Tag: Pete Carmichael

Report: Saints considering Jon Gruden, but not for offensive coordinator

The Saints are reportedly considering Jon Gruden as an addition to their coaching staff, but not as a replacement for offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael:

This was obviously coming down the pipeline, right? Jeff Duncan reports for the Times-Picayune | Advocate that the New Orleans Saints are considering Jon Gruden for a role on their coaching staff, having wined and dined with him before their Week 17 road game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in Tampa, where Gruden resides). Gruden was previously around the team as an unpaid consultant during their 2023 training camp.

Gruden got more out of Saints quarterback Derek Carr than any other coach when they were together on the Raiders, but here’s the catch: Duncan adds that Gruden “likely would” come on as assistant coach, not an outright replacement for offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael. He describes a possible situation similar to the one that Allen experienced as co-defensive coordinator with Rob Ryan back in 2015, when the Saints eventually dismissed Ryan midseason to give Allen full control of the defense.

On top of that, Gruden is actively suing the NFL and league commissioner Roger Goodell while seeking damages to his personal reputation and professional career. Gruden resigned as the Raiders head coach in 2021 after emails he wrote while an employee at ESPN from 2011 to 2018 were leaked, containing sexist, racist, and homophobic content led to public outcry. The documents were discovered during an NFL investigation into workplace misconduct allegations against former Washington executives. A hearing in the Nevada Supreme Court is expected later this week.

The Saints offense improved greatly down the stretch in 2021, with Carr throwing 15 touchdown passes against 3 interceptions through six games in December, while the unit averaged 28.8 points per game. Once Carmichael picked up recent trends and started utilizing more frequent play action, pre-snap motion, and more favorable targets for the tight ends, Carr flourished.

But it was still too little, too late for the Saints to reach the playoffs. If Dennis Allen believes that Gruden can help Carr and the offense start hotter and maintain consistency, they’ll likely make a run at him, even if it’s unclear how he’d fit into the offensive coaching structure (to say nothing of whether the NFL would allow it while he’s actively suing them). Duncan’s report says there’s mutual interest, so stay tuned.

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Fans on Twitter push back as Mickey Loomis tries to revise Saints history

Mickey Loomis attempted some revisionist history when comparing Derek Carr’s first year with the Saints to Drew Brees’ debut as the league-leading passer:

New Orleans Saints general manager earned some ire from his team’s fans on social media during his latest appearance on WWL Radio, having tried his hand at some revisionary history. When recapping Derek Carr’s up-and-down first year in New Orleans with WWL’s Jeff Nowak, Loomis made an impressive misstep in comparing Carr’s lack of success to the challenges Brees experienced in his first year on the job as the Saints’ starting quarterback.

“I mean, this is Derek’s first year with us and if we went back to 2006 and looked at Brees’ first season or with us, you wouldn’t say, ‘Wow, that guy is going to the Hall of Fame’ after season 1 or season 2, so sometimes it takes a while for us to be familiar with him,” Loomis mused. “For him to have a real grasp of the offense, in terms of being reactive instead of thinking and making a play and getting on the same page with our staff, our coaches as well as our players.”

Archival materials aren’t as common dating back to 2006 — which makes sense given the Saints’ status in a smaller market with a decreased media presence in the wake of Hurricane Katrina — but here’s what one of the longest-tenured analysts on the beat had to say at time.

Writing for the Houma Courier, Mike Detillier recapped Brees’ first 13 games as such: “Brees has been just what the football doctor ordered for the Saints as far as intelligence, leadership, production and gamesmanship is concerned. … The former Purdue All-American and his former teammate in San Diego, halfback LaDainian Tomlinson, should be the co-MVP’s in the league this season.”

And speaking as someone who lived to experience it, no one was calling Brees a future Hall of Famer after his first season. But even the critics who had called him damaged goods over the summer were won over by the time he ended the year with Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro recognition, having lead the NFL in passing yards (4,418). When Brees followed up that performance with more sky-high passing numbers (and, critically, winning seasons and a Super Bowl title) he was being discussed as a Hall of Fame lock by the 2011 record-breaking campaign.

But back to Loomis’ point and the comparison to Carr. It’s true that few fans were putting Brees in Canton going into the final week of the 2006 regular season or even in 2007. At the same time, Brees had done much more to give fans reason to think this team had a future with him under center than Carr has this year.

