Saints' Alontae Taylor speaks with the media following Wednesday's practice, assessing where he's at and focusing on.
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00:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:10 >> What's your view four weeks in or whatever we're at now?
00:20 I feel like you're coming up.
00:21 >> I don't even know where we are really.
00:23 >> [LAUGH] >> But I mean so far so good.
00:26 I'm up some downs but the goal is to not make the same mistake twice.
00:32 >> Was last week, especially the receivers that they have,
00:35 not only that you faced another team, but the team loaded at that position.
00:39 Was that a good game for you?
00:40 >> Yeah, most definitely.
00:42 I knew a former guy over there that I played with at Tennessee.
00:44 So going up against him and kind of going against a great slight team,
00:47 it was exciting.
00:49 It was fun too.
00:52 >> Alonzo, do you sense or feel your improvement in this camp?
00:55 It seems like you're impending.
00:58 >> Man, I don't really know.
01:01 I feel like I'm kind of staying the same right now.
01:05 I feel like it's just something where I'm learning curves and
01:07 things like that.
01:08 I'm just really hard on myself.
01:09 So when I make a mistake at nickel, I don't really care how good I do at corner.
01:13 I feel like it just kind of evens out to where it's just a basic day.
01:16 So I don't really know.
01:17 >> How do you feel about your squad?
01:21 >> Give or take.
01:22 I have some good plays on good days.
01:24 And I have bad plays as well.
01:25 So, but like I said, whenever I make a mistake in a slide and
01:29 I go outside a corner and I have success there, I don't really lick my chops about
01:33 it, I just kind of just take it and say it is what it is.
01:36 Just until I guess I can make a lot of success in the slide and outside.
01:39 >> For you, is it a mental workout in that position?
01:41 Or is it just blocking you from getting to the end 100% there?
01:45 >> Probably just the mental side of it.
01:47 So much to see, so much to think about.
01:49 Like I'll do the first couple things right and
01:51 then I might do something wrong later on in the play.
01:53 And so then I kind of get my corrections on the side.
01:56 And I just kind of beat myself up a little bit.
01:58 I have to give myself grace.
01:59 I think that's something I'm really working on right now.
02:02 Reading some books and stuff like that.
02:04 >> A lot of times I know it probably feels like a year ago, but
02:06 I think it's the first time in five years.
02:08 What happened on that touchdown in the preseason game?
02:12 >> Just miscommunication.
02:13 >> Yeah, I mean that goes with it being a position you haven't settled on or anything.
02:18 >> I was actually in corner.
02:20 I was actually in base personnel.
02:22 We just had a tool that we were trying to use.
02:24 We haven't really repped it a lot.
02:26 So we just had miscommunication on it.
02:28 >> Did you get any feedback from Tyrone Matthew and
02:30 Marshawn Lattimore when you get back to the sidelines and get feedback?
02:34 >> Yeah, those guys always give me feedback.
02:36 Not even just in games, but also in practice.
02:38 And I'll take it in and I'll do the best I can to learn from it.
02:42 And I just try to apply it to the next thing that I do.
02:44 But my goal is perfection.
02:47 And I know I will never be perfect, but that's something I'll just continue to
02:49 strive for.
02:50 >> Where do you feel like you stand on the competition,
02:52 on the outside right now?
02:54 >> I don't think I'm at a place to even think about it now.
02:56 Right now I'm just going in there, taking the reps that I take, and
02:59 just let the coaches make the decision.
03:01 I feel like whatever decision they make, I'll be fine with.
03:03 I feel like I got a lot to learn as far as the nickel goes, and
03:06 that's kinda my main priority right now.
03:07 >> Is that ever tough to do, to kinda just keep that down and
03:10 focus just on the day to day?
03:12 >> Yeah, I probably made that mind up, my mind up on that probably,
03:15 maybe right before we went to LA.
03:18 I just kinda told myself, don't focus so much on the competition.
03:21 Just go out there and try to do the best you can with the reps that you get.
03:25 At the end of the day, I don't control the decision that the coaches make, but
03:27 I do control how I play and how I practice.
03:29 So just working on the way I prepare and just the way I respond to things.
03:33 >> How has that helped you?
03:35 >> It's helped me good.
03:36 I'm in a good mental space now.
03:38 Going into this last preseason game, I think leaving LA,
03:40 I was in a good mental place.
03:42 So right now I'm really at a good place, and I feel like just focusing on my
03:45 preparation and how I respond to the negatives, I've done good so far.
03:51 >> Well, Lante, what are you definitely doing better in year two that you can tell
03:54 is coming from a really positive place?
03:56 >> I don't know.
04:00 I guess right now I would say my preparation.
04:03 I've always prepared, but I guess now I'm kinda preparing better,
04:07 watching more tape, taking care of my body.
04:10 And like I said, I'm kinda giving myself more grace.
04:12 When I do that, when I make a mistake, I'm still hard on myself, but
04:15 I kinda allow myself to understand I'm not perfect.
04:18 So I think that's where I'm doing good, actually.
04:22 >> Lante, you guys talk a lot in training,
04:23 you do all the best on best, even though you've gone up against Chris Lave a lot.
04:26 Chris, how good is he now in year two?
04:29 >> Chris is elite, man.
04:32 Me and Chris, we talk all the time, we hang out all the time, and that's my guy.
04:35 So he's making me better.
04:36 I feel like I'm making him better.
04:37 I know we talked about, I guess, contested catches.
04:40 He made a lot of them on me in camp.
04:42 So hopefully that correlates to games, and he goes into the games and
04:44 goes up against great corners, and does the same thing.
04:47 >> Are there situations where a wide receiver, A and a DB can win a rep, and
04:50 it's like, yeah, he made a one in ten catch, but
04:52 I forced that one in ten catch, is that a thing?
04:54 Or do you kinda just have to go with it?
04:56 >> I mean, you just kinda have to go with it.
04:58 He catches the ball, you gotta understand,
05:00 regardless of what you did good at the beginning of the rep, we call the ball.
05:03 Touchdown or reception, first down, whatever it be, and
05:07 understand how you lost the rep.
05:08 >> You were up against Mike Pazza.
05:10 How does he just look to you?
05:12 >> Mike looks good, man.
05:13 Mike's strong and physical, so
05:14 you have to kinda change your techniques up against him.
05:16 And I kinda got him in a rep early, and he had got me back.
05:19 But in that situation, I just took it like I won one, he won one.
05:22 I didn't take it like, man, he just killed me on his rep and scored a touchdown.
05:26 I just took it as that.
05:27 >> Noah, the penalty took it away last season, but
05:31 how bad do you want it to be for your career?
05:35 >> I want it bad, but right now I'm just trying to get on the field.
05:37 I'm not even thinking about that in that moment.
05:40 So we'll see how I respond to it whenever it happens.
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