New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Post-Practice Press Conference
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Opening Statement:
"An injury update for today: Usama Young with a quad was limited; Anthony Waters (hamstring) did not participate; Reggie Bush (fibula) did not practice; Roman Harper (hamstring) did not practice; Pierre Thomas (ankle) did not practice. In roster moves, we signed placekicker John Carney and released wide receiver Adrian Arrington today and then in a practice squad transaction we signed tackle Jermey Parnell and released guard Jacob Bender."
How is Drew Brees?
"He's sore but he was full in practice and did well."
Is he wearing protection on his leg?
"He put a brace on there but he was able to go full. He has some soreness but he was good."
Can you say exactly what his situation is?
"There's no situation. His knee is sore from the game. There's no specific injury other than that he has soreness. We didn't put him on the report. He took all the reps. There's not an injury to report. I was pleased with how he functioned. He functioned fine. It's something that as the week goes on, I think he'll have no problem with and he did a real good job in all the team stuff today."
You said two days ago that there wasn't anything imminent at the running position but you're always looking. Does Pierre Thomas missing practice today change that at all?
"No. We have flexibility with the players that are here right now. We'll see where Pierre is at tomorrow. Really, he had some swelling. Fortunately the soreness for him is not as significant as you might expect with some ankles. It's not a high ankle sprain; it's not any of that, but there is swelling enough to where we held him out today. But there's nothing that we're looking to do right now but we're certainly paying attention to it, starting with his health."
What went into the decision to bring Carney back?
"Obviously he's been here before; he's a seasoned veteran and we'll see how those guys battle during the week and make a decision at the week's end as to who's going to kick for us. We did this a year ago and each week we'll evaluate the practice and evaluate how those guys do and go from there."
After seeing how Pierre and Drew got hurt, do you feel lucky that there wasn't something more severe?
"Certainly we're fortunate that there wasn't anything significant. It was a long game; it was a hard-fought game and to answer your question, yes."
Do you think you may have to bring DeShawn Wynn up from the practice squad?
"That could be an option. That gets back to the earlier question. That could be an option if we felt it necessary."
Is there a scenario where you'd have both kickers active for the game?
"We'll see. There's none specifically, but we'll see."
What did you see from Carney in the workout?
"He was real consistent. He was 100% with the kicks. Both guys did a good job yesterday; both he and Kris (Brown) kicked well. His get-offs were good and he didn't miss a kick. It was impressive."
Does the relationship that Garrett Hartley and Carney have a bearing in why you went with Carney?
"There's that familiarity with the player in John's case with us. You still try to really evaluate the workout and look closely at how those guys are kicking. Not going in with any type of bias, you want to evaluate the workouts – that's why two guys are in there. But John did a good job. Like I said, he didn't miss. That was something that you still need to see, even from someone that you're familiar with."
Do you think having Carney here keeps Hartley's confidence better than if you had gone with Brown?
"The one thing about John is his experience with the process. He helps all of us when it comes to the snap, hold, kick; that's a strength of his. When you have kicked as long as he has – he's my age – that's pretty important and it's helpful."
Has John been kicking?
"I think he's been working out. I said this to him a year ago and I said to him yesterday, 'For every player, you play until 32 teams tell you that you can't,' and then you eventually get on with your next job or whatever you're going to do next. His preparation and his mindset has been to be prepared for an opportunity. You could see that obviously he had been kicking."
How is Tracy Porter doing?
"Good. He's fine. 100%. He got all the reps and is doing well."
You said Monday that you saw Ivory as getting about seven or eight carries. Have you increased those numbers?
"A lot of that will be predicated on where we get to by the end of the week. Certainly he's a guy that we feel comfortable with running the football. Our snaps were down offensively last week in terms of numbers to total snaps, but he's someone that we feel like can give us a lot of carries. So we'll see as we go and by the end of the week we'll have a better feel for exactly the role for each of those players. A lot of that is predicated on Pierre."
