Tag: Derek Carr

Week 10 NFL takeaways: Saints got an ‘interim coach bump’ vs. Falcons

The Saints got the “interim coach bump” in Week 10, and that was the biggest takeaway from their win according to Bleacher Report:

Bleacher Report’s staff gives their biggest takeaway from each team every week. Their biggest takeaway for the New Orleans Saints is that the coaching change gave the team a spark. New Orleans fired Dennis Allen after nearly three seasons as head coach and replaced him with special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi.

There were many changes throughout the week that seemed like small moves, but when they’re all compiled together it begins to resemble a culture reset. There was an immediate and different aura around this team and it translated to the field on Sunday versus the Atlanta Falcons. There was more energy, and for the first time in a long time the Saints had game breaking plays.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling had two long receptions from Derek Carr. The deep shot was once the most deadly trait of the offense, but it’s been absent since Rashid Shaheed suffered a season-ending injury.

John Ridgeway blocked Younghoe Koo’s field goal before halftime. There were just plays you didn’t see happening before. Large changes, like interim coaches, are known for sparking change in their first game but continuing that momentum is the difficult part. Only time will tell if Rizzi can keep performances high.

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Drew Brees on keeping playmakers like Michael Thomas engaged in games

Drew Brees joined ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown set and shared his experience in engaging hungry playmakers — like Michael Thomas:

Legendary former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees joined ESPN’s pregame set for Monday Night Countdown before kickoff between the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Rams, and a key point of discussion was the trouble offenses loaded with weapons like Miami experienced in spreading the ball around.

Tyreek Hill. Jaylen Waddle. De’Von Achane. Raheem  Mostert and Jaylen Wright. Those are just some of the playmakers clamoring for touches. And Brees knows a thing or two about keeping his superstars happy. He and Michael Thomas made a lot of history together with the Saints, and he shared some insight into managing that relationship with a player who has drawn so much attention — both from opposing defenses and spectators on social media.

“Look you’re always thinking matchups. And you’re always thinking we’ve got a lot of mouths to feed, how are we going to get all these guys opportunities, especially early in the game,” Brees said on the pregame show. He pointed to how opening scripts would set up the defense to tip their hand  and show who they’re focused on taking away, at which point he and the offense could counter.

It’s just an approach that took a lot of patience. Brees continued: “And a lot of times I’d come to the sideline after Drive 1, Drive 2, and I’d look at Mike Thomas and be like ‘Hey Mike T, stay patient. Alright? They’re going to be doubling you here for a while. Alright? Young bucks, alright, you guys are going to get the ball, you’re going to get the opportunities when we’re start to make them pay here, Mike T you’re going to get your opportunities.'”

Managing that relationship was something Derek Carr struggled with after taking the reins from Brees, which led to a messy divorce between Thomas and the Saints that has repeatedly spilled out onto social media. Thomas has joined dissatisfied fans in calling for Carr’s job, and when one of Brees’ co-hosts brought that up, he gamely laughed it off.

It’s a shame things have taken such a turn for Thomas and the Saints. But if teams like the Dolphins are going to get where Brees and New Orleans have gone (Miami hasn’t won a playoff game since before Brees was drafted by the San Diego Chargers way back in 2001), they’ll need to do more to follow in his footsteps. That’s true for Carr and the modern-day Saints, too.

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Derek Carr gave Dennis Allen a shoutout after Week 10 win

Derek Carr gave Dennis Allen a shoutout after the Saints’ Week 10 win. Even if he isn’t the coach anymore, Carr credits Allen with a crucial role in their success:

The first person Derek Carr gave a shoutout to after defeating the Atlanta Falcons was former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen, who had been relieved of his duties prior to the game.

It was definitely a comment that caught most off guard and likely irritated some, but it’s important to realize that Allen was his guy, just as he was Allen’s. To a degree, the loyalty is almost commendable and is certainly respectable.

Still, Dennis Allen exited the building on a seven game losing streak, and Darren Rizzi had just won his first game. Many didn’t want to hear “shoutout to DA because he helped us build this. Shoutout to DA because he helped pave the way for us.”

Carr made it clear he loves Allen, but he’s happy for Rizzi. It wasn’t a complete Allen love affair, just statement towards the beginning. There are some fans who didn’t want to hear it at all. It did feel a bit forced because no one asked about Allen. Carr’s loyalty is unwavering, however.

