usama_young28 Who dat! Thanks for the support yall. U kno me. Gotta ice up and rest. Time to get ready for next week. 10-0.... Keep workin. Stay focused
reggie_bush 10-0 feels great!!!!
LanceMoore16 10-0 sounds pretty swell to me.
ChaseDaniel 10-0!!
SupaFreak69 Heading bak to New Orleans.. a lil sushi....maybe sum dessert oh yeah I forgot we 10 -0
Harp41 10-0...crunk.
robyslyfe 10-0 this is a special TEAM.
SupaFreak69 On the Plane..thank god my buddy next to me aint farting tis week
JeremyShockey What a great TEAM win! 10-0 is $$ I need to help out our TEAM ou by getting more looks; but fuk it we have a TRUE family and we are blessed
JeremyShockey Getting ready to land.. its good to be HOMEEEEE!!!!!! WOH DAT
JeremyShockey going home for some rest MNF cant wait!!
jeffduncantp Randall Gay said he tweaked his hamstring & was iffy on next week. Leigh Torrence said he suffered a stinger on his left shoulder & was fine
wwltvsports Inj Report: Sean said "we'll discuss it later in the wk." Meanwhile, Gay has a hamstring tweak, Torrence said he'd be fine and Bell is OK
jeffduncantp For all the crazy Who Dats back in Nola, the Saints are scheduled to arrive at Atlantic Aviation in Kenner around 6:45 p.m.
kelifulton Interesting stat. Saints 1st 10-0 team n NFC n 18 years!
miketripletttp The Saints' magic number is down to 2 in NFC South. ... But the race for No. 1 seed could go on all year the way the Vikings are playing.
Linkage
New Orleans Saints continue to spread touchdown wealth - Times-Pic
"I just think it shows how many guys we have on this team that can step up and make plays, and what a great quarterback we have on offense to distribute the ball to the open guy and make plays," said Thomas, who has 16 receptions for 189 yards this season and had a career-long 37-yard reception in the first half. "I just think that's a testament to the character in this locker room, that as long as we're winning it doesn't matter who gets the credit."
-David Thomas
"I mean hey, just like you walk out of this game and you say, 'Why did Jeremy Shockey only have two catches today?' Well, look at the other guys who ended up making big plays, you know (Robert) Meachem, David Thomas and Marques Colston. So when one guy maybe who has gotten a lot of action all of sudden for some reason gets taken out of the game . . . it opens up opportunities for other people."
-Drew Brees
"That's huge," he said. "That's the sign of a championship team, a great team."
-Darren Sharper, on so many players scoring
"The thing I know from playing in New England is that we're going to be in for a good game," said Thomas, who caught five passes for 45 yards against the Rams. "They're a well-coached football team with great players and a great scheme. . . . We're going to have our hands full. We're going to enjoy being 10-0, but it's going to be a good battle to get to 11-0."
-David Thomas
"We were just in one of our normal coverages and I just broke on the ball," said Jenkins, who started in place of injured Tracy Porter. "He threw it, I don't think the receiver followed through on his route too much, and I kind of just laid out for it and was able to get it."
-Malcolm Jenkins
"I should have had three," Meachem said, "For me to have those two, that was great. That was a blessing, but I still should have had three. . . . should have adjusted my body."
-Robert Meachem
"We all know this isn't the Jon Gruden-coached (Bucs). I don't know how old that coach (Raheem Morris) is, but he looks like my age. Nothing against Tampa though. They're rebuilding the program right now. And I think Coach Payton and Mickey Loomis have done a great job of establishing this program."
-Jeremy Shockey
New Orleans Saints shift focus to New England Patriots after 38-7 win over Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Times-Pic
"Everyone's going to blow this game up to be the biggest thing in the world," Saints linebacker Scott Fujita said. "We've just got to keep our composure and not let anything affect us, not have any distractions, and just follow the mindset we've had all year."
