Latest / AFR Saints / Saints Run Game Struggles: Why New Orleans Must Commit to the Run | Matt Moscona

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Saints Run Game Struggles: Why New Orleans Must Commit to the Run | Matt Moscona · AFR Saints

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: AFR On Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
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• 0:26
  Speaker 1: are on their bye. And I think all of us
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  Speaker 1: coming off of the loss in Paris on Sunday are
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  Speaker 1: primarily concerned with one area of this team improving. There's
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  Speaker 1: a lot that needs to improve. But I said primarily
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  Speaker 1: concerned with one area of this team improving. And that
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  Speaker 1: naturally would be the running game. When Kellen Moore met
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  Speaker 1: with reporters via Zoom... Naturally, this was a lot of
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  Speaker 1: the focus of the conversation. And naturally, Kellen Moore gave
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  Speaker 1: no answer to anything. Can you play number five, please,
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  Speaker 1: when he asked about changing roles within the staff during
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  Speaker 1: the run game?
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  Speaker 2: We have not. We've had a similar path the last
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  Speaker 2: two years, and it's similar to what we did in
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  Speaker 2: Philadelphia as far as just the structure of how those
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  Speaker 2: meetings occur. Obviously, like anything during a bye week, we
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  Speaker 2: get an opportunity to really evaluate how can we improve,
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  Speaker 2: how can we get better, how can we be more
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  Speaker 2: efficient and consistent in the run game. Obviously, we weren't
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  Speaker 2: able to run the ball well in this game, and
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  Speaker 2: so we'll get to look into that and find an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to grow and play more. what it looked like
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  Speaker 2: in New York. Obviously, we've seen both sides of it
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  Speaker 2: over this road stretch. We saw a game where we
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  Speaker 2: ran the ball well, and we saw a game where
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  Speaker 2: we did not run the ball well.
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  Speaker 1: Can I present something to you? Because Ellen was asked
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  Speaker 1: there if they're going to change roles or structure in
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  Speaker 1: the staff.
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  Speaker 2: Ellen.
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  Speaker 1: Ellen. Ellen.
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  Speaker 2: Ellen Moore.
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  Speaker 1: No, not really. He was asked if there's anything specific.
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  Speaker 1: they need to fix during the bye. This is what
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  Speaker 1: he said.
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  Speaker 2: Certainly there'll be things we want to look at more specifically,
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  Speaker 2: but I think, you know, you go through the whole
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  Speaker 2: process just like you normally do. You do these, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in really long detail after the season. These bye weeks
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  Speaker 2: are always awesome opportunities. Any other time you get a
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  Speaker 2: chance to kind of do a quick self-evaluation is always valuable,
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  Speaker 2: but these are always good examples.
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  Speaker 1: That's good. Thank you. So I want to remind you,
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  Speaker 1: the question was, is there anything specific, anything specific you
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  Speaker 1: want to fix during the bye? And then he gave
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  Speaker 1: you a lot of Charlie Brown's teacher. Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Charlie Brown's teacher. Can I make a suggestion?
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  Speaker 1: Can I make a suggestion? Muse, would you like to
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  Speaker 1: hear that? I would love to hear it. What you got?
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  Speaker 1: Because a lot of people love to complain. Yes. And
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  Speaker 1: love to criticize. Yep. Without giving a suggestion. They love that.
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  Speaker 1: So our friend Ellen. Ellen Moore. Mentioned when they ran
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  Speaker 1: the ball well in one of the road games against
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  Speaker 1: the Giants. Mm-hmm. They did. They ran the ball for
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  Speaker 1: 175 yards in that game. You remember that? I do.
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  Speaker 1: In that game against the New York football Giants, the
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  Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints ran the ball 38 times. Do you
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  Speaker 1: know how many times they threw it? 32? Close.
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  Speaker 2: 30.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, man, I was right there. So what that means,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't math, but 38 is more than 30.
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  Speaker 2: It is.
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  Speaker 1: So they ran it more than they threw it. Eight
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  Speaker 1: more times, to be exact. Would you believe that the
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  Speaker 1: 38 rushing attempts against the New York football giants are
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  Speaker 1: a season high for your New Orleans Saints?
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  Speaker 2: I would believe that, yes.
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  Speaker 1: Care to take a guess at the next closest highest
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  Speaker 1: rushing total this season? Raiders. You're talking yards or attempts? Attempts.
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  Speaker 1: It was the Raiders. Okay, the Raiders, yeah. Want to
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  Speaker 1: guess how many? Oh, that I don't know, but I
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  Speaker 1: would guess 35. 28. Irrelevant, but the point is that
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  Speaker 1: was the next highest. And the win against the Ravens
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  Speaker 1: was the next at 27. Now, I don't mean to
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  Speaker 1: confuse you with numbers, but let me just illustrate the
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  Speaker 1: point here, okay? So they play the Giants. They run
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  Speaker 1: it 38 times. They throw it 30. They ran it
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  Speaker 1: more than they threw it. The game against the Raiders,
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  Speaker 1: where they had a double-digit lead in the second half
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  Speaker 1: that they blew? They ran it 28 times. They threw
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  Speaker 1: it 42 times. The game against Baltimore, where they won,
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  Speaker 1: ran it 27, threw it 34 times. You want to
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  Speaker 1: go through the rest? Detroit. How about 56 passes, 25 runs?
