Thread: NFL 2007 Season Thread
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Old 09-07-2007, 10:32 PM   #294
Kris P Lettus
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Quote:
Moving On

Doug Miller, NewOrleansSaints.com
Friday, September 07, 2007 - 1:38 PM



Saints veteran wide receiver David Patten looked around the locker room following this morning’s workout.

And the11-year veteran, who has garnered three Super Bowl rings during his career approved of what he had witnessed in the aftermath of the team’s season-opening loss at Indianapolis.

“There are a lot of pissed off players in here,” Patten said. “To me, it means they care. It means they care a lot. On the bus ride to the airport, on the plane, there wasn’t much said. I think each player was looking at himself and figuring a way how to use this experience as a learning tool.”

Patten has experienced something like this before. In 2003, the team he played for, the New England Patriots, traveled to Orchard Park, NY and was thumped by the Bills, 31-0. Talk quickly burgeoned that the Patriots were a ship adrift and that the head coach had lost his team. The Patriots, though, went onto win 14 of their last 15 games and went onto win Super Bowl XXXVIII.

“That team had veterans on it and we listened to what our coaches said,” Patten stated this morning. “It’s like Coach Payton told us last night. It was one game and it isn’t going to make or break our season. What it represents is one game out of a 16 game schedule and we will learn from it. Mark my words, we will learn from this and draw from this experience.”

“Had we won last night it would be no different,” he continued. “We would have had to put it behind us and get ready for the next game. This isn’t the postseason. We aren’t one and done. It’s very simple what we have to do. We have to re-focus, prepare for the Bucs and learn not only from the things we need to improve on, but also build on the things that we did well.”

Patten said that when a score looks as lopsided as last night’s did, the natural inclination is to believe that everything is broken. But, he said, that isn’t the case with the 2007 New Orleans Saints.

“We are a good football team and last night’s game, in my mind, is not an indication of what this team is about,” he said. “We need to take care of ourselves and get better and help each other out.”

Patten said he is convicted to the thought that the best way for the Saints to do that is to stick to philosophy the team has across the board. “This is a hard working team and guys have a lot of pride. All of our prides took a shot last night because we all know that there were opportunities there last night and we didn’t capitalize on them. The Colts are the defending Super Bowl champions for a reason, and that reason is that they are a team that makes you pay for your mistakes. We can do the same thing and learn from what we saw. I am confident we will. I’m pretty sure we will all draw from the experience and use it as something that pulls us even closer together as a team.”

Running back Deuce McAllister echoed Patten’s sentiments.

“We have high expectations and aspirations,” the seventh year veteran said as he sat in front of his locker. “We just got off to a bad start. But it doesn’t change our mindset, our goals and our approach. We believe.”
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