Sean Payton, Saints coordinators meet with media ahead of Patriots game

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton

Media Availability

Friday, September 15, 2017

What would go into a decision if you guys were to flip (Ryan) Ramczyk to the right side?

“That would involve a lot of moving parts. We have discussed three different scenarios and we’re going to do what we think is best for this game. But there are really three potential things. We’ll be smart about what we do. Where they line up, we’ll wait and see on gameday.”

How tough of a decision is that?

“We spend a lot of time talking just in regards to who do we want at right tackle. We have a couple different options and we’ll go in with the best plan.”

How does he look?

“He hasn’t been at right tackle. He’s been playing left.”

They just put out that they’re wearing black jerseys, are you switching things up?

“You have to check with Bum (John Baumgartner) and his (equipment) staff. I am working on about three hours of sleep for the last three nights and you’re asking me about black jerseys or white jerseys. As long as we have a jersey on different from that of the New England Patriots (that’s all that matters). We have to turn in what we wear in the spring. We check off some boxes and then we go. If you play and it’s an outside game we would probably be in white. We’ve been in white and we’ve been in black. We’ve been in gold, we’ve been in black pants.”

When you first got here you did do some things differently?

“We wanted to do everything opposite when we first arrived.”

You said you were going on about three hours of sleep, do you go on less sleep planning your offense against this defense?

“It is a unique challenge. We just finished playing an even front. They do a handful of things that are different. So we are really trying to prioritize what the work week entails. What are the main things that have to get accomplished when you see this defensive front? I would say there probably is balance from a tendency standpoint as (much as) any I can recall. There’s nine snaps of this, there’s nine snaps of this, balance in what they do. They obviously do a good job in what their own self-scout. Same way in the red area so they mix coverages well. They stress your front because of the five man look. Really it’s walk through, it’s building up.” We’re going to do a little bit more today for instance, then tomorrow and what we normally do as you try to recover after a Monday night game. It will be a good challenge. They are well-coached, obviously on defense. Both of the corners are playing well. The nickel is playing outstanding and they have smart safeties that when you watch the Chiefs game. They’re in dime, they’re in nickel. You’re trying to keep track. They have a former safety (Jordan Richards) playing outside linebacker for half the game. You begin to look at locations and then quickly in the game you find out where these bodies are. Is (Don’ta) Hightower playing? Is he going to be inside or is he going to be lined up on the left side? The body types can change and yet there are some fundamental things they believe in. Those are the things that are important when you’re going through the walkthrough. We’ll quickly have to adjust as to who those guys are.”

When you’re preparing for that, are there any similarities between the way you guys use offensive personnel and you they use defensive personnel?

“But the thing that will take place is you’ll play quite a bit of nickel to 12 personnel. Certainly when we broke down the Kansas City game you would have to look long and hard for a true base defense with just four defensive backs on the field. Part of that may be pertaining to the Chiefs game plan and some of it might be based on their personnel. As we’re gameplanning, we are thinking about personnel and what we can expect. When we put a play in, we’ll talk about hey what do we think we’re going to get defensively to this? Then we’ll quickly look at the tendencies. We may move from one to the other but that’s one of the challenges. I think there’s a pretty good mix from what they call and what they do with each personnel group. It’s not like, every once in a while we’ll play someone and you can kind of anticipate if you do this, they do that. I think they do a good job of avoiding that. That predictability in regards to what you’re going to get is very well-planned.”

Are there any common threads with some of the coverage breakdowns you guys had on Monday?

“Here’s the encouraging thing, there are a lot of good things on that film. There are three or four explosives that can easily be addressed and obviously need to be corrected that ended up hurting us. The two-minute drive, there is a big play coming up then all of a sudden, changes field position. There are a handful of those snaps. The challenge is (on) Tuesday when they are off and then here they are on Wednesday is we are on to New England. We cannot go on to New England without addressing Monday night. There might be a veteran team in Week Eight after a Monday night (where you could bypass film review). You have a short week; you get the tape maybe later. There were a number of things with this team especially that we had to put to bed in regards to corrections before getting to the New England plan and fortunately, we were able to do that.”

Among the things that you and Bill Belichick have in common, what do you see from looking at what Bill Parcells did that might be similar?

