Todd Monken Press Conference at Saints | November 8th, 2026 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00All right. Um, really proud of our guys.
2. 0:04Just the resiliency that they showed.
3. 0:07Um, the ability to battle through really
4. 0:09the first half. First half getting
5. 0:12turnovers, keeping them out of the end
6. 0:13zone. Offense struggling. But, uh,
7. 0:18again, I like the way our guys fight. I
8. 0:20like the way they battle. Gave ourselves
9. 0:23a chance, you know, there in the second
10. 0:24half and then in overtime, but, uh, just
11. 0:27just didn't finish with one last play.
12. 0:29So again, proud of our guys. We got a
13. 0:31special group of guys. Uh but uh not
14. 0:34certainly not good enough.
15. 0:37>> Going for two at the end. Is that a
16. 0:38decision you make before you get there?
17. 0:41>> Well, you make that decision as the
18. 0:43clock winds down a little bit because
19. 0:45you're you're at that point to where
20. 0:47they still have their two timeouts. So
21. 0:48if you kick the extra point, the nature
22. 0:51of the the way the overtime rules are
23. 0:53with 10 minutes is that okay, they're
24. 0:55going to be in two-minute with two
25. 0:56timeouts and need a field goal to win
26. 0:58it. So you're not going to get the ball
27. 1:01back probably. So you're really saying
28. 1:04tie or lose is what you're saying there
29. 1:07if you kick the extra point. That that's
30. 1:08my opinion. You're saying tie or lose.
31. 1:11And in that moment I said, nah, that's
32. 1:13not me. So we're going to go for the win
33. 1:15right here and it's going to be win or
34. 1:17lose.
35. 1:19What did you see out of Shador,
36. 1:21especially as it in the fourth quarter
37. 1:22in overtime, just the way it seemed like
38. 1:24he sort of shifted into, you know,
39. 1:27almost a different mode. It almost
40. 1:28seemed like he got more comfortable as
41. 1:30the chaos sort of
42. 1:32>> Yeah.
43. 1:32>> grew around. I'm really proud of him. I
44. 1:34mean, I'm I'm really proud of him and
45. 1:37how hard he's worked since I've been
46. 1:38here. Uh he wasn't perfect. I wasn't
47. 1:42perfect,
48. 1:44but for a guy that really hasn't taken
49. 1:46snaps with the ones in what, 10 weeks
50. 1:49when we announced it with two weeks left
51. 1:51and you're eight weeks into the season,
52. 1:52so you're basically two and a half
53. 1:53months where you're basically running
54. 1:55cards uh to come in there and to
55. 1:58continue to battle. Really, really proud
56. 2:00of him. And he's really matured. And I
57. 2:03don't mean that in a negative way that
58. 2:04he was immature. That's that's unfair.
59. 2:07That's not what I mean. What I mean is
60. 2:09is in terms of his work ethic, in terms
61. 2:12of his diligence, terms of what he will
62. 2:14say to the coaching staff and ask the
63. 2:17questions, um his feedback that those
64. 2:20are all the right steps moving forward
65. 2:23as any young player, especially at
66. 2:25quarterback. So,
67. 2:28you know, he gave us a chance at the
68. 2:29end. He really did. Made some plays.
69. 2:31Made some plays with his legs uh to
70. 2:33extend plays and get us first downs.
71. 2:36Heck, when we were in fourminute or
72. 2:38close to four minute, he got us a third
73. 2:39down conversion. Unfortunately, we got
74. 2:41the holding call, but I'm really proud
75. 2:43of him. Really proud of him.
76. 2:44>> What was the play supposed to be?
77. 2:47>> Well, I'm not going to get into
78. 2:48specifics what it was. We didn't execute
79. 2:50it.
80. 2:51>> I mean, it's a two-point play.
81. 2:54>> Did Sanders make a strong case?
82. 3:00>> I'm not even
83. 3:03I mean, we're How long has it been? 30
84. 3:04minutes since the game ended. I'm not
85. 3:07I'm not getting in the quarterback. I If
86. 3:08we want to talk about Shador, we can
87. 3:10talk about Shadore.
