Kellen Moore on 49ers defense, Mac Jones | New Orleans Saints

Kellen Moore on 49ers defense, Mac Jones | New Orleans Saints

injury report just to the names just so you have them now. Uh it’ll come out. Uh DMPS were Julian Blackman with the shoulder, Ty with the knee, Trevor Penny with the toe, Chase Young with the calf, limited were Veilis, uh Jones with the knee, Zack Wood with the elbow, and then Jordan Hen still had the leak, but he was full. He practiced the whole whole practice. So, um other than that, uh really good practice. Our guys were back at it pads today inside. Thought they brought some really good energy and um yeah, been a great week so far. How would you describe where Chase Young is right now? Yeah, just just getting better each day. I think that’s just the timeline of this thing. We’ll take this thing one day at a time and um you know those are those are calves, muscles, you know, those sorts of things. Um you just got to navigate it. What is Diggs brought back? She was out there. Yes. Yes, he was back on practice squad today. Um I think it was Deckers. Yeah. Uh the 49ers might not have Brock Bird. Kyle Shan said he was a long shot to play. How does that change what you guys do? Your initial thoughts on that? Yeah, ob obviously uh you know Brock’s a phenomenal quarterback in this league and uh you know I think uh you know obviously when when he’s rolling they’re really hard to defend and so uh you know I think structurally I think they’ll still have a lot of advantages a lot of opportunities within that system and uh you know certainly you know Christian in the back field is going to have a huge impact on this game and so uh you know we’ll just have to see how this thing progresses with those guys but understand uh you know I think their their capacity and the different things they can do is still not going to be limited. What what are some of the hallmarks of a sailor defense and really they do well? Yeah, I think they they they do a really good job of playing together that it’s a really fast physical. It’s a play style. Um you know, most teams in our league really aspire to have the play style that Robert’s always created on the on the defensive side. And so, uh you know, they’re front, you know, with Chris Casser kind of leading the charge there for for all these years. Uh he does a phenomenal job with just the the finish, the effort. Uh they play the play the quarterback, the rush plans really really well. Uh they do a good job of kind of putting you behind the sticks, playing playing really physical on first and second down and then third downs it’s really about time clock football and you know obviously their rush plans are really special and they play really aggressive on the back end and some man-to-man and then they mix in the zones as change ups and uh force the quarterback to think. What would you say are Matt Jones’s strengths? Yeah, I think just his ability to process. He makes really good decisions. you go back to, you know, certainly when you’re evaluating him, uh, coming out of Alabama, his ability to just handle a volume of an offense, make really good decisions. Um, you know, he throws a really accurate ball. He’s got tremendous timing. Um, yeah, I think he’s he’s a really good quarterback in this league and sometimes, um, you know, some of these guys go to a couple different teams just, you know, as as their careers go and, uh, he’s he’s still had plenty of success in this league. I think he’s been, you know, his rookie year he’s a pro bowler and so, uh, you know, he’ll be a really talented quarterback out there still no matter what the circumstances. With Bronx being considered a long shot to play, I mean, how does that impact preparation? Do you have to prepare for both guys? Does it make things overly complicated? Well, I think you got to prepare for the system. I think you got to prepare uh, you know, systematically. I don’t think they’re, you know, they they have so much volume and versatility in their packages that they’re still going to be able to do a lot of different things. And so, uh, you got to prepare for all that. And so as the week progresses, obviously there’s sometimes a couple items here and there based off the quarterback, but uh you know, they got they got a lot of tools in their uh disposal. San Francisco played the most or utilized, excuse me, the most two running back uh offensive plays in the the first week. Just from your perspective as an offensive guy, like what kind of challenges does that present at defense? Yeah, it’s the same thing like last week we were talking about Arizona and their ability to, you know, play multiple sets with the tight ends. you know, I think when they have two running backs and Christian, you know, and uh and Kyle certainly, you know, their ability to line up in all the different pieces and so uh just because you’re in, you know, what’s listed as 21 personnel by no means means the standard menu of 21 personnel formations. They can play in all the different sets and structures and so uh it puts a lot of stress on your ability uh to handle all those different things within just a simple play call on the defensive side because there’s all those potentials. Uh