Sports Radio Interviews

What Do Sean Payton And The Saints Have In Store For An Encore?

What a performance by the New Orleans Saints this past weekend. Players, coaches and everyone else involved with the organization included. The Saints thumped the Arizona Cardinals 45-17 in front of a raucous home crowd eager to see their beloved Saints move one step closer to the ultimate goal – a trip to the Super Bowl. One man who really had an amazing performance was head coach Sean Payton. And I’m not just talking about his play calling, game plan, clock management or anything like that. No, what I was most impressed by was Payton’s motivational tactics leading up to the big game. Payton, who has led the Saints to two NFC Championship Games in his four years down on the bayou, gave all his players a baseball bat with the words ‘lay the wood’ etched in them. The Saints certainly did lay the wood all game long. Not only that, Payton had former team captain and franchise stalwart Deuce McAllister in uniform. Just great stuff from Payton. Next up? The Minnesota Vikings at the Super Dome on Sunday.

Payton joined WWL in New Orleans with Bobby Hebert and Deke to talk about the huge win last Saturday, why it was important to respond with an offensive score of their own following Arizona’s long TD run on their first series, the decision to name McAllister a guest captain, and what his team needs to do to protect Brees next weekend on offense, as well as what they need to do to slow down the multi-dimensional offensive attack of the Minnesota Vikings.

On just how big the Saints first drive of the game was following Arizona’s 70 yard touchdown on their first offensive play:

“Well I think this – I think the crowd’s going to be involved in a game like this hopefully throughout – but I think the score that we followed with to tie it 7-7 really led to the big play of the game which was the following series. Randall Gay stripping the ball and giving us a chance to get the ball back in good field position to score and go back up 14-7. That all happened real quickly.”

On Reggie Bush’s 45 yard touchdown run, the longest in Saints postseason history:

“Well it was a big play for us. We were in a nickel set, he hit a crease and broke a few tackles and then got in to the open. You know, I read where there’s a lot of longest in Saints postseason history and part of that is just not having been in the postseason enough. But it was certainly a big play for us in a nickle package and Reggie did a great job not only on that run but later on with the punt return.”

On how the Saints plan to protect Brees when they face the dynamic pass rushing duo of Jared Allen and Ray Edwards, who had three sacks last weekend against the Cowboys:

“Well number one, I think you’ve got to be able to be multiple in your formations and you got to watch how many times you leave just a split end open. There’s bunch looks you can get into; you can off-set your back, I do think you have to be creative and really before you start with your pattern design you have to start with your protections.”

On the importance of slowing down Adrian Peterson and not letting Minnesota’s rushing game to dictate the tempo of the game:

“Well it’s what makes them so good this year, they can not only rush it, but they’ve got the quarterback now and the receivers outside that are making plays. They have great balance and that’s the challenge in the game defensively is understanding A) how good Adrian is and he’s a tremendous runner, and then secondly defending the pass. So you’ve got to mix things up, and this is a team that is again, different than who we just played, but very talented at the skill positions – quarterback, running back as well as receiver.

On the decision to put McAllister on the roster and when he made that inspirational decision:

“Well we had talked a few weeks back about having Deuce become our guest captain for this game. And it wasn’t until Friday, you know, Micky had walked down, we had a roster spot and we thought it’d be a good idea to officially put him on the roster. I heard a lot of fans got carried away and thought he might be playing but I think it was an inspiration for our team to have him in the locker room, at the hotel the night before, and then on the field with us to start the game. That was great and it was great to see the reaction, and I know it meant a lot to him.”

Listen here to Payton on WWL in New Orleans

Tags: best coaches in NFL, best quarterbacks in NFL, NFC Championship Game, NFC playoffs 2009, Saints beat Cardinals to advance to NFCCG, Sean Payton, WWL