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Saints' Payton won't tolerate dumb play
By LES EAST
Special to The Advocate
Published: Sep 30, 2006
METAIRIE — There are many vivid images from the New Orleans Saints’ triumphant return to the Superdome on Monday night.
Among them are Green Day and U2 headlining a pregame spectacle, the Saints defense smothering Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn, and Steve Gleason blocking a punt and Curtis Deloatch falling on the football in the end zone.
Deloatch’s recovery gave New Orleans a 7-0 lead after 90 seconds on its way to an easy 23-3 victory.
Unfortunately for Deloatch, he’s at the center of another memorable image, actually a series of images of coach Sean Payton, confronting him, pushing him, and chastising him. Payton returned to where Deloatch was sitting on the bench to berate him several times for committing a personal foul penalty.
The Saints had just taken a 17-3 lead and Deloatch’s out-of-bounds hit on Jerious Norwood at the end of a kickoff return set up Atlanta at the New Orleans 42. The gaffe didn’t hurt so much after the Falcons stalled at the 7-yard line and Josh Bullcoks blocked Morten Andersen’s field goal attempt.
But the penalty could have easily led to points for Atlanta and changed the direction of the game.
“I want the player to understand that it’s important just to be smart,” Payton said. “We have a good team on the ropes and all of a sudden you’ve let them off the ropes. I’m probably more patient with other types of mistakes than I am with one like that. He and I talked about it. I just wanted to make sure I got his attention.”
Payton is constantly emphasizing the need for the Saints to reduce the mental mistakes — penalties, turnovers, blown assignments, etc. — that have plagued them in recent seasons.
“I’ve been saying for about five years now that all we need is a little more discipline,” said Gleason, who’s in his seventh season with the team. “We just need to play smarter. You can’t just talk about it, you have to show action to do that.
“So when guys are late for meetings and coach Payton fines them right away, it lets you know that there are no gray areas about discipline. That translates to the field.”
The discipline has translated into a 3-0 record as New Orleans prepares to play an NFC South game at Carolina on Sunday. Gleason was asked if the Saints are playing smarter this season.
“That’s not even a question, it’s not even an opinion,” Gleason said. “We are playing smarter. I think a lot of that goes to coach Payton. There’s the sign right there.”
Gleason pointed to a sign that Payton has hanging from a wall in the middle of the team’s locker room. It reads, “Dumb players do dumb things ... smart players very seldom do dumb things!”
“That’s something that he stresses,” Gleason said. “Smart players do smart things and dumb players do dumb things and dumb teams lose and smart teams win.”
Cornerback Fred Thomas said a Payton outburst like the one Deloatch experienced on Monday night is not uncommon during practice.
“He lets you know week in and week out that he’s not going to tolerate anything,” Thomas said. “What you’ve seen on game day he does the same thing in practice. He lets you know, if you do it out here I’m going to get you, if you do it in a game I’m going to get you.”
So far it’s paying off as New Orleans is committing about half as many penalties as a year ago and is breaking even in turnovers after being among the worst in the league last season. Also the mental breakdowns that lead to big losses on offense and big gains on defense are less common.
“The little things are what hurt us last year,” Thomas said. “We’re paying more attention to all the little things and that’s what the coaching staff is stressing.
“They can deal with aggressive penalties but don’t make dumb penalties. Everybody’s staying more focused and not putting the team in bad situations. It’s an upgrade from last year.”
The area of the team that appears to be the most improved this season is the defense, which shut down an Atlanta offense that had steamrolled Carolina and Tampa in winning its first two games.
“When coach Payton and coach (Gary) Gibbs (defensive coordinator) came in,” defensive end Will Smith said, “the first thing they said was this is what you guys were bad with last year and we want to change that because we think and we know that you guys are a pretty good defense. If we can avoid these penalties and avoid these mistakes we can have a real special team.
“We haven’t beaten ourselves. We’re playing well and everybody is where they need to be. As long as keep playing smart, and keep believing in the system I think we’re going to have success.”
Smith said an added emphasis on eliminating mental mistakes during film and classroom work, as well as extended walkthroughs at the start of practice have improved the team’s preparation.
“We have a ton of walkthroughs and they’re not guys just going out and b.s.-ing,” Smith said. “The walkthroughs have a nice little tempo so you have to focus, you have to be paying attention.”
The entire team seems to have improved discipline and the collective “football I.Q.” seems higher after Payton got rid of more than half the players from last season.
“We are disciplined, we work our butts off, and we prepare ourselves,” wide receiver Joe Horn said. “We’re tired of losing, so whatever it takes for us to not stab ourselves in the foot, we try not to do that with the penalties and the miscues.”
It’s only three games into the season, but New Orleans sits alone atop the NFC South, which is considered one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL. Conventional wisdom would say the Saints are the least talented team in the division and they entered the season with the lowest expectations from outsiders.
“You can talk a lot about talent and athletic ability and all those things,” Gleason said, “but when a team plays well together and a team plays smart, they’re going to win.”
Notes
The Saints placed rookie DE Rob Ninkovich, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Falcons, on injured reserve and activated DE Eric Moore from the practice squad. ... They also signed LB Kyle McKenzie and DE John Syptak to the practice roster.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/4274336.html?index=1&c=y
By LES EAST
Special to The Advocate
Published: Sep 30, 2006
METAIRIE — There are many vivid images from the New Orleans Saints’ triumphant return to the Superdome on Monday night.
