Monday Evening Quarterback: Kellen Moore underestimated Saints workload before 34-0 loss to Rams
Kellen Moore repeatedly albeit subconsciously took a defensive stance when discussing the Saints workload prior to their pre-season game vs the Rams. "I thought we had a really good week out here, as far as the workload we got, we just missed an opportunity".
Moore was then asked directly do you think fatigue played a part in anyway?
"I don't know, I don't know, this was a good push it week, you have to have those in training camp, those are inevitably a part of training camp" Moore could have said "we had a good workload" but he inserted "thought" because innately he's aware the workload is worth questioning in hindsight.
That doesn't mean there's a correlation, but again, it's worth questioning. Pointing out that it was a "push it week" and that you have to have those weeks was another subtle defensiveness that attempted to generalize heavy workloads as standard camp procedure.
And to a degree he's right. However, what Moore and his staff failed to recognize is physical fatigue isn't the only type of fatigue that can produce lethargy. Emotional fatigue is a real thing.
And it's why the Saints performed like a team that had already played it's preseason game on Tuesday against the Cowboys in what was, without a doubt, a very emotionally and monetarily expensive day for all parties involved - including six brawls, a dragon suplex and a 500K fine that's pointless to appeal.
Now combine all of that with the travel and the second joint practice and it's easier to see why this teams battery was spent before they walked on the field Saturday.
The result?
A 36-0 shellacking at the hands of the Rams.
The Saints didn't have enough Viagra to perform for the game because they emptied the stash on Tuesday.
There’s something OFF about Kellen Moore's offense
Nick Underhill has done an admirable job detailing how the heavy use of motion and the tempo introduced in this scheme both work to the quarterbacks advantage. The motion gives quarterbacks defensive tells that clean up the picture, while the tempo allows them to stay in attack mode, change plays at the LOS and put pressure on a defense that can't substitute players.
What doesn’t seem to work in their favor is the route spacing.
Plainly said, some of the route concepts and play designs in this offense are absolutely TERRIBLE and tend to muddy the same picture that the motion is supposed to cleans up. I’ve provided a video that details it a bit more.
Unlike the poster of that video, I believe the backup quarterback is already on the roster because he has to be.
Trading for a guy who's spent zero time running your offense is pointless, especially this late in the pre-season when the snaps are now going to tilt heavily towards Tyler Shough.
Meaning very few development and acclimation reps for a new quarterback.
But this is deeper than the talent — or lack of talent — behind Shough. My honest opinion? Kellen Moore's offense relies heavily on it's personnel to carry it. Where Sean Payton's offense could turn guys like Tommy Lee Lewis or Joseph Morgan into playmakers, Moore's offense is usually the product of the personnel he has available to work with. When the players aren't making exceptional individual plays that make it look exciting, at it's core it's a methodical, if not boring offense to watch.
In Dallas and Philadelphia Moore had access to elite offensive lines and high-level talent like Zeke Elliot, A.J. Brown, Dallas Goedert, CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper, Tony Pollard, Dak Prescott, Saquan Barkley, Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott.
Coincidentally those were his top offenses.
However, when Moore didn't have access to that type of talent, like with the Chargers, his offense averaged a pedestrian 20.4 points per game and before you point out losing Justin Herbert hurt, even with Herbert Moore's offense only averaged 21.0 points per game.
That output is much closer to what we've seen with the Saints who average 18.4 points per game in Moore's first year.
To the organizations credit they seemed to have identified this trend and leaned heavily into stocking the offensive side of the ball during Free Agency and the draft.
Yet even with the increased talent and a second year of the offense being in place the Saints are averaging just 13.8 points per game through five preseason games under Moore.
There's enough evidence to support that regardless of who has played quarterback, the offense has struggled to consistently put points on the board and find a rhythm in pre-season and regular season.
At some point your offensive minded head coach has to produce a competent offense or he's no better than Dennis Allen in his later years when he struggled to produce a competent defense.
Saints fans won't be patient beyond this year.
Thoughts on Jordan Tyson...
I waited a week to talk about this so I'd have some time to process what Jordan Tyson's injury meant in the moment and what it could mean long term.
In the moment, it's incredibly concerning.
The Saints drafted a player with known hamstring issues, babied him throughout the offseason, and then he goes down with another hamstring injury the first time he faces contact from an opposing defensive player that isn't trying to protect one of its own.
That's not good.
Long term, though, I'm not quite as down on it.
To me, Jordan Tyson is a Chris Olave insurance policy.
