Payton On The Saints' Win

Sean Payton notes that his team's offensive line did a great job of keeping the Giants' front four off of Drew Brees [1] ...

That was a key statistic as we were looking at this game, you know, our ability to handle that front. New York’s got a really talented group, they’re well coached and they’re players that have had a lot of success when you start looking at Osi Umenyiora [2] and Justin Tuck [3], there’s a number of players you have to account for. And Jermon Bushrod [4] stepped in, and I think the group in general did a great job of allowing Drew the necessary time to get the ball down field. It’s one thing in your game plan to say hey, we want to attack down the field. But the other aspect of that is protecting to allow the quarterback the time to throw it down the field and I thought we were outstanding in that area.”

As I mentioned in Quick Reads this week, the Giants' scheme against the Saints was reminiscent of the scheme the Giants used in the Super Bowl against the Patriots, rushing four on most plays and dropping seven into coverage. It worked really well against the Patriots because the Giants won one-on-one matchups up front over and over again; against the Saints, well, that didn't happen.

Payton's also right to mention Bushrod, who's having an under-the-radar great season as the fill-in left tackle for Jammal Brown. An actual question: Is there anyone having a better under-the-radar season than Bushrod?