Tag: Darren Rizzi

Darren Rizzi says he’ll ‘have the blinders on’ vs. his childhood team

Darren Rizzi reflected on returning home ahead of Saints vs. Giants, but says he’ll ‘have the blinders on’ coaching against his childhood team:

Darren Rizzi opened up his head coaching career with three consecutive home games. The New Orleans Saints go on the road for the first time under Rizzi’s leadership on Sunday.

Rizzi follows up three games in the Caesars Superdome with his own homecoming against the New York Giants. He’ll be coaching the Saints against the team he grew up cheering for.

Rizzi has never been quiet about his northeastern roots. He’s told us Younghoe Koo went to his rival high school. During a presser this week, Rizzi bragged about his own high school defeating Tommy DeVito’s high school in the New Jersey state championship.

Being raised in New Jersey makes this game different. Rizzi told reporters he has to “practice what I preach with the players. I can’t get too wrapped up in the moment.” The Saints are playing at MetLife Stadium, about 15 minutes from where Rizzi grew up. He grew up rooting for the Giants and reflected going to their playoff games.

These memories are things he’s pushing to the back of his mind until after the game. Right now he is prioritizing having “the blinders on like everybody else and just trying to coach the game.”

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Opinion: Mickey Loomis shouldn’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach

Mickey Loomis got lucky back in 2006, and he’s ridden that win for too long. He can’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach after Dennis Allen went bust:

Mickey Loomis got lucky back in 2006 when the Green Bay Packers didn’t hire Sean Payton as their head coach, and he’s ridden that win for too long.  Really, he got lucky twice — that same offseason the Miami Dolphins failed a physical for Drew Brees, who signed with the New Orleans Saints instead. That combination established the greatest era in franchise history, winning a Super Bowl together and changing the perception of pro football in New Orleans for a generation.

And Loomis has gotten too much credit for it. When Payton agreed to take the job as his second choice, Loomis was coming off a terrible decision to trade up for Johnathan Sullivan in the 2003 NFL draft, a historic bust at defensive tackle who was off the team and then out of the league in just three years. It’s a mistake he didn’t learn from and repeated with later draft-day gambles on Sedrick Ellis (2008) and Marcus Davenport (2018), among others. It isn’t exaggeration to say Payton and Brees saved his job.

Just look at his record. The Saints have gone 48-61 during his tenure as general manager when Payton wasn’t coaching them (not counting the 2012 season when Loomis and Payton were both suspended). Now look at his peers. The next three longest-tenured GM’s have all seen their teams advance to multiple Super Bowls — Les Snead (107-99-1), Howie Roseman (135-103-1), and John Schneider (144-94-1). Just because Loomis has held his post a long time doesn’t mean he’s the best at his job. His official record is 207-160, including the 2012 season, but as we said many of those wins can be attributed to Payton.

And Payton was one of two head coaches Loomis has hired. The other was Dennis Allen, who failed to sustain the success Payton found and turned into a dead end. That decision wasted everyone’s time during the 2022, 2023, and very likely 2024 seasons, too. Despite his protests that injuries were to blame, team owner Gayle Benson overruled Loomis and finally fired Allen after his 24-46 career record fell to 26-53 this year.

All of this was said to say that Loomis shouldn’t be trusted to hire the Saints’ next head coach after this season. If Darren Rizzi earns the job by winning out and getting to the playoffs, awesome — that would be remarkable. If a candidate familiar with the organization like Aaron Glenn or Joe Brady ends up being the best fit, great. But that shouldn’t be a call Loomis should make. He’s shown before that he’ll take the easy way out and hire someone he knows, like Allen, rather than seriously consider an outside candidate.

Loomis got lucky once and it bought him a lifetime of job security. The last time he was given free reign to hire a coach he set the franchise back for years. Now, with the hope of a clean salary cap ledger on the horizon and the possibility of a reset coming with it, the Saints can’t trust that Loomis will learn from his mistakes and make the right decision. If firing him isn’t an option, and there’s nothing to suggest it is, promote him to a hands-off role in senior leadership and let someone with a fresh perspective (like assistant general manager Khai Harley) take the reins. We’ll just have to wait and see if Gayle Benson agrees.

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Darren Rizzi highlights battle in the trenches for Saints vs. Giants

Darren Rizzi knows stopping Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns is imperative. Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning must rise to the occasion:

A lot of pressure rests on the New Orleans Saints’ young offensive tackles as they take on the New York Giants’ duo of Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns on the edges.

Interim head coach Darren Rizzi understands the importance of Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning protecting Derek Carr in Week 14. Rizzi told the media earlier this week, “We got to do a great job of protecting the edge this week. That’s going to be a big part of what we do.”