88. 3:20>> What kind of happened on that play?
89. 3:23>> Uh it's hard to really see, you know, on
90. 3:25the
91. 3:27surface that we have and then when you
92. 3:29see it live, obviously it wasn't clean.
93. 3:31It wasn't clean.
94. 3:33um from our back block with our center.
95. 3:36It wasn't clean in terms of our polar.
96. 3:38Um at the end of the day, we didn't get
97. 3:41in when we had an opportunity to go up
98. 3:42by a touchdown.
99. 3:44>> And I and I feel good about going for it
100. 3:46at that moment, you know, cuz and we
101. 3:47still had a chance there to potentially
102. 3:49back him up and get the ball back again.
103. 3:52>> Has he given you given you a sense of
104. 3:54confidence that maybe you didn't know
105. 3:56you had in or something that you didn't
106. 3:59see before?
107. 4:00>> Well, that's a great question. I mean
108. 4:01that that there was the way he improved
109. 4:04over the course of the first six months
110. 4:06that I was around him. I don't even know
111. 4:07if it was that long. Gave me confidence
112. 4:09in him. But ultimately, we've you got to
113. 4:12go play, right? You got to go on the
114. 4:13field and you got to execute and guys
115. 4:15got to play well around him, right? It's
116. 4:17not a one-man deal. We got to coach. We
117. 4:19got to scheme. So, till I really see the
118. 4:22tape, but ultimately at the end, right,
119. 4:25he came through and we needed him to
120. 4:27come through with some big plays and
121. 4:28some big throws. And again, I'm happy
122. 4:30for him because every player wants an
123. 4:32opportunity to play and showcase their
124. 4:34abilities. So that part of it I'm I'm
125. 4:36awfully proud of. I'm awfully proud of
126. 4:38our team. And as I told them,
127. 4:42you know, I'm frustrated at the
128. 4:43beginning of the game. I'm frustrated
129. 4:44that in the first quarter that we had
130. 4:47six penalties, special teams, offense,
131. 4:50defense, we're jumping off sides. You
132. 4:52know, we still held them to a field goal
133. 4:54even once. We jump twice on defense, but
134. 4:57I mean it's it's not sustainable for us
135. 4:59to continue down that road. But when you
136. 5:02talk about our players and the way they
137. 5:04enjoy playing with each other and fight
138. 5:05for each other and their resiliency, I
139. 5:07mean, this is the NFL, man. You're going
140. 5:09to play a bunch of one-sore games. And
141. 5:10where you finish on the ledger is going
142. 5:12to determine your season. Right now,
143. 5:13we're five and two. We're five and two,
144. 5:16excuse me, in one score games. We're
145. 5:18five and two. And we've played six of
146. 5:21the first nine road games. And if I if
147. 5:23if Peter was right here, only two other
148. 5:26teams have done it. I think that'll
149. 5:27harden us. I really do. I mean, who else
150. 5:29plays six their first nine games in
151. 5:31their life? Our guys battled their rear
152. 5:33ends off for our young team. And uh I
153. 5:35look forward to coming back home. And
154. 5:37hell, we don't we don't leave till
155. 5:38Christmas. We're there four games in a
156. 5:40byee. So, I look forward to us getting
157. 5:42back after it uh with this group of men.
158. 5:46Casey, I mean, is he about to tell this
159. 5:47kid, you coach, just I mean, he limps
160. 5:50off there, then he comes back and makes,
161. 5:53you know, what you you think maybe the
162. 5:54the play to win the game. I mean, just
163. 5:57the way the day he had
164. 5:58>> I had to ask like three times on the
165. 6:00headset.
166. 6:03They're saying KC's back. Are we talking
167. 6:04about Casey? Talking about the guy who
168. 6:05was on the ground for a minute, you
169. 6:07know, and he looked like I said that.
170. 6:08But that's him. That's that's Denzel.
171. 6:10That's the guys that that we have.
