2017 NFL London Games Media Conferences: Saints vs Dolphins

Sunday, 01 October 2017

Wembley Stadium, London

Drew Brees

Q. Is it as simple as just, if you don't turn it over, you certainly got a shot? No turnovers again. I know that's huge for you, right?
DREW BREES: Yeah, that's winning football, and that's complementary football. There's times where it would be easy to get overaggressive, especially in a game that's hard fought and back and forth, but at times you've got to play the field-position game. At the end of the day, if you can get some first downs, pin them down in there, maybe get a short field the next time around because your defense stops them or maybe they feel the pressure and defense is able to get a turnover or something of that nature, that's -- you know, that creates momentum, that creates confidence, that creates points. Again, that's winning football. That's complementary football.

Q. Drew, can you talk about how you guys adapted to the situation week to week offensively, seeing you guys 300 yards, 400 yards, now just not turning it over, playing efficient.
DREW BREES: Whatever it takes to win. Obviously, we love big plays. I would consider us a big-play offense. Yet we know when we get into games where -- I feel like their mindset was to keep it in front of them. You could tell that very early on. So I think we knew we were going to have to be pretty methodical, very efficient in both the run game and the pass game. Completions, two and three-yard runs at times are a good thing to get yourself into third and manageable. Felt like we were really good on third down today. Kept drives alive.

A ton of long drives. You come off to the sideline, and looking at the tablet, and it's a 13-play drive or a 14-play drive. When you can do that and it results in points, you just kept your defense off the field for six minutes, as well. So those are good things.

Q. How about Alvin Kamara and the job he did today?
DREW BREES: His maturation process is going well. He's got two veteran running backs in AP and Mark to learn from. He continues to find an even broader role in this offense. Obviously there's a lot things he can do - run the football, catches the ball. Ten catches today on ten targets. That's pretty efficient.

So we're not going to complain about that, and continue to broaden the scope of what he can do for this offense.

Q. You have confidence in Mike Thomas. A bunch of times when you threw to him, he had a guy all over him, and you threw to him.
DREW BREES: Yeah, I do have a lot of confidence in him. He's a big, physical guy who expects to make the big plays, and you want to give him the opportunities.

Q. Drew, what pleased you the most about the decision in the pregame to kneel.
DREW BREES: Yeah, the decision to kneel on the white prior to the anthem and then everyone stand up together, number one, it shows solidarity and unity for us as a team. Listen, it pays respect to all. It pays respect to the cause of social injustice and inequality, and it pays respect to the flag of the United States of America. I hope that's the way it came across today, was paying respect for all.

Q. You talked about the communication issues:
DREW BREES: So the headsets were out. When headsets are out for one side, then the other side can't use it either. We adjusted. We adjusted. You're having to kind of run to the sideline from time to time to get communications, but I feel like we do a pretty good job of that.

RE: Playing well three straight weeks:
DREW BREES: Listen, go back to two weeks ago, and obviously we were in a tough spot, starting the season 0-2. Obviously not the start that we all wanted or expected. But we played two good football teams, at Minnesota and then New England, two playoff-caliber teams, obviously.

So we were starting to play better, though. We felt like we were closer than maybe everyone was trying to make us believe. I think we felt like we just keep plugging away, and it's going to begin to happen. The formula is there. We've just got to keep trusting that formula and that process. On the road, get a big win at Carolina, and then come on the road here and get a big win in London.

We'll get that much-needed bye week to get this jet lag out of our system and refocus and get ready for Detroit.

Q. Drew, Ramczyk played left and right and we've seen him play both in the same game. How difficult is that for a rookie to adjust the way he has?
DREW BREES: It's really impressive, his ability to do that. That's tough, especially midstream and especially against those pass rushers. But credit to him, credit to that whole offensive line because, when Strief went down, there was the shuffle that went left tackle to right tackle, left guard to left tackle, and then off the bench to left guard. But those guys didn't miss a beat. That's what they prepare for.

RE: The defense today:
DREW BREES: It's huge. It's huge. Again, we talk complementary football. There's a winning formula on defense. There's a winning formula on offense. If you can put that together -- at times, it may not be the most fancy looking performance, and yet it's winning football.

Defense did a great job of getting that turnover. They drive down the length of the field, and then we get the pick, and then unfortunately, we drive the length of the field and missed the field goal. So there's very few possessions in the first half just because of those long drives.

But for them to stop Miami and give us a two-minute drive opportunity, we get a field goal, we come in with momentum 3-0, and then we take the opening drive down the field and score a touchdown. Those are huge momentum shifts in the game, and that's complementary football. Defense getting off the field, getting us the ball, getting us good field position, and getting turnovers at times, and then offensively us being methodical and marching the ball down the field and scoring points.

Q. I'm sure the food is going to taste better the next few weeks. How good does it feel going into a bye week on a win streak, and in the middle of the fight for the playoffs?
DREW BREES: Playoffs are a long way away. We're not thinking about that. The next opponent Detroit, is a team that's playing extremely well. We get the bye week. They're going to play, and we'll see them the week after that.

That's an explosive team, one we're going to have to be ready for. To get to 3-2, to get on the winning side of things would be great.

RE: Going into the bye week:
DREW BREES: In a way, you want to keep that momentum going. I think it's a good opportunity for guys to get healthy, for us to recharge, especially coming off a trip like this, where you spend a week here and just being away from our home facility and our fans and our family. It would be nice to get a week just to kind of recharge. We'll be ready to roll after that.