New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Conference Call With New Orleans Media
Monday, September 16, 2019

Can you just tell us what you can about Drew Brees' injury, what you know and what you could share?
"They're still in the midst of evaluating it. He's had one opinion. He's having a second opinion and as soon as we know something that we can confirm, we'll report it. But right now, it's (evaluation) kind of the stage we're in."

If Drew is not able to play on Sunday…
"I'm not going to kind of wind into the hypotheticals. We'll have a plan either way."

Going back and looking at the film on yesterday, you talked yesterday on how tough it would be to we watch. What did you like and not like?
"I thought we played real well defensively, particularly in the first half. It got away from us later in the fourth quarter, but it was the type of game I felt was necessary for us to play. It was low scoring. Offensively, I didn't think we'd played particularly well up front. I think the penalties were a factor yesterday, just the amount. It negated three different gains of more than 15 yards. That's something we have to clean up on it and obviously quickly."

Any update Tre'Quan (Smith)?
"No update on any player's health today on Monday. None."

I've often heard you say that a quarterback's performance is depending upon a number of other factors in the offense, and I was wondering if you could kind of help us understand what were some of the factors that affected Teddy Bridgwater yesterday and his play?
"We just finished talking about it. The penalties were significant and I thought we didn't block particularly well up front. We didn't run the ball. We averaged two and a half yards a carry. There was pressure on the quarterback pretty consistently and it's going to be hard to win if you play that way in the front."

A lot of adversity in the last 24 hours, as a head coach, how do you address it with your team or do you even address it?
"Look, I think you're focused on the things you can control and I think that this is where you lean on leadership and you get ready to have a good week of practice. It's kind of the nature of our league sometimes. You come in on a Monday, you have a handful of things you're having to address, and that's part of the deal."

It's always a popular thing for people to say, oh, if the quarterback is out, then the team is in trouble. How important is it and how well do you think you guys have built a team that could absorb playing without Drew Brees?
"Well, we're getting ready to find out. I think that hopefully the news is good and the length of times, if there is any, that he's out will be shorter than longer. But again, that's part of our sport."

With Teddy Bridgewater specifically, obviously there have been other factors, especially in his 2018 week 17 performance with so many starters out, but what have you seen him do well in actual game action?
"I think we're getting into hypotheticals. Listen, I said it after the game I think we see it on a daily basis. We see his arm strength, his confidence, we see the leadership, we see all those things."

Did you had any contact with the National Football League office today about the call yesterday on Cameron Jordan's fumble recovery?
"No again, those are things that we can't control. So no, I have not."

If Drew Brees is out for a lengthy period of time…
"Again, I'm not getting into if then what. I'm sorry. I'm just not going to answer hypothetical questions right now. Not going to do it."