New Orleans Saints RB Latavius Murray
Video Conference With New Orleans Media
Monday, September 14, 2020

I think last year against the Bears or maybe after Jacksonville, or maybe both, you said how much you enjoy those kind of slugfest games. When for you does the adrenaline start pumping up? Is it during the week when you get the game plan or is it when you're actually involved in the game?
"I think during the week, when we get in the game plan knowing that, you know it's going to be one of those games. And you just know the mentality and you know the physicality that needs to take place on our end in order for us to be successful. And so, those games are, you know, you just look forward to it, you know, it's a test of which team is more physical and obviously you want to be on that other, the winning side of that and be the team that is most physical and dominate. I think it is a statement."

Alvin Kamara was banged up for most of the year last year. From your perspective, what did it look like seeing him out there playing at 100% again?
"It's good when he's healthy. He's capable of doing great things, making great plays, and he's exciting and fun to watch even for me when he's in. So it's exciting to see, it's good to have him healthy. I think yesterday was just the beginning I think of what we'll be able to do as an offense this year with AK being healthy and the weapons we got around the offense."

Against the Tampa Bay front that's that good and that tough to run against you guys eventually, you know got some stuff going. But why is it important to establish the run in a game like that against someone, the easy thing might be to just kind of go away from it?
"Obviously you want to stay balanced, but you just want to keep that pressure on those guys so they are just not peeling their ears back and rushing the quarterback, when we do throw it, keeping them on their toes and again, (and) making an emphasis to run the ball. So we can continue to do the things we want to do on offense. When we do want to, (we have the option to do) play action (or) dropback, just keeping the defense guessing. And when we're able to do that and run the ball successfully then it obviously opens up the offense, to more things great."

How did you feel like the kind of share the workload went yesterday? Like, did you feel kind of more involved, maybe than you were like, early last year?
"I just think that's kind of how the game went yesterday. As far as someone just said, (the kind of) personnel (we used) moreso. And we kind of, we obviously had the lead late in the game. So we wanted to eat some time up with the clock and kind of got in a four minute mode. But I know I had 15, I know Alvin (Kamara) had 12 and then he had some, some gashes in the pass game too. So this thing is going to fluctuate throughout the year. I learned that last year and so we're prepared to (do) whatever the game plan looks like or entails week in and week out. We accept that, because we know everything is towards winning. And that's all it's about at this point."

Is there anything to the idea that getting more carries is the sort of thing that kind of gets you in the flow of the game better, like, does that make any sense?
"It makes a lot of sense. But the carries that I get, I'm going to continue to try and make the most and do what I can do with them. I think there's some things I could definitely be better at, watching the tape yesterday. But I think as a whole, there's some room for improvement, a lot of room for improvement. But we have to win and again that's all that matters, but as far as yes, carries and all that. When my number is called I'm going to go in there and do what I can do and that's going to never change. I won't talk or wonder about more carries or getting into rhythm. I think anybody out there on that field wants the ball in their hand. I think the more anyone gets the ball in their hand the more I think they will be in rhythm and feeling good. So, we got a lot of weapons on offense and I think Coach Payton will do his best to make sure everybody in that group gets their fair share."

You kind of just addressed it when you say you look at some of the things you did yesterday and look for the improvement on it. Do you feel like there was a lot of meat left on the bone? Or was that kind of one of those games where, you say what we did was sufficient enough to keep the balance and keep it going?
"I think defensively and special teams, I would say they really won that game for us. Offensively, we just didn't play the way we know we can play. But that's why there's three phases in the game. And so, we're not going to sit here and complain about a win. That's why it's the ultimate team sport. So defensively with Jack (Janoris Jenkins) scoring, special teams coming up big, giving us field position for those times that we we're able to put the ball in the end zone (that's just as important). So offensively, we know we can play better and we will. But that's the game. There's three phases to it and two of our other phases stepped up big to help us win the game yesterday."

You feel like some of that dissatisfaction with the offensive performance is just due to no preseason and just this being kind of the first time you guys are out there together?
"It's hard to say if that played a part but look, everybody had to go through the same process and type of training camp, with no preseason games. So you know, we can't look on, what we didn't have and how this offseason or training camp was different. You know, everybody had to go in there with the same, you know, kind of, type of an offseason. And so, we did enough. We did what we needed to do to go out there and win. But, I think everybody around the league, whether you won or lost, you know that, you know, there's a whole season ahead and there's still a lot of work to be done. So I don't think anybody's complacent at this point."