New Orleans, La. – Emmanuel Sanders just gave us a pretty good breakdown of it, but when you’re looking at this Chiefs defense they’ve been forcing a lot of turnovers and stuff this year. Is there anything that stands out about that in particular to you like why they’ve been able to do that?
“I think that they do a good job of disguising, they’re obviously an aggressive defense, one of the top pressure defenses in the NFL in terms of how often they are pressuring the quarterback. And so I think sometimes that forces guys to get the ball in a little bit sooner than when they want it. But I’d say they have a lot of different personnel groups. I think they do some unique things with their safeties and their safeties create some ability to play nickel, but then roll the cover two and disguise, and so I think they do a really nice job of that, which I believe has in turn led to the turnovers.”
This is going to be your first Christmas with your son, but do you have any other favorite Christmas memories that come to mind?
“Christmas, for me, is all about just hanging with the family. Obviously, you get to the NFL, and your holidays become a little bit different because it is a normal work week for us. But I would say there’s not one in particular that sticks out other than just having the opportunity to hang out with family and enjoy some enjoy some good food and some great company.”https://a5ee8a2875bfa3efae919dc9bc7fc771.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.htmlAdvertisement
I know possessing the ball, taking care of the ball, third down, all those are a normal emphasis on a week to week basis. But is there anything specific you guys are trying to hone in on this week as you prepare for this game?
“Yeah, I think what you said is true. Ball security is obviously really important when you’re playing an explosive offense. As you start to do the math, you do not have a ton of possessions in an NFL game. So you do not want that to favor an explosive offense. So we’re certainly aware of that, but I also think that there’s the balance of, as an offense, that you also can’t play timid in the sense that we need to put points on the board and make sure that we’re creating opportunities for us to score. So I think that there is a balance there of making sure that we are playing inside our offense, which can lead to explosive plays, that can lead to big plays and taking care of it. So certainly, ball security is a premium. But I think it’s important that we don’t allow that to be a crutch, where we’re not putting points on the board.”
In four starts, where do you feel like you’ve made your most improvement or your biggest strides?
“Yeah, I would say just like, overall, my comfort level inside the offense. Having plans for our offense, and my ability then to get the play call, stick to the play call, get in a huddle, call it so we have better tempo, and just the mechanics of operating inside this Coach Payton offense which, frankly, is not an easy thing to do. And as you get here, as a new quarterback, we’re all trying to play catch up to Drew (Brees) and Coach (Payton), they have been together for so long so there is a steep learning curve there. And so I’d say overall, just having a better feel of what we’re trying to accomplish on each individual play and our rhythm, tempo and everything that goes along with that.”
After digesting the film from Philadelphia, what were your kind of takeaways from that for you specifically?
“Yeah, there’s plays that I’d like to have back, that’s not unique to any game, frankly. Overall, I wish that, I look at that fourth down conversion we didn’t convert and I wish I would’ve given Emmanuel (Sanders) an opportunity there. Maybe get a PI and maybe Emmanuel goes and makes a big play which he’s shown he’s super capable of doing. There are a few points like that, but overall, I felt like there was good film out there. Just learning from the things I felt like we could have done better as an offense as a whole. Certainly avoiding taking sacks in some scenarios that I did. I think I need to be better at that. But, overall, I felt like we gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game. Certainly need to start faster. No excuse there.”
What’s it like just for a quarterback to watch when you’re watching someone like Patrick Mahomes play? What do you see in him?
“It’s a lot of fun. Just like it is for you guys, I would imagine. But I have a lot of fun watching Patrick play. He’s obviously able to do some very unique things at the quarterback position. I think he’s one of these unique guys, where you kind of feel like at any given moment a big play can happen. He can make all the throws. And I think, ultimately, what makes him special and unique in this league is his ability to make something out of nothing. And then these off rhythm, off schedule throws. I’ve been really impressed with his ability to do that.”
You referenced the throw to Emmanuel and you just felt like maybe he’d pick up a DPI on it. But can you talk us through it and actually looks like he did pick up the DPI and still came up with the ball?
‘Sorry, I was referring to a different play, I was referring to the fourth down play. But I can certainly talk to that play as well. That was a look at that we had hoped to get and we were able to hold the backside safety down, put Emmanuel on the post and that was one of those plays where we’re going to take a shot, there was no one on the backside. And as I alluded to before, Emmanuel has shown time and time again, as I look back at some of the plays he’s made when I have been playing quarterback, some of the ones that stand out is that Atlanta play that got called back where he went up and made a big play that that led to a touchdown that got called back. I mean, he did the same thing in that play. I’ll tell you what, it gives a quarterback a lot of trust where you see a one on one situation that you could throw it up to him. And really only good things are going to happen where, one, you get a pass interference call. He goes and makes a great play, catches the ball, or it’s an incompletion. That’s a great skillset and puts your mind at ease as a quarterback.”
{Quotes courtesy of the New Orleans Saints}
