Saints tackles Ramczyk, Armstead listed as DNP on estimated practice report Thursday

Five New Orleans Saints players were listed on the first injury report of the week.

The Saints did not practice on Thursday in efforts to stem the tide of COVID-19 positive cases on the roster that has seen 11 players this week placed on the NFL’s COVID-19 reserve list.

Among the injured, starting offensive tackles Ryan Ramczyk and Terron Armstead were listed as non-practice participants on the team’s estimated report.

The Miami Dolphins, who visit the Saints on Monday night, had no players miss Thursday’s practice due to injury.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

Pos. Name, Injury, Thursday
T Ryan Ramczyk, Knee, DNP
T Terron Armstead, Knee, DNP
DE Marcus Davenport, Shoulder, LP
WR Tre’Quan Smith, Shoulder LP,
S Marcus Williams, Shoulder, FP

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Pos. Name, Injury, Thursday
WR Albert Wilson, NIR – Personal, DNP
RB Phillip Lindsay, Ankle, LP
TE Adam Shaheen, Knee, LP
G/T Jesse Davis, Knee, FP
S Brandon Jones. Elbow, FP
DT Zach Sieler, Neck, FP
CB Trill Williams, Hamstring, FP

New Orleans Saints Offensive Coordinator Pete Carmichael
Conference Call
Thursday, December 23, 2021

Can you make it clear which quarterback you’re working with right now?
“I think all of the quarterbacks are still a part of the essential process that they have to be (in) regardless of who’s going to be the starter. We’ll have them all prepared, and we’ll have to have some flexibility as the days progress. We’ll see what happens.”

With Ian Book a potential candidate to start on Monday night, how do you feel that he’s developed this year?
“Yeah, I think just going back to the pre-draft days and before we drafted him, there were a lot of things that we saw on film that we really liked. He’s smart, he had a very productive college career, he’s accurate, he’s mobile, he’s able to process information in meetings. So, he’s been really sharp in meetings, and we’ve been impressed with what he’s done on the field with the practice squad. We feel really confident in him as a player. We still have time before the game gets here (on Monday night), but we know this, if that’s the case, he’ll (Book) be prepared.”

What trait about Ian Book stands out to you that make the offensive coaches confident in his ability?
“Well, he’s a very confident kid. One thing I know about him is that he has a strong passion for this and loves to play. He wants to be out there, so I think those things will suit him well.”

How did last week go for you getting to call plays?
“Well, I think this, with the current times, we all have to be prepared every week because anything could happen. You have to prepare yourself every week and then be actively involved on gameday whether you’re involved in calling plays or you’re not. I think as far as last week (at Tampa Bay), we thought we did a good job not turning the ball over, complementing our defense to how they were playing, and obviously, they were playing at a high level. So, we knew there were certain things we had to do. Obviously, we wish we could’ve come away with more points, but we didn’t. Third down numbers weren’t very good, and we had two trips into the red zone where we kicked field goals, which was big, but we didn’t come away with touchdowns when we got down there.”

How did calling plays change things for you on gameday?
“I think, like I said, every week you go through the process as if you’re going to be the guy that’s doing (the play calling) during the game. If Sean’s (Payton) calling the game, I’ll ask what he likes in certain spots. You’re actively involved during the whole game, and you have to be ready (to take over) at any time. Obviously, it is different, and it is what it is. We’ll keep going like this until Sean’s back.”

Do you try to ever do what you feel like Coach Payton would do calling plays or do you call whatever you feel is best?
“Well, I think throughout the week, there’s a lot of input and communication. Having a chance to spend time with (Coach Payton), whether it’s on a phone call or in a meeting, I think that the plan is really well-weighted in the process. When you get to the game, and I’ve been around (Coach Payton) a long time, I think it is a little bit different. But I think for the most part, I think trying to be on the same page is important, but I know that a lot of time his message to me will be, ‘Have at it, do what you think is best.’ I feel like he trusts the process.”

How involved is Coach Payton with the gameplan right now with being away from the team?
“It’s more communication with phone calls. He has an opportunity to watch film at home and get with us (coaches) to discuss plays or certain ideas. So, obviously not being here is a little bit different, but I think he’s doing his own work as well.”

