New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees
Video Call With New Orleans Media
Wednesday, September 23, 2020

In the past when the offense has had some struggles how have you known well enough to tune out the noise and work on corrections?
"Well, that's the nature of our business. Even after you have your really good games, really good performances, it's always on to the next opponent. There's always another challenge right around the corner, week in and week out, you really have to put together your best efforts, in order to win in this league. It's tough to win, you have to execute at a very high level and we're used to doing that. Obviously there's those moments, there's those games that you have, where obviously, it's not clicking or for whatever reason, you walked away from it saying, no, we can be much better than that and you just get back to work and you put together a game plan that everybody feels very confident with and then you go on to the next game, feeling like we've done everything we can to put ourselves in the best position to succeed and that's what we're going to do this week."

Have you been able to put a finger on what has been missing on the connection between you and Emmanuel Sanders so far?
"I honestly don't feel like there have been a ton of opportunities. We've called some downfield shots. For example, we called two in that game that were designed to go to him down the field, unfortunately, the coverage didn't really dictate that, didn't really allow that. There was a couple other opportunities that for whatever reason, just we didn't have the time to get it to him or there was a breakdown elsewhere that did not allow it. So that's happened a time or two. But I'm very, I'm very confident in him. And his ability and his role in this offense, and those opportunities will come."

You were really candid that getting back to the Super Bowl is what drives you. Look at Sunday night's game, do you look at yourself and Aaron Rodgers as maybe two of the greatest exhibits of how hard it is to get back there, no matter how much talent you or your teams have?"Maybe so. We've each been to one, and we've each won one, right? And we've had probably some heartbreaking moments in the playoffs, both teams. But regardless, each season is a new season, and each team is a new team. And you're going to face your fair share of challenges. Obviously, they've had a ton of success, just like we have lots of playoffs appearances, lots of playoff wins. And, again, just those, those challenges that we've all faced, in order to try to get to, to the ultimate prize."

Is there a fine line between being there and done that with this team in having had losses early and rallied and played well after that. Is there comfort knowing you have done that before the last two years?
"You have to work at it. You absolutely have to work at it. And we've got some new faces. We've got some young guys in some key areas, I'd say especially offensively, obviously, with the loss of Mike Thomas last week, we're having to fit some guys in this new roles, get some guys some significant playing time, maybe in different situations that they haven't been in before. I think there definitely is that element of just getting everybody on the same page, everybody in sync. And man, I'm confident with the guys that we have with the system that we have and everything that we're going to be able to get back on track."

There seems to be some pretty extreme opinions from everybody in the world right now about the way you guys are playing. How do you feel about the way you're throwing the ball and your mechanics and everything straight from your mouth?
"I feel I feel good, borderline great. And I'd say again, my job is to move the football, get first downs, possess the ball, score points, right? And so however we can do that we're going to do it. One of the statistics that was thrown out after the game was the yards per attempt or something like that. There are many statistics I do not pay one bit of attention to, and that would be one of them. At the end of the day, I am focused on putting us in positions to succeed, making great decisions, both in the run game and the pass game, whatever, is predicated on my decision, my ability to get us into the best play, and our ability to take care of the ball, go and score points, but it's in the best position to win, play complementary ball with our defense and special teams as well. So those are the things I'm focused on, and I don't care how we do it. I honestly, don't. I just want to win football games."

How have you seen Taysom Hill grow as a player, whether as a quarterback, any offensive position or on special teams?
"Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Just what he's what he's able to do. Obviously, he is an exceptional athlete. But a guy who's extremely tough, and his work ethic and his approach to the game is one that we all admire very much and his ability to play so many different roles, special teams alone, you say special teams, but that really encompasses like eight different positions. We've seen this guy return kickoffs, right, we've seen him block punts. We've seen him rush to block extra points and field goals. He runs down and makes tackles on punt team. He's the personal protector. He's run down on kickoff. I don't think there's a special teams position this guy hasn't played except for maybe holder, kicker, snapper, although I know he's, he's one of the holders,
if we get into a jam. So combine that with the fact that he's got this role on offense that includes tied in as a blocker, as a route runner, as a quarterback, running the football making reads, throwing the ball. It's really mind boggling, just the role that he plays."

When a play goes wrong and we are watching it, to us it can appear that the quarterback missed an open receiver or whatnot. Is it usually something else not as visible to us or fans for a play not working, like a defensive coverage or communication between the receiver or the quarterback?
"You really can't make a blanket statement, just, for any incompletion or non completion. There's so many things that go into it. But at the end of the day, it's probably timing (which) would be the most important element. And so what affects timing? Well, timing is affected by the speed at which you're running the route, the depth of the route, were you disrupted by a defender, did the pass rush get to you before you had time to really allow that concept to unfold or that route unfold. I mean, there's so many things that go into the precision of the passing game and I think we have always been one of the best teams in the league, probably in history, at the precision of the passing game. And I think that we are on our way to being back there again very soon.

Do you think maybe the weird offseason you guys had with not being able to meet as much in person impacted timing in the passing game?
"It's always nice to have preseason games for a little bit of dress rehearsal for the season. I think the most important thing about preseason is the opportunity for young players to get significant reps with live bullets, so to speak, the timing the rhythm, the live pass rush, all those things that are a little bit different than what practice gives you. And we didn't get that a lot of, young guys on our team didn't get that which it probably would have been very beneficial. But it is what it is and so, you try to replicate that in other ways, right with what we tried to do during practice with scrimmages with different situations and that kind of thing. So again the more experience, the more time on task, the better you get that stuff, I guess."