In 2006, Brees conducted an offense that ranked fifth in scoring, third on third downs, and third in yards per play. Carr’s version of the offense ranks 14th, 16th, and 18th in each of those same categories. And let’s not forget that, at the time, Brees was a 27-year old coming off of reconstructive shoulder surgery with 59 career starts behind him. Carr joined the Saints with five years and 83 more games’ worth of experience behind him.

Sure, Pete Carmichael isn’t the play caller that Sean Payton was, but when you’re comparing players like Loomis is trying to do you’ve got to keep focus limited to those players. Loomis might be trying to pull a fast one on a disgruntled Saints fanbase, but fans on social media rightfully didn’t let it slide. Here’s what they’re saying in response on Twitter, the platform currently known as X:

Local and national reports say Saints will bring Dennis Allen back for 2024

Local and national reports are in lockstep, saying the New Orleans Saints will bring Dennis Allen back for 2024 — barring a catastrophic finish to the 2023 season:

This seemed to be the way the wind was blowing, but it’s appearing increasingly certain that the New Orleans Saints will run it back again with Dennis Allen as their head coach in 2024. Local reporting from NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill and national reports from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero are in lockstep: barring a complete collapse in the final two weeks of the regular season, Saints leadership is planning for Allen to remain the team’s head coach next season.

While Allen has come up short in both of his first two years as New Orleans’ head coach — mirroring his ugly start with the Raiders a decade ago — the Saints are all too eager to make excuses for him. Last year it was the challenges of an injury-ridden roster and poor quarterback performance.

This season, Rapoport shares that the Saints are giving Allen a mulligan for having had to navigate “a suspension of their best offensive player Alvin Kamara, included a variety of injuries to starting quarterback Derek Carr, and featured countless variations to the offensive line and front-seven looks due to more injuries.”

Now, that doesn’t mean change isn’t on the way; Carr’s struggles to elevate the offense beyond what Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston achieved with it last year have the Saints looking critically at their coaching staff and some veteran players, so more turnover on that side of the ball could be a point of emphasis. But it’s not like they haven’t shuffled the offensive coaching staff already. Allen has replaced the offensive line coach, wide receivers coach, tight ends coach and put quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry in a more prominent position as the passing game coordinator through his first two offseasons. Maybe the third time’s the charm for upgrading offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael.

Either way, Allen will be back, bring his 152nd-best career win percentage with him. It’s very plausible that the Saints viewed the Allen-and-Carr experiment as a two-year process all along. Carr’s heavy contract guarantees run out after the 2024 season, which is the third year of Allen’s contract. If they fail to reach the playoffs again it would be much easier to jettison them both and, maybe, install a new regime with a high draft pick in 2025. But that’s a tough vision to sell to a fanbase that’s been let down by Loomis and his leadership team before. Hopefully the Saints can just get back to winning games and entertaining fans sooner rather than later.

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5 possible replacements for Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael

A new offensive coordinator is the most realistic change for the Saints in 2024. Here are some possibilities from Ken Dorsey and Eric Bieniemy to Jon Gruden:

Big changes are needed for the New Orleans Saints, but they appear to be willing to wait until 2025 when it’s easier to get out of Derek Carr’s contract and move on from him and head coach Dennis Allen as a package deal — obviously hoping both of them figure things out and finally achieve a winning season instead.

So the most realistic big change fans could expect for 2024 would be a new offensive coordinator. Pete Carmichael Jr. hasn’t gotten the job done in either of his two years as the Saints’ play caller. It’s possible that Allen could promote from within (passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry is an obvious possibility) but the Saints badly need fresh perspective in the room. They can’t keep trying to run Sean Payton and Drew Brees’ offense without either of them.

The problem is that Allen has tried and failed to replace Carmichael in each of his first two years on the job; up-and-comers like Liam Coen would rather stay in the college ranks than try and advance their career on his staff, while coaching veterans like Jay Gruden, Scottie Montgomery, and Robert Prince are trying their hand elsewhere. If Allen is going to get a new coordinator, it’ll be someone who is either desperate for the opportunity, highly-paid to sweeten the deal, or both.

So who fits that description? Here are five names we’re watching closely.

Studs and Duds from Saints’ 24-6 win over the Giants

Who were the studs and and what were the duds from the New Orleans Saints’ 24-6 win over the New York Giants

The New Orleans Saints (7-7) dismantled the New York Giants (5-9) on Sunday, and it was largely thanks to the efforts of some veterans who rose to the occasion. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but it was close to an ideal game in Dennis Allen’s vision for this team.

