New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Post-Practice Media Availability
Friday, November 28, 2014

Can you talk about Nick Toon?

"He has been active in the game and so within the framework of practice he is more involved in getting those snaps.  He is doing well.  He knows what to do.  I think he can run.  With him it's a matter of the numbers and all of a sudden now he's someone that's an extremely, extremely hard worker.  I thought last week he played pretty well."

Are some of the receivers interchangeable by position?

"Typically they're playing one or the other and in the nickel there are some guys that can play an alternate position like Marques (Colston) or Kenny (Stills), some of those guys in a three receiver set come in and play a different position."

You mentioned that Joe Morgan and Kenny Stills were similar.

"They are both playing the Z."

When Nick Toon played all those snaps that wasn't necessarily Toon versus (Joe) Morgan?

"No, Toon was probably over in the X when Marques (Colston) is playing some of the sub or we had some snaps where Toon was in with Morgan."

Was it part of the game plan to only have Morgan two touches last week?

"No, he'a very much part of it and a part of it as far as the balance of the game.  you look to get certain touches and we feel like, obviously in the second play of the game we knew scripted going in it was going to be a reverse.  How that unfolds, the same thing comes up sometimes with Jimmy (Graham) or (Marques) Colston."

What have you seen on defense that things can improve?

"I think that it's the essence of what we are doing.  It's coaches.  There are corrections and you can see alignments and all those things that we can do better and clean up.  There are some younger guys that you are working with and some veteran players but all of that stuff is why we coach and teach."

When you are working out guys this late in the season, how deep is the talent pool?

"It varies by position.  Generally it's harder to find corners.  There are certain positions that would be deeper.  If we went up and looked at the short list, there might be five kickers.  There might be five fullbacks or maybe three corners.  The numbers per position can vary."

Do you go back and look at preseason tape?

"Everything has been graded as far as their reps.  Most of those guys would have been in a camp.  Some might be on a practice squad with someone else.  Whatever their production has been or their playing time has been has been graded."

Will other coaches speak to you about those players?

"No, no, no, no. It would be our grade off of preseason film.  It would be how we saw them play."