<span> <span style="">Q: How much of the recent turnovers can be attributed to an aggressive mentality on offense?</span>
A: "We've been able to overcome them, but that's really in large part because our defense has gotten quite a few, as well and then offensively, the drives we're not turning it over we're going out and getting points. It's not a good habit to get into. We are aggressive. There's being aggressive and there's being reckless and reckless is not what we want to be. I don't think we are. We just need to continue to make an emphasis on taking care of the football, because it is without a doubt the biggest statistic in football. If we keep going at the pace we're going then it will get us beat at some point, not once, but again and again. We need to fix the problem. I'm confident we will because we're making it a big emphasis. We're doing things to combat it. The first five games of the season we were very good in that regard. It's really been just the last four games. We know how to do it. It's just a matter off getting back to the fundamentals and that type of thing."
Q: It has been said before that turnovers on both sides come in bushels. Is the unit in a possible funk where you are turning it over in bushels right now?
A: "I think sometimes that happens. It will just kind of happen in spurts, just like a baseball player that hits a slump. You kind of hit a slump for a few games where you're 0-for-something. It could be similar to turning it over a few too many times before you kind of make the adjustments, do whatever you have to do to change it and get it on the right track and you kind of get on that roll of a couple of games where you're not turning it over. You're doing a great job of taking care of it. At times it comes in spurts."
Q: Are there specific drills you possibly do to combat them?
A: "Ball security drills. It's the way you practice too, just making an emphasis of the defense trying to take it away from our guys offensively. We're making sure it's tucked away and know that guys are coming to get it just like they would in a game, definitely just conscious when you're talking about fundamentals, how you're carrying the football, how I'm holding the football in the pocket and just being good with it when I'm getting pressure, all those things, all those little things."
Q: Are you guys getting different looks the last four games as opposed to the first five?
A: "Well, no. I think everything we've seen the last four weeks is pretty standard as far as nothing similar to what we saw in the first five games. Really the Jets were the only team that was very different from the rest in the schemes and the things they did, but really everybody else, as far as the turnovers go, I think that's probably what you're getting at. It's not what the defenses are doing to us necessarily; it's just the fact that we've had a little bit of lapse in concentration in regards to that."
Q: Whom do you credit for leading the NFL in Pro Bowl voting right now?
A: "I'd probably say (credit) the Saints fans. If they're as passionate and diehard about that as they are in the way they scream at the games and the way that they travel and support us on the road and the way that they are at the airport for us after we get home from road games then I'm sure they're the same way about the voting, going online and just hitting enter, enter, enter, which is a good thing that you have fans like that."
Q: Do you believe in motivational tactics and have any examples?
A: "This is one of the things that I think is one of Sean's (Payton) great strengths. He has many great strengths, the ability to motivate guys in ways that is either humorous, like he might just make a comment to you that will make everyone else around you laugh and will make you even laugh and then you kind of walk away and say I think he was taking a jab at me. I think he was challenging me, which gets some response out of you. I think he does a great job of knowing what motivates different guys and everybody's a little different. Some guys you might yell at, i.e. poor Billy Miller to get the best out of them sometimes and then other times it's pulling a guy aside. Whatever it might be, different forms of leadership in that regard, but also, I think in regards to each week, each game, so different. How do you find a way and it's one of the biggest challenges in the NFL to make sure your team is ready to play 16 weeks. It's a long season. It's a marathon. How do you make it to where your team is always concentrated and never having a mental lapse and you have to continue to find a chip to put on your shoulder, a motivational tactic of some kind that will get guys to simplify, because sometimes you sit up there and look at the stats between you and the team you're playing and sometimes all that stuff gets overwhelming. Sometimes you say how can I narrow this down? Sean does a great job, for example after today (he said), these are the three things we need to do to win this game. That simplifies it. Offense do this. Defense do this. Special teams do this. We'll win the game. That's a great way to handle it."
Q: Was Sean's example last week of discussing winning percentages of teams coming off the bye week a great example?
A: "Yes, 62 percent winner. Of all the things, that's the perfect example."
Q: Is it a coincidence that one week Sean mentioned how it would be a challenge for Darren Sharper to not only get interceptions, but return one for a touchdown?
A: "Exactly, that's just another one of those examples. That gets everybody laughing. It's funny. It's humorous, but I guarantee you Sharper, being the competitive guy he is, walks to his locker and is like 'I have to prove that I can take one back' and he's taken three back, but it's just little ways to motivate you."
Q: Is part of Sean's effectiveness as a play caller related to that he seems to get the ball to a lot of different guys?
A: "I think that too, because he's able to take your strengths as a player and accentuate that within the system or give you the opportunities, put you in the positions to succeed. He's not going to ask you to do something that you're not comfortable with or you're not necessarily the best at. That's why you continue to see us just plug guys in and to their credit, they work extremely hard and we've brought in the right type of guys, but Sean puts them in a position to succeed. That makes guys play hard for you too, because you understand that everyone of us has opportunities. Every one of us plays a role in this offense. We're all a big part of it."
Q: You guys have run through quite a few tight ends since 2006. Can you talk about David Thomas?
A: "You talk about a great (trade) and obviously if Billy Miller doesn't get hurt it probably doesn't happen, obviously. What he's been able to do especially with Heath (Evans) getting hurt a couple weeks back, his ability to be so versatile and play multiple tight end positions as well as fullback position. We ask him to block out of the backfield, block as an in-line tight end. We ask him to do a lot in protection in the backfield. We ask him to run routes from the tight end position as well as split them out and have them run routes. He caught a few in the game last week basically as a split out and then check downs out of the backfield, he had a couple of big third down conversions. He's as versatile as they come. He's so smart and he gets it. He picks it up very quickly. He works at it and he's been a great, great addition."
Q: You guys don't pay attention to how guys were acquired, but do you consider acquiring him for a seventh round pick a good transaction?
A: "Absolutely, if you basically say we drafted this guy in the second round, would we be happy right now? Yes. It's like finding (Marques) Colston in the seventh round a couple years back, just a guy who can do so many different things, play at a high level, great in the locker room, just everything you want in a teammate and a player."
Q: How hard is it to switch from being the hunter to the hunted?
A: "We're still very much the hunter, but I know what you're saying. The fact is we're going to get everybody's best game, but that doesn't change our mentality as far as being aggressive and going out with a lot of confidence and swagger, but just understanding that especially early on in games and especially on the road, you're going to get a team's best punch and there's times where things maybe don't go your way and you have to weather the storm a bit like we had to at Miami, Monday night at home against Atlanta, and then Carolina and then even last week a little bit, but yet you know that when it comes time for that fourth quarter to finish strong that's something we've proven we can do and hopefully we can continue to do."