Does the timing in the week of the COVID-19 outbreak with the quarterbacks help better prepare the starter?
“I don’t know if it ever helps, but obviously yes. Information comes from our trainers some time before this game. Obviously, it’s a Monday night game, so we’ll have a little extra time with the extra day. The trainers will keep us informed daily and let us know, but there’s always a chance. We’ll keep them (quarterbacks) as questionable.”

Are you able to hold normal practices this week but do the off-field work over virtual platforms?
“Yeah, well, that’s how it will work. You’ll hear more about that from Dennis (Allen) or Sean (Payton), but when you get on the virtual meetings, it’s very easy to share the videos of the install, the pictures of what you’re installing, and then quickly get to the video. It all works pretty seamlessly other than all of us not being in the same room. You’re still able to ask questions and go through it. It is what it is, but we’ll adjust with it.”

What is different about calling plays on gameday than your normal routine?
“Well, I hate to say this, but you need to have your plan in place before you get to the game, but again, it’s also the process of meeting with the quarterbacks the night before and going through the plays they like in certain situations. Going through that whole call sheet and then having an idea in the game of some of the primary calls when you get to certain areas of the field, like knowing the primary calls when we get to the red zone. Understanding that those (calls) are always there and again, just having more involvement of communicating with the quarterbacks.”

With being the emergency quarterback, has Alvin Kamara prepared at all to step into the quarterback role?
“You know, I think those are discussions that we have depending on who’s active for the game. As we go through it, without saying what our situation will be by Monday, one thing that I’ll say is that he’s smart. Obviously, when you get the ball in his hands, you feel really good about that. So, we have a few guys that we would feel comfortable putting back there and he obviously would be one of those guys that would have that ability (to play quarterback).”
How do you see Kamara as a passer? Did his ability to understand all parts of the offense make him the primary candidate for the emergency quarterback role?
“I think this, I think going back to the draft process and going up to (Tennessee) to meet with him, one thing that we said walking away from that meeting was that he was talking about the concepts we went through on film like a quarterback would talk about them as far as the perspective of knowing what everyone was doing, not just his assignment. He knew the reason why a certain guy did this as opposed to just knowing the route. He talked about the game in a way like a quarterback. Again, we still have four days left until the game on Monday, so we’ll see what we have to do.”

New Orleans Saints Defensive Back J.T. Gray
Video Call with New Orleans Media
Thursday, December 23, 2021

Congrats on making the Pro Bowl, I guess when did you find out and what was your reaction and what have people I guess said to you in the 12 ish hours or probably like 16, 18 now since then?
“First of all, I want to say thank you and I found out on my way home leaving the facility. Coach (Sean) Payton called me and told me congratulations, that I’ve been selected as the first team special teamer. I couldn’t even describe the emotions that went through (me) at that moment because of how much hard work and blood, sweat and tears I put in, and it’s showing off, it’s paying off right now. It’s a blessing to have those accolades.”

You’ve been All-Pro in 2019 and now you’re a Pro Bowler. What does it mean to you to be a Pro Bowler? Is it a different feeling than All-Pro? What’s the feeling?
“The feeling just knowing that I am getting recognition with the fans now. I was pretty well known throughout the league, but now it’s just expanding throughout outside of the NFL now.”

Obviously, today’s a little weird. Can’t exactly celebrate the way that you would want to, I guess with your teammates. How has today been? Are y’all like doing virtual meetings? Like how was practice, did you even have practice? Like how has this weird day been for all y’all?
“Yeah, it’s pretty weird. Today we did virtual meetings just for extra precaution.”

Just kind of going back to the Pro Bowl. Just as a kid growing up in Clarksdale, Mississippi would you have ever imagined that this is where your football career would take you?
“To be honest, I dreamed about this ever since I was young. Ever since I was in high school, I used to watch some of the greatest players do their thing. Going through college and sticking to my routine and now that I’m here, I’m just doing it at a higher level. And now that it’s happened, like, it’s just amazing. At first I couldn’t believe it, but I’m here.”