“Not having worked with Bill Belichick, it’d be hard for me to speak for him. The early exposure to success in New York. When you start looking at the number of Super Bowls when Belichick has been on the sidelines, keep counting. There’s two with the Giants. There’s eight (as an assistant and head coach in New England). Building a team, thinking about personnel, I think early in your career, and sometimes you don’t have control of this, but if you’re fortunate enough to be with the right organization and the right head coach that can be huge in regards to what it does for your own career. It’s not like as a young assistant you’re sitting around and saying I want to work for Bill Walsh and the 49ers. You’re trying to find where those jobs come up. You just hope that you receive a good foundation. He’s coached special teams. He’s coached defense. He has worked with the (offense). I think some of those early lessons I’m sure were invaluable experiences that he’s had. Speaking for myself those opportunities as a coordinator for me in New York, then coming to Dallas. I mean I got hired by Bill (Parcells) and I had never met him, he hired me over the phone. I met him at an airport in Long Island and we flew into Dallas together, just the two of us. Those are breaks. Those are like man there’s somebody looking after you and then you take advantage of it. I think we’re all a little bit of a product of our bloodlines and I’ve been blessed that way. Even in my first job working with Jon Gruden and Ray Rhodes with the (Philadelphia) Eagles as a young (assistant) coach. You begin to formulate your own thoughts as to what you want to do.”

How would you evaluate (Alex) Okafor on Monday?

“I think solid. I think he played more snaps than we liked when you looked at his pitch count relative to what he’s been playing. You have to really pay attention to that and make sure he’s not playing that many. But overall I think there were some good things.”

How is (Trey) Hendrickson doing? We see him in the red jersey.

“He’s on the report. We put a red jersey on anybody we don’t want a lot of contact with so that’s out of that. I’m not going to go into detail with the injuries.”

Is playing a game against Malcolm Butler get any easier as you got to know him a little better this spring?

“The thing that you cannot see when you watch him play is the passion. He tackles well. He loves football. Just put the tape on, any tape on and watch him compete. When you start with that, here you have a guy who was undrafted and starting very early in his career. We were all at the Alabama Pro Day. We were all there to look at the safety for the Packers (Ha Ha Clinton-Dix), we were watching his workout, watching the left tackles work out. But there is a line of defensive backs, there are like four. And it is not uncommon to have (players from) smaller schools (in-state) to go to that Pro Day. As the Super Bowl takes place and as Butler makes the interception, I’m driving to work the next day (thinking) who was that, let’s see the report. And there he was at the Alabama Pro Day. We were too busy watching the other guy. It’s a lesson. They show up to work, pay close attention to it. He’s got a little bit of that grit and I would say and I think that served him well.”

How much was your visit with him this offseason maybe to get more of that scouting report?

“It wasn’t about that. It was really to find out more about the player outside of what we see on tape. His story is interesting. He’s from the Gulf South area. It was good to get a chance to meet and visit with a player like that. I have a lot of respect for him.”

It’s interesting that U2 is playing again before another Saints home opener, almost like a prelude.

“I think the one thing from afar, there is something. There’s a social consciousness with that band if you will. It’s post-Katrina and here they are opening for that game. I think not having met them, just from hearing Greg (Bensel) and some other guys talk that was kind of meaningful and it was meaningful for everybody else. That’s pretty cool.”

I know you’re heading to London in a few weeks. There was another terrorist attack in London yesterday. Have you guys taken any extra precaution taking that trip over there?

“Yes. We have a team that’s planning that. I think that’s probably something that Mickey (Loomis) would answer. I’m sure we are and the league is. It seems like it’s ways away, that game. I know in the offseason, it was discussed. Any team that was going over there, I think there were some conference calls. There will be a lot that goes into a game like that. Hopefully the experts, I’m sure, are doing their due diligence. That’s all I would know though.”

Personally, would it make you nervous at all?

“Yes, yet there is that part of you and I was in New York during 9/11. And there’s that part of you that the response immediately is man that’s not, as best as we can, is not let this affect our (game) or they win. I’m sure they’ll take the proper precautions. I wasn’t aware that there was another attack yesterday.”

New Orleans Saints Offensive Coordinator Pete Carmichael

Conference Call with New Orleans Media

Friday, September 15, 2017

What are the challenge of preparing for all of the personnel schemes of the New England Patriots?

“Well, I think you just said it. They do use a lot of personnel schemes. It is a matter of film study throughout the week and you can try to get a feel for what situations you are going to use in those schemes. But like you said, they are very multiple on defense.”

How would you compare the trio of top three running backs you have to the past?

“Regardless of who we have had in that room, we try to have good balance with all of them. That is our main goal. Some guys might have a little bit more of a specific role. We are comfortable with all three of them on the field, run or pass. So they provide a good balance for us.”

Is it pretty common for a show of emotion to happen on the field talking about the cameras centering on Coach Payton and Adrian Peterson?

“I don’t even know what that was. To me that was a non-factor. Other than seeing it in media, there was nothing there.”

Is that something that happens regularly between players and coaches?

“I just think guys are competitive and they are fired up and they want to compete and help win.”

How much does losing Zach Strief hurt the offensive line?

“Anytime you lose a guy that is a starter, it has an effect. We like the guys that we have. We are very versatile there. So we have some different options so we will have to wait and see what we can do.”