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  Speaker 2: Atlanta.
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  Speaker 1: Atlanta. 48 passes, 19 runs. Vikings, 25 passes, 17 runs. Pittsburgh,
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  Speaker 1: 38 passes, 18 rushing attempts. In a game, you lost
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  Speaker 1: by two field goals. Where you missed a field goal.
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  Speaker 1: So I mentioned that I had a suggestion. Yes, you did.
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  Speaker 1: My suggestion is run the ball! Run the ball! Am I, like,
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  Speaker 1: I'm an idiot. The next game I coach in the
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  Speaker 1: NFL will be my first. I also remember spending two
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  Speaker 1: years here talking about LSU struggling to run the football,
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  Speaker 1: and Cole Kublik, who did play offensive line at a
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  Speaker 1: high level in the Southeastern Conference, told me, hey, you
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  Speaker 1: can't run the ball if you don't try to run
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  Speaker 1: the ball. And there was a grave imbalance in the
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  Speaker 1: run-to-pass ratio.
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  Speaker 2: What do you think we're looking at here?
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  Speaker 1: You get your head kicked in by the Falcons and
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  Speaker 1: you look at the box score and go, oh, you
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  Speaker 1: threw it 48 times and you ran it 19. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that's because they're way behind. What about in Pittsburgh just now?
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  Speaker 1: In Paris against Pittsburgh. 38 passes, 18 rushes. They don't
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  Speaker 1: try to run the ball. I got to sit here
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  Speaker 1: and listen to Ellen talk to me about the structure
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  Speaker 1: in Philadelphia. You know what they had in Philadelphia?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley, Jason Kelsey, Lane Johnson, Hall of Famer, Hall
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  Speaker 1: of Famer, Hall of Famer. You ain't Philadelphia. You're not
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  Speaker 1: going to be that. You know who leads the NFL
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  Speaker 1: in rushing? Do you, Muse? You know who leads the
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  Speaker 1: NFL in rushing? What team? Not a player.
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  Speaker 2: Team?
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Chicago. All right, there we go. You ready? Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: 165 pass attempts. 246 rushing attempts! You know second in
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  Speaker 1: the NFL rushing? I don't. Buffalo! Makes sense. 171 passes,
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  Speaker 1: 176 rushes. Balance! New Orleans! Not close! I wouldn't imagine.
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  Speaker 1: Why do you suck? Why can you not run the football?
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  Speaker 1: You don't try to run the football! Can I see
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  Speaker 1: some effort, attempt of a commitment to running the football?
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  Speaker 1: And it's not just because you're way down so you
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  Speaker 1: have to throw your way back in. That has happened.
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  Speaker 1: I understand what happened against Atlanta, but you weren't down
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  Speaker 1: four touchdowns the entire game. On the season, the New
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  Speaker 1: Orleans Saints have thrown the ball 100 more times than
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  Speaker 1: they have run it. They have thrown it 273 times.
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  Speaker 1: They've run it 171. I understand Travis Aitken is not there.
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  Speaker 1: You paid him a lot of money. He was there
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  Speaker 1: in the season opener against Detroit when you threw it
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  Speaker 1: 56 times and ran it 25. He was there against
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  Speaker 1: Baltimore when you threw it 34 times and ran it 27.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you know what happens when I turn on
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  Speaker 1: a Kansas City Chiefs football game? They get number nine
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  Speaker 1: involved a lot. Dude was the Super Bowl MVP last year.
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  Speaker 1: Kenneth Walker, really good player, leading the league in rushing.
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  Speaker 1: Even with Patrick Mahomes, they've thrown it 191 times. They've
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  Speaker 1: ran it 161 times. They've thrown it more than they've
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  Speaker 1: run it, but they're close to balance. I got an idea.
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  Speaker 1: It's crazy. I know. But if you want to work
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  Speaker 1: on getting better at running the football in the bye,
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  Speaker 1: how about you run the football? We're brought to you
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: by Relief Windows. Windows, door, siding. They do shutters too.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Relief Windows, reliefwindows.com. Trying to think of a window pun.
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  Speaker 1: That has to do with running the football. I don't
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  Speaker 1: really see it.
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  Speaker 2: Hmm.
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  Speaker 1: So I'll just tell you about relief windows. Hmm. They're great.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Unlike the Saints offense. Relief windows is great. Relief windows,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: energy efficient replacement windows, and they have those impact resistant windows.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: kind of like defenses that play against the Saints running game.
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  Speaker 1: Slam on into them. They're not going to break. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't know where you were going there, but I like, okay,
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  Speaker 1: you saved it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Relief windows and reliefwindows.com. I mean, when I was going
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  Speaker 1: through those numbers today, I was just, I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: figured there was outliers. But this past week in Paris,
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  Speaker 1: in a six-point ballgame, to have that run past disparity
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  Speaker 1: is inexcusable. You can't run the football if you don't
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  Speaker 1: try to run the football. So what do I want
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  Speaker 1: to see? Like, what do I want to see? I
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  Speaker 1: want to see them attempt to run the football. Not
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  Speaker 1: holding my breath.