New Orleans Saints vs Philadelphia Eagles - Mercedes-Benz Superdome - Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018 - Saints head coach Sean Payton
Opening Statement:
"It was a good win for us. We felt, coming in, this was going to be a tough game for a lot of reasons. It was the first time that we played a team this year coming off of a loss; part of that is coincidence. When you play the Super Bowl champion, and you play a team like that that's backed in the corner a little bit, if you will, we felt they were, we knew that we were going to have to be ready. That was a concern all week. I'm proud of the way that our players answered the challenge. I thought that defensively we were outstanding. There will be some things that we have to clean up. We were efficient offensively. It was a good win for us. We will be on a short week here."
On if Eli Apple has settled in, allowing the defense to do more:
"He is here for week four, so I don't know that we can say that him settling in (has allowed our defense to do more). I think that we had a good plan going into this game. Certainly we had confidence, and we have to have confidence, in those guys outside. We will see the tape. We will have a chance to grade him."
On the play of the entire receiving corps:
"There was a lot of doublers. There was a lot of one-double going on. It's hard for you guys to see. When you are getting manned, of course they played a ton more man (defense) tonight than we had seen in two years. We had watched every film, you name it. (We watched film from) last season, the Super Bowl, this season, last postseason, the playoffs. Tonight was entirely different. That's a credit to Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara. Those guys got doubled. (There was) a bunch on Mike, which created opportunities for other players. Fortunately, we were able to hit on enough plays."
On if it is nice to see Mark Ingram II hitting his stride:
"They are all hitting their stride. The O-line played well. That was another concern. They've (the Eagles) got a really good front. Those guys, I thought, blocked the run well. We scored early and often. I think that time of possession was key."
On the offensive efficiency of the team in recent weeks:
"Well, it's not just been the last two weeks; and, I'm not correcting you. I think part of it is that we returned a lot of veteran lineman. Your team starts with your O-line. That that permeates through the rest of your roster. We've been able to stay out of some third and longs. Tonight, we converted a few. The balance has helped us. Players are quickly getting up to speed. I like Tre'Quan (Smith) as a rookie. He's learning fast. We received good production from a number of players tonight. We will keep working on trying to improve. I'm sure there will be some things that we'll be upset about when we watch the tape. We don't have a lot of time to go on, and yet have to make the corrections and get ready to play Atlanta in a short timeframe."
On if he will admit that the team is good:
"Listen, you are what your record is, so I didn't say that we weren't pretty good. We are 9-1 right now and we have a lot of season left. I'm not downplaying what we've done. Those guys (the team) are in there (the locker room) playing music loud. Do you want me to smile more? I'll smile more."
On Marshon Lattimore's interception:
"It was a spear-post. When your receiver crosses the field, you cut to the third. He (Carson Wentz) was a little bit late on the throw. He's got the speed to get under it. It becomes a play like the free safety (made)."
On how well Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara play off of each other when they're in the game:
"We do that a lot in some pony sets and some volunteer packages. We've got a handful. They key is, early in the game, figuring out what you're going to get personnel-wise defensively. How are they going to treat that package? How are they going to treat Taysom (Hill) in the game? (It's) understanding what you are getting (from the defense) and not just saying that we are going to have fun putting them on the field. Are we going to get nickel; and how are they going to play it? That is part of the challenge each week."
On if he thought that the team could exploit the Eagles defense and run the ball:
"We thought that they were a good run front. They play a lot of down-safety defense. Malcolm (Jenkins), I think the world of him. He is a tremendous player. I hate that he got out of here. That is probably as big of a mistake as we have made here in 13 years. He's made up of all of the right things. He's a tremendous competitor. They are a good run front. We did some things that, fortunately, we were able to break some runs and get some yardage. The backs did a good job and we blocked well."
On if playing home on Thursday is an advantage:
"I don't know. We charted Thursday night games, home and away. We don't really focus on those types of things only because we can't control them. It's nice to play at home on a short week. We will try to rest our players up. The obvious thing is that the next week we play on Thursday, which we will try to put a normal seven-day schedule together. We just play them. I think the key for the next 24-48 hours is doing the right things rest-wise, getting these guys off of their feet and being smart."
