New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Conference Call with New Orleans Media
Thursday, December 14, 2017

*Do you think this rookie class around the league in general has been able to contribute more than others? *"That would require somebody punching some numbers together. I think by and large most felt it was a pretty good draft or deep draft. It would not be surprising if more players in this draft class were contributing. I'm sure tangibly we could run numbers to establish that."

*How are the young safeties for the Jets playing, Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye? *"They're playing well. I think both of them are guys we saw graded highly. Both are from big (college) programs and are active. They've (the Jets) received some good ball production, particularly on third down and I definitely think they are two good, young talented players. You see the confidence they have in them with their scheme."

*Why do you think Robby Anderson has been thriving for the Jets? *"The one thing you see is speed and confidence (in him) from the quarterback. He's a guy that makes plays down the field, above his head, and at a catch point. I think those things, like anything else with confidence he's begun to do it and he's doing it more and you can see it actually happen during the course of a season."

*How come teams script only the first 15-20 plays and not more than that? *"There are 11, 12, 13 series (in a game), whatever that average is, some teams don't scripts any series. When I was with Bill (Parcells), we would kind of talk about the first couple of plays and then that was it. It really depends on philosophically what you are trying to do. You can put a script together for more than 15 plays and this has happened to us this year where maybe we thought what we'd be getting defensively (for example) in Buffalo is different. So quickly, you might stick with the first grouping of plays, (but) then right away it formulates the direction you want to go and that might be different than what is expected. The study of play sequencing is interesting to me, play-action pass, three step (drop), screen, that is something that I think you pay attention to now and you look at the sequencing of plays and how they appear versus each defense."

Is there still a step that Alvin Kamara needs to take to be completely cleared out of concussion protocol? What is the process?"You go through a full practice and you get examined and today, repeat. I'm probably like you with the specifics. We all anticipate him playing. That's the expectation. He will practice today."

What was the decision to place Coby Fleener on Injured Reserve a couple of weeks ago?"He had that one other episode in training camp. This one seemed to linger a little bit longer and so a lot of it was just where we were, our evaluation, the outside experts. Part of it was just getting through the timeframe of the two weeks, three weeks, what was going to be the length (he would be estimated to be sidelined)."

*When a guy goes on Injured Reserve with a concussion what changes with the protocol? *"There's still a clearance procedure I'm sure. When he goes to Reserve/Injured, time isn't of the essence at that point, but I'm sure that on paper there's something written. I don't think that's been as big a concern as in-season when he's (a player with a concussion) is not on IR."

*How tough is it to lose the aspect of the offense that Coby provided? *"One thing he has is speed down the field. It came up in a handful of two-minute situations, Washington (for example). The next guys here step up, that means Josh Hill, more from Hoo-Man (Michael Hoomanawanui) and even Garrett Griffin."