we didn't have a practice."

What did you do?

"We were in the French Quarter with a scavenger hunt. It was a pretty interesting day. It was three hours and 21 teams. There was a group that came in and put together the package. It started downtown and finished over at Drago's in the city. It was good."

How did it work?

"There was a series of 10 clues where you had to go throughout the city – mostly in the French Quarter – and you were being graded by time and the amount that you got right."

What team won?

"Bret Ingalls' team – I can't think of the team name. We had a coach with four players on each team. They were the winners. It was contested, but they were the winners."

It has looked like in the last few practices that the defense is getting to the quarterback. Are you encouraged by that?

"Today is a good day for us. The film from today's practice is important because there is a lot of different looks that are going in, a lot of new packages on both sides of the ball. I know offensively being able to look at the film and make the adjustments and see where the guys are coming clean will be important. Defensively, the latter half of the practice went real well. It only makes you better. It's not just a four-man rush. There are a lot of different looks there that force you to mentally sort things out. That's kind of what third down and nickel has become in our league. It varies week to week and it's an important part of the game. That aspect is something that we have to be real good with, both defensively and offensively."

With Dan Morgan retiring again, will you be looking for veteran linebacker help now?

"I don't think so. Right now we feel pretty comfortable with the group. We had 10 and now we have nine. Nine is what we go to training camp with. Barring something unforeseen arising, I don't think so."

Will you move anybody over?

"We'll play around with it. (Anthony) Waters is taking some work at Sam now just so we're three-deep at each spot."

Have you heard from Morgan?

"I've just played some phone tag with him and that has been about it."

Will Mark Simoneau compete with Scott Shanle on the outside?

"He has flexibility, starting at Mike and also being able to play Will. I think you're going to see him compete for snaps not only in the base, but also in the nickel. He's probably about 90% now off of surgery and coming back well. That's a positive. He was playing real well prior to getting hurt at the end of training camp last year."

How do you feel about your backup quarterbacks? Does Anthony Hargrove/Joey Harrington.aspx">Joey Harrington have a real chance to win the number two job?

"I feel good. We have experience there. We have a relatively young player in Harrington and I do think we'll have competition at that two spot. With just three on the roster now, that will afford us an opportunity to give those guys plenty of reps in training camp, especially in the preseason games."

So that number two job is up in there?

"Yes. Those two are going to compete for that position, much like most of these jobs."

Do you think Harrington's lack of success has been due to not having good teams around him?

"We tried to just look closely at him when we saw him in Atlanta. We felt like some of his best games came the year when he started for Atlanta. We're not really as interested in where he has been. Certainly we tried to grade as much tape as we could when we brought him here, but we are interested in him. We think he has a lot of the tools that we look for at that position and hopefully this system here and this team here is something he can succeed with."

Does it surprise you that someone with his skills hasn't had more success in the league?

"It's something that we have seen before with a lot of quarterbacks that are taken early. Nothing really surprises you, but for us it's an opportunity to work with him and fit him into our system. He has done a good job so far and he's going to get a lot of reps in training camp."

What are you seeing out of Mike Bell?

"Mike has done a good job. He's working in there. After Pierre Thomas you see Mike and Lynell Hamilton getting a lot of work and then we have the two young rookie free agents and both of those guys are picking things up. It takes a while but I think Mike has done a good job. He has not been with us a full year yet and I think this offseason has helped him a lot."

Did you think the practice was a little sloppy today?

"It was a little bit warmer out there. I thought we started off a little sluggish and then picked up as the practice went on."

Is there a battle between Heath Evans/Kevin Houser.aspx">Kevin Houser and Lance Moore/Rob Ninkovich.aspx">Rob Ninkovich at long snapper?

"Yes, both of those guys are competing. I think Rob understands the challenges of making a roster and certainly Kevin with his experience understands the need to continue to work and improve. We'll have a chance to really see those guys and it's best to evaluate them live under the gun. You can see a lot and time a lot out here, but how they respond both with punt snaps and field goal/extra point snaps in games is most critical and it becomes a position that's easier to evaluate than some others."

Are you unhappy with Houser at all?

"No, it's just a chance for us to look at another player, a young player like Ninkovich who has those skill sets."

Is Jermon Bushrod your number two left tackle or would that be Zach Strief?

"Right now as we practice, Bushrod goes in. By the time you start the regular season, you're limited as to how many you can bring to the game so that might change in regards to how many we carry and who's up. You're seeing Jermon work with the second group at left tackle and you're seeing Zach work with the second group at right tackle."

When you go nine-on-nine, what are you trying to accomplish there?

"It's a seven-on-seven with a couple of rushes going on. It really is a traditional seven-on-seven but at the OTAs here, normally when we're in pads we'll have the O- and D-linemen work with their one-on-one pass rush in a separate drill but with the OTA set-up, it's just easier to get kind of a half line so they can work their movements and their twists and stunts."

How is Malcolm Jenkins coming along?

"Malcolm is doing well. It was good that we were able to get him in here and we weren't still waiting for his graduation. He's real smart; he's a quick study and I think that has helped him. He knows what he's doing. Like the rest of the rookies, they're just fighting with the reps and trying to get better."

Are you pleased with what you've seen from him so far?

"Yes, no question."

Does Randall Gay have a sore knee?

"Yes. It's nothing serious. He had an MRI done and we're just resting him until some of the swelling goes down. He should be fine."

Did Dan Campbell come out of his surgery ok?

"Yes, the surgery was fine. He'll be in rehab for three weeks."

When you look at your team do you feel like this offseason that you have filled all of your needs?

"I think so. Coming off the draft and after free agency, we felt that we were able to address the positions we were looking to address. We started with defense and filled in a few spots offensively. We feel good about the roster right now. We'll have to cut down some as we sign the draft class. Each time we sign one of those players we have to release a player and that's pretty much the norm here in the summer."

Have you had any more thoughts about bringing in another veteran running back?

"No. Right now we're content with the guys we have."

Do you feel like Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas are kind of pushing each other?

"Yes. Both of them have different skill sets and both of them understand that. It's our job to make sure we're putting them in the right positions to have success."

Did you have high hopes for Dan Morgan from what you had seen when he was here?

"The thing that was different this time was that he had just gone through a whole offseason program so there was a little more investment on his part compared to a year ago where he kind of gave it a run and then decided to sit. This time he had spent a number of weeks here with the lifting and the running and the defense. There was more time on task with him and it was a little bit of a surprise, but nonetheless I think that afternoon I realized that he was probably going to retire."