Featuring postgame quotes from the following:

Head Coach Kellen Moore

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We didn't do enough to give ourselves a chance. We got to be prepared more. Starts with me. We to to give ourselves an opportunity to compete in these games. And so too many penalties, too many missed opportunities, big special teams plays early in this game that put us behind it. And I appreciate our guys' battle through the second half. They didn't quit. I do appreciate that. But this is going to be a very powerful lesson for our guys on adversity and how we respond, and simply, we can't start the football game like that with the sequence that we had and put ourselves in a really poor situation.

Why do you think this team was so unprepared at the start of this game?

Starts with me. Obviously we didn't do good enough. We missed the fourth down opportunity there, penalty when we got them stopped to kick a field goal, we got a 100 percent control penalty, dumb penalty on our part. And then we had three big special teams plays in a row. We got to do a better job of putting ourselves in better situations.

What's sort of your message to the team after a loss? You talk about adversity, but how do you kind of keep it going?

I think that's what it's about. It's a test of adversity. It's how you respond. You have to narrow your focus, look at the items that are good and certainly recognize those, but again, we did not do enough to start the game to put ourselves in a really good position to be competitive there. And so there's no one is going to feel bad for you. No one is going to come save you or anything. We got to put in a bunch of work, and we gotta get better right now and put ourselves in better position moving forward.

How would you describe this team's discipline right now?

We're not clean enough. We're not clean enough. Too many penalties, again, and too many of them they're under our control. There's judgment penalties in every single game. But the ones that we can control we can't have that. We got to do a better job.

You mentioned the three special teams plays in a row. Like what did you see that was going wrong against on you special teams?

That's a great question. I think obviously they took advantage of a couple opportunities. They had a really good design on kick return, the punt block, we gotta be better there. Punt return, again, they made a play. So we gotta do a better job there certainly, and that will be something for us to certainly spend a lot of time this week getting better.

Was the punt return touchdown just a matter of like outkicking the coverage on that?

Great question. I'll have to look at it more closely, but certainly, yeah, you can kick it deep, but we still got an opportunity to get that one down and get ourselves back in position.

In your history when penalties like that and slow starts like that have become a consistent theme, how can coaching overcome that or where can you pinpoint that?

We got to do a great job of studying this. There's no throwing this film away and just move on. This is a 100 percent we have to evaluate every little item that happened today and get better from it. Again, we did not put ourselves in a good enough position to start the game. It starts with me. And we got to find the solution.

Obviously nitpicking with the scoreboard the way it was, but how come the decision was to go for the field goal in the first half?

Just taking points at that point. We just got to get some momentum going our way. So obviously we knew it was an uphill battle at that point, and we're going to have to be really perfect to have any chance moving forward.

I mean the one before halftime in particular when you were on the five-yard line, I mean was it because you felt like a field goal could help you

Yeah, felt like we needed to earn some points out of that drive. We got some points, and we'll see if we can stop them and get ourselves at least in a position where you gotta play the game perfect to have a chance, but we just needed to get something going.

On that note, I know we've asked you about Blake Grupe before. Are you concerned about him? I know that was a long field goal.

It was a longer one. We got to find a way. We just got to keep getting better, and that's all we can do.

Heat of the moment coming right out of the game, but how do you go about establishing the accountability when it comes to repeated issues like penalties and things like that?

I think it's something we have to spend a lot of time, acknowledge, talk through and obviously understand it's something we can't play that way, then obviously we got to find the guys who can. But I have all the confidence in the world these guys will respond the right way. This is going to be a really valuable lesson for us today. It's going to be a really valuable lesson. Our guys are going to learn from this. It doesn't feel good at all but again, no one is going to come help you. We got to dig in together and find the solutions.

Does anything strike you about maybe what you need to do differently in terms of preparation?

Obviously it's something we'll have to study. Obviously we're not -- we did not play up to our standards today. So I got to find what parts that we can improve on, get better at. And we'll find it.

The penalties (no audio).

We're playing the battle the right way. I don't take that for granted. Guys are competing each and every play. Certainly the second half our guys are still going for it, which I certainly appreciate. We got to knock down the hard situations, and there's competitive situations. Again, we always talk about there's big plays that change games, and they can happen in any of the four quarters. Whether it's the beginning of the game, towards the end, we just got to find a way to be more consistent.

I know it's easier said than done to suggest getting the ball down field more, but these 10, 12, 14-play drives when things are going well, is that by design how you want to play these teams?

Yeah, I think at the end of the day it's really hard when you put yourself behind like that. They can sit there and play on top of everything. They're up by 28-plus points, whatever it is. So they're going to make you earn it. They're going to make you go the long way. We do have to find a way to get down field more on which. That's certainly the goal and the aspiration, but we got to put ourselves in position to actually be able to accomplish that.

