New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Conference Call with New Orleans Media
Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Does the bye week give you a chance to see where you guys are?
"Yeah absolutely, I think if your bye comes relatively early you have a chance to look at those four games separately and also collectively and see what you're doing well and what you're not doing well. There are a handful of things I have a list of that we will talk about as coaches, try to clean some of the things up and then have that extra time when they come back prior to the Detroit game. Yes, it does allow for that."

What is your assessment of the games played thus far?
"We're 2-2, each game you can take separately. We've done better with the ball security, I like that and I think we have played better defense the last two games, which is encouraging. I don't like the penalties, both in last week's game and in the kicking game and hopefully we'll be a little bit healthier it will be a little clearer as to where we are at with some guys in certain positions."

What do you attribute to the turnaround with the defense the last two games?
"I don't know that there is one specific thing, we've seen a couple good rushing attacks and we've been able to play well on early downs and I think that's been one."

Do you think that's because of how the defensive players are playing now or other factors?
"I think we are going to be able to look at specifics and say well this happened, we weren't able to get off the field here, at this play we were in Carolina or we made a play in the red zone, (Ken) Crawley's interception, which was significant on that first drive. I'm sure it's a combination of a handful of things. I think in the last two games we've played quite a bit of the game in the opponent's end of the field and I think that has helped with the field positon and I thought our third down defense has been better and we've gotten off the field, where in the first two weeks we hadn't. I think there are a handful of things that are different between the first two and the last two."

What stood out on the film this week?
"It was fairly sloppy on offense and defensively we did a good job in space. I thought we got to the the ball and the key would be that running back (Jay Ajayi) and he has that ability to come out of stacks and come up with big chunks (of yards). We were able to limit that. I thought in the kicking game we covered well, Thomas (Morstead) played well. We had a few penalties, which were troublesome. Those are the early observations."

What is your review of Ryan Ramczyk?
"It's been good, he's smart and played on both sides (of the line). It's been very encouraging and there is a toughness and a mental toughness about him and I'm pleased and glad we have him."

What are your thoughts on tragedy in Las Vegas?
"It was very simple. I just think let's start from this standpoint, the current protocol is not working. The current system is not working and the madness is when you go years and years and years (with the same policies). The current policies and thoughts are flawed and I believe this in my heart, we as society owe it to our children and we have to be better in that way and I made my statements clear after the death of Will Smith and these things come up and you try to draw parallels throughout our world and look, it's hard to. It's hard to find other countries like that (have such violence) and here we are as educated and smart and forward thinking as we think we are and yet it's broken and it's obvious. I'll leave it at that."

Is this as outspoken you have ever been on an issue and what made you decide to speak out?
"No it's not, go back to Will's (Smith) passing, just as not as, it's very clear and look if that pisses people off, it's tough.

Did the combination of Will's death and this make you decide to speak out?
There was no decision it's just common sense, it's we can quietly sit and I just think it's frustrating, sometimes you see things from afar and you think it's madness."

We're you still on the flight to London when the incident happened?
"I want to say we weren't able to find out real time, we were over the Atlantic (ocean) without internet and it wasn't until we landed (that we found out)."