Tag: Klint Kubiak

Consistency must be the theme of the Saints bye week

The New Orleans Saints passing attack has been highlighted by big plays, but they need consistency. They must pick up where they left off after the bye week:

It has been said that winning masks everything. The New Orleans Saints can’t allow that to be the case as they enter the bye week. Despite being on a two game winning streak, there’s still a lot of work to do.

The last two games may have each gone the Saints’ way, but they’re still 4-7. Teams with seven losses through 11 weeks need work, and New Orleans is no exception.

A high focus should be on developing a better connection between Derek Carr and his receivers, even without Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. Alvin Kamara is dependable on the ground and he draws a ton of targets on checkdowns, but the passing attack is streaky. Veteran wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling has had a few splash plays, but he hasn’t been a consistent feature through the air. The Cleveland Browns took him out of the game plan in the second half last Sunday.

The passing attack was highlighted by stretching the field with Shaheed as well, but Olave had the ability to help march the ball down the field. New Orleans has to figure out who will play that role.

Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau and the tight ends feel like a group that could fulfill that need. The inconsistencies passing the football at the intermediate level have led to the offense stalling for long periods.

That’s one negative that hasn’t disappeared despite the different results.

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Aggression will be a part of the Saints’ culture under Darren Rizzi

Darren Rizzi expressed belief in being aggressive prior to last week, and showed he practices what he preaches. Don’t expect that to change:

For the rest of the year, you can expect the New Orleans Saints to be aggressive with their decision making.

After losing the last seven games under Dennis Allen, Darren’s Rizzi won his first game against the Atlanta Falcons. When you change head coaches in the middle of the year, sometimes you get an interim coach bump. Was that all it was? The Saints will have to prove that through the rest of the season.

Beyond rejuvenated energy, the Saints displayed an aggressiveness that will continue. When he was first announced as the interim head coach, Rizzi criticized Allen’s decision to not go for it on a fourth down versus the Carolina Panthers. That told us all we needed to know.

The Saints went for it on 4th-and-2 on the first drive. This was a predetermined decision coming into the game by Rizzi. He’s practicing what he preaches and is aiming to be aggressive.

He may not go for every fourth down, but his message to Klint Kubiak and Joe Woods was “we’re going to be aggressive play callers.” You saw that on the fourth down throw to Alvin Kamara.

The two most apparent aggressive decisions didn’t work, but Rizzi still strongly supports the decision. This is who he will be and, therefore who the Saints will be for the remainder of the season.

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Two former Saints offensive coordinator candidates have already been fired

Two former Saints offensive coordinator candidates have already been fired by the teams that hired them. Klint Kubiak must prove he shouldn’t join them.

Two former New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator candidates have already been fired by the teams that hired them this offseason, with the Chicago Bears jettisoning Shane Waldron not long after the Las Vegas Raiders moved on from Luke Getsy.

Klint Kubiak, who the Saints ultimately went with, must prove he shouldn’t join them. Getsy interviewed with New Orleans twice before accepting the Raiders job. Kubiak may have been hired by Dennis Allen but that doesn’t mean Darren Rizzi won’t let him go if the team doesn’t get results. Fortunately, that feels unlikely after the team revived itself with a win in Rizzi’s head coaching debut last weekend.

A big reason naming Rizzi the interim head coach made sense was because it meant little disruption for Kubiak on offense and Joe Woods coordinating the defense. That Rizzi didn’t quickly dismiss Kubiak and go with his own play-caller after being named the interim speaks volumes.

Still, Waldron and Getsy being axed doesn’t necessarily mean the Saints got it right with Kubiak. He’s been too slow to adapt when the defense has countered his game plans, and he didn’t do a good job preparing rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler to start during a string of losses when Derek Carr was injured. Widespread injuries to the offensive line and skills positions played a part, sure, but Kubiak’s unit hasn’t reached the same heights they met back in Weeks 1 and 2.

Hopefully he gets back on track once Erik McCoy returns to the lineup. The Saints welcomed their starting center back at practice last week and waived his backup Conner McGovern on Monday, which probably signals his return. McCoy was vital to Kubiak’s vision for the offense — the Pro Bowler was tasked with setting protections pre-snap, not the quarterback, which took a big load off Derek Carr’s shoulders to start the season. There’s not much reason to think Kubiak’s job is in jeopardy right now, but if the Saints fall back into a slump after beating Atlanta every option should be on the table. They need to know who’s part of the solution, long-term, and who’s part of the problem.

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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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Darren Rizzi has been named the Saints’ interim head coach

After firing Dennis Allen, Darren Rizzi was the best choice for New Orleans Saints interim head coach. He’s interviewed for the job before:

After firing Dennis Allen, Darren Rizzi was the best choice for New Orleans Saints interim head coach. He’s interviewed for the job before. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Rizzi was expected to be named the team’s interim coach, which was confirmed by the Athletic’s Dianna Russini.

Rizzi interviewed for the head coach vacancy back in 2022 after Sean Payton stepped down from his post, but the job ultimately went to Allen. Going with Rizzi now gives players a familiar face to rally around and try to salvage their season.

Special teams coaches are the few coaches who interact with  almost e very player o n the roster, both offense and defense. They teach linemen where to line up on field goal tries and show quarterbacks how to hold a snap for a kick. They work with linebackers, receivers, tight ends, and everyone else in the return game covering punts and kickoffs.

And Rizzi, specifically, is a respected voice around the league. He’s coached special teams for a long time and played a key role in forming the new kickoff rules implemented this season. When he speaks, others listen.

Naming Rizzi the interim coach also keeps Klint Kubiak in place as the offensive coordinator and Joe Woods at defensive coordinator. Neither of them will have to take on extra duties and risk getting overwhelmed. More changes should be on the way, but for now this was thee best path forward for New Orleans.