-Scott Fujita
"It wasn't always pretty," Brees said. "The first half, (we were) 1-of-6 on third downs. ... Then obviously we broke the seal there in the second half and came out with a lot of points.
"If you look at us historically, especially this year, if we take care of the football and eliminate negative plays, we are very, very hard to beat. And obviously when the defense is taking the ball away like they did today and have been, it gives us so many more opportunities."
-Drew Brees
We are having a little bad luck curse right now, a little funk," said Gay, who suffered a hamstring injury in the second quarter and did not return. "But it shows the character and that the next guy has to step up.
"Hey, seven points (allowed). With four cornerbacks out, that's huge."
-Randall Gay
"I jumped it, and when I jumped it (Bryant) kind of just broke off his route, because I kind of cut him off," Jenkins said. "So when the quarterback threw it anyway, I think he was anticipating him being inside. And since I took that away, he kind of just threw it to me."
-Malcolm Jenkins
"You've got to like the mentality of this team. When we get a chance to open up the game a little bit, we've been able to take advantage of that opportunity. Today was no exception,"
-Jon Stinchcomb
"I like where we are at. I mean, we are 10-0," said Saints Coach Sean Payton, who also stressed Sunday that his team excelled on special teams, which had been an inconsistent area throughout the season. "I thought we got better today."
-Sean Payton
"I feel like the sky's the limit for this team," Brees said. "But like we've said all year, and it's going to get old, it's only going to get harder. Every team that we play would love to be the team to give us that first loss. And we're about to play a team who arguably has been one of the best teams in this league the last decade, somewhat of a dynasty. They know how to win, they know how to win big games. And obviously we want to be one of those teams, year in and year out, that's fighting for a championship.
"We're building something special right now. But we also have to understand that in order to get there, you've got to be able to win games like this one coming up. And obviously it's going to take a total team effort."
-Drew Brees
Every game a home game for New Orleans Saints: Jeff Duncan - Times-Pic
"It felt like a home game out there,"
-Usama Young
"It's unbelievable," safety Chris Reis said. "It's been a storybook season so far, and we're just trying to keep it going."
-Chris Reis
"We're just trying to keep this going," cornerback Randall Gay said. "It felt good to see our fans back there cheering for us and screaming Who Dat. We're going to keep trying to keep them happy."
-Randall Gay
"Really this season compared to last year is like night and day," linebacker Scott Fujita said. "Closing out the games and finishing strong, that's what we've done. It's been so much different from last year."
-Scott Fujita
"We needed a day like this," Brees said. "We feel like we haven't peaked yet. We're building something special right now."
-Drew Brees
Handwerger: Patriots Game likely to be most hyped in Saints history - WWLTV
"No matter who we're playing, it's the most important game of the season," Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. "The fact that it is the Patriots, that's who a lot of us are emulating. We're trying to be what they built. That's why you can put this game even a little further up there."
-Drew Brees
"It feels good for the moment but we know it's short lived because we have another hard fought game next week,"
-Will Smith
"The hype is really going to be the media," Vilma said. "They're goign to put the spin on it and the whole nine yards. For us, we're going to focus. We're going to do the things we've been doing.
"For myself, not listening to the media, not reading the papers so I can focus on football. I know my teammates are the same way. We don't need to buy into the hype.
"We just need to get ready to play."
-Jonathan Vilma
Perfect 10 - WWLTV
"In the beginning, we had a little struggle," running back Pierre Thomas said. "We felt good with our plays. The game plan was excellent. We just didn't execute at first. We stayed on track. We calmed down and went with our schemes and our game plan and executed."
-Pierre Thomas
"We always took it one game at a time," Saints defensive end Will Smith said. "Two weeks ago we weren't about New England, we were worried about whoever we played two weeks ago. This week we were worried about Tampa Bay and now that Tampa Bay is over, we have to worry about New England."