Rizzi continued: “They have two playmakers on the edges between Burns and Thibodeaux. We’ve known Burns in this division for a long, long time. He’s wrecked a lot of games for people. They just got Thib back on the other side. Those guys are a problem.”

For Fuaga, this continues a stretch of facing formidable pass rushers. He’s stood up to Myles Garrett, Jared Verse and now this duo in consecutive weeks, with a bye week in that span. Penning struggled against the Rams as Verse racked up a multitude of pressures. The offensive tackle is looking to bounce back.

As for the offensive interior? The Saints are hoping to get several starters back from injury, including Erik McCoy and Lucas Patrick, but that’s where the Giants may be weakest up front. A potentially season-ending injury to Dexter Lawrence puts the focus concretely on New York’s edge defenders. Fuaga and Penning must be on point this Sunday.

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Saints won’t abandon the Taysom Hill package even without Hill

Taysom Hill is out for the season, but the Saints plan to continue using plays designed for him with a committee in his absence:

There’s a reason they call Taysom Hill a Swiss army knife. He contributed to the New Orleans Saints offense in a variety of ways before going down with a season ending injury last week.

How do you replace someone like that? Despite not having Hill for the remainder of the season, Darren Rizzi doesn’t plan on abandoning the Taysom Hill game plan even without Taysom Hill.

The difference will be how the Saints approach that portion of the playbook. You’ll never find a replica of Hill. As Rizzi said, “I don’t know if there’s another guy in the league who can do what he does.”

New Orleans is going with a committee approach. We’ve seen this before when Hill was injured, with guys like Alvin Kamara, Juwan Johnson, and Adam Prentice doing different things he’d normally be responsible for. Rizzi continued, “All the plays and different packages and things we run are going to have to be distributed differently.”

The most unique aspect of Hill’s game is his ability to run from a direct snap. New Orleans has no plans to discard this aspect of the offense either. Rizzi put it plainly: “We’re going to have that stuff still in the game plan.”

Rizzi didn’t want to disclose much, but he did reveal they’re trying out a few players in that role and “take a look at how it looks this week.”

Replacing Hill is no easy feat. How New Orleans replaces him will be one of the more interesting storylines to close out the season.

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Saints linebacker’s role changed significantly after coaching change

Willie Gay saw zero snaps on Sunday despite the Saints’ struggles stopping the Rams’ rushing attack. His role has clearly changed since Dennis Allen was fired:

Willie Gay didn’t see a single defensive snap against the Los Angeles Rams. The first explanation you’d think of is the New Orleans Saints played more defensive backs to stop Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. It sounds good until you look at how Week 13 actually transpired.

The truth is the Saints couldn’t stop running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum on the ground. The Saints’ poor run defense was their biggest struggle on Sunday, and Willie Gay still didn’t see the field. You’d think he’d join Demario Davis and Pete Werner at some point.

Joe Woods replacing Dennis Allen as the defensive play caller directly coincides with a drop in Gay’s snaps. In the past three games, Gay’s snaps have went from 13 to 6 to 0. That consistent fall suggests Woods doesn’t see Gay as valuable an asset as Allen did. At the same time, we aren’t seeing other linebackers get those snaps. Davis and Werner were the only Saints linebackers to get on the field against the Rams.

Sunday’s game was the most glaring example of Gay’s absence. It’s hard to point at this being an aberration or the product of game planning when the snaps have dropped consistently. At this point it appears Gay is being phased out of the defense.

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Surprising Saints rookie leads his position group in NFC Pro Bowl votes

After the first week of Pro Bowl voting, it’s New Orleans Saints rookie punter Matthew Hayball ahead of his peers in the NFC:

With the start of the 2025 Pro Bowl voting starting officially just week ago, we have received our first update on the current leaders of each position group in the league. You can cast your vote here.

As the New Orleans Saints have fallen apart with many injuries sustained over the course of the year, it was highly unlikely that they’d have any Pro Bowl players let alone a top vote-getter.

Turns out, that just might not be the case. Undrafted rookie punter Matthew Hayball currently leads the NFC in Pro Bowl votes at his position. Quite a pleasant surprise, isn’t it?

For those who may not know, Hayball is currently first in the NFC with 29 punts pinned inside the 20. That’s eight more than the next-closest player.

Diving a little bit deeper into the statistics, one may say that Hayball has punted 50 times this season tying him for third most the conference. However, in comparison to the punters’ ahead of him in this category, Hayball has been far more efficient in terms of forcing opponents into poor field position.

Hayball also ranks in the top five in total punt yardage and touchbacks but for the most part is somewhere between average and the bottom of the conference elsewhere. This is likely indicative of Hayball not having the biggest leg but makes up for it with his ability to accurately place his kicks.

Credit to special teams guru, now head coach Darren Rizzi, as well as the teams scouting department for locating Hayball this offseason. The Saints potentially have their long term solution at the punter position, after years of searching for Thomas Morstead replacement, a former franchise hero and Super Bowl XLIV champion.