In that vein, you’re an undrafted guy who had an interesting start to his career and is finally made it, captain this year. Just how have you reflected on that moment just knowing how far you’ve come since coming from Mississippi and being an undrafted guy?
“Yeah, I’ve reflected plenty of times and I always tell myself that it doesn’t matter the situation and where you come from, but it always depends on your reaction and how you go about your daily habits each and every day. We’re going to take Ls and Ls are just a part of the process of success.”

Is there anybody around the league that you study or like is like a major inspiration for what you do? Like I know Matt Slater’s guy a lot of people that play gunner look at, is there anybody like that that you kind of like really look at?
“I definitely watch Matthew Slater. When I first got to the league, I was studying Justin Hardee hard. He was a special team ace here when I was a rookie and just watching film on those guys and seeing how they do things and just adding that to my toolbox and utilizing out on the field.”

What did you pick up off of Justin Hardee just kind of early on when you were watching him?
“His gunner reps, like, just being a dynamic gunner on the outside and just studying his releases and how he finishes on the ball, his alignment and how he goes about his assignments and his attention to detail to the game.”

How much better do you think you can get? Is there still room for growth as far as what you’re doing?
“There’s always room for improvement. Nobody’s perfect. We can try to reach perfection but on the way we can catch excellence. So there’s always room for improvement.”

I think I’ve asked you this before, but what do you feel makes you the best in the league at what you do?
“I feel like my attention to detail. Once I’m out there in the field, I go out there execute those attention to details and do it at a high level with a high motor.”

What does your offseason look like? A lot of guys that are position specific you can kind of imagine that, I used to cover the Patriots so, like, Matt Slater every practice would just do gunner stuff like three hours straight, nonstop. What do your practice sessions kind of look like when you’re practicing that stuff?
Are you talking about during the season or the offseason?

Offseason. Just kind of what does it look like when you’re kind of working on the gunner stuff?
“I’ll go back and look at the film and dissect and see my strengths and my weaknesses and I’ll go and try to find the weaknesses and try to strip those in an offseason. It depends, like, I workout before I actually hit the field and figure out what I need to do out there on the field. It’s basically dissecting. Mondays, I’ll do something this way. Tuesday, I’ll do something totally different. Rest on Wednesday. Thursday, get back into the same routine was Monday and Friday do the same thing as Tuesday.”

And during the season, is it more safety specific or is it more special teams specific?
“It’s still mixed and matched. I still carry both of those skillsets throughout every day.”

New Orleans Saints Tight End Nick Vannett
Video Call with New Orleans Media
Thursday, December 23, 2021

What’s it sort of been like this week I guess with all the different COVID issues and the small tight end room and all that, what’s that been like?
“I mean, it’s wild I’ll be honest, it’s really wild. I don’t know if you guys remember from last year, but when I was on the Broncos, we played the Saints, we didn’t have a quarterback on the roster. Fortunately, we don’t have exactly that issue right now. At least we have some time to move some pieces around and figure some things out and to have like, a good game plan going into the game on Monday. So if this is what’s going to happen, it’s good thing it’s happening now, that we’ll have time to prepare and plan for it rather than the day before, kind of like how it happened to us last year. But yeah, it’s wild. It just means that guy’s got to step up. Guys are going to have to assume roles that they normally wouldn’t take on. As far as I’m concerned, the games still going to be played, they’re still going to keep score and all that stuff. We’ve got to step up, there’s no excuses. So it’s a good challenge in front of us.”

Does it feel a little weird I guess that you and Ethan (Wolf) are like the last men standing, at least for now. Like, what was practice, like, with just the two of you?
“There’s a lot of reps. Dang near taking every single play in practice, which is good. It’s good to get the reps, it’s good to get those high speed reps, makes you feel good about everything that’s going into the game plan. But yeah, it is weird. I wasn’t aware of it until we showed up that day in that team meeting when my coach came up to me and informed me of all this stuff with (Adam) Trautman and with Juwan (Johnson), but like I said, we can’t really dwell on it. We’ve just got to look forward and we’ve got to work with what we’ve got right now. I have full confidence in Ethan. I know he’s going to go out and do a great job. When he got his opportunity in New York he did a good job with his limited role and now he’s going to (need to) have an expanded role. So we’re going to do everything we can on our end to prepare for it and we are going to be ready come game time.”

