NEW ORLEANS SAINTS HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON - Ingles

Super Bowl XLIV News Conference

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida – February 8, 2010

(Opening statement) “Before we get started, as a head coach, when you get the opportunity to play in this game, certainly from a scheduling statement, when you look at everything that goes on – the week prior, and bye week, and then the week of the Super Bowl – there is a lot that goes into it. I want to take this time to thank Commissioner Goodell and the league office for really providing an outstanding environment for both teams to prepare and play their best football. You really don’t realize how much goes into the planning of an event like this. From the day we arrived on Monday after the Pro Bowl to midnight last night, it was perfect. Not because we won, but logistically, the planning, scheduling, support we have had from the league was outstanding. As a head coach, sometimes you may be blind to the bigger picture and I appreciate the organization and the many responsibilities of people not only in this room, but the many responsibilities that the League provides for both teams to get ready to really put their best foot forward. We have a little pin for the last three weeks we have worn. A gentleman by the name of Tim Davey, who I met at the Pro Bowl in 2006, who really epitomized, I think, what the League is about in regards to his commitment to just working and grinding and making everything smooth, whether it was a Pro Bowl or whether it was a game in London. So those initials “TD” didn’t really necessarily stand for us wanting to score touchdowns. Those initials represented somebody who was committed to the game, committed to all the nuances and all the hard work and effort that really, basically put the players in the game itself first. I felt like as a coach I was honored to have a chance to coach in this game, in this venue, and be a part of it with guys like Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. I truly am humbled by that. I don’t for one minute take that for granted. When Mickey Loomis hired me in 2006, not having been from New Orleans, it would be hard to describe the relationship between the fans and the players there. It became apparent to me that football was obviously very important, but it was much bigger than football. When we got into coaching, or playing, we got into it for certain reasons and yet the reasons in New Orleans far exceeded what we ever expected. I am honored to have had a chance to coach and work with this team, in a great League. I can’t help but think, and Troy Aikman said this a few days ago to me, for all the number of players that have played in this league, eight, ten, twelve years, that have never had that opportunity to play in this final game, this Super Bowl. I am very appreciative of having an opportunity to compete for a championship with guys like Drew Brees. With players that we have put together, Mickey Loomis and the Saints organization. To be a part of it, a small part of it. As a coach I am very honored. It certainly feels great to win. I have been in this game where we didn’t win. It is amazing what we, as the NFL, have been able to achieve in twenty years and where we are at as a league is stronger than ever. I am proud to be one small piece of that and I love the fact that I am a head coach in the National Football League and I love the fact that I was able to and given the opportunity to be a head coach of a Super Bowl team. Last night, about three in the morning, when it was quiet, I took the elevator up and put this trophy down on the desk and just said a prayer. Thanked God for these special times that don’t come around too often. For that I am very appreciative and very humbled by. Any questions?”

(on what will be crucial to hold the team together next season and whether it’s a priority to retain S Darren Sharper and RB Reggie Bush) “Well, I think this. I think as it pertains to our personnel, the off season decisions in regards to your personnel, the windows shorten some in regards to your work schedule, but there’s something about what we do that maybe allows you 24 to 48 hours before you start eyeing up the next challenge. Somewhere last night we talked about Dallas, Texas and one of the greatest stadiums now that our league knows, and there’s probably never enough in regards to the challenge. That’s the neat thing about it. When you get a quarterback like Drew Brees, who’s in the prime of his career, it’s not enough. Last night was great and yet there’s still something that burns in you to separate yourself more. So we’ll spend a little bit of time here refueling, recharging the batteries, and getting ourselves prepared for the challenges ahead. We know that it’ll be difficult and yet, no more difficult than getting this team going after (Hurricane) Katrina and everything that took place in 2006. Our players will be ready for the challenge. We’re young. We’re hungry. One thing about this game, this Super Bowl, and when you have an opportunity to participate the week of and in the event itself, it just pulls you that much closer to wanting to be in it again. And having been a part of a team in 2000, against the Baltimore Ravens, just remember leaving that game, although it was a difficult loss, with that desire to get back in that venue. There’s so much about it that’s right. There’s so much about it that’s special. There’s no other Championship game like the Super Bowl. Last night at about midnight, I’ve got to grab this for a second (grabs Vince Lombardi trophy), last night at about midnight we grabbed this trophy and one of our coaches, his name is Joe Lombardi – he’s Vince Lombardi’s grandson – and Joe Lombardi, his father Vince Jr., his two brothers, sat and posed with this trophy – the four of them while pictures were taken. I just thought to myself you’ve got to be kidding me. If you believe in heaven, and you believe Vince Lombardi’s there looking down on his grandson, it doesn’t get any better. This is a guy that coaches our quarterbacks, coaches Drew Brees, and here’s a trophy that’s named after his grandfather. You can’t get enough of this. This thing laid in my bed next to me last night, rolled over it a couple times. I probably drooled on it, but man, there’s nothing like it. There’s nothing like it. To be a coach and be a part of a great team with players like Drew Brees, I’m honored. I don’t take that opportunity lightly at all. I feel very fortunate, very blessed, and very humbled by it.”