Who made a difference on Sunday afternoon — for good or bad? Who stood out for positive and negative reasons? Let’s break down this week’s Studs and Duds:

Saints’ Pete Carmichael: Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux presents a unique challenge

New Orleans Saints OC Pete Carmichael admits that New York Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux is a unique talent who presents a challenge.

When the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints take the field on Sunday, both teams will be as hungry for a win as the other.

The Saints are in a three-way tie in their division and need a win to separate themselves from the rest. The Giants are trying to establish that they’re still a contender in the Wild Card hunt.

A large part of the Giants’ recent success has been the play on the defensive side of the ball. Primarily the play of one Kayvon Thibodeaux, who has recorded 11.5 sacks and is ninth in the NFL in that department.

After practice on Friday, Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael was asked about Thibs’ sacks and what he does well.

“I think he rushes the passer extremely well, and I think that when you look at him, you see it, you see a variety of different things that he does. He’s obviously a guy that’s a difference-maker for them, so we have to be alert to where he is. He’s a challenge,” he said.

A challenge, indeed.

At the age of 23, Thibodeaux stands at 6-foot-5 and weighs 258 pounds, but his speed off the line is not representative of his size. He is athletic and has a high football IQ. His anticipation improves every week, and he learns throughout the game. He has more sacks in the fourth quarter this season than any other quarter.

Thibodeaux is definitely a challenge for opposing offenses. We’ll see what the Saints have in mind on Sunday and if it will be effective.

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Saints’ opening drive touchdowns drought extends to 13 games

The Saints’ opening drive touchdowns drought extended to 13 games against the Panthers:

This isn’t how you play a winning brand of football. The New Orleans Saints ended their opening drive against the Carolina Panthers with a missed field goal from the 29-yard line — alone, that’s a bad thing (especially for rookie kicker Blake Grupe, who is now the only specialist in the NFL with multiple misses inside 30 yards), but in the big picture it’s part of a concerning trend.

It meant the Saints offense extended its opening-drive touchdowns drought to 13 consecutive games. Like every team, the Saints scrip their first 12 to 15 plays each week to test the opponent’s vulnerabilities and gauge how the defense will react to what they’re being shown. These are often your staple plays that can reliably pick up yards and, hopefully, put points on the scoreboard.

But the Saints haven’t scored a single touchdown during their opening drives with Derek Carr at quarterback. Look at the results through 13 games, as noted by ESPN’s Katherine Terrell:

  • Week 1: Successful field goal
  • Week 2: Punt
  • Week 3: Punt
  • Week 4: Missed field goal
  • Week 5: Punt
  • Week 6: Missed field goal
  • Week 7: Missed field goal
  • Week 8: Punt
  • Week 9: Punt
  • Week 10: Punt
  • Week 12: Punt
  • Week 13: Interception
  • Week 14: Missed field goal

That’s discouraging. It’s downright dispiriting that this same play caller, Pete Carmichael, organized touchdown-scoring drives on his first possession in three of the last four games last year with Andy Dalton at quarterback. The receiving corps and offensive line are near-identical to what the Saints finished the season with. So why are they regressing? Carr has a lot of work to do to prove the critics who said the Saints were making a lateral move wrong.

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Saints’ second-half heroics can’t make up for mistakes in loss to Lions

Saints’ second-half heroics can’t make up for too many early mistakes in a devastating loss to the Lions

You can’t say the New Orleans Saints don’t have any fight in them. They rallied from a 21-0 deficit to keep it close with the Detroit Lions in the second half, but it wasn’t enough: that late-game effort couldn’t make up for their mistakes early on. The Lions left as victors with a 33-28 final score.

What went wrong? Derek Carr missed an open receiver to force the ball to his tight end on the first play from scrimmage, which was dropped and intercepted by the Detroit defense, setting up a short field on their next touchdown-scoring drive. Things got worse before they got better.

The Lions ran for 142 yards as a team and Jared Goff didn’t turn the ball over after giving it away six times in his last two games. Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta was unstoppable, finishing with 9 receptions (on 9 targets) and 140 receiving yards plus a touchdown catch.

It wasn’t all bad. Carr was surprisingly efficient after the end of the first quarter, though he threw too many off-target passes that asked a lot of his receivers. Fortunately Chris Olave (5 catches for 119 yards) was up to the task. Alvin Kamara ended the afternoon with 58 receiving yards and 51 rushing yards with two scoring runs. Taysom Hill impacted both phases, leading the team with 59 rushing yards and catching two passes for 15 receiving yards. Pete Carmichael made some clever play calls, picking up chunks of yardage on play action passes to Olave and Foster Moreau. They went 4-for-4 in the red zone.

