New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton saw plenty to like in his team’s NFC South-clinching win over the Atlanta Falcons, but not on special teams. He watched with increasing irritation as the Falcons recovered three consecutive onside kicks in the game’s final moments, though the first was wiped out by an Atlanta penalty. Payton addressed the chronic problem during his postgame press conference.
“It’s not good. It’s embarrassing. We’ve got to get it cleaned up. It’s not the first time that this has happened now. We went through this (already),” Payton said, referencing similar issues in a game with the Chicago Bears earlier this season. Two of the Saints’ best pass-catchers, Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara, each failed to secure the live ball after it was kicked onside by Falcons specialist Younghoe Koo.
It’s obviously an area that Payton plans to emphasize in practice, continuing: “We’ve got to get that cleaned up. We’ve got to make sure we understand what we’re telling them. Clearly after one or two of them [onside kicks], you saw it wasn’t going very deep and we’re still lined up 10 yards behind the [line]…so we’ll get that cleaned up. That’s on us.”
Those late-game possession steals gave the Falcons hope in a game that shouldn’t have been so close. They turned those two drives into 15 more plays against the Saints defense, but to their credit New Orleans kept battling despite having logged 90-plus snaps in the game already. Of those 15 plays, the Falcons offense surrendered 5 sacks (one of them was nullified by a Saints penalty) and left with just 42 net yards from scrimmage.
That speaks to how talented this Saints team is. Even when one phase of the game breaks down (as the special teams unit did here), another group is ready and able to step up to secure the win. Once Payton and his staff get these issues cleared away, they just might be unstoppable.
Maybe he should try again to recruit retired coach Mike Westhoff, who shared a cup of coffee with the Saints back in August after serving as the team’s de facto special teams coordinator the last two years. Westhoff resumed his retirement after the Saints shook up their special teams staff during the offseason, hiring longtime Miami Dolphins coordinator Darren Rizzi and his assistants.
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