Payton refuses comment on Thomas injury, cites strength of special teams

Saints coach Sean Payton refused to comment Thursday on the most pressing question, the status of Michael Thomas, ahead of the game Monday night in Las Vegas.

“We’ll let you know,” Payton said. “I’m not going to discuss injuries. We don’t do that here.”

With Thomas quite possibly out Monday night, the focus will turn to Emmanuel Sanders, who did not catch a pass from Drew Brees until the fourth quarter. But then Sanders caught two in succession, including a six-yard touchdown pass.

“I think that’s a little bit of our offense over the years,” Payton said. “We’re trying to get guys touches, we’re trying to get Mike Thomas his touches, the runners their touches and sometimes, just the way the read takes place, those are things that can happen. The key is when they come, taking advantage of them and fortunately, he was able to.”

The Saints won despite Drew Brees passing for just 160 yards.

“The number one thing is winning, obviously” Payton said. “Each game takes on a shape of its own. Man, we took care of the football real well the other day. We were able to get three turnovers, one of them resulted in a touchdown. Statistically, you’re plus three in the turnover ratio, your winning percentage is going to be real favorable. There’s a lot we’ve got to clean up and we’ve begun to work on that already.”

Payton is certain that the third aspect of the game was a big win for the Saints in the victory over Tampa Bay as special teams did a great job for New Orleans.

“Defensively and in the kicking game the other day, the drive start location for both teams was dramatically different and that had a lot to do with the game because when a mistake’s made on your own end of the field, it involves points and that happened a handful of times,” Payton said.

In last Sunday’s 34-30 win over the Panthers at Charlotte, the Raiders rushed for 133 yards on 31 carries.

In a media conference call Thursday, Sean Payton said it was not unexpected from a Jon Gruden-coached team.

“Anywhere John’s been, he’s been one of those coaches who does a great job staying committed to the running game,” Payton said. “It’s something that you saw on tape last year, this year. Man, those guys played extremely well. It was a hard fought game. It’s something that’s kind of followed John wherever he’s been.”

Payton knows Gruden very, very well, having worked with him as a coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997 and 1998.

As the head coach of Tampa Bay, Gruden and Payton squared off six times in the regular season with each team winning three times. This will be the first time the friends meet as head coaches in 12 seasons.

“I’ve worked with Jon and watched his preparation, the attention to detail, in everything he does,” Payton said. “There’s always going to be a presence physicality-wise running the football. He’ll be creative with formations. We’ve got to be on-point that way. He’ll look for man matchups with his personnel with some oddball formations. He does a very good job of that. They play hard. You can see that on tape.”

Gruden helped Payton get started in the NFL, serving as quarterbacks coach of the Eagles while Gruden was the offensive coordinator. Payton has not forgotten the role Gruden played in his career.

“For me, as a young coach, extremely young, you come out of college and you jump in with an NFL team and a guy like Jon is the coordinator, there was so much to learn and watching him prepare, watching his work ethic,” Payton said. “My office was basically a little corner couch in his office and I had just a cell phone. It was a chance to learn, really.”

The Raiders will give the Saints many different looks on defense.

“Jon’s been very creative, year in and year out at stressing defenses,” Payton said. “It’s a little bit of the offense’s version of blitzing a defense.”

Josh Jacobs rushed 25 times for 93 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Carolina.

“Last year, he led the league in missed tackles,” Payton said. “He’s elusive, he’s big, he’s strong. He runs with power. He’s extremely impressive to watch on film.”