It takes three years to properly grade a draft pick — and, frankly, a coaching staff — and that also roughly coincides with the amount of grace I'd give Chris Olave before we have to start seriously asking whether his body is going to allow him to consistently be the player the Saints drafted. I mean to say... Olave may avoid another concussion or injury this year, even next, but football, like life, is simply about odds. Because of his history the probability for another injury, specifically a concussion, will remain a haunting background specter for the remainder of his career. Having a contingency plan is in the Saints best interest.
That gives Jordan Tyson the same three-year window to develop into the potential superstar #1 option his draft position suggest he can become.
So while Tyson's short term vision may be blurry, his long-term prospects aren't necessarily in danger because he's missing time as a rookie.
More importantly, if the Saints hit on Bryce Lance or Barion Brown, nobody will care nearly as much if Tyson doesn't pan out.
You remember Antonio Pittman.
Barely.
But because the Saints hit on Pierre Thomas, it didn't matter.
You remember Stanley Jean-Baptiste as a bust, but it didn't sting nearly as much because the Saints found Delvin Breaux a year later.
That's how roster building works, not every pick has to hit.
You just need enough of them to.
As long as the Saints didn't give up extra assets to get Tyson — a la Marcus Davenport — a whiff, if he eventually turns into one, it
probably won't hurt as much as it feels like it does right now.
Stock Down
I'm going with the entire coaching staff.
This wasn't a good decision making week for the staff and ultimately it cost them money, a bit of pride, and a small chunk of fan optimism for the season.
Scrimmages have a controllable variable to them. You can manufacture situations, work specific concepts and get situational reps that may or may not ever show up in a preseason game.
But a preseason game gives you a live pass rush, live tackling and a number of other variables that you simply can't recreate in a thud-tempo scrimmage. It's almost like they aren't putting much weight on the pre-season games as preparation but more for development of depth, and they are leaning on the joint practices for preparation for the 1st team offense and defense.
There's an ebb and flow to that and I don't think the Saints managed to find that flow state last week. Though currently undecided it's likely that Kellen Moore's staff will be tempted to play the starters next week just to get the taste of this game out of their mouth and build some momentum going into the season. Or he'll choose to die on the "We got good work out of those joint practices" hill and refuse to play them - should be interesting.
As it pertains to how they managed the week I'm not moved by Ross Jackson defending Kellen Moore's reluctance to use fatigue as a reason for their performance.
There's a rule of thumb called Occam's Razor and it's presiding principal is that the simplest explanation is the best.
They were tired boss.
PFF Grades
Top 5 Offense
Moliki Matavao TE - 93.8
Easton Kilty G - 80.2
Jalen Moreno-Cropper WR - 76.0
Xavier Truss G - 74.9
Barry Wesley T - 72.6
Bottom 3 Offense
Alan Herron T - 36.6
Ty Chandler RB - 42.9
Jeremiah Wright G - 47.9
Top 5 Defense
Isaiah Stalbird LB - 79.1
Khristian Boyd NT - 77.9
Elliot Davison S - 77.2
Jaylan Ford LB - 69.9
Jordan Howden S - 66.8
Bottom 3 Defense
Jayden Price DB - 41.9
Kahlil Saunders DT - 40.6
Jay'Viar Suggs - DT - 32.7
A couple things stand out from these grades.
Easton Kilty, Jaylan Ford and Isaiah Stalbird have consistently graded in the green through two weeks. The two linebackers in particular continuing to show well supports why the Saints felt comfortable trading LB Deion Jones to San Francisco for RB Zamir Wright.
On the flip side, last week's star Jayden Price took a tumble, but I'd argue that had more to do with Saturday's lackluster pass rush than anything Price did himself.
You can't ask defensive backs to cover for four or five seconds and expect consistent success.
4th & 1
Last week was such a tidal wave of fresh feces that the Saints should pretend like it didn't happen.
Just focus on the positives and move on.
The biggest positive continues to be Tyler Shough's progression, as documented in joint practices, while Bryce Lance appears to be capitalizing on the opportunity for more reps following Tyson's injury.
And then there's Kendre Miller.
I'm still not sure how some of your favorite analysts actually had him on the roster bubble.
Miller has another gear and explosiveness through the hole that only Etienne rivals, and you could see it against the Rams.
They also, by the grace of God, managed a single field goal attempt that was missed by Tanner Brown. That single moment revealed that their kicker likely wasn't on the roster, prompting them to announce the signing of kicker Daniel Carlson early Monday Morning.
That's how you turn a negative into a positive.
The Saints don't need to overreact to one ugly Saturday.
They need to learn from it.
Take the lesson.
Flush the game.
Move on.
Comments