(on if he was able to talk with Miami Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano and Bill Parcells, whom he worked under in Dallas, the week prior to the game as well as after the game) “I did. Tony Sparano and I spent three years with Bill in Dallas, three long years [with] a lot of work. I think Bill has been a great influence on our careers. I said this a number of times during the week; I have been very fortunate to come up with a number of great coaches. When you are afforded those opportunities, you are able to hone your skills and hopefully learn and become a better coach. I was very fortunate. The years I spent in New York with Wellington Mara and the Tisch family [and] then to have an opportunity to work with Bill and Jerry Jones’ family, those opportunities don’t come around too often. I had a number of conversations with Bill leading up to this game and just recently 10 minutes before getting here I talked to him. He taught me so much about people and about teaching and about evaluation and preparation. I am better having had the chance to work with him. The history of our league and the great players and great coaches and when you are able to be a part of that history I think you are better off for it. I know you are. It is a big reason we are sitting here holding [the Vince Lombardi trophy] up in the air. I am thankful for that.”

(on his decision to start the second half with an onside kick) “Each week when you play an opponent, you try to look for an advantage, maybe in the kicking game, whether it’s a punt or a field goal. In this case, it’s our kickoff. (Saints P) Thomas Morstead had done a good job practicing the surprise onside kick—‘The Ambush’ as we call it—to our left. We felt like there was an edge there with the ball being on the far hash, where the front line has a tendency to move quicker back to get set up (for the return).

(Saints Special Teams Coordinator) Greg McMahon and (Saints Assistant Special Teams Coach) Mike Mallory did a great job of really presenting it to me and selling me on the idea that we would gain an advantage. I think last week we gave it work in New Orleans. Of course, we practiced it some here. You’re always a little mindful of that with as many people who are at practice at the Super Bowl, but we felt like the opportunity would present itself, we just didn’t know when.

“Yesterday morning in our team meeting before we started, I told the special teams unit we weren’t going to consider it; we were going to do it. We just had to find the right time. When we came in at halftime, you’ve got a longer period of time in the Super Bowl when there’s entertainment going on. (It gave us) a chance to kind of underline and focus on the next half. It was at that time I had just told the team that when we opened the game in the second half, we were going to start with ‘The Ambush,’ and then after we recovered it, here are the next eight plays that we scripted. Basically, we scripted the next eight plays, beginning on the left hash at the 40-some yard line.

“Credit the players. They did a great job of executing the surprise onside kick and made me look good. It gave us really an additional possession. It’s much like a turnover. More importantly, after we obtained the ball, we were able to march down and score a touchdown and really create some momentum. The players did a great job of making me look good with that call. It was calculated. It was well thought out by our special teams coaches. We felt like the risk-reward (chances) were worth it. In the end, we were able to gain an additional possession to score a touchdown, and the execution was outstanding. It’s really difficult when you’re a right-footed kicker. It happens a lot to me when I swing a golf club. To plant one like that was outstanding, especially for a rookie player.

“When you look at a guy like Thomas Morstead, and someone asked him last night how he felt. I think his response was he was nervous as hell, but he executed it well. We recovered it and (Saints QB) Drew (Brees) and the offense took advantage of the field position and scored a touchdown. It was pretty significant in the second half.”