NewOrleansSaints.com
New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
2019 Training Camp Presented by Verizon
Monday, August 12, 2019
Post-Practice Media Availability
Opening Statement:
“We signed two players, fullback Shane Smith and tackle Chris Clark, to the roster. Any questions about today?”
When you were looking to fill your special teams staff openings, what made (Darren) Rizzi and (Phil) Galiano guys you wanted to pursue?
“The late Tony Sparano and I worked together in Dallas for three years and he's someone that I would say I was very close with. Tony hired Darren at the college level. So, I had heard a lot of good things from Tony about him. He was at Miami. I'd met him on a handful of occasions and overall I thought it was good fit for us, his experience and his ability to teach, his teams have played well. That’s how that began.”
The specialists were really strong last year. The coverage units were really strong too so for those guys to step in, they have that solid place to work in.
“Mike (Westhoff) did a tremendous job and Brad and Kevin. Very quickly we ascended to become one of the better special teams units in the NFL and you can look at, depending on how you want to look at it, but it played a key part in us winning 13 games a year ago, 14 when considering the playoff game. But there were a handful of games that went in our favor and there was a play that we could point to in the kicking game that had a lot to do with it. These guys come in with the same mentality as teachers looking to put our players in the best position, be aggressive and have enough things that we can do to take advantage of.”
Full Story - NewOrleansSaints.com
New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton
2019 Training Camp Presented by Verizon
Monday, August 12, 2019
Post-Practice Media Availability
Opening Statement:
“We signed two players, fullback Shane Smith and tackle Chris Clark, to the roster. Any questions about today?”
When you were looking to fill your special teams staff openings, what made (Darren) Rizzi and (Phil) Galiano guys you wanted to pursue?
“The late Tony Sparano and I worked together in Dallas for three years and he's someone that I would say I was very close with. Tony hired Darren at the college level. So, I had heard a lot of good things from Tony about him. He was at Miami. I'd met him on a handful of occasions and overall I thought it was good fit for us, his experience and his ability to teach, his teams have played well. That’s how that began.”
The specialists were really strong last year. The coverage units were really strong too so for those guys to step in, they have that solid place to work in.
“Mike (Westhoff) did a tremendous job and Brad and Kevin. Very quickly we ascended to become one of the better special teams units in the NFL and you can look at, depending on how you want to look at it, but it played a key part in us winning 13 games a year ago, 14 when considering the playoff game. But there were a handful of games that went in our favor and there was a play that we could point to in the kicking game that had a lot to do with it. These guys come in with the same mentality as teachers looking to put our players in the best position, be aggressive and have enough things that we can do to take advantage of.”
Full Story - NewOrleansSaints.com