Obviously with the news that Taysom (Hill) and Trevor (Siemian) are in the COVID protocols, the likelihood of Ian Book starting is pretty great. Could you just talk about have you worked with him at all in practice just what you’ve seen maybe since training camp when he got here and just kind of overall thoughts on a rookie stepping into a pretty difficult situation?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not easy, especially Monday Night. We’re the only game being played, all eyes are on us. It’s not easy for anyone who’s stepping into their first NFL game and taking on that role, especially a quarterback. But with Ian, he’s an unbelievable athlete, unbelievable quarterback. If you guys saw the things that he would do against our scout team against our defense, sometimes you just sit back like, Oh my God, how did he pull that off? I would say he’s just as mobile as Taysom (Hill) is, he’s a dual threat, he can run around and he’ll get in there and get some yards scrambling around. I’m not sure if we’re going to call any quarterback powers, like we would with Taysom, but I think he’s a very good passer in all areas of the field. I think the biggest thing is that we’ve just got to do a good job of getting him settled into the game. We can’t try to put too much on this plate right away, just kind of get settled in and kind of build his confidence up a little bit. And I think once we do that, we’ll be fine.”

You referenced Denver last year? Do you kind of feel like that makes you uniquely qualified to handle something like this? I mean, when it when it pops up, did you feel a sense of here we go again, or did you feel a sense of okay, I’ve been through this before, and it was even worse. I mean, how did you feel?
“Yeah, a little bit above, right? I obviously dealt with this last year. I would say the only difference is that we found out Saturday, the day before we played the Saints, that we weren’t going to have a quarterback. So it was a little more scrambling around, a little more we had to throw out our previous game plan and come up with something new for our practice squad receiver that we had play quarterback. So thankfully, we’re not in that exact situation. But there’s still some pieces that need to be moved around and still some guys that need to step up and assume these roles, like I said earlier, and I think our coaches are doing a really good job as far as like, just getting us prepared and getting us ready so we know our roles, so we know exactly what we need to do on each play, and just go and execute. But I think the only thing we need to focus on is just the game and just focus, we can’t worry about the situation that we’re in. If we worry about that, then, in my mind, we’re already losing the game. So I just think that with the guys that we have healthy right now we just need to focus on the game plan and winning the game. All that other stuff, we’ve got to block it out.”

I was wondering if you could just kind of take us through how the schedule has changed since it’s all virtual, like, do you all have meetings from home and then you come in just for practice, and then go home and have meetings? I was wondering how it works now?
“Yeah, so today, originally, our first meeting was at 10 o’clock, team meeting, special teams meeting to follow. And then after the special teams meeting we had offense, which was like, we had meetings after post practice yesterday, so we kind of re-watched the practice film from yesterday, then we went over the install for today. And then we were supposed to come in today at three o’clock to have a walkthrough, but DA (Dennis Allen) decided it wasn’t a good idea to come into the building, wanted guys to stay at home, stay away from each other. So we did our meetings, we watched some film on Miami, and we just kind of called it a day. I think normally, I would imagine tomorrow we would probably come in tomorrow and have a practice, unlike what we did today. But yeah, we just wake up and we have 9am meeting, all those meetings that follow then at some point, we’ll come in, hopefully, we’ll be able to come in and get together and kind of run through the game plan and get guys feeling comfortable going into the game.”

What was it like kind of transitioning between Sean Payton calling plays how you’re kind of used to Pete (Carmichael) last week? What was the biggest difference?
“To be honest, from my perspective, I do not really notice much of the difference. You would probably have to talk to the quarterbacks to get a legitimate answer on that. But to me, I just kind of focus on what I need to do to get ready for the play and execute. So I get in the huddle, I hear the play call, I line up, I figure out what I need to look for, what I need to do pre snap and I go execute. But as far as from my perspective, everything seemed like it was pretty smooth. Everything seemed like it was fairly normal. So I really didn’t notice much of a difference. So I’m sorry I didn’t have a better answer for you for that.”