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Kendre Miller to be ‘all gas, no brakes’ after return from injury

The move from Dennis Allen to Darren Rizzi took Kendre Miller out of the doghouse. It should lead to greater usage when he returns from injured reserve:

Kendre Miller’s New Orleans Saints career hasn’t really been able to get off the ground due to injuries. Injuries have limited the former third-round draft pick to just 10 games in two seasons.

The frustrating part about Miller is you see why the Saints selected him when he plays. He only played in two games and carried the ball nine times this year, but he looked like a great complement to Alvin Kamara.

And Miller may have the chance to truly showcase this upon his return now that Darren Rizzi is the coach. Dennis Allen was publicly critical enough to assume he and Miller had a bad relationship in private.

It was reported Miller didn’t need to be put on injured reserve, and that was a Dennis Allen decision. The change at head coach takes the running back out of the doghouse.

Per LouisianaSportsDotNet’s Ross Jackson, the plan is for Miller to be “all gas, no brakes” when he comes back from a hamstring injury. That could be as early as this week against the New York Giants.

Miller should see plenty of carries per game if this is the approach. The Saints will be without Taysom Hill for the rest of the season, and Miller should be the secondary rushing option over Jamaal Williams.

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Darren Rizzi offers scant details in postgame injury report

The Saints suffered some significant injury issues over the weekend, but Darren Rizzi offered scant details in his postgame injury report:

The Saints suffered some injury issues during Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Two of the most notable ones were to offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri and Swiss army knife Taysom Hill.

Saldiveri suffered a knee injury in the third quarter of the game and was carted off of the field. This really hurt the Saints up front, considering the team had already lost Erik McCoy and Lucas Patrick, who Saldiveri was specifically filling in for.

No updates have been provided on his condition to this point, outside of the fact that he was set to go for further imaging after the game. Interim head coach Darren Rizzi said he didn’t want to speculate about either of them.

Hill was also carted off of the field during the game after he took a helmet to the knee.

At the time, he led the team with 5 catches for 37 yards and carried the ball five times for 10 yards. It is the third time this season in which Hill has had to leave the game with an injury. Previously, he had suffered cracked ribs and a bruised lung.

He is one of the most loved players by the fan base, with many questions prompted after he had to exit the game.

The update provided on him most recently was not an optimistic one, coming from a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport that indicated he thought Hill would be out for the remainder of the season, which was confirmed after imaging on Monday morning.

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Darren Rizzi says Saints would have played for the win late vs. Rams

Aggression was the order of the day for the Saints, and Darren Rizzi says the plan was to go for two, not hope for overtime, had they scored a late touchdown:

Darren Rizzi’s undefeated two-game run as the New Orleans Saints’ interim head coach has officially come to an end after Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

And even after all of the praise Rizzi has received, there were a lot of questions surrounding some of the decisions he made. One of those had to do with the offense’s late-game strategy.

Rizzi said after the game that he would have gone for the two-point conversion if the team would have scored a touchdown late in the game. He said in the postgame press conference that the team was going for the victory and that they recognized they were “reeling on defense” after several Los Angeles possessions drained the clock in the second half.

Nevertheless, that did not come to pass at all because the Saints never did get that late-game touchdown. Derek Carr was under pressure on the final play and no receivers got open against the Rams’ coverage before the pass rush got to him.

Trailing 21-14, they needed a bit more with seven more points there toward the end to tie, and eight, which would have derived from a touchdown and a two-point conversion, to get a victory. Rizzi planned to go out on his terms rather than ask his gassed defense to win the day in overtime, but it never got to that point.

The Saints will look to get back on the right track when they hit the road to face the New York Giants next Sunday.

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Darren Rizzi owns up to bizarre timeout decisions from Saints vs. Rams

Darren Rizzi owned up to a couple of bizarre timeout decisions from Saints vs. Rams. He says the team had trouble substituting the right players in the right situations:

Credit where it’s due: Darren Rizzi won’t hesitate to take the blame when he’s at fault. The New Orleans Saints’ interim head coach owned up to a couple of strange timeouts his team called in Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams, explaining that they had trouble substituting the right players into the game for the right situations.

The first timeout occurred just minutes into the game. The issue popped up again later, but this time on defense, not offense. In both instances Rizzi said they had just ten players on the field. That kind of misalignment could lead to disaster.

So what’s to be done? We’ve heard Saints head coaches blame themselves before and accept accountability, but if those words don’t precede actions then nothing changes. That’s what ultimately cost Dennis Allen his job, and if Rizzi is going to be long for New Orleans, he must follow through. Extra time spent in practice and cleaner lines of communication are going to be key through these last five weeks if his team wants to keep competing when the playoffs kick off in January.

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