Saints special teams coach Darren Rizzi meets with the media to talk about Week 1's performance and Panthers prep.
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00:00 How nice was that block punt and can you tell us a little bit about it?
00:06 Zach yesterday said it wasn't really a block on that play.
00:09 Yeah, well first of all it's always nice to get a big play like that in a game, no question.
00:13 Those are typically block kicks are real, real game changers.
00:17 You look through statistically throughout time and when you can get your hands on a field goal or punt,
00:21 it can really swing the game.
00:23 What Zach means by that, when he means it wasn't a block call,
00:28 it was the eight guys that are in the core, you have the two guys out on the gunners,
00:32 the eight guys in the core, it wasn't an all out rush.
00:35 We had multiple guys doing multiple things.
00:37 Some guys were in a rush like Zach, some guys were blocking, some people called a combo.
00:43 So it was a little bit of both.
00:45 Great execution by Zach, something he's been really doing a nice job of in camp the last couple of years.
00:51 I'm glad to see him get one.
00:53 He had a lot of close calls, him and I were laughing about it in the locker room after the game.
00:56 You look back at his career and some of those get forgotten.
01:00 But he's had a lot of close calls with some just misses and it was great to see him cash in and make a big play.
01:07 He's been a really, really steady special teams player for us now for multiple years.
01:13 It was good to see him get a big play like that, certainly with Steve Gleason in the house.
01:17 It was a very, very similar area of the field.
01:20 He was coming from the same side, it was a little bit eerie.
01:23 But really, really cool for him, the fans, and certainly for Gleason.
01:27 Great job, great stuff.
01:29 What did you think about the spot on that?
01:32 Yeah, so interesting.
01:34 Most people wouldn't realize the way they score a block punt and a block kick.
01:39 A block punt, if it trickles over the line of scrimmage, you actually technically, statistically don't get a block.
01:45 Whereas a field goal, no matter what, if you get a hand on the ball, you actually get a block.
01:50 What happened on that play was the ball was on the 27-yard line.
01:53 They ended up--the ball rolled out and they ended up marking on the 28.
01:57 The official on the near sideline--the official got caught up a little bit.
02:01 There was some stuff over there.
02:02 It came up and marked on the 28.
02:04 It looks like the ball went out the 27.
02:06 It's really just unfortunate for Zach because statistically in his career he doesn't get credit for a block punt.
02:10 It goes down as a one-yard punt.
02:12 But if you go back and watch the video, the ball actually trickles out at the 27.
02:17 If they had marked on the 27, one yard short, then he gets a block punt statistically.
02:21 It's a little bit hairy there.
02:24 So just unfortunate for him and his stat column.
02:27 But I know in this building we're giving him a block punt for sure.
02:31 How do you feel like you've done as a team?
02:34 Listen, I talked to you guys about this before.
02:36 One of the best things we've got going right now roster-wise is there are a number of guys that can do those jobs.
02:42 I thought Lonnie and Ike, they were both productive.
02:45 They both had tackles.
02:46 They were both down there by the returner.
02:49 We had some good locations on the punts.
02:51 That helped them out a little bit as well.
02:53 But Ike makes a really, really nice play coming across from the other side of the field.
02:57 Lonnie made a nice tackle on the punt his way.
02:59 Again, the more guys we can have to do those jobs, the better.
03:04 So I thought for game one, I thought Lonnie and Ike did a really, really nice job with JT not in.
03:09 What's the play together?
03:11 Listen, it's a good start.
03:13 Here's what I think.
03:14 You saw, or I saw, or we saw, or we all saw, the fans saw, the same guy that we saw since he's gotten here.
03:20 Just kind of a consistent, level-headed guy that went out there.
03:23 And listen, for a rookie to go out there in his first ever game and make a 52-yarder at that point in the game, those are huge points.
03:30 And then you look across the league, and even the extra points become big, big points.
03:34 Those are big points, and we end up winning the game by a point.
03:36 He goes out there with the last PAT and knocks it through.
03:40 So it was good to see.
03:41 I thought his kickoffs, he was really--
03:43 he was kind of locked in and booming the ball.