when you were approaching Justin Reed and creat agency, like how important was his uh ability to think when you’re when you’re just like envisioning putting him in this defense and Yeah. Yeah. Justin um you know, just competing against him all these years and certainly in Kansas City. Um you know, he he was really so much of the glue on the back end of Kansas City’s defense and his ability to play uh tough downs, multiple downs, he can play all the different positions. Uh his versatility was key and his communication. You know, you certainly recognized that really quickly when he got here. You know, certainly we anticipated that, but his ability to get everyone on the same page, communicate at a really high level. He’s one of our big time leaders in this in this organization. Um he’s a really special person, so we feel fortunate to have him. When you interviewed St. What did he tell you about his year with the 49ers? How do you think that helped him? Yeah, I I think I think I’ll reserve, you know, you guys can ask Brandon probably on Thursday and that’ll be the more accurate uh experience, but I just remember, you know, having a lot of conversations even this past year, you know, uh I was in Philly, Brandon was in San Francisco, but we just have playing conversations here and there talking about football, talking about the league, and um you know, I think anytime your lens kind of goes to a different perspective, it’s always good reflection both on the past but also on the future. And so I think what Brandon was able to experience there was really beneficial for him moving forward. And so, uh, you know, he’s just done an awesome job for us. How hard to try to replace? Yeah, there’s always these guys working on the side in in the emergency situation and so, uh, yeah, just something that popped up and so, uh, you know, he he was just limited a little bit and so we we’ll see how it goes. You talked about the penalties on Monday. What have y’all been doing in practice this week to kind of, you know, help fix that and and what’s gone into that process? Obviously, there’s an emphasis. uh we got to have an action plan associated with it. And so we certainly talked a lot about it. Uh we had the officials, we had officials out at practice today. We’ll have them out tomorrow just to help us with the communication aspect there. And I thought that was really good, really valuable for our guys uh to get a lot of um you know, eyes on it and not miss any little detail that may come up. And so uh I thought that was beneficial for our guys. officials or is that in response to uh we hadn’t had them just cuz you know it’s usually guys who are officiating college at at this point and so their schedules are a little bit challenging. Uh fortunately we were able to get it organized for today and tomorrow. Did that surprise you when you look back at it now a little time to think about it. Did it did all the penalties when you look at it was that surprising to you Sunday? It’s not something we anticipate. Um you know and the big thing is so many of them are within our control. There’s judgmental penalties we can all debate never ending. Um, but the clear and defined, you know, uh, yes, no ones at the pre- snap in particular, you know, those just can’t happen. And so that’s that’s the main part we got to eliminate. What makes specifically so difficult for the fans? I’m sure coach has a plan in the game. Yeah, versatility obviously jumps out. He can he can do everything in the offense that they would ask. I mean, route tree is just like a receiver running game. Uh I think in his running game you just see the patience and the sudden bursts which is really special. I think you know uh he has so many tape teach tape examples of how he runs the runs and kind of you know baits defensive defensive linemen or linebackers and sets up blocks at a really high level and so you see that and then in the past game now he’s catching the ball and playing out in space and you have to make these open field tackles on them which are really difficult. uh got a chance to talk to Blake about his m his mistake. He said like the operation was kind of rushed because it was like an argument about play. He kind of was thinking maybe in hindsight he wish you would take that play again. Are you okay like a kicker making the moment like that? Yeah, we we’ve talked through all these different scenarios there. I think uh you know just us communicating it was the one that uh Shahed had the you know the ball in the end zone and so um kind of put us in a little spot where there was just a little bit of negotiation there and so talking through those situations and so uh yeah certainly something we’ve talked about. Is a play caller is Frank Warner one of those guys that kind of like got out playing specifically for and like does he bring anything special for you just as far as like trying to you know call stuff out or anything? Uh I think there’s uh a just phenomenal player, b play recognition shows up all over the the film. Uh his ability to diagnose and anticipate what’s coming. And then the third part to me that jumps out is his ability to attack the football. Uh obviously, you know, I think he’s one of the