New Orleans Saints Tackle Zach Strief
Training Camp Presented By Verizon Media Availability Transcript
Tuesday, August 09, 2016

It's nice to hit somebody besides yourself, can you talk about the day in general?

"It's good. This is a great organization. The tempo is right. Guys are still trying to take care of each other, yet there's a ton of competition against a real good team and if you're an NFL football team, those are the guys you want to measure yourself against, consistently one of the best in the league. I think we always enjoy coming and practicing against them."

How do you think you guys held up offensively?

"It's hard to say. I'd love to see it (film) before I respond to that. We had some success in the two minute which is good. We probably would have liked to run the ball a little better. Yet, there's a little bit of feeling out, a defense we're not prepared for, you kind of come out and play what you see. I think we'll have a better day tomorrow and I kind of think the game is where we'll get to see how we're doing."

Talk about your receiving touchdown in practice?

"I don't think they were quite prepared for us to do that (joking). But I'm glad I didn't drop it. There's a lot of people out here and I have a poor reputation in that department, so it was good and it's fun. I don't get to touch the ball very often."

New Orleans Saints Safety Roman Harper Training Camp Presented By Verizon Media Availability Transcript
Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Can you talk about what it was like to test yourself against a different team and a quarterback like Tom Brady?

"It was good. (Jimmy) Garoppolo as well. You have to tip off your hat. It's a very good offense. It's been successful for a very long time. Anytime you receive the opportunity to go up against someone where it's different routes and it's not the same combinations with the Saints and what we're used to seeing everyday. It's always good to go out here and compete, see who's going to dig deep and see what we're going to get out of it. I think it was a good job on both sides offensively and defensively getting the juices flowing a little bit. It makes you know the Saints make a couple plays and our sideline gets fired up and the same can be said about their sideline as well"

Is there a pride factor as well?

"We're all grown men and we all love the game. I love to compete. We say we're going to tempo down but at the end of the day, we know we're out here doing it, flying around to make plays and good things happen. You're going to get excited and show emotion to grow together. We'll continue to grow together as a team as this continues to go."

What is your take on Ken Crawley and DeVante Harris in the DB meeting room?

"I think they're both tremendous playmakers for us who have stood out for us. But they have to continue to grow. We have a long way to go. They've just made some plays here and there. At the end of the day, we have to continue to have them at the most opportune times when all the marbles and chips are on the table. Can they continue to go out there and make plays the way they have. If they can do that, then we can continue to lean on those guys as the season starts. We're not trying to crown them or say anything like that right now. They're just trying to be great rookies. They're doing what they're told and they're making good plays on the field, which is what I like."

How important is it to carry over things on this defense to this phase of camp?

"It's huge. Not so much as always in practice, but in games and seeing how we're going to do it. We're going to dummy down a lot of calls for the game just to see who can run and play. We're not trying to overthink things or anything like that. We want to see who can line up and get things going. Who can play fast and we want to really try to play fast, that's our main focus, playing fast, playing together and making teams try to go out there and beat us and we're not going to beat ourselves. If we can do that. You give yourself a chance to win as long as you're not beating yourself. Make teams outexecute you and not just go out there, line up an give it away."

What's it like going up against a team of this caliber?

"It's huge. It's great to compete. This is the game that we do, the game that we all love and anytime we get to go and compete against another team, especially a team like the New England Patriots, it always gives you a little bit of instant gratification where if we can go out and execute against these guys, we might be able to execute against anybody else. If we can confuse this quarterback, confidencewise, you should understand these things we're doing is proof in the pudding and we can understand that this is going to work and now guys start to believe a little more. When that happens, you get more execution, because they're actually believing in what we're teaching. It all goes hand in hand to have successful teams. Defensively those are the types of things we're trying to get accomplished."