03:45 So good start.
03:46 It's a long season, but it was nice to see him get started on that note, for sure.
03:50 Aaron, I think the Titans declined a holding penalty before that kick.
03:54 They kind of feel like a challenge to the rookie in their first career 50-yarder.
03:58 It seems like a situation where it would have made sense for them to accept that penalty.
04:02 Yeah, listen, my gut tells me--
04:04 DA and I were talking about that on the sideline.
04:06 I walked up to DA during that, and I said, "I think they may decline this and make us kick a 57-yarder with a rookie kicker in his first game."
04:12 Maybe if you're playing Justin Tucker, a guy that's done it over and over and over again,
04:17 maybe take that penalty back up to 62 and make them kind of force their hand on third down.
04:22 There's a couple different ways to play that.
04:24 From a game management perspective, the thing you worry about if you decline that penalty
04:29 is all the plays on defense that can give you an automatic first down, hands to the face,
04:34 an illegal contact, a defensive holding.
04:36 So a lot of times, those decisions are made with that in mind.
04:40 We would rather make them have to convert a 50-yard field goal rather than give them an extra down
04:45 and all of a sudden something happens, a PI, a DPI, or something, giving them an automatic first down.
04:49 So there's a lot that goes into it.
04:51 I'm going to tell you that I think Coach Rabel probably in that situation made the decision to,
04:55 "Hey, let's see if this rookie can go make a 52-yarder in his first game."
04:59 So it was definitely an interesting game management decision, though, for sure,
05:02 and something that we talked about before they decided.
05:05 What do you know about--or what challenges does Raheem Blackshear present?
05:11 I mean, I think he scored like three touchdowns.
05:13 He was a running back last season, also had a bunch of big returns, back-to-back games.
05:17 What problems can he create?
05:19 Yeah, I think he really does a nice job.
05:21 I think they do a nice job in their return game overall.
05:24 I think they're coached well.
05:26 It's something that Chris Tabor, their coordinator, has always had.
05:28 Wherever he's been, he's been to multiple places.
05:30 They've always had a good return game.
05:32 The thing about Blackshear that sticks out to me when I watch the film is he's kind of a no-nonsense returner.
05:36 What I mean by that is he hits it hard, hits the crease, he's bouncing off people, can break tackles.
05:41 He had a number of bigger returns last year.
05:44 He hit 166 yards.
05:46 That comes to mind. It was a big play for them.
05:48 That's going to be critical, as we know.
05:50 That field position and our coverage is going to be critical.
05:53 He's been impressive, both as a back but more so as a kicker.
05:57 You talked about your young specialist.
06:00 I think they put turf down at this field, but it's still an outside road environment.
06:03 I think the weather could be dicey.
06:06 Do you do anything differently? Talk to them or prepare in any way that may be different?
06:09 Yeah, the nice thing about our facility here is we have the ability to kick on the grass outside, turf inside.
06:15 Now, the ability on the backfield to kick on the turf as well.
06:17 We installed a new goal post back there.
06:19 For games like this, we play an outdoor game there.
06:22 We play a few other outdoor games on an artificial surface.
06:25 We have the ability to practice the outdoor/indoor elements on all the surfaces, which is really a big deal.
06:32 To answer your question, yeah, the days that we're kicking, if we can take advantage of the environment outside,
06:38 whether it's wind left to right or if it's a little bit wet out or whatever, we certainly would do that.
06:44 Blake obviously kicked at Notre Dame.
06:47 He tells some legendary stories about some of their practices kicking outside.
06:51 He's a guy that's been in there before.
06:53 He did the same thing at Arkansas State when he was there.
06:55 They played a lot of outdoor games.
06:57 To answer your question specifically in that week, yeah, no question.
07:00 We try to take advantage of the elements as much as we can.
07:02 Then at the same time, it really just depends on a lot of times we're going to make decisions based on how the pregame goes as well,
07:10 which way the wind is going, right or left, north or south, and what the elements are doing that particular day.
07:16 We have the ability to practice on all of them, so we take advantage of that.