New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Conference Call with New Orleans Media
Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Coming into the season, I think officials mentioned that offensive holding would be a point of emphasis. Has that led to a change in the philosophy of how to coach offense line play or is that something where because it does seem to be up or is that something where you just let the situation kind of work itself out and adjust to it?
"I do not know coming into the year that any of us expected these numbers or expected a wholesale change quite honestly. We spent a lot of time in the offseason discussing other topics. I think the challenge each week is understanding how the crew is calling it and that is the biggest thing as a league we need to improve on is the consistency from crew to crew. That being said, we need to reduce and understand how they are being called currently. We just finished meeting as a team going through some of the penalties. That part of it's going to have to change for us offensively."

If the penalties are just a matter of maybe establishing chemistry between the line and (Teddy) Bridgewater…
"It's not a chemistry issue. The chemistry would be off sides, false starts, holding, those things that we're seeing. That's a technique issue."

It's not just like a timing thing?
"A timing thing would be a false start."

So holding is just something differently entirely, that makes sense.
"Look, we're in the NFL here. In other words, we need to be able to get off on the snap count and execute without putting ourselves back in three out of our 12 drives a game. It's been crazy. It's been ridiculous honestly."

Is Latavius Murray's role where you want it to be and has that been affected by Drew Brees' injury?
"I don't know that Drew's injury has impacted Latavius' role. I would say more than anything else, our play numbers are down and so honestly, I expect more touches for him and more opportunities for our offense."

What's the most concerning thing about Tampa Bay's offense in planning to stop them and some of the numbers they have put up. They have been a little herky jerky this year, but obviously last week they put up the 55 against the Rams.
"They're explosive at receiver. I think their offensive line's playing a lot better, physical. They do a good job with mixing the run and the past, but I think their explosiveness and the depth they have at that position is impressive."

After looking back at the game tape, how did you assess Marshon Lattimore's performance on Sunday night? Was it maybe his best of the season?
"It was really good. He's played well, so I don't know comparing it to the other games, but, he did a great job against a good player (Amari Cooper)."

He's obviously got another one coming in this week who he's got some history with just because of how many times they've played against each other. What is the challenge with going up against a guy like Mike Evans for him?
"Each week there's a top flight receiver, Mike gives you a number of challenges. He has really good size. He has good range down the field. He's someone that is explosive. He has really good hands to track the ball in a crowd. I think he's one of the better receivers we see every year."

When you're going up against a division team with a new coach, is that any different than preparing for any other team with a new coach? Just because you've seen the personnel so much and all that?
"I would say it's similar to going up against a team with a new coach. In other words, we have the four game breakdown, the preseason breakdown. Then we have a lot of film from when Todd (Bowles) was at the Jets. You're putting as much as you can together and learning as much as you can about this team."