New Orleans Saints Kicker Brett Maher
Zoom Call with Local Media
Thursday, December 23, 2021

What’s your journey been like since you returned as the Saints kicker?
“Yeah, it’s been a little bit of a weird year. But it’s been a lot of fun as well. I’ve never had a training camp injury like that, that kind of took me out of the running, out of a competition for a job. So to be able to deal with that, and to keep myself ready and to have a chance to come back here. It’s been a lot of fun since I got back, but the road to get back was definitely a grind.”

With the covid issues right now are you preparing differently?
“We haven’t been in (the facility) since yesterday, and no one has. I wasn’t scheduled to kick today anyway, so hasn’t really affected me, from that standpoint, there’s a ton of distractions, obviously, that everyone’s dealing with, and I’m no different and having to deal with those and having to figure out how to navigate and making sure that I can get all my prep work in and be prepared for Monday night. I’m confident that myself and everyone else will be able to do that. And that’s kind of the the name of the job that we’re in, is you got to be able to adapt, adjust and still be able to perform whenever you’re called on.”

You’re not kicking in your backyard or anything like that?
“No, not at the moment. But we’ll see how the week progresses.”

Do you feel like you’ve brought a sense of stability to the kicker position?
“I do not know. I can’t really speak to anything that was happening before I was here. But I feel very comfortable with the situation I’m in right now, in terms of the people that are around me and the people that I work with most closely on a week to week basis. And Riz (Darren Rizzi), Phil (Galiano), Zach (Wood) and Blake (Gillikin) they’ve made my job pretty easy to walk into and the operations have been great. And communication between Phil and Rizzi has been fantastic for me. So they’ve made it as easy as possible for me to come in and have some success and then I think all of us understand and it’s my job to come in and come through when the team needs me.”

Have you ever scored all the points in a game previously?
“It actually happened once when I was up in Canada and once when I was in high school, believe it or not, so it had happened before. That’s three times in 12 years or whatever it’s been so it definitely doesn’t happen very often. But it’s fun to be a part of a win where you feel like you had a big role in helping everyone in that locker room get a win for that week. So that’s fun to be a part of and that’s why I do what I do. And hopefully we can put a continue to put a little run together as we finish up the year.”

Do you remember the score in those two games?
“The CFL game was 18-17 maybe and high school game, man. I don’t know. 20-24, 22-24 21 something like that.”

I was referring to you scoring all the points in a single game.
“Oh, no. Yeah, that was a first for that one.”

New Orleans Saints Cornerback Marshon Lattimore
Zoom Call with Local Media
Thursday, December 23, 2021

Does it kind of feel like it’s been one thing after another this season?
“Yes, that’s how it’s been. It’s been Dallas (evacuation), the hurricane, I forgot about all that, but it’s been one thing after another if you (also) think about my injury.”

Even though you aren’t a newcomer to it, what has the Pro Bowl honor been like?
“It’s always an honor to be voted by the coaches and players. They think you’re one of the best, so it’s always an honor being in the Pro Bowl. I don’t want to take that for granted. I’ve gotten in five times and it doesn’t mean I can just get in. I still have to work and I still have stuff I feel I need to work on. Hopefully I have a lot more in my future.”

You guys have worked defensively against Ian Book with him running scout team, what has some of that experience been like?
“He comes in and does what he has to do for the scout team offense. He’s been doing well.”

With the COVID list having Malcolm Jenkins on it, what does Malcolm bring and what do you guys miss out of him with that veteran experience?
“He’s a true vet, leader in all aspects. That’s big losing him. We need to keep running. It is what it is. There’s leader stuff he always does. We’re really going to miss his presence on the field (if he isn’t available), but I feel like people are going to step up into that role.”

As a cornerback how tough is it not getting reps in on a day like today?

“It’s tough, but I’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s been a long season. I feel good resting my legs a little bit. Just as far as the work, it’s going to be hard, but we just have to be locked in.”