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WATCH: Marquez Valdes-Scantling scores first Saints TD in style

WATCH: Marquez Valdes-Scantling scored his first Saints touchdown in style, with a 40-yard strike against the Falcons

The New Orleans Saints offense is finally showing signs of life, and recently signed wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s second reception with the Saints was an absolutely amazing one. MVS got up and over the safety in Justin Simmons, and was able to pull away from the trailing defender so Derek Carr could drop it in the basket for a 40-yard touchdown.

This was the longest Saints play since Foster Moreau’s 41-yard reception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6. Valdes-Scantling was brought in to be a deep threat for the Saints in light of the injury to Rashid Shaheed, and boy has MVS lived up to that moniker with this touchdown.

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Saints’ most important offensive starter returns after early-season injury

The Saints haven’t won a game since Erik McCoy got hurt. Their most important offensive starter returned to practice after an early-season injury:

This could be big. The New Orleans Saints haven’t won a game since Pro Bowl center Erik McCoy got hurt back in Week 3, which put him on injured reserve after undergoing groin muscle surgery. But their most important offensive starter returned to practice on Thursday, at least on a limited basis.

It’s still probably too soon for McCoy to get back into a game; his initial timeline had him returning to the lineup after the bye week. There’s a chance he could return sooner, and opening his 21-day practice window may indicate he’ll be back sooner rather than later.

Klint Kubiak installed his offense with the idea that McCoy would be responsible for reading the defense pre-snap and adjusting protection at the line of scrimmage, taking a load off Derek Carr’s shoulders so the quarterback could focus on communicating with his receivers and getting the ball out quickly. That plan had to be scrapped when the center went down with an injury, but his return (whenever it comes) could be just what they need to get the offense back on track.

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Derek Carr details the benefits of Saints’ new fast-paced practice

Darren Rizzi picked up the tempo at Saints practice on Wednesday. Derek Carr said it’s been a long time since he ran that many plays in practice:

Darren Rizzi’s first practice as the interim coach of the New Orleans Saints was extremely fast paced. Every coach has their own individual style and certain tweaks were expected when making the switch to Rizzi from Dennis Allen. While Klint Kubiak is still coordinating the offense, Rizzi is putting an emphasis on time on task at practice.

It started with the locker room layout, then shifted to coaching staff changes, and the latest change is the pace of practice. Derek Carr described the practice as “Extremely fast. Upbeat, fast, nonstop moving.”

Carr said, “That’s the most plays we’ve ran in a practice in my career in a long time.” The increase in plays gives more time to hone in on specific looks and also attack a larger array of objectives.

Rizzi’s approach should lead to a greater attention to detail and, in turn, lead to better performances. That’s the quarterback’s hope as well. Carr added: “You get more time on task on something, we get better at it. Lord knows we need to get better at what we’re doing right now.”

It’ll be interesting to see how consistently they use this pace throughout the week and the season. The benefits are there, but it may simply be unsustainable on the regular. Regardless, it’s a change of pace that hopefully leads to change of results.

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Derek Carr on Dennis Allen’s second firing: ‘This one was harder’

Derek Carr has seen Dennis Allen get fired in the middle of the season twice, but the pill was tougher to swallow the second time:

Derek Carr is far from unfamiliar with the process of changing head coaches. Darren Rizzi will be the seventh head coach of Carr’s career. This is the third time he’s witnessed a midseason coaching change.

This one in particular hits a little different because it’s the second time he’s seen Dennis Allen be fired in the middle of the year. First time it happened was as a rookie with the Oakland Raiders, and the second time was obviously this week with the New Orleans Saints.

“This one was harder. The first one was like three games into my rookie year,” Carr said. That first moment was kind of like a welcome to the NFL moment and left Carr thinking “Dang, this is the NFL?”

It may not have been just four games, but Carr felt like this run was short too. Over the course of three seasons, Carr has played a total of 27 games under Dennis Allen. The pairing hasn’t equated to success, but they’ve closer since Carr’s rookie season, making this a tough pill to swallow.

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Dennis Allen and Derek Carr make unfortunate history together

Dennis Allen and Derek Carr made unfortunate history together. Allen is the first NFL coach to be fired by two teams with the same starting quarterback:

There are many head coaches who have been fired from multiple teams. Dennis Allen is the first head coach in NFL history, however, to be fired from two teams with the same quarterback at the helm.