What did you think about Spencer's play?

I thought Spencer played fine. He gave us some opportunities. He did some good things. We just got in too many obvious pass situations where we weren't able to get the explosive plays, and I got to find a way to put him and help him be in better positions.

Despite the loss, what does it mean to you coming back to your home state being the head coach of the New Orleans Saints?

Obviously I think a lot of us, we all have different experiences in this NFL. We all have hometowns in different spots. Obviously I appreciate my time here. I do love this place, but it's far from my thoughts right now, to be honest.

Both times you guys have tried the tush pushes here you guys have been penalized. Is that overstating things to makes a direct correlation between how much you practice it versus how it looks?

Yeah. Right now we're 0 for 2, and we've invested a lot of time in it, and we're 0 for 2. So obviously we got to get better there.

Quincy Riley seemed like he entered the game even before a lot of the backups started entering the game.

Yeah. He played a little bit more. We kind of anticipated that being the formula. Play him a little bit more, just get him a little bit more in the rotation and we'll just kind of see how all that progresses.

Kool-Aid was healthy at that time?

Yes. I believe so.

Just because of safety of avoiding any assumptions, the decision to go to Tyler Shough, can you tell us a little bit about that?

Yeah. I just wanted to get as many of those young guys in and get them a couple snaps in the game at that point. Obviously we weren't going to win the football game. Try and get Tyler a few reps in the situation.

When you have this kind of start to the season, is it too early to start considering personnel changes? Do you look at that already?

No. Our job is to get better right now and just get better and put ourselves in a really good position to be successful. And so we're not there yet. We're 0-3 so far. Doesn't feel good for anyone, but we got opportunities ahead of ourselves, and we got a group of guys that need to look forward, and they will look forward and get better this week and go for it next week.

Do you think that challenging environment here played a factor?

Obviously we had a couple penalties on the offensive line with the presnap. Those, again, under our control. We got to do a better job there. But, again, we got behind it. We got behind in a tough environment, too early, and that's a challenging formula in this league.

Was Tyler like an emergency option today?

Yeah, a little bit. He was just getting back into it. He had a great week. So we'll see how it progresses this week.

You said a couple of times here today that this whole thing starts with you. What's kind of like the first thing comes to mind with you that stands out that I want to do that better, I want to improve this or whatever it may be?

Obviously we got to be prepared and put ourselves in the best position to be successful. You got to eliminate all the silly things. We need our guys to just play fast, free and confident, and we gotta get there. And, again, we got to find the formula. We got to look into this film really, really closely and hold each other accountable. Starts with me, again, and we'll find a solution.

QB Spencer Rattler

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(On playing from behind..)

Yeah. It's tough. I mean, you know, you blink and the score is like that, it's tough to dig out of that hole. Thought second half we fought, but again, you know, self-inflicted wounds on all sides of the ball early on and can't do that with an offense like that. They're explosive. They had a lot of explosive plays, especially on special teams as well. Tough to get in that hole and dig out of it.

What do you think contributed to all the penalties you saw today from your offense?

We just have to be more dialed in. I mean, we knew it was going to be loud. It was a loud environment, tough environment. But I mean, we had those opportunities. We had the looks, and we just shot ourselves in the foot with the pre-snap penalties and then a couple post-snap penalties as well. So we're going to have to harp on that all week again, because we got another tough road game. We have to clean that up or it's going to be tough to win games if we can't clean that up.

What do you think kind of lagged in explosives so far? When you get in a big hole like that, it makes it tougher?

Yeah. Just like you said, when you get in a hole like that, they know the game plan after that. We're going to have to be aggressive. I tried to throw a few shots down the field when we were down three scores and tried to make something happen. Didn't connect on those, but we tried to dial some stuff up, and obviously they're going to play a little softer knowing we're down three, four scores. Don't want to be in that spot to begin with. We had a good shot dialed up for the perfect look, and I think we had a pre-snap penalty on that one as well early in the game. It's the details, the details, the details. That's all it is.

What's the team's morale like? How do you feel like you and your teammates are handling the 0 and 3 start?

It's not fun, but like the guys say, the vets say, you can't ride the roller coaster of emotions. Like we have to have a neutral thought. It's a long season. You see what's happening. We just have to be better. We have to be better on all sides of the ball. Have to be urgent about it and we just have to do it.

Is there anything consistent between the two false starts and the tush push? You guys have tried the tush push twice this year and both times had a false start. Something similar happened on both plays?

I mean we just have to be more dialed in on that play. We know what we were trying to do. The defense knows what we were trying to do. We've got to out-execute them and not get a false start on that.

