Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Opening Remarks:
"A couple of things. Obviously a disappointing loss. I thought the first half we did some good things defensively – took the ball away, held them to field goals. We weren't as efficient offensively. We had the one drive. I thought [in] the kicking game we struggled. The opening kickoff comes back out to, shoot, midfield. So, overall in the first half, there were a lot of things when you really look at what you're trying to do that were positive. But in the second half was the opposite. We turned the ball over, really struggled to stay on the field offensively. Defensively, you get that many plays and pretty soon you begin to wear down. We talked about the keys heading into this game and [one] was being able to control that rushing game. We didn't really complement each other today and so the result was pretty evident. Any questions?"
On what didn't work offensively:
"Well, there were some early third downs. In that first half we've got to be able to make a play or two and all of a sudden we're off the field and there's an effect with that time of possession-wise. And I think that built up and eventually became challenging for the defense."
On whether the game started to get away from the team after QB Drew Brees' second fumble:
"Obviously there's a lot there momentum-wise. So that would be one point you would point at. I don't know if that was the turning point, but it certainly was one of them."
On the team's third down efficiency on defense:
"Yeah, I haven't seen the numbers yet. Like I said, in the first half, there were some things. We hung in and obviously they converted some, but we ended up coming up with a couple of turnovers. And all of sudden, we're up two, two takeaways, that slid the other way in the second half. We struggled getting off the field and quite honestly in the first half we struggled staying on the field if you looked at just the snaps."
On whether this is a setback or if the team took any steps in the right direction today:
"Look, you lose on Sundays in our league, it is a setback. We came off a win last week. Each week we're playing an important game. It's a team that we know pretty well in regards to what they do and what they do well and we weren't able to play well enough with too many mistakes in a bunch of different areas. We didn't do a good enough job coaching, obviously, and executing."
On his biggest concern about the team now:
"Well I think it's more the things that you can affect as coaching and you can change to give yourselves a better chance at winning. It's the details. We had the turnovers there, there's some hidden yardage there, obviously that second half our run defense struggled and then you're trying into the third quarter, fourth quarter to stay two-dimensional offensively and then there's a point where you're throwing it just to give yourself a chance to score. So there are a handful of things based on that tape. We struggled punting the ball. That was obvious."
On whether defensive pressure affected Brees:
"Well, we'll see the tape. I think on a few plays – I know on one of them – it was a factor. It's hard though without seeing the footage. I just know on the one that was reviewed, he was hurried, hit early."
On the impact Eagles DE Fletcher Cox had on the game:
"Shoot, he's a good football player. He made some plays. We knew going in, we felt they had been playing very well defensively and it was going to be a good challenge for us to establish a running game based on the numbers. I thought early on, I was encouraged with some of the runs. Again, I'll have a better idea specifically. He was around the quarterback, I know that."
On whether it's tough to have an**upcoming Thursday**game after coming off a game like this where there might be a number of things to work on:
"It's tough from a time standpoint. You're not going to be able to get back into pads right away. There's some challenges about playing it, but everyone plays one. We travel, adjust our schedule and we'll get ready to play a division game. But that comes with the territory."
On how frustrating the game was for him to watch after preaching to the team about playing mistake-free football and what he can do to change that:
"That's what you go about doing in practice. Obviously there's certain things that you work and spend a lot of time on and then there's some things that take place during the course of the game that forces you to change a little bit. But listen, you can't give it away four, five different times and expect to win. You just can't. I was encouraged with the interceptions – those were good plays on the ball. I didn't see the review on the one fumble. I know it went to the league office, from what I'm told, and you guys saw it. I didn't see any video. So beyond that, it's attention to detail. It's coaching. It's technique. A lot of things that go into winning games, the same things can keep you from winning games and we got to do better, obviously. Thank you."