Derek Carr was with Allen with the Oakland Raiders for a year and has been a part of of the New Orleans Saints since 2023. You may wonder why Allen would partner up with Carr again if the first attempt ended so badly.

In Allen’s defense, it wouldn’t be fair to point to Carr as the reason he was fired in Oakland. Allen lasted just four games into Carr’s rookie season. Not only is a player not truly developed as a rookie, the partnership lasted less than a handful of games. The issues in Oakland went further back than Carr’s tenure.

Allen handpicked the veteran version of Carr as the quarterback who was supposed to solve the issues. That didn’t happen. Unlike in Oakland, Carr played a big role in this firing.

Long stint or less than a season, veteran or rookie. The fact each time Dennis Allen lost his job as head coach Derek Carr was the quarterback is a very unfortunate piece of history that likely won’t be replicated any time soon

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Quotes from Darren Rizzi after promotion to interim head coach

Darren Rizzi spoke to the media only hours after his promotion to interim head coach, here is some of what he had to say following the day’s events:

The New Orleans Saints firing of Dennis Allen and promotion of Darren Rizzi to interim head coach is still fresh as the Saints go through media appearances in the early afternoon on Monday. However, we now have the chance to hear from Rizzi regarding a wide variety of topics, and he most certainly showed his passion while discussing the team going forward.

One of the first points of emphasis he made was after he was asked what his message to the fans was, especially those who may have given up on the season. Rizzi responded with, “Listen, they should be pissed off. I’m pissed off, the fans should be pissed off, the people of New Orleans, the people of Louisiana, no one should be happy, and I think this city deserves a winner. They know what winning football looks like, and y’know it’s our job to bring that back. My message is this, I can’t promise alot, I can promise passion, I can promise fight, and I can tell you that team is gonna go out there every Sunday and that’s gonna be clear, that we’re gonna have a team that’s full of passion and a team that’s full of fighters. That I can promise you. Now the football’s gotta get better, the execution’s gotta get better, alright, but we’re not gonna lack those two things. We’re not gonna be boring to watch, that I can promise you.”

He also had a few other quotes regarding the team and moving forward from the 2-7 start, stating he wants to change how the team operates, going on to say “We’ve been doing things the same way around here for a long, long, long time.”

He would also say, “We’re going to look at everything. Everybody and everything is going to get evaluated and re-evaluated. Right now, the product is not acceptable.”

Regarding the injuries to the team, Rizzi mentioned he did not want to hear about the injuries, and that, “We have to execute better.” He also said that he spoke to Chris Olave on Monday, and that he was still being evaluated at this time.

One of the final notable points was regarding the quarterback position and where that stands, with Rizzi saying, “Derek Carr is going to be the quarterback on Sunday. … I’m not going down that road.”

Ultimately, for a first press conference, Rizzi did a great job showing his emotion towards the team and city, but also getting down to business and discussing what he intends to do with how the team currently operates.

Dennis Allen’s firing officially begins the Saints rebuild

After fighting the rebuild for years, the Saints are about to dive head first into one, and it started with firing Dennis Allen:

The New Orleans Saints announced the firing of Dennis Allen Monday morning. It’s the first time New Orleans has fired a coach in the middle of the season since firing Dick Nolan in 1980. This move signifies the beginning of a rebuild the Saints have been eluding for a couple of years.

When Sean Payton retired, the Saints replaced him with Allen, an in-house candidate. That’s not something you do when you’re even pondering a rebuild. After an unsuccessful campaign, Allen went to grab is old quarterback, Derek Carr, from the Las Vegas Raiders.

Grabbing a veteran quarterback who you feel can elevate your immediate future is also not something to do when considering a rebuild. The roster wasn’t good at that point, but the Saints fought it. There’s no more fighting. Firing Dennis Allen is essentially waiving the white flag.

The new head coach may decide to move on from older players and eat a lot of dead money to get a full restart in his second year. Offensive and defensive approaches will change and you will likely see a different prototype of players on the defensive line specifically.

The Saints have been under Dennis Allen’s offense for the better part of a decade. The new coach is going to bring his guys in, which will lead to a different style of defense.

Everything will be different around New Orleans in 2025. After fighting the rebuild for years, the Saints are about to dive head first into one, and it started with firing the head coach.

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