NEW ORLEANS SAINTS VS. WASHINGTON REDSKINS
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2017 ● MERCEDES-BENZ SUPERDOME
SAINTS QB DREW BREES
On how you would describe this game:
"It was exciting. We made it interesting. This was a hard fought football game. They are a very, very good football team. If you look at the Redskins' losses, they have lost against division leaders and playoff caliber teams. We knew the type of game this was going to be. They are a fast team and they are a team that can score. We felt like we had to be very efficient offensively. I felt like we weren't great on third-down today and I'll take responsibility for that. There were some missed opportunities there. We had a couple shock plays where maybe they had the right blitz called or they had the right defense called and we weren't able to get it off. The reverse to Ted Ginn Jr. , they had the perfect call for that. The only way that makes that not work (is that call). We had some instances today where you just felt like 'ah, we missed out.' At the end of the day though, you just have to find a way to win. We knew it was an uphill battle down 15 points and starting that drive with five and a-half minutes left. I felt like we could move the ball, and go down and score, and said 'let's see where this thing goes.' The defense came up with a big stop, we went down, get another one, and got the two-point conversion. Once we got to overtime, we felt like the momentum was on our side and we were going to go win this thing."
On what clicked late and if he felt close to hitting some pass plays that they had missed on earlier: "Yes. Just little things here and there where maybe they had the perfect defense called for the play or we needed a split second longer for the play to develop. We missed some of those plays early on. That's probably why we were down the way we were there in the fourth quarter, but we were able to rally back."
On if this game will be on his one to remember list:
"I think it's more about the team and the season, but we're very much in the moment with this team, and season, and just finding different ways to win. We haven't had a game like this in a while. It was great to watch the team come together, rally, defense comes up with the stops that they needed to come up with, offense comes up with the points we needed to, and special teams has a game winning field goal. These are wins that you can build on and you develop confidence. You understand that the games only get tougher, and you magnify their importance, and you just realize that we can win anywhere or anytime no matter what the circumstance."
On what can be gained from a game like this:
"We can say we made the plays that we needed to make at the right time. I'd say that a game like this, we're going to grow, and get stronger from, and gain more confidence from versus last week. You go on the road in a tough environment, and you win 47-10, and you weren't really challenged like we were today. At the end of the game everybody has to be on their A-game. This is one where we grew today. We got better today."
On if he makes any comparison with this New Orleans-Washington game to the other dramatic comeback win in 2009 at FedEx Field:
"I hate to compare teams and so I'm not going to go there quite yet. Obviously, that was a special team that went on to win a world championship, won 13 in a row, and did some amazing things. It's funny because I would say we are a lot younger on this team than we were on that team, and yet with that mix of veterans and the youth, you're watching this thing come together before your very eyes. From where this started to where it is now, we've grown been leaps and bounds. I think the sky is the limit for this group. We're playing with a ton of confidence and we feel like we have a ton of momentum. You win games like this and you feel like you can win anywhere, anytime, and any way so that's a good thing.'
On how he maintains his personal composure in a situation like being down 15 in the fourth quarter:
You understand you need chunks so you can't just dink and dunk. Completions are good, but it's more about the clock. It's how we are managing the clock, getting chunks, handling pressure, and all that stuff. We had to score fast, especially on the first drive, because you are trying to allow as much time as possibly for the defense to go out there and stop them, use your time outs, and the two minute warning. That's probably the most difficult part, and yet two-minute is something we practice all the time. It's, obviously, one of the bigger situations in any game with what you could do at the end of a half. Getting three points at the end of the half was crucial, when you look at the final score, and then what we were able to do in the fourth quarter. Those are game-winning opportunities."
On what it means to have a gamebreaking player like Alvin Kamara:
He's a weapon, he's a matchup problem for defenses, and someone you have to have a plan for. Obviously, he draws a lot of attention which can set up other things."
On what it was like personally to deliver such a big performance in the passing game today when they didn't really need gaudy numbers from him much this season until today:
"I'm ready, willing, and able to do whatever I have to do to help this team win. Some games from game to game that can be a little bit different. We all have the confidence here to win in a lot of different ways. We have the right personnel to do it, we have the right attitude to do it, and we've done it before. There's been validation from past experiences to. I think we just approach every game with a ton of confidence. Having a game-plan in place, but not exactly knowing how it's all going to shape out and when your number is called upon, you just have to make the plays."