-Will Smith
Saints at Bucs Game Story - New Orleans Saints official website
"A lot of players stepped up today and did a good job...Any time you can go on the road and win a game in your division is big," Payton continued. "We did a good job of protecting the football and the defense came up with big stops and takeaways and the special teams did a good job of keeping a very dangerous return man in check. I am pleased with effort and the results and now we will turn our attention to a very good New England Patriots team that will be coming into new Orleans for a Monday night game."
-Sean Payton
Saints at Bucs Game Notes - New Orleans Saints official website
Grading the New Orleans Saints performance vs. Bucs - Times-Pic
New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers photo gallery - Times-Pic
New Orleans Saints get best of Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Josh Freeman - Times-Pic
New England Patriots will provide New Orleans Saints supreme test: Peter Finney - Times-Pic
Saints Report Card: High marks in Bucs win despite cornerback injuries - NewOrleans.Com
Deke: Saints 10 & 0 - Happy SAINTSgiving! - WWL
Key moments in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss to the New Orleans Saints - St. Petersburg Times
Saints stomp on Bucs early, bury Freeman in second half on way to 38-7 win - New Orleans Pro Football
Colts, Saints stay undefeated in different ways - Shutdown Corner
Video
| Jeff Duncan's New Orleans Saints-Tampa Bay Bucs Vlog (Nov. 22, 2009) |
Audio
Here are you post-game audio clips. First is our live post-game podcast with Ralph Malbrough, Kevin Held and myself. That's followed by audio clips from WWL. In order you've got Sean Payton, Mike Bell, Darren Sharper, Carl Nicks, Hokie Gajan, Bobby Hebert and two clips from The Point After Show.
HEAD COACH RAHEEM MORRIS
(Opening statement)
"Disappointing performance, obviously disappointed in everything we did today. That was a total team loss from a coach's standpoint and a player's standpoint and all around. We lost that game together. We played a manageable first half, got some of the things we wanted to get accomplished, keep Drew Brees off the football field, be able to run the football in the first half, limit the amount of his attempts. At the end there we let the rope go, gave them the ball back, with a scoring and striking mentality and he's able to get you there. Anytime you turn the football over like we did today, you're not going to beat Drew Brees and what he is able to do. We talked about it earlier in the week; we have to make plays that we didn't make today. He did and that's why he won the football game. It's a credit to their coaching staff. It's a credit to their players. An undermanned team came in and beat us today and they did what they were supposed to. It's what a 9-0 team looks like. You have to be able to compete with those guys at one point. The best part about it though, the silver lining, is you have another opportunity to go down there and show them what we really look like and who we really can be. It's all about the progress from this young man. This young man at quarterback today, which just goes back to the obvious and the things we got to work on."
(On if he expected performance like these from Josh Freeman)
"You expect it. We were living in a fantasy world a little bit there a little bit the last two weeks with him being able to come back and being able to strike like he was able to do. Today he was just off his throws. He didn't have his rhythm. He was never able to get into a rhythm. He just didn't have it where he wanted to go especially on third down early in the game. On third down, we had a bunch of manageable third downs. That's where you like to be. We weren't able to run the football on this team, which we thought we would be able to do. Once you got out of that game plan, we just wanted to be in a third down manageable, continue to move the chains, keep Drew Brees off the football field, let them eat up clock, really stay in the game. If you look at the end of the game, he had to convert a bunch of those third downs and really have an opportunity to win a football game like that. We were not able to convert those today. Whether it is a receivers fault, whether it is a quarterbacks fault, it really doesn't matter. Whether it is my fault as a coach, it really doesn't matter. It was all our faults. We have to go clean that up and get better in those opportunities and have a chance to win these type of football games."