172. 6:14And first of all, let me just say this.
173. 6:15If you're playing in the NFL, you're
174. 6:17tough. You do this and you've done this
175. 6:19your whole life and you play football in
176. 6:21the NFL, you're tough. I don't care what
177. 6:23anybody says. And he is one of those
178. 6:24guys. He's one of those real guys just
179. 6:26like a lot of the guys that we've got.
180. 6:28And uh credit to him coming back in.
181. 6:30We'll see how he is, you know, because
182. 6:32that adrenaline rush where it's at come
183. 6:34tomorrow and the next day. But um
184. 6:38like I said, he's he's a real one.
185. 6:41>> Was it I mean, just follow up real
186. 6:42quick. Just was it What I mean what
187. 6:44specifically?
188. 6:45>> My understanding is an ankle. That's my
189. 6:47understanding. But you're in the game.
190. 6:49You know, someone's telling you stuff in
191. 6:51your ear and you're trying to figure out
192. 6:52what the next call is and all kinds of
193. 6:54stuff's rolling around. You're like,
194. 6:56"Okay, is he in or out?" Like you're at
195. 6:57that point, right? There's a lot of that
196. 6:58that goes with that where you're like,
197. 7:00"Is he in or out, man?" You know, what
198. 7:01is it? And that's not trying to be, you
199. 7:04know, disrespectful or that it doesn't
200. 7:06matter, but it's really at that moment.
201. 7:07It's really if they're in, they're in,
202. 7:08they're out, they're out.
203. 7:10the slow
204. 7:12start.
205. 7:16>> No,
206. 7:19>> no, just penalties, you know, just
207. 7:20penalties were a part of it. We had an
208. 7:22opportunity on, you know, one of the
209. 7:25early third downs uh that we didn't we
210. 7:28didn't the first third down we didn't
211. 7:30get a chance to, you know, progress the
212. 7:31way I'd like. um got to coach him better
213. 7:34and uh but we we certainly didn't
214. 7:38I'm hoping that the next eight games
215. 7:39we're going to we're going to flip that
216. 7:41script. You know, it's it's still we're
217. 7:42at the halfway point and we've certainly
218. 7:44got to figure out how to start faster
219. 7:46because we certainly can finish. So, it
220. 7:48it's crazy. You know, we certainly can
221. 7:50finish. Our guys will continue to battle
222. 7:52and they'll continue to fight and we've
223. 7:54we've seen it every week. Even at
224. 7:55Pittsburgh, our guys continue to battle.
225. 7:57We didn't finish, but in terms of in the
226. 7:59red zone, but in terms of our guys
227. 8:00battling and competing, that that's not
228. 8:02an issue. But we have to figure out how
229. 8:03we're going to start faster.
230. 8:04>> Heading into this game, you seem really
231. 8:06excited about what was going to be able
232. 8:09to do. What had you seen maybe in
233. 8:11practice that led you to believe that he
234. 8:15>> Well, he had a great week of practice.
235. 8:16He really did. And uh you could see his
236. 8:19excitement. I think the opposition took
237. 8:22when they mentioned playing this week
238. 8:24like it was disrespectful. I think he
239. 8:26was just excited to play. I think the
240. 8:27smile on his face just said, "Man, I'm
241. 8:29nothing to do with your defense. I'm
242. 8:30just fired to play." Like you're asking,
243. 8:31"Hey man, I get to go out and play and
244. 8:34uh kid likes to play and our players
245. 8:36like to play. They like to play with
246. 8:38each other and they like to compete and
247. 8:40we just weren't good enough today."
248. 8:41>> Speaking of toughness, how once again
249. 8:44just
250. 8:48>> n gave us a chance heck of a job
251. 8:51checking the ball down. uh Shadur
252. 8:53getting the ball in his hands and uh
253. 8:56gave us an opportunity there at the end
254. 8:57and u we just we just weren't able to
255. 8:59finish on the two-point play.
256. 9:03>> Good.
257. 9:03>> All right. Thank you.