Who would you move to right tackle?

“One thing we have been able to do during training camp is to get guys work in different spots and we will just have to wait and see. Coach said we have a lot of versatility there and we are comfortable with whatever we go with.”

Is Adrian Peterson’s skillset a lot like Chris Ivory?

“Peterson is great with the ball in his hands and whether it is run or pass we like to get the ball in his hands. He is a very physical runner.”

What are the challenges in comparing for a team with two corners, that are as good as the Patriots?

“Overall, the whole secondary is very good. Man coverage skills and like you said, they have multiple personnel groupings. We are going to have to be on our best.”

New Orleans Saints Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen

Conference Call with New Orleans Media

Friday, September 15, 2017

What is the biggest challenge that you have seen facing Tom Brady in the past?

“I think it’s having some familiarity with him helps, but yet I know its New England and I know it’s the same system, but yet there’s some different guys out there and really what you know about New England is I think they do as good a job as anybody in the league trying to figure out how they are going to get their matchups and taking advantage of those matchups. It’s really going to be a lot based on as we get into the game trying to figure out what their plan of attack is and who they are trying to attack and how they are trying to attack us.”

What kind of steps were taken to correct some of the errors in coverage against Sam Bradford?

“I think anytime you start a season and especially when you start a season in the matter in which we did, there’s a race and a sense of urgency to get better and one of the areas that we need to continue to get better at is our communication and I think especially on the back end of the defense. That’s been an area for us to focus on and concentrate on. I’ve stayed encouraged with the way that our guys work and compete and look we didn’t play as well as we needed to last week and certainly the way we thought we were capable of playing. We have to work to improve that and we’re focused on trying to get ready for New England now.”

How valuable is it to have a veteran like Sterling Moore in De’Vante Harris’ ear?

“I think that’s a good thing. I think Sterling being here, I think when you look at our secondary group and really with the safeties and corners there’s probably a little bit more veteran presence with the safeties, but really with the corners it’s a really young group so having a guy like Sterling Moore whose been around, who’s smart and understands the game can be really beneficial to some of those young guys and we’re obviously glad to have Sterling and he’ll be a big part of what we do as we continue to move forward.”

How different is the Patriots offense without Danny Amendola?

“I do not know because I have not seen it yet, you know what I mean. Obviously, I think he was a very good player for them and he served a specific role for them. They have always had these kind of really good, quick slot receivers that understand how to get in and out of a break and really are on the same page with Tom Brady as far as am I breaking this in or am I breaking this out and it will be interesting to see who they use in that role and how they try and get to those concepts and what that rapport is with Brady. I would expect just like they have always done it’s always been a next man up philosophy and they will have a plan to get somebody to run those plays like (Danny) Amendola ran them and you would expect that they would plan on guys like (Rob) Gronkowski and (Chris) Hogan and their backs, Brandin Cooks some of those guys to be able to step up and be able to take on a little bit larger role, knowing that at first they lost (Julian) Edelman and then they lost (Danny) Amendola.”

What are the challenges facing Brandin Cooks?

“I think the first thing you have to be able to do and the primary thing you have to do is you have to be able to stay on top of him because he is extremely fast downfield, you guys have all seen it. Those are the types of things that Brandin Cooks does really well is when he gets off the line of scrimmage and gets down the field that speed element presents a big problem .We have to make sure we stay on top of him in coverage and we need to be able to disrupt him on the line of scrimmage and try to have to make him restart his feet off the line of scrimmage and throw the timing off of the route and then we need to be able to get some pressure on Tom Brady and the faster we get to Tom Brady it doesn’t allow Cooks to get downfield.”

Do you feel like the fullback position has become almost nonexistent?

“There’s no question that the fullback is kind of becoming a little bit like the dinosaur, you just don’t see them anymore. There not around, but yes, I think having a fullback in the game presents a little bit of a different element from a defensive perspective and how you are going to gameplan for teams that are going to be in these two back sets or in these heavier personnel groupings. I think what you’ve seen with most offenses even if a team doesn’t necessarily have a fullback per say on the roster, I think most teams still have the ability to take one of their extra tight ends or somebody of that nature and be able to put them in the backfield and still be able to run their two-back running game and two-back play action type of stuff with that, but certainly this has become a game that’s been a lot more spread out. One thing I will say with these teams that do have fullbacks, New England being one of them, is they’ll bring the fullback onto the field and give you a heavier personnel package and make you think they’re getting in to run it and all of a sudden they will flex their fullback out and put him out wide and get in a no-back formation thinking that you have bigger personnel on the field, so it makes it harder to defend the whole field with that bigger group out there. Some teams will use that as a decoy and get you to think run really spread you out and throw the ball on you.”