NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Head Coach Sean Payton
(general statement) "Obviously, there are a ton of momentum swings. One thing that stood out was penalties. Fifteen of them for 131 yards. Three of them came in the kicking game. There's hidden yards there. I think three of them came on third down when we were off the field. There's hidden yards there. And a number of them came on the offensive line. I really wasn't excited with how we played starting off. There were a handful of substitutions. Some guys are playing more snaps than others, but a lot of things we can better work on, and that's obvious. We kind of fought back in it in the second half, and then we weren't able to close it out. Fourth down and 20—that was my call. We blitzed them, and, obviously, they were able to make a play and continue the drive."
(on whether injuries contributed to the bad start) "There was a handful of guys that got nicked up, but I'm not blaming that. When you go into a pre-season game like this, there are certain guys that may or may not play. I'm sure we are going to put the tape on, and we'll see. A handful of things that were encouraging football, and we'll see the things that we have to correct. I'm going to say it's 200 yards in hidden yardage if you do the math. That's just too much in any game. The good news is we have a lot of time to get this corrected. We're going to have to pay particular attention to it."
(on his thoughts on Garrett Grayson) "I think the two younger quarterbacks handled themselves pretty well. Both him and Ryan [Griffin]. They got a lot of snaps. They moved the ball, and I felt they made good decisions. The first thing that happens with a young quarterback is its just happening quicker. The play clock is quicker, on and off, in and out, up and down. It has to pick up quicker. I thought both of those guys handled it pretty well. They got a lot of snaps between them, and that was the goal coming in."
(on seeing his younger quarterbacks battle back) "We said this to start. This is a younger team, and we want to win these games. And I'm still mad that we didn't win. But there will be some good things on the film in the second half. I thought we affected the passer a little better. We just weren't able to make enough plays."
(on Damian Swann and Terrence Frederick) "Until you demonstrate on the field in the moment that you can do something. Until that happens, you're hoping that you can. I think it's important for those guys just as these games are important for a lot of guys. You see growth with players in the steps that they make. We'll look at the tape. They're getting a little handsy down the field on some calls. So, we have to get that cleaned up. There were just too many times offensively where we were first and 15. Whether it's a holding or false start. And that wasn't just one group in particular. It was the one's, two's, and three's. That will be important to get cleaned up."
(on Tim Hightower's first game in years) "I liked the look in his eye during pre-game. I thought it was real good. Obviously, he had some big runs. And he had some other looks that weren't so favorable. He looked ready."
(on the Ravens' first offensive drive) "They scored a touchdown. That's not good. Very time-consuming. That can kind of take the air out of the start of the game. When a team can go down the field and run 16 plays,"
(on whether it is concerning to see the same things that hindered last season) "It would be concerning, yes. I think it's a different team. I think we go back and look closely at the tape. I think if you're honest, if you grade the tape of both players and coaches. I get upset when there's 15 penalties. Because I feel that is a reflection on us. We'll get that cleaned up. Obviously, there's some things that showed up that were problems a year ago, and, yet, this is a different club. This group will swim or sink on its own merit. And we've got a lot of work to do."
(on whether it's tough line on the young defensive backs in playing physical) "Yeah, that part of it we can clean up. I don't get discouraged with that as I do with lining up off-sides on third and half yards, and then lining up again off-sides on third. Those are the things. Or the simple holding penalties in the return game. The rules now are challenging for those defensive backs, and I understand that, and I think we can clean that up. But there's some other penalties that are harder to digest."
(on the Redskins-Titans incident last week and whether he is concerned about the upcoming practice with the Patriots) "When we practiced them [the Patriots], we did a really good job. This will be our third time so I think that's the one thing that Bill [Belichick] talked about, and our players understand what we are trying to get out of it. I'm not concerned about that looking ahead right now. Our guys have handled that situation well."
QB Luke McCown
(on what the Saints can take from this game) "We did some things well, put together a scoring drive in the second quarter when we found our rhythm. Of course, we would have liked to have started faster than we did, but this is the first preseason game and you're going to run a lot of the things you've been working on. Once we found our rhythm, things went well for us."
(on when he found out he was starting) "I knew a couple of days ago. They came and told me. It was probably Tuesday.
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QB Ryan Griffin
(on how he felt on the field) "It felt really good being out there. This is my second preseason with the Saints, so I was pretty comfortable. I thought we had a pretty good night. We moved the ball well and got some points."
(on competing for the No. 2 quarterback job) "I'm always out there competing, whether it's practice or during the games. This was our first preseason game, so there's a lot for us to learn from. We'll look at the film and see how it goes."
S Kenny Vaccaro
(on the game overall) "We got our feet wet. We had too many penalties, I thought. Coach said we have to reduce those. We'll review the tape and make adjustments."
(on the Ravens' opening-drive touchdown) "We have to slow them down. We have to get off the field on third down. We had a chance to and I think Flacco rolled out and we failed to execute. We just have to get off the field on third down."
(on 2015 goals for the defense) "We've got to create more turnovers. We've got to put pressure on the quarterback and just approve upon last year."
WR Brandin Cooks
(on his touchdown) "To be honest the, quarterback threw a good ball and everybody blocked for me. All I had to do was just run straight to score. It was a great call by coach. All I had to do was catch and run."
(on the offense's performance in the game) "We have some things to clean up. We definitely have some special guys in the back field, on the offensive line and in our receiving corps. We do still have to work on our blocking to help our run game. We definitely came out with some positives tonight."
CB Damian Swann
(on his interception) "I just keep trying to work on my technique, trying to become fundamentally sound. It was my first time out there playing against that level of competition and it was a great feeling to be able to make that play. It was a dream come true. I'm happy I was able to go out there and make a play. This is an elite level and these are elite guys. Just being able to compete with these guys is a blessing. "
(on learning as a rookie) "I come to work every day and try to learn. I'm with a veteran group, Keenan [Lewis], [Brandon] Browner and KV [Kenny Vacarro]. These guys are ones I can learn from every day and that's what will help me stick around for a long time."
RB Tim Hightower
(on the offense) "I think it was a good first step. We did some good things on offense. We also showed some things we need to work on. We need to be consistent and not hurt ourselves with false starts and holding and penalties, especially in the red zone."
(on executing the game plan) "I'm sure when we go back on film, we'll see we did some good things. We sustained some drives, and we responded well and that drive right in front of the half with the two-minute offense, coming from behind and putting some points on the board [was good]."
(on his play in the game) "I just wanted to come in here and put a good first foot forward. I'm sure there'll be a lot of critiquing, a lot of things I can improve on, mainly I'm just thankful for that first good step. I've been out of this game for awhile. I wanted to come out here and give it my all and just leave it all out there on the field. I'll critique the stuff later. But I'm just glad to get that first step."
(on how it felt to be back on the field) "It felt awesome. A lot of work has gone into getting back and just having the opportunity to do this again, to play the game I love, and to be able to do it in a game situation, it's a true blessing. It meant a lot to be out there."
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CB Keenan Lewis
(on giving up an 80-yard drive to start the game) "We just have to go back to the drawing board and fix it, make corrections. We'll be all right."
(on if this was a continuation of last year for the defense) "I don't even remember last year. I'm the wrong guy to ask about last year, but we're going to fix it. It's training camp. Things happen in football. We've got time, and we've got to go back to Greenbriar (W.Va.) and fix it."
(on if he wanted to get back on the field after the first drive) "You definitely want to play. But it's a football game, and you've got other people making plays. You want to go out there all the time and be that guy that made the play to put your team in position to win. But it's also good to cheer on the young guys who are getting an opportunity to showcase their talent."