(On Earnest Graham)
"Earnest has the ability to get in there and play tailback for us in our one back sets right now and he can possibly go in there if we would have [Chris] Pressley. Pressley's been on our team for probably two weeks, doesn't know the whole package. We have to keep Earnest at fullback to get him acclimated with everything he's going to do. When you get a hot back like that, you would like to be able to stick with them and go with a two back run especially if one of them is starting to roll but you're not able to right now. We don't have the ability to do that. No fault to Pressley, I'm not knocking Pressley, but he's only been here two weeks. He's only been in your system for a limited amount of time. You're going to play the New Orleans Saints who are 9-0,you have to get him a package, you guide him for that package. You want to be able to pound it. You want to open the game with that type of mentality and be able to go out there and get a little bit out of it. We just weren't able to maintain it today to keep it going"
(On the Saints)
"This is a very good football team. Don't forget they were undermanned as well, so those excuses can be saved for a later date when those situations come up. They were an undermanned team today. They didn't have Reggie Bush. They were missing two of their starting corners. They went out there and played with what they had and they won the football game. That's what we have to do as a coaching staff. We have to get ready to get better to play with who we have. We'll talk about it with our team. We'll talk about it with our organization."
WR MICHAEL CLAYTON
(On what the difference was after the first touchdown drive)
"We just have to continue to work. We had a lot of open looks out there and the challenge for us right now is making a transition between the things we do in practice and being able to come out in the game and execute. Early on we were able to get some things rolling and capture some momentum; that worked in our favor. At some point we let go of that rope. We can't let that happen."
(On if Josh Freeman was just out of rhythm today)
"It's going to happen sometimes. That's when you need the rest of the team to step up. That's what makes a good caliber football team. We weren't able to do that today. When we are, we'll be a better football team. He definitely has all the ability. Unfortunately, we couldn't give him a little more help."
QB JOSH FREEMAN
(On his lack of accuracy)
"That was definitely the case. Coming into this game, we knew how potent their offense was and we knew the best defense was for our offense to sustain drives. The tough thing is that only lasted our first drive. We knew what we had to do to come out and win and I put that on myself. Whether it be the ball to Sammie [Stroughter] or the couple balls to Kellen [Winslow], on third down I have to help us sustain a drive, we've got to keep it going. I was just a little off and couldn't get into a rhythm."
(On if he was too hyped up)
"No, I felt calm as I ever have. I felt confident throwing the ball. For instance the out to Sammie, I threw it right when he broke, it was maybe a foot or a couple of inches outside where it normally would be a completion. It was just one of those days, an off day."
(On if the Saints did anything different in their coverages)
"Not really. I felt really prepared for them, I knew what they were running. It was just a matter of missing some throws. I wasn't able to put it where I had the previous couple of weeks when I put it right on the money. This week I was just a little off."
(On trying to get the first road win next week)
"This game is this game. Starting tomorrow, I am going to go in and watch this game and it's going to be out of my system. I am going to move on to Atlanta, start with a clean slate and get ready for Atlanta. Next time the Saints roll around I'll pull up this game and try to get as much as I can out of it. Right now, it's just focusing on the Falcons."
(On the type of coverages teams are playing against him)
"These guys brought quite a bit of pressure. The thing about the blitzes, it's not like you don't know what type of pressure they are bringing, it's just a matter of getting into the protection and picking it up. Knowing who you have to throw hot off of is what makes blitzing stressful. But if you know your protections and know where you have to go with the ball if you have a free hitter, then teams that blitz and teams that don't, they are about the same except teams that blitz you have a few more opportunities to take it down the field."
(On how accurate he was in practice this week)
"I felt great coming out of this week of practice. I felt good and in rhythm and was putting the ball right where I wanted it. It's a game of inches and today I was a hair off. I don't see that as a problem in the future. It's not something that I am going into next week saying ‘Oh man, I hope I'm not a hair off.' I just have to keep throwing it."
RB EARNEST GRAHAM
(On what happened after starting off so well)
"The first drive we came out and played pretty well. We ran the ball pretty well and made some plays. We went down the field and kind of showed what we could do as an offense. But after that, whether it was turnovers or penalties that stalled the drive, it was our fault. It was just ineffectiveness on our part. We didn't do the job that we came out here to do today."
