Sean Payton spoke on his Saints’ Coaches Show Monday night about the 27-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. After watching the game back, he said penalties derailed any chance of coming out with the win regardless of who was in at QB.
“The biggest thing that stood out were the penalties. When you get a ten yard penalty on a drive it drops your efficiency numbers through the roof. For us we have to be cleaner in our play. The thing that stood out were the minus plays. Inside the red area, we went backwards three plays in a row. Those penalties are the ones that will keep you from winning football games.”
The Saints committed 11 total penalties for 87 yards. With Teddy Bridgewater filling in for the injured Drew Brees in the 2nd half, the Saints offense was only able to score 6 points. Payton said any quarterback would have struggled put in his situation
“Going into a game the hardest thing to do with limited reps is come in, but that’s his job. The frustrating thing from yesterday was we made it difficult for him. With the 1st and 20s, we move the ball into the red zone, then we come back out. He had a number of third downs that I don’t think any quarterback in the league wants. Getting the full amount of reps going into a game can always help whoever is going to be starting at quarterback.”
Payton also added that the way to fix those mistakes is take care of them internally and during the week of practice.
“It was spread around. There was just a number of things as coaches, starting with myself, which we have to do a better job at during practice. There were far too many for to have any kind of consistency relative to scoring points.”
The Saints will remain on the West Coast this week as they’ll take on the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3. Payton mentioned this trip could be used as a bonding experience. He also wouldn’t mention anything on the injury to Drew Brees, but did talk about the usage of Taysom Hill at QB.
“His usage was a little bit more to do with the game plan. With all the receiver injuries, it took us out of his package. We didn’t have a lot going in for that specific game for him at quarterback.”
It wasn’t all doom and gloom that came from the game. Defensive end Trey Hendrickson and center Erik McCoy were two players Payton thought played phenomenally, and he looks forward to seeing the growth of each individual as the season continues.
On McCoy, Payton said, “He was pretty good. He’s ascended quickly and understands the speed of the game. I think overall he graded out pretty good.”
He also thinks Hendrickson’s depth on the defensive line could help the team late in ballgames.
“One of the things we’ve been counting on is numbers. It hard to play every snap, so when you have guys like Trey that can come in and give you 20-25 snaps, it just allows you be a little bit… fresher. A lot of good teams who are getting to the passer are not just doing it with their starters.”
Finally, Payton addressed the fumble recovery by Cam Jordan that the Saints defensive end ran back for a touchdown, but the officials erroneously blew the play dead. He said adversity happens in games all the time, and it’s up to them to overcome it.
“Mechanically, it was poor (officiating). The refs are taught to let the ball go, treat it live and let replay come back and say incomplete. The whistle doesn’t blow or they don’t signal the ball being down or incomplete till well after Cam has the ball and running. So it was what it is, you can’t control it.
There’s going to be adversity like that. Adversity can come on the road momentum-wise or at home officiating. We’re going to get past it.”
The Saints will turn their focus now to Seattle. It’ll be another late kickoff at 3:25pm.