Payton wants physical play

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Sep 16, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:42 a.m.

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METAIRIE — If one thing jumped out to Saints coach Sean Payton after watching the tape of his team’s 29-24 loss at Washington on Sunday it was that the Redskins were the more physical team.

Washington’s superior physicality showed up in the rushing statistics. The Redskins rushed 31 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 4.8 yards per carry. The Saints rushed 19 times for 55 yards and one touchdown, averaging 2.9 yards per carry. Washington had six carries that gained at least as much as New Orleans’ longest run of nine yards.

Early in his weekly news conference Monday, Payton made six references to the disparity in physicality.

“I didn’t think we were the most physical team yesterday and that concerns me some,” Payton said. “When you watch the film from the end zone copy, I thought they played more physically than we did and when you start looking at the numbers, I think it indicates that, starting with rushing yards.”

Reggie Bush led the Saints with 28 yards on 10 rushes. Pierre Thomas had eight yards on six carries. Deuce McAllister got his first two carries of the season, to give Thomas a breather, and gained 10 yards.

Payton said an expanded role or McAllister, who is being eased back after major surgery on both knees, is coming “sooner rather than later.”

Only seven teams are averaging less than New Orleans’ 3.4 yards per rush, which is barely more than half of Tampa Bay’s league-leading average (6.5).

“When you’re rushing the ball well, generally you’re getting off on the line of scrimmage and you’re playing with an attitude,” Payton said. “We got beat there a number of times on the backside and didn’t finish runs and really made it difficult for the backs to have any kind of consistency, so we have to get that corrected.”

The Saints seemed to have a pretty good handle on the game as they held a 24-15 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Will Smith’s sack of Jason Campbell had the Redskins back on their heels, facing second-and-22 from their six. Then Campbell threw a 23-yard pass completion to tight end Chris Cooley, which turned around the field position and the game.

“There was a point in the fourth quarter where we felt pretty good,” Payton said. “As we had them at 2nd-and-22 with a nine-point lead, I felt pretty good with them on the 5-yard line. The momentum shifted with that play.”

Six plays later, Washington was in the end zone and within two points. New Orleans ran just six more plays and in between its two three-play possessions, Campbell launched a 67-yard touchdown to Santana Moss that won the game.

“It was disappointing that we were in a position in the fourth quarter to win that game,” Payton said. “It would have been a lot easier to win a game and not have played well and come in and clean up the mistakes, but the fact of the matter is that we didn’t play well enough to win.