New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
Video Call with New Orleans Media
Friday, December 4, 2020

17 sacks in the last two games against these guys. It seems like maybe DA (Dennis Allen) has kind of got those guys tuned in against Atlanta. What do you think's been kind of behind that?
"Well, look, it has been a back and forth type series, right? Our first game last year. Man, they played outstanding, and we were the ones getting sacked and having trouble. And we bounced back at their place. It's just one of those games, it's a division opponent that both teams know each other fairly well. And you try to focus in on the plan for that specific game."

With the way their offense has been playing these last six games, how important is time of time of possession going to be this game?
"A lot of times, it is a byproduct of some other things. It is a byproduct of being efficient on third downs and getting to manageable third downs, having some balance both in the run and passing game. So there's a handful of things that go into time of possession. Certainly, ball security's important, all the things we talk about each week. This defense forced five takeaways last week against the Raiders and it's pretty hard to, obviously, overcome that and they played exceptionally well. I mean, I thought they rushed the passer well last week. There wasn't a ton of rushing yards or attempts for Las Vegas. You've got to be ready to play this game and really, there's no correlation as to what happened the first time around."

With Marcus Davenport and his concussion, was that something happened in the game and was just like self-reported later in the week?
"Yeah, that is exactly what happened. He felt pretty good. We didn't do anything Monday or Tuesday so there was no really activity. There was no weight room, the facility was closed. And then Wednesday, I think he first felt some symptoms. So that's kind of how it happened."

There's a stat going around that says Marcus Williams has missed two tackles this year and they were both earlier in the season. Have you seen him improve in that aspect of his game and what is he doing differently?
"I have, I think his technique has improved. It starts with the technique and he's getting in better position, but I think it's something noticeably see."