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The Saints had more punting yards than offensive yards against the Chargers

The Saints had more punting yards than offensive yards gained in their Week 8 loss to the Chargers. Klint Kubiak has some explaining to do:

The New Orleans Saints find themselves sitting with a 2-6 record after eight weeks, and their offense has been pretty much useless without Pro Bowl  center Erik McCoy for six of those weeks. This became an even more obvious issue in their Week 8 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers when they managed to have more total punt yards than total yards of offense during the course of the game. They ended with 366 total yards during the course of the game, which is not horrendous but not good at all either.

As for punting yards, rookie punter Matthew Hayball got 9 attempts to punt and made the most of them as he racked up 437 yards (48.6 per punt). He also put five of his punts inside the opposing 20-yard line and had only two go for a touchback in what was a pretty masterful game for the rookie punter. The Saints were averaging only 162.3 punt yards per game entering Week 8, the 22nd-most in the NFL, which shows how much of an outlier this truly is.

With all due respect to Hayball, the punter should never be the teammate having the best day, and he certainly shouldn’t be outgaining his own offense. Klint Kubiak has some explaining to do. Losing McCoy for so long has given him plenty of time to adjust but no changes have been forthcoming. He hasn’t recovered from that loss even with so many other starters and key contributors returning from injury. The clock is ticking louder as Kubiak’s offense continues to stall out. Something must change, and soon.

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Alvin Kamara credits a secret superstar for managing recent injuries

Alvin Kamara hasn’t missed a game despite dealing with several injuries, including a broken hand. Kamara gives all the credit to his secret superstar

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara has dealt with a few injuries already through the first half of the season. The notable injuries are related to his hip and ribs. On Wednesday, Kamara revealed more details on another ailment that’s been listed on the injury report. The running back broke his hand earlier this season and has been dealing with it since Week 5 per NewOrleansFootball’s Nick Underhill.

Kamara credits his physical therapist Jose Tienda for the ability to make these injuries manageable. Kamara nicknamed him Mr. Miyagi and gives him high praise. “He can’t heal bones, but he gets close. We come in every week and we kind of just assess where everything is at and we come up with a plan. Like, by Sunday we have to get to this percent.”

That plan didn’t change when Kamara came to Tienda with a broken hand. Tienda’s thought process remained that Kamara could reach a certain percentage by Sunday to still be effective. The injury happened on a Monday night game, and Kamara was still good to go on a short week.

As Kamara deals with these injuries, you may wonder how long he can maintain. There’s no concrete answer without a crystal ball, but Kamara says, “as long as I feel I can protect myself on the field, I’m going to go.”

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How many points have the Saints scored since their historic start?

The Saints haven’t matched their scoring output total from the first two weeks — in the last five weeks combined. Did Klint Kubiak’s offense run out of steam?

The New Orleans Saints were the best offense in football through the first two weeks. It’s no coincidence they were also undefeated in that time span. Since then, the Saints offense has sputtered.

Injuries to critical players such as Erik McCoy and Taysom Hill certainly had their impact, but Klint Kubiak’s play calling has been questionable as well. His tendency to run to the right side of the offensive line with little success has left some wondering, and the creativity seemed to run out of supply once Hill went out.

The most notable injury is quarterback Derek Carr. He was at the helm for three of the five games the Saints have lost in a row. It wouldn’t be sensible to point at his injury as a cause for the struggles. In Carr’s last 3 games, the Saints offense averaged 16.3 points with a high of 24 points against the Atlanta Falcons.

This pales in comparison to what happened at the beginning of the season. New Orleans put up back to back 40 point performances. That logically couldn’t last.

The Saints were out of this world, but they quickly came crashing down back to earth. Since scoring 91 points in the first two weeks, New Orleans has put 86 points on the board in the subsequent five weeks.

There’s a lot of places you can point the finger. At the end of the day, it just isn’t good enough. The Saints offense is a shell of who they were at the beginning of the year in multiple ways.

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Report: Contract talks ‘reopened’ between the Saints and Alvin Kamara

NOF’s Nick Underhill reports contract talks reopened between the Saints and Alvin Kamara. No. 41 wants to be a New Orleans lifer:

If Alvin Kamara gets his way, he’ll finish his career in pro football with the New Orleans Saints. The Pro Bowl running back has done his part to earn a new deal before his contract runs out (or the Saints have to make a tough decision and cut him in 2025), playing through injury and rejecting rumors of a training camp holdout. But contract negotiations were slow to develop over the summer, and he’s still on track to be released in the spring before the team has to pay him any non-guaranteed money.

Per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, those talks reopened. It had been previously reported that Kamara tabled those discussions once the regular season started, since he didn’t want them to become a distraction when he was preparing for a game every week. Either he changed his stance or the team expressed such a great willingness to talk shop that he gave his agent the green light to pick up the phone.

This all comes as false rumors are spreading online about Kamara requesting a trade away from the Saints, which he publicly denied. When Underhill suggested that, if anything, Kamara wanted to stick around? Kamara kept his response direct: “Correct.”

Will the two sides ultimately come to an agreement? If the team’s early-season success is anything to go off of, he can still be part of the long-term solution as his career winds down. Better blocking and more creative play calling than what we saw with Pete Carmichael on the headset had Kamara looking like a possible Hall of Famer again. If the Saints plan on Klint Kubiak driving their offense (or someone running a similar offense), it would make sense to keep Kamara around.

But as Underhill said, nothing is imminent, so we’ll have to wait and see if this ends how Kamara — and the many fans who wear his jersey every Sunday — hope.

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