But, again, it wasn’t enough. The offense showed too little too late to make a difference. Dennis Allen’s handmade defense was shredded. A 5-7 record is the best showing Allen has ever had after Week 13. This is his ceiling, and the Saints shouldn’t mistake it for anything else.

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Saints haven’t stacked up well against their division rivals

The Saints haven’t stacked up well against their division rivals in the NFC South. They’ve been outscored 67-44 so far, with three rematches yet to go:

It’s tough to win your division when you can’t beat the other teams that reside in it. The New Orleans Saints haven’t stacked up well against their NFC South rivals this season: they’ve been outscored 67-44 so far, with three rematches yet to go. And much of the blame falls on Derek Carr and Pete Carmichael’s underperforming offense.

The Saints had 11 possessions in their Week 2 game with the Carolina Panthers, resulting in two touchdowns, two field goals, an interception, and five punts, plus the end of game kneel-down.

In Week 4, New Orleans again had 11 drives, which ended with three field goals, an interception, two fumbles, and four punts along with an end of half kneel-down. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense was never seriously threatened by the Saints.

And in Week 12 against the Falcons, Carr’s unit had the ball on 10 series and ended the day without much to write home about: six field goals (one unsuccessful), an interception, and a fumble, but just one punt, again kneeling the clock out before halftime.

So let’s tally that up. Across three games with the specific teams the Saints must defeat the win the NFC South, New Orleans has had the ball 32 times and managed just two touchdowns — both scored by running back Tony Jones Jr., who isn’t on the team anymore.

Now, these divisional matchups are always tough. Because the teams face each other twice each season, they become common opponents with known tendencies and vulnerabilities that can be exploited. When the Saints are still running the same plays that Drew Brees perfected half a decade ago with vastly inferior personnel, mistakes are going to get magnified and the teams that know those plays best are going to feast. That’s exactly what we’re seeing.

The good news is that the Saints still have time to fight back. They’ll have rematches coming up with the Panthers (in Week 14), the Buccaneers (in Week 17), and the Falcons (in Week 18). They must quickly hammer out what’s tripping them up offensively and find ways to put points on the board. Settling for field goals over and over again isn’t cutting it. For all the star talent on the roster and all the hundreds of millions of dollars on payroll, they don’t have much to show for it.

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Derek Carr finishes November with just two touchdown passes

Derek Carr finished November with just two touchdown passes and one win. The Saints are not getting a great return on his $150 million contract:

It’s fair to say the New Orleans Saints have not gotten a great return on their investment in Derek Carr. The veteran quarterback’s $150 million contract resulted in just two touchdown passes through the month of November — a three-game stretch interrupted by their bye week.

As noted by ESPN’s Katherine Terrell, Carr’s last touchdown pass was a 2-yard strike to Taysom Hill in the second quarter of their Nov. 5 game with the Chicago Bears. Both teams traded field goals before Hill threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson late in regulation.

Carr’s struggles to end drives with touchdowns have only grown more pronounced as the season continues. The offense managed just three points in two and a half quarters when he left the Minnesota Vikings game with an injury. When Carr returned after the bye week for a road game with the Atlanta Falcons, the Saints went 0-for-5 on drives reaching the red zone.

Those five possessions ended with three field goals, Carr’s ugly interception to Falcons safety Jessie Bates III (which was returned 92 yards for a backbreaking defensive touchdown), and a fumble by Hill that set up a nine-play, 95-yard scoring drive for Atlanta. It’s been a disaster.

And really that’s the only way to look at Carr’s turn as the starting quarterback for New Orleans. He’s managed just 10 touchdown passes in 11 games while throwing 5 interceptions and fumbling 5 times (twice losing possession). His performances with the Las Vegas Raiders the last two years were the lowest of his career, but he’s playing even worse now that he’s exchanged his silver helmet for a gold one.

Carr deserves plenty of blame for the Saints’ problems this season. So does his play caller Pete Carmichael. But ultimately the buck stops with the head coach who empowered (or settled for) both of them: Dennis Allen. Carr was Allen’s handpicked quarterback, and Carmichael was who he stuck with after failing to recruit an offensive coordinator in each of his two years in charge. Drastic changes are needed for the Saints to live up to the standards they’ve set for themselves.

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