New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Post-Practice Media Availability
Friday, September 20, 2013

Why do you think Arizona's secondary is so good?

"I think two things, number one, they have a good football instincts and if you have those, that transitions pretty well regardless of who you are playing and you see that with both of those players (Patrick Peterson and Tryann Mathieu).  They both have exceptional ball skills.  They catch the ball and leverage it well.  They both are very, very sudden.  They are obviously different types of players and yet they are guys that know this game and from a football standpoint have real good awareness."

Is the versatility that he has shown what you envisioned for Kenny Vaccaro when you drafted him?

"Yes, when you make a selection like that, you certainly see a guy who is athletic, (and) who has good football instincts.  The challenge in his evaluation is he spent a lot of his season last year playing that nickel and so you don't see him in the normal safety role on film a lot.  He has handled that very quickly and so to his credit, he is someone that works hard at it.  He understands the game.  He is very physical. It has happened quickly for him, but it's a good thing.  I think the challenge for us in the evaluation is seeing him in nickel a lot more than half field or strong or free safety position."

When you are having trouble with the red zone offense, how much is it you preaching to the offensive line about what they are doing wrong?

"I don't necessarily equate it to offensive line play at all.  I think that would be wrong.  I think that just from the consistency standpoint, we had some penalties.  We put ourselves in some longer yardage situations.  Down there especially (in the red zone), it is avoiding minus plays and collectively all of us have got to do a much better job and pay more attention to detail."

What are you generally pleased with about the defense so far?

"I think the first statistic you look at is scoring defense.  The objective on offense is to score points, to score touchdowns.  Obviously, defensively, the objective is to reduce and hold opponents to as few of points as possible.  I think the first two weeks it has been a real positive."