On the 4th and 4, looked like you were trying to maybe direct traffic down field. What were you trying to do?

I mean, you've got to make a play. We have to work on scramble drills. We've got to work on that throughout the week, and I'm going to harp on that as well. But fourth down, end of the game, have to make a play. We just all have to be on the same page.

Was this team ready to play today? Just seemed like from the beginning you all were behind the eight ball almost every phase.

You feel good coming into a game. I mean, we felt great coming into this game. We had a great week. But you've got to go out there and do it. And obviously we knew it was going to be a tough environment. They started really fast. We had really bad self-inflicted wounds on all three phases, and you do that in this league with a good offense like that and it's going to be tough to come back from. So I think that was the name of the game today, and we've just got to clean it up.

Is there any crisis of confidence right now in the locker room at all?

I wouldn't say so, no. I mean, we know what we have to get better at. And we have to do it with urgency. It's a long year. We have to get better now, because it's not going to get any easier, and we just have to put better stuff on tape and go out there and play the ball we know we can play.

WR Chris Olave

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On how to clean up things such as illegal shifts...

We rep a lot in practice. We do a lot of up-tempo, trying to get off the ball. Here we just snapped it. We've just got to practice at a higher level.

On what is involved to practice at a higher level...

That's all we can go back to. We're 0-3 now. Today was a tough loss. We got beat in all three phases. That's where it starts -- practice. We have to practice at a higher level, be more technical in the details. Come back next week and try to get a win.

On the challenge of maintaining a positive outlook...

Man, you've got to. You can't just stop believing and have bad energy on the sideline. When adversity hits, that's when true character comes out. We're just trying to stick your chest out, keep your head up, keep pushing, taking it a day at a time. Control what you can control.

On if Kellen Moore is changing his outlook...

Not at all. Like I said, true character comes out when adversity hits. It's how you respond. It's like life. You get knocked down, you've got to get up every single time. We're not going to put our heads down. He ain't put his head down. We've just got to keep believing, keep a good mindset, keep attacking every day.

WR Rashid Shaheed

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On why the offense struggled...

We've just got to start faster. We've got to gain momentum. We left a lot of plays out there. We know that. We've got to come back in, watch the film and see what we can do better.

On passing struggles...

It starts with practice. We've just got to lock into it early on in the week and make sure it doesn't happen. I can't exactly explain why it is happening, but we've got to stop it because it's putting us in tough positions early on in drives. It's all of us. It's got to improve for us.

On if the fight the team showed in the second half can be carried over to the next game...

It carries over, for sure. We moved the ball late. We feel like we moved the ball decently well. We've just got to finish drives. We've got to look at what we can do better. I feel like once we watch the film and break it down, we can move on past this, and we'll be excited to go against Buffalo.

RB Velus Jones Jr.

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On how the team takes responsibility for being better in situations such as the blocked punt...

You've just got to watch film, and [learn] what can you do to prevent those things from happening. Just learn from mistakes. Togetherness is a huge thing, not pointing fingers at anybody. We all lost. The Saints took a loss. Let's get better. The beautiful thing about it, we've got another one next week. Stick together and keep fighting for one another.

On what's the message to the team after starting 0-3...

Adversity really brings the best out of a team. It's all about so what, now what? It's just how we're going to respond for the weeks [going] forward, Yeah. Just overcoming adversity. Stick to the plan. Togetherness. We're in this together.

DE Cameron Jordan

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On how he felt after the game today

I feel terrible after any loss. A game like that, you look up six minutes in and you're already down 21 (points). You get chin checked. You can say 'yeah we responded in the second half,' sure. We put up points, the defense had a couple of three-and-outs, but that's just it. We barely even got the third down, sometimes it's those self-inflicted wounds. On offense and impeding drives, and on defense they gave up some plays.

On if third down penalties will be a focus going into next week

This is something we're definitely focused on. Kellen (Moore) has done a great job throwing it up on the board and addressing it. He's saying 'hey, these are things we have to not only be aware of, conscious of, but have to correct'. At the end of the day, it's got to be on the entire team to get this far behind us as fast as possible. I think

On his role in helping the entire defense after today

It's got to be on us. It's got to be on guys that have seen this before. We've definitely been able to correct penalties before. I assume it's going to be on the leaders to have this talk and get it done now. On Monday, we've got to be able to say 'this is where we're at, and if we keep going this way, this is where we're going to finish up'. The reality is, at this point we're already at a juncture where we have to be as critical as we can be, right now.

S Justin Reid

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On whether the number of penalties is surprising

It's hard to replicate, game speed and game speed scenarios. Some of that you just get from playing the game and you get better at it that way. Hopefully you don't see the same mistakes repeating themselves over and over, and over again.