Among them are Green Day and U2 headlining a pregame spectacle, the Saints defense smothering Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn, and Steve Gleason blocking a punt and Curtis Deloatch falling on the football in the end zone.
Deloatch’s recovery gave New Orleans a 7-0 lead after 90 seconds on its way to an easy 23-3 victory.
Unfortunately for Deloatch, he’s at the center of another memorable image, actually a series of images of coach Sean Payton, confronting him, pushing him, and chastising him. Payton returned to where Deloatch was sitting on the bench to berate him several times for committing a personal foul penalty.
The Saints had just taken a 17-3 lead and Deloatch’s out-of-bounds hit on Jerious Norwood at the end of a kickoff return set up Atlanta at the New Orleans 42. The gaffe didn’t hurt so much after the Falcons stalled at the 7-yard line and Josh Bullcoks blocked Morten Andersen’s field goal attempt.
But the penalty could have easily led to points for Atlanta and changed the direction of the game.
“I want the player to understand that it’s important just to be smart,” Payton said. “We have a good team on the ropes and all of a sudden you’ve let them off the ropes. I’m probably more patient with other types of mistakes than I am with one like that. He and I talked about it. I just wanted to make sure I got his attention.”
Payton is constantly emphasizing the need for the Saints to reduce the mental mistakes — penalties, turnovers, blown assignments, etc. — that have plagued them in recent seasons.
“I’ve been saying for about five years now that all we need is a little more discipline,” said Gleason, who’s in his seventh season with the team. “We just need to play smarter. You can’t just talk about it, you have to show action to do that.
“So when guys are late for meetings and coach Payton fines them right away, it lets you know that there are no gray areas about discipline. That translates to the field.”
The discipline has translated into a 3-0 record as New Orleans prepares to play an NFC South game at Carolina on Sunday. Gleason was asked if the Saints are playing smarter this season.
“That’s not even a question, it’s not even an opinion,” Gleason said. “We are playing smarter. I think a lot of that goes to coach Payton. There’s the sign right there.”
Gleason pointed to a sign that Payton has hanging from a wall in the middle of the team’s locker room. It reads, “Dumb players do dumb things ... smart players very seldom do dumb things!”
“That’s something that he stresses,” Gleason said. “Smart players do smart things and dumb players do dumb things and dumb teams lose and smart teams win.”
Cornerback Fred Thomas said a Payton outburst like the one Deloatch experienced on Monday night is not uncommon during practice.
“He lets you know week in and week out that he’s not going to tolerate anything,” Thomas said. “What you’ve seen on game day he does the same thing in practice. He lets you know, if you do it out here I’m going to get you, if you do it in a game I’m going to get you.”
So far it’s paying off as New Orleans is committing about half as many penalties as a year ago and is breaking even in turnovers after being among the worst in the league last season. Also the mental breakdowns that lead to big losses on offense and big gains on defense are less common.
“The little things are what hurt us last year,” Thomas said. “We’re paying more attention to all the little things and that’s what the coaching staff is stressing.
“They can deal with aggressive penalties but don’t make dumb penalties. Everybody’s staying more focused and not putting the team in bad situations. It’s an upgrade from last year.”
The area of the team that appears to be the most improved this season is the defense, which shut down an Atlanta offense that had steamrolled Carolina and Tampa in winning its first two games.
“When coach Payton and coach (Gary) Gibbs (defensive coordinator) came in,” defensive end Will Smith said, “the first thing they said was this is what you guys were bad with last year and we want to change that because we think and we know that you guys are a pretty good defense. If we can avoid these penalties and avoid these mistakes we can have a real special team.
“We haven’t beaten ourselves. We’re playing well and everybody is where they need to be. As long as keep playing smart, and keep believing in the system I think we’re going to have success.”
Smith said an added emphasis on eliminating mental mistakes during film and classroom work, as well as extended walkthroughs at the start of practice have improved the team’s preparation.
“We have a ton of walkthroughs and they’re not guys just going out and b.s.-ing,” Smith said. “The walkthroughs have a nice little tempo so you have to focus, you have to be paying attention.”
The entire team seems to have improved discipline and the collective “football I.Q.” seems higher after Payton got rid of more than half the players from last season.
“We are disciplined, we work our butts off, and we prepare ourselves,” wide receiver Joe Horn said. “We’re tired of losing, so whatever it takes for us to not stab ourselves in the foot, we try not to do that with the penalties and the miscues.”
It’s only three games into the season, but New Orleans sits alone atop the NFC South, which is considered one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL. Conventional wisdom would say the Saints are the least talented team in the division and they entered the season with the lowest expectations from outsiders.
“You can talk a lot about talent and athletic ability and all those things,” Gleason said, “but when a team plays well together and a team plays smart, they’re going to win.”
Notes
The Saints placed rookie DE Rob Ninkovich, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Falcons, on injured reserve and activated DE Eric Moore from the practice squad. ... They also signed LB Kyle McKenzie and DE John Syptak to the practice roster.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/4274336.html?index=1&c=y