Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis - Conference Call with New Orleans Media - Wednesday, November 7, 2018
How much of a hindrance is it playing without A.J. Green this week?
"Obviously, he's a fine player, so we'll miss him and his contribution, but it's things that we deal with week in and week out throughout an NFL season."
Does the Saints signing of Dez Bryant changed your defensive gameplan?
"I mean there's only going to be 11 guys out there."
Was that something you were already preparing for or do you just wait until it happens?
"Yeah, well again they're going to put 11 guys out there. They've got a lot of good players and they're doing a nice job."
What kind of dynamic does a Dez Bryant bring to the Saints offense?
"I don't need to speculate. I've not seen Dez play football this season. Dez was a good player with the Cowboys and had a lot of production. But he's going to a new team and we'd be wasting time speculating whether or not he's going to be up and part of that 46."
What has been your impressive of the season Drew Brees is having at age 39?
"He does such a great job of going through his progressions and understanding what they perceive to be the weakness of what you're doing and then deliver accurate throws and allowing the guys to make plays on the football."
What's stood out specifically about the Saints offensive line, especially slowing down some pretty good pass rushers?
"They have done a great job. They play well together. The five guys fit together very, very well. They get their hands on people and they really understand and know where the quarterback is going to be in respect to the pocket and so forth."
Does having a veteran center like Max Unger help with some of that?
"He's a good athletic player, he's been around for a while and understands it and he does a good job."
Can you describe how you evaluated that 2017 running back class, you took Joe Mixon and the Saints selected Alvin Kamara?
"Well it was a very talented group. We thought Alvin Kamara was very gifted and talented and demonstrated all those things in Knoxville and we really felt good about him and coach (Butch) Jones spoke very highly of him and so we really felt really highly, very high on Alvin."
Do you think cornerback is a positon that's hard to maintain consistency year in and year out and if so why do you think that?
"That's why these guys are paid the way they're paid, quarterbacks, cornerbacks, receivers. The cornerback, the skill level he's got to have to be able to run with these big receivers that can run like Michael Thomas etc. and that's important. That's why corners conversely are compensated. They have to be such gifted athletes to be able to do what they do."
Why do you think Tyler Boyd's taking such a big step forward this year?
"He just continues to play with confidence and have an opportunity and working his way through and getting opportunities. Making plays breeds more (confidence)."
What do you think about the impact that Demario Davis has made on the Saints defense this year?
"He plays great downhill football. He is an instinctive linebacker, a great straight downhill linebacker. He can run, does a nice job with his pad level and everything and he's fit well into what they're doing."
With A.J. Green out this week, how much of a role does Andy Dalton play in making sure the receiver group is up to speed and doesn't skip a beat?
"That's part of the quarterback's responsibility all the time and we want to make sure those guys get to the spots and so forth and let Andy do his deal and play worry-free that they'll be where they belong all the time."
