Pete Carmichael Jr. speaks with the media about the Saints offense and preparing for the Texans.
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00:00 - All right, great.
00:01 - Hey Pete, what do you think about
00:07 what Kendray was able to do last week?
00:09 Is he somebody who's kinda, after that injury,
00:11 starting to kinda find a little bit of groove?
00:12 - Yeah, I think so.
00:13 I think, I thought he made the most of his opportunities
00:16 and felt really good coming out of the game
00:18 when the ball was in his hands,
00:19 what he was able to do in that game.
00:22 - What, I'm sure there's 30 answers to this question,
00:27 but what in particular has started
00:29 on the run game to get going for you guys?
00:31 - Oh, I think that obviously,
00:32 I think Doug and his group and all those guys,
00:34 I think they do a great job every week.
00:36 And sometimes it's me also calling more of them.
00:40 A lot of times, you know,
00:42 when it's more of a call,
00:44 more of a rhythm, those guys get going.
00:46 But I think our offensive line has done a nice job
00:48 coming off the ball and attacking those guys.
00:51 - How hard is that, it's a chicken versus egg question,
00:54 but I mean, when you gain zero on first and 10
00:57 and it's now second and 10,
00:58 how hard is it to stay stubborn?
01:00 - Well, I think that, you know,
01:02 in the back of your mind,
01:03 you might always kind of have a call,
01:04 but then when you get to second and one type of situations,
01:08 it's something that we've, throughout the week,
01:09 have kind of put together a little package
01:11 and say, hey, these are kind of the plays
01:13 that we're visualizing getting to.
01:15 Obviously, it's a lot easier,
01:17 like you're saying, if you get four or five
01:19 on the first down,
01:20 and then you can really pick from wherever you want.
01:22 So I think obviously when we're longer situations,
01:25 it's probably, obviously a much higher chance
01:27 of a pass.
01:29 - Is that, if you're able to get it going,
01:30 does that help the play action?
01:32 Does everybody get any better with that?
01:34 - I think it helps everybody,
01:35 but particularly with the play action,
01:37 I think if you're able to string a few runs together
01:40 with some success and then all of a sudden just,
01:42 you know, dial up a play action,
01:44 I think that all goes hand in hand, yes.
01:46 - Is there, is it just like a preference thing?
01:49 You'll usually kind of rank bottom
01:51 just like play action attempts,
01:52 is that just like within the scheme of the offense?
01:55 - I think that, I would just say that's me calling more.
01:59 I really would.
01:59 I mean, that's, you know,
02:01 we kind of go into most games with a certain amount
02:04 and you come out of the game and you, you know,
02:06 maybe there's a few that you're like,
02:07 I wish I had gotten to that.
02:08 So I think that's just a matter of me getting to more of them.
02:12 - But is it also sometimes just presented
02:14 on what the defense has given you?
02:15 - Yeah, it is.
02:16 Yeah, it's also presented maybe
02:17 to what the defense has given you,
02:19 maybe how, what did happen on first down,
02:21 do you feel better about it?
02:24 Is it all some second along
02:25 and are you going to get a softer defense
02:27 and maybe not get a chance to,
02:28 so I think that all is part of it, yes.
02:31 - You had mentioned some of the false starts
02:33 might've been a product of, you know,
02:34 some of the different wrinkles that you've incorporated.
02:36 Is that kind of a balancing act of trying to be innovative,
02:39 but also trying to make sure everyone's kind of--
02:41 - Yeah, I think, I think we've got to do a better job of it.
02:43 I think that the pre-snap penalties,
02:45 if we want to, you know, be doing some of those things,
02:47 then we've got to be able to handle it,
02:49 especially on the, you know,
02:51 what about tougher on the road,
02:53 maybe with the noise and stuff like that.
02:54 But I think that, I think that it gives you advantages
02:58 and yet we've got to take advantage,
02:59 you know, take advantage of those.
03:01 And so those false starts, we can't have those.
03:04 - I mean, just in general,
03:05 do you think that kind of the attack you had
03:07 in the first half, was it a bit more,
03:09 I don't want to say innovative, but you know--
03:11 - I think it's just incorporating them
03:13 as part of your plan.