(On if they felt that they needed to pick it up around QB Josh Freeman today)
"Just as a total offense, we didn't play well. Whether it was Josh or the receiving group, the running back group, or the offensive line, we didn't do anything as an offense. With any game or any season you need somebody to lead, and we didn't have anybody step up and lead today."
S TANARD JACKSON
(On the running game of the Saints)
"I have to go back and look at the film to see what the problem was this week. Just being out there and analyzing now, I can say that we just have to make more plays as a unit and as a whole."
(On the Saints tight ends giving them problems including backup TE David Thomas)
"We know Drew Brees likes to spread the ball around. He wasn't one of those guys who he looked for early on from watching film from other opponents. He found him today."
(On QB Drew Brees' performance)
"I think they went to the running game once they had the game pretty sealed up. We went out the first half and executed well enough to get out of that half. We came back out and Brees was hot. He played well today. We tip our hats to them. They are a great team. They played well today. We knew who they were and knew what they were capable of."
LB BARRETT RUUD
(On the game)
"They were doing a lot of things well. They ran the ball on us, they threw the ball on us and we really didn't stop very much of anything. We have to go back to work Monday and clean up a lot of problems."
(On the team's performance)
"Offensively, defensively we weren't great on either side of the ball. Special teams I thought covered pretty well. I think they did a good job overall. Two of our three phases weren't very good today. We have to go back on those and get a lot of the details down."
(On the Saints spreading the ball around)
"That's why they are 10-0. That's also probably why where we are at. You saw one team really executing well and one team that didn't execute nearly as well as they needed to compete with a team that's very good right now. We have a lot to work on."
RB CLIFTON SMITH
(On what happened in the second half)
"We just have to come back out after halftime with a little bit more fire and just play in the third quarter. We just have to turn it up a notch."
(On not being able to make mistakes against the Saints)
"This is a talented team. You have to make them drive the ball. We have to keep number 9 off the field. He is probably the best quarterback in the NFL right now, you can't let him get on a short field."
(On Josh Freeman not looking like himself out there today)
"That's the life of a quarterback, you go up and down. He takes his punches just like a boxer. I know he is going to bounce back next week."
(On if the Saints changed their look after the first drive)
"No, they pretty much stayed the same the entire game. We just didn't capitalize on what they were doing."
DE STYLEZ G. WHITE
(On the game)
"I'm frustrated, I'm embarrassed. I know we are better than that. To go out there and play like we played today, there is no excuse. There is no excuse. We are 1-9 right now."
(On their turnovers)
"We have to compete better. In the first half we did well. It's just frustrating to go out there and see the scoreboard. It's frustrating."
DE/DT JIMMY WILKERSON
(On the game slipping out of hand)
"I just think that we stopped playing consistently. We were pretty much consistent in the first half. I think that we were just out of gas and really just weren't fitting in our gaps properly. That's one thing that we have to continue to do, get better in the second half just like we do in the first half."
(On stopping the Saints in the first quarter)
"That's what we've been trying to practice on this whole week, just get pressure on him. We know if he sits back there, he is going to throw the ball and pick us off. If we could get pressure on him quick and disrupt his throwing game, we know we have a chance to get them off third down."
(On the Saints going to the run)
"I think they figured they were up by a lot so they didn't really need to pass. If I was in their position as a coach, I would run the ball a lot too to run down the clock."
RB CARNELL WILLIAMS
(On the first drive)
"We kind of had them on their p's and q's and we got it done. Then somehow we just collapsed."
(On if they felt like they had to go away from the run)
"Once you start getting behind in ball games and teams are putting points on the board, and as an offense you're going three and out, it's tough to stick with the run when you're down two or three scores."
(On coming off playing two straight games well, then dropping this one today)
"We were prepared. We definitely prepared the same. We came out feeling good and we had a real good opening drive. We knew Drew Brees and those guys could put points on the board quick. We wanted to control the clock, but for some reason we didn't get it done."