New Orleans Saints vs Cleveland Browns - Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Opening Statement:
"The first half defensively we played well, and offensively made too many mistakes. We missed assignments, which shouldn't happen, and we missed throws, fumbled the ball. Everything that keeps the opponent in the game. Second half we managed to move the ball better and I (did not) like (how) we handled the final series defensively and we gave them a chance for a field goal. We found a way to win, but have a long way to go to improve and become a better team."
On Michael Thomas' play and resilience later on:
"To weeks in a row. I like his resilience, but I like the ball too. Our guys had that, and as coaches we need to get a number of those things cleaned up or we will find ourselves, against a better team, on the losing end of a game like that."
On team's resolve:
"I was impressed with that. I was encouraged. I think the one thing we are able to do is play from behind and come back and get into a game. We got the win and I'm encouraged by that, but I'm also excited to get back and look at the tape for division play coming up."
On resiliency of Will Lutz to miss a 44-yard attempt early in the game:
"It was a big kick he hit and a couple of big hits their guy didn't hit. That ended up being the difference too."
On Taysom Hill returning kicks:
"It was something we had looked at during the week. I thought their kicker hit some deeper kicks but we got the one out past the 40. It was a good return. He's explosive."
On his concerns about the team after the first two week:
"The turnovers first, it has been twice a game. We had (only) one takeaway. So we're minus three on the year after two weeks, so that bothers me. The mental errors bother me. The situational football towards the end of the game…We're in an outside man technique and we let a guy catch a pass and get out of bounds to set up a field goal (attempt). Those things bother me. Those are things we have to be better at."
On if there's a spark missing:
"You find that during the work week, honestly. It's not an angel, sprinkle dust, or anything like that. I think you find it during the week and improve the details. You find it in the details and generally in our game the wins happen Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. The preparation and attention to detail (have to happen in practice and meetings) and (then) you have a good week. There are some things that come up where we're not looking for a spark, to turn the ball over. So we have to coach better technique. It is what it is. That is the one thing about our game, you get a chance to lay it all out there over three hours. I said to the (guys), I'm encouraged we won but let's not kid ourselves. So tomorrow will be important for us. We are in this early part of the season, year after year, where your opportunity to improve happens the most in this first month. So we have a lot to do to improve."
On defense being led by Gregg Williams in Cleveland:
"I think he did a good job. They always give you challenging looks. I think they have some good young players that played well today."