highest uh force fumble guys in our league. He attacks the football like no other. The rest of their team tries to replicate it, but he’s ultimately leading the charge. And then his ability to play downfield and create some interception opportunities and play in space. Um, you know, he’s had, you know, when I was in Dallas, we’ve competed against him a number of times and just felt like his ability to run with tight ends and even receivers down the middle of the field is just really special. Mr. Alber just doing is he kind of in position Yeah, he’s doing well. Yeah, he’s doing well. He’s done a nice job and so uh yeah, feel good with where he’s at. What would you say the the main factor in this particular game was uh for Alman only having two targets and such as Yeah. Yeah. I think uh you know we got into a little bit of a uh obvious pass situations too many times and got into a little bit of you know six-man protection a little bit just with the uh different front variations and so uh you know something certainly we we want more opportunities for Alvin and so that was definitely a reflection uh noted coming out of the game. Aside from the penalties what other areas are most important for you all to show growth from the first game? It’s just going to come down to situational football. uh you know the third downs uh offensively we got to be in more manageable ones. Defensively when we are in an advantageous spot we got to knock them down and so you know we did have a few missed ops there and then the uh you know defense had a backed up situation we missed that OP that was really correlated to a third down and then really the red zone on offense you know we just got to you know get there and then finish it out with touchdowns. Do you anticipate Burges coming up to be active with Juliana or is that He’s got a chance. He’s got a chance. Uh we got got a couple DBs obviously. Uh there’s a roster spot there that we’ll have to uh make a decision on and and bring someone up and so uh we’ll see how it all plays out. Injury happens. Do you give Tyron a call? We have not but is that kind of a a replacement you have baked in or do you have kind of conversations throughout the week of is this the best offer? Like how does that process with who to bring up? Julie. Yeah. Yeah. I mean Yonas is going to do an awesome job. I mean, you know, is prepared, ready, he’s done phenomenal job this whole entire uh whole entire uh you know, training camp, preseason games. Uh you know, there’s other guys that’ll rotate in there as well. Uh you know, we’re not going to put all the all the weight on him, but uh you know, we feel like uh we’re in we’re in a really good position. We felt like, you know, we’re fortunate to have a little bit of depth in that back end, certainly at the safety position going into this thing. And uh you never want these circumstances present theirel, but they do inevitably. And so uh you know, we’ll see how all this stuff transpires. I know you obviously have done a lot of winning in your career as a player and a coach, so you’re not really into moral victories, but is it somewhat encouraging knowing that you guys were just a few yards away from forcing overtime, so maybe okay, if we just clean up the penalties a little bit next week, we’re we’re right there to getting a chance to get at this point. You’re really into we got to get the process right. We we got to play play the right way, execute the right way, focus on those things. Um ultimately, these things come down to wins and losses. That’s really ultimately all that matters. And so, uh, you know, we got to find a way to close the margins, close the gaps, and give ourselves cleaner opportunities to be successful. Is there one thing about Yonas that that stands out to you that you really like the aggression or whatever? Is there one thing about him that you’d say, “This is what I like about him.” Yeah, certainly his physicality that he plays with, but I think he plays it in a manner that is still sound, you know, he’s not reckless. You know, I thought he had a ton of examples through preseason football where, you know, he became such a, uh, he showed up in the team meetings every week because of these, you know, big physical aggressive plays, whether it be a tackle or a u, you know, certainly the turnovers that he created and all those different things, but he’s doing it in a very patient, sound way. And so, uh, you know, he’s just got to stay there. Tyler injury, he had the injury coming out of camp. Is it the same issue or is this a different Yeah, he’s just got a little knee thing that comes up, you know, from time to time and, uh, you know, we’ll just have to see how the rest of the week plays out. You said yesterday, um, all indications were that Julian’s, uh, injury of the season, I think. Does he have to have surgery? Has that been Yeah, he’ll have surgery. Yeah, he’ll have surgery this week. Good. Good. All right. Thanks, guys.

New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore speaks with the media ahead of Week 2 vs. the San Francisco 49ers from the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Wednesday, September 10, 2025.
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