03:14 And you know, a lot of times they might be on the call sheet
03:17 and it's, what we would say, it's bracketed.
03:20 So you could or you could not,
03:21 it's just a matter of doing it.
03:23 - What are some of the challenges
03:25 that Houston Texans defense presents?
03:28 - I think they play extremely fast.
03:30 I think they're well coached.
03:31 I think they're always in the right spots.
03:34 Ton of energy, they compete, they take the ball away.
03:36 A lot of, you know, force fumbles.
03:38 So I think that, you know,
03:39 I think that they like to do what they do
03:42 and yet they do it at a high level.
03:44 Play fast, you know,
03:45 energetic and competitive and tough.
03:49 - Do you notice maybe a sense of maturity
03:51 that separates them two?
03:52 I mean, you've got a first year head coach,
03:54 but it looks like they've been playing--
03:55 - Yeah, I think they're extremely well coached,
03:57 always seem to be in the right spots.
03:59 And I think they make you earn everything you gotta get.
04:01 - You've coached up against New England a few times up there.
04:06 How weird was that to see and hearing them move?
04:09 - Well, I think, you know, I think that,
04:12 I guess that's just kind of part of it.
04:13 Obviously they've had so much success
04:16 over the last history of the last,
04:18 I guess, 25 years, whatever it is.
04:20 But I think that, you know,
04:21 I guess that's part of it, it can happen anywhere.
04:24 - Pete, when you have the kind of offense breakout
04:27 like last week, what's in your mind,
04:29 kind of the key to just like establishing that as--
04:32 - Yeah, I think that, you know,
04:33 obviously scoring touchdowns in the red zone,
04:35 that's obviously a bigger, makes such a big difference.
04:38 But I think that, you know, come out of the game,
04:41 you feel good about the win
04:42 and yet there's still a lot of stuff
04:43 that has to get cleaned up.
04:44 And you guys have already mentioned the penalties
04:46 being one of them.
04:48 I think it hurt us a couple of times in third down,
04:50 you come out of the game
04:51 and you look at your third down numbers
04:52 and that's not good enough.
04:54 And sometimes those are part of what happened
04:57 with the penalties knocking us back a little bit.
05:00 And so I think that a lot to clean up in those aspects.
05:03 - Does it present any kind of a challenge
05:06 to have a game where you win 34 to zero,
05:09 you have this great offensive output
05:10 and then you come in and say, okay,
05:11 there's still these things that are,
05:12 that we want to improve.
05:13 Like how do you manage that?
05:14 - Well, I think, I think we just,
05:16 we coach them the same every week,
05:17 win or loss, make the corrections.
05:20 And I think when you really come out of that game,
05:22 I thought we hurt ourselves a few times.
05:23 We got a good field position for the defense a couple times
05:26 and a couple of those times we didn't do anything
05:28 and we ended up kicking a field goal for France.
05:30 So I think that we come away from that game thinking,
05:33 well, we had the opportunity to score more points.
05:35 Watching the field with the players and showing them
05:39 and we got a great game.
05:41 - Are there other reasons besides the penalties
05:45 that shifts in motions are a negative
05:48 or a higher degree of difficulty?
05:51 Or does it take away your ability to have two lines?
05:54 - I think we just, I think if we want to do them,
05:56 we got to be able to do it without having those,
05:59 to push that penalty.
06:00 Because those are, you know,
06:04 those are errors that shouldn't happen.
06:07 - What are other reasons not like to choose not to do it?
06:10 - Well, I think sometimes, you know, it might get,
06:13 when you do do it, maybe it gives you an advantage
06:15 to see what is the defense doing
06:16 or maybe to give a guy access
06:18 or maybe to set a certain front.
06:21 And then you might look at it and say, yeah,
06:23 just maybe it's too much, too much.
06:25 And you don't need to do it on this play
06:27 because it doesn't really, doesn't help you.
06:30 Maybe it doesn't hurt you, but obviously if,
06:32 if we're going to do it, we can't wait for this.
06:35 - Thanks Pete.