SUPER BOWL XLIIV - SAINTS HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON - Ingles

SAINTS HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON

(on being down 10-0 in the first quarter and his gutsy calls to win the game) “Well, we talked about it at halftime, and it’s really a credit to every one of these players here. There’s not enough room on this stage for all of them, but they carried out this play and I’m just proud. I’m proud of this team.”

(on his gutsy calls) “Well, we were going to be aggressive. We felt like it was a little bit of a mess of short plays. We’ve seen the onside kick all week and guys executed it well. When you do something like that, you just put it on the players and they were able to execute. It turned out to be a big change of possession and ended with a score.”

(on Saints QB Drew Brees) “He was outstanding, consistent and he’s just a winner everywhere he’s been. He’s won it. He’s won it for us. I’m just proud of him and all these guys, just to be a part of it, be able coach these guys, and I’m honored.

(on his defense) “In the second half, they played lights out against a good offense and got the turnover. It was a great team win tonight.”

(on Saints QB Drew Brees) “(Colts QB) Peyton Manning is the best quarterback in the National Football League, along with our guy (Drew Brees). I had to hook up and come down here with (Brees). He is a major influence why I came here, to get the opportunity to play with a quarterback that could correct mistakes when I make mistakes on defense. It’s been a great year for me. I’ve had to change my personality a little bit to fit the style of the offense. I’ve been coaching for a long time and had to win games 10-9, 13-10, 15-14. Here, you don’t have to worry about making a mistake because you’ve got a quarterback and an offense and a head coach that will be aggressive and go back and get back into a ballgame. It was fun to have that offensive and defensive flux back and forth. We were able to work together and it was a good team win.”

(on CB Tracy Porter’s interception return for a touchdown) “I want our guys to make plays. I don’t want to coach robots. Guys who are afraid to jump routes, guys who are afraid to make plays don’t last very long in the National Football League. You have to believe what you see, and when you see it, go get it. If you make the wrong decision, that’s why they hired me – I’ll help you the next time make a better decision. Please don’t be afraid of making a fast decision. My whole life I’ve been trying to speed up people’s decisions, get people to play faster, get people to play nastier, get people to play tougher and more aggressive. Once you get a guy that will do that, please don’t slow him down. I said when I started my first day here, ‘All your life, you’ve probably played for a coach that maybe restricted your decisions. You will not have anybody slow you down. You will not have anybody tell you you can’t be aggressive. What will happen is if you aren’t aggressive and you don’t play fast, you probably won’t end up playing for us. You’re going to have to go someplace else in the League.’ There’s a good football team here that (Head Coach) Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis cultivated and built, and I was able to just come in and help out a little bit.”

(on winning the Super Bowl) “This is kind of a redemption that makes me feel a lot better about (coming a yard short in the Super Bowl with the Tennessee Titans). I’m really happy for the people of New Orleans. They adopted me. When I came into town in January, I tried to tell them that I wasn’t a savior. There was a good team here. I’m very happy for the Who Dat nation. I’m very happy for the Benson family to finally get a world championship. It’s pretty special to be along for the ride. I’m really appreciative that they invited me into the family to be along for this ride.”

(on the game) “I’ll make this brief. I’m just real proud of our locker room full of coaches and players, everybody in the organization. It’s always what we worked so hard for and it’s hard to describe the feeling. But I couldn’t be more proud of the players, everybody in the front office, the coaches and all the people back in New Orleans that waited so patiently for this. I know I speak for everyone when I say we’re excited. We’re going to be having a good time on Bourbon Street tonight. I thought our preparation during the week was good. I thought our second half was key, and they made enough plays and came up with a big win. It was a good team effort.”

(on his game plan) “We were down there close in the second quarter and we had talked about being aggressive coming into this game. Granted, Indianapolis had a good stand down there in the fourth down, and fortunately we were able to hold them and force the punt. We were able to come back against the field goal before the half, in fact, the last play of the half. All week we had practiced that onside kick and at halftime I just told those guys we have to make our look right here. It was a good hit by Thomas. Our guys did a good job in showing a normal kickoff coverage look, but it was something that we had seen in practice all week .You know you get a little nervous. There’s a lot going on in the week of the Super Bowl and the key was the kicker, and Thomas hit it good, and the guys recovered and we were able to take advantage of it and get seven points, and that then it becomes more like a turnover.”

(on the onside kick and when he made the decision to call it) “We knew we were going to call it at some point, and we made the decision we were going to do it. At halftime I just told them, ‘Hey, we’re going to open up the second half with this. It’s going to be a great play.’ We had enough time at halftime with the schedule. Guys handled it well, Brees was magnificent tonight. He just played so well, so efficient. I thought we blocked for him pretty good, gave him time. So it’s pretty strong right here, we had to start on faith.”

(on having faith in his team) “I just think it’s important that certainly, you have a plan, you’re going to carry it forward, and yet you want to show your players that you’re confident in them. All week long we felt, we really felt as underdogs, that we have the better team. We don’t really look at who’s favored and who’s not.”

(on coming back to win) “Yeah, well listen. There’s a lot of grit, a lot of determination in this team. We fought so hard and this is what makes us uniquely different. We’ve been down at other times this year and we got a lot of good plays from our quarterback and defense, but we came up with some key stops in the second half and those proved pivotal.”

(on winning the game) “It just happened. This is what you work so hard for and this is a team and an organization that represents so much. We’re honored, and certainly I’m honored to be a part of it, and I’m really proud of these guys.”

(on stopping Colts QB Peyton Manning) “The time of possession was going to be important. What we were trying to do was create an additional series, which we were able to do, and our guys did a good job of executing the play. Certainly we wanted to minimize his snaps and we were able to do that to some degree, but he’s an excellent player.”

(on the city of New Orleans appreciating the win) “I think this. I know not only the city, but the whole region, will appreciate this trophy. I just wish we could split it up into a lot of little pieces and give it to everybody. They are part of it and like I said, I’m happy to be part of it as well.”

(on Saints QB Drew Brees) “I thought Drew was magnificent tonight. Certainly it’s a part of the team we saw all year. It’s a part of the resume and the career of a quarterback and a great player, and he prepared outstandingly. We knew he was going to have to play well. He handled a lot of the offense at the line of scrimmage. He made a lot of bold screen passes, and he had time to do that. He handled it extremely well. If you look at his location tonight, I thought he was fantastic. He has been all year, if you really paid close attention. He’s the MVP tonight for a reason, and he’s one of the most valuable players in the League.”

(on coming from a small program to where he is today) “I think our league is full of players and coaches, all of us, that come from all different programs, (different) sized schools. I’ve just been fortunate to be around a lot of good people that teach me how to win and I feel privileged to have had experience in a lot of good places and a lot of good people that have touched these player’s lives.”