SAINTS PLAYERS
POSTGAME QUOTES
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS VS. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2011
QB DREW BREES
(on red zone woes) "No, we weren't very efficient, but we had three instances where we got inside the 20 and just couldn't convert. We'll continue to work on that. I'm confident that when we bear down and work on it, we'll get results. If you would have told us before the game you're going to have 500 yards total offense and will be better than 50 percent on third down, I would have said that's 40 points. Unfortunately, we got inside the 20 three times in the second half and didn't come away with touchdowns. That's disappointing, but I feel like we've proven we can move the ball. So we just have to score more touchdowns.
(on playing in Jacksonville) This is a tough place to play and a tough place to win. This defense has played very well this season thus far. We knew we had our work cut out for us. The fact that we put 500 yards out is big, but that has to translate into points. Something that we very much will focus on is being able to convert third downs, keep the drives alive inside the red zone and score touchdowns when we need to.
(on Jimmy Graham) He continues to get better every week. Today, he got rolling. We liked his matchup, a lot of zone coverage for the most part. There were a couple of big plays, the one down the middle in the fourth quarter and the wheel down the sideline toward the end of the game. He came up with some big catches at some big times. We targeted him 14 times today and he caught 10. I'll throw it to that guy as much as he can catch and score touchdowns. He knows we expect a lot out of him and he expects a lot out of himself too. He's always asking questions to learn more about the position, the game, this route and that route. He wants to be a great player in the league and he loves football."
(coming off big win) "There have been instances when coming off a big win like we did last week – a big come from behind victory, an emotional victory, that there's been a letdown for whatever reason. We certainly were going to guard against that today. We just recognized what kind of opponent we were going up against and how well they play at home."
(on Darren Sproles) "He can do so many things. He was our leading rusher today and had fewest number of carries and most yards. You just want to get the ball into that guy's hands because he can do some exciting stuff. Everybody in the stadium holds their breath when he gets it because it could be a touchdown."
(on Blaine Gabbert) "I wished him well. Obviously, this was only his second start. He made some good throws at times. At the end, our defense really did a great job of stalling him. I was a young player once and I know the process of an NFL quarterback. It's one day at a time and you certainly appreciate the opportunity. You try to get better each week. I'm sure every time out he will continue to get more comfortable.
RB MARQUES COLSTON
(on winning on the road in the NFL) "We still need to work on a couple of things. We'll take the win. It's tough to come into this league into anybody's stadium and get a win. We'll make the corrections and get ready for our division game next week."
(on the collarbone injury) "The collarbone felt good. If I wasn't ready, the coaches wouldn't have played me. I just have to continue to find my groove and hopefully it's sooner rather than later."
TE JIMMY GRAHAM
(on his improvement this year) "I am definitely (playing with more confidence) and if you compare to last year, it seemed like the game was going by so slow. Now it's slowed down to a crawl and now I am noticing things quicker, noticing coverages and it's working. This is the greatest time I've ever had in the sport. I am playing so confident and playing with the knowledge I have now."
(on reading the defense) "If you could get behind that linebacker or get in front of him, that's where the weakness is in the defense. That was something we were harping on all week. Today we were patient. It opened up and I got by 'em and it's something we talked about coming in."
DE WILL SMITH
(on the defensive performance) "We knew coming in that the key to victory was stopping the run, sacking the quarterback. We were surprised that they didn't try to establish the run a little bit earlier in the game and they kind of waited until later in the game. But it kind of played into our game plan so it worked out for us.
(on the two sacks) "We felt confident about our rush defense against their offensive line. They are more of a really good run team. We knew if we got them out of their element, we would have success against them. Our offense did a great job driving down the field and establishing the lead early and everything else was history from there."
(on the defensive effort so far this year) "It's always up and down during the course of the season. We've done what we've needed to do to win the game. We've got the big stops when we needed to and we've had a couple of different plays when we didn't tackle well or where we had a missed assignment or something which caused a big play. But those are things we could correct and overall everybody is playing well and working hard to try and do whatever it takes to win the game. When it counts, the defense always steps up and makes the right play."
