The Saints looked like a Super Bowl champ should look Saturday night against the Texans, jumping out to a 14-0 lead with the starters playing in the first quarter and cruising to a 38-20 win.
But Saints coach Sean Payton isn’t ready to celebrate just yet.
“It’s good to get a win, but there’s still a lot of things we’ve got to work on,” Payton said. “There’s a lot of things that are sloppy and we need to clear up. But fortunately, we’ve still got two weeks of training camp.”
Payton noted that the Saints’ kickoff coverage was lacking, as the Texans had returns of 63 and 55 yards. He also wasn’t thrilled with the Saints’ nine penalties for 97 yards.
But even if Payton wasn’t completely satisfied, it was easy for him to list the things his team did well.
“I thought we had some good tempo early on and was pleased we were able to score early,” Payton said. “I also thought we did a good job on third down in the first half. I thought that was important because we had pretty good balance. . . . I thought we got off the ball pretty good. I thought we protected pretty well and I was pleased how those guys played.”