Kellen Moore recaps Week 8 vs. Buccaneers | New Orleans Saints

Kellen Moore recaps Week 8 vs. Buccaneers | New Orleans Saints

Um, all right. I’ll start. Uh, okay. So, medically we should be in a good place. Um, plenty of maintenance obviously this time of year. Uh, nothing really noteworthy from a long-term perspective or should impact us. Um, you know, the game was pretty simple. Uh, turnovers number one uh indicator of games wins and losses and it showed up in our game and we weren’t able to take advantage of those little moments. Uh, every game has moments and opportunities that you can capitalize on, whether it’s a sudden change, a turnover, you know, on the opposing team or, um, a great opportunity in there and we just weren’t able to do it. And so, uh, you know, they they took advantage of those opportunities. I thought, you know, we did a lot of good stuff on defense. Um, I thought we put oursel in a heck of a position. Teams, I thought we battled. Offensively, I felt like we just weren’t able to take advantage of some opportunities. Um, you know, I love this group’s attitude. I think our group’s uh, battling each and every day. And um you know I think obviously this is a challenging thing that they’ve you know we have had to navigate collectively but I think uh you know these things you know when you get through these storms and to the other side of it you know you become a really really resilient team really really resilient individuals and so uh you know we’re going to find a way to get through that. You haven’t decided quarterback yet? No. Yeah. So starting with the QB um no uh we just got done uh closing the book on uh this Tampa Bay game. uh we’ll now begin really starting here soon uh you know our plan of action for LA and uh we’ll make a decision shortly and um you know just go down that path just so we can maximize as many reps and opportunities as we can moving forward. You you mentioned yesterday you don’t want to do the flip-flop thing, the back and forth thing. I mean obviously if you chose to put Spencer back in there that’s I mean sort of what would be happening now? I mean yeah I think uh you know for the individual game of Tampa we just needed a spark. we weren’t playing well on offense. Uh that had more to do with our entire offense than Spencer. Uh you know, yeah, Spencer’s had some turnover bugs, you know, the last two weeks, but uh he’s played a lot of lot of plenty of good football uh to put oursel in positions. And so, uh I was trying to generate a spark, trying to generate something that can get us going collectively. And uh you I thought Tyler went in there, he he battled, I thought, for you know, he really hasn’t taken any reps with the ones at all in, you know, the last month and a half. And so, he got in there. I thought he operated and did some good things. And we’ll just make a decision here shortly. and uh allow oursel to move forward with that plan. If the intent was to generate spark, were there other things that you tried before changing out or was changing out the way that you thought? Certainly, we’ve tried, you know, some different things schematically and some some different opportunities and we just weren’t, you know, generating enough uh going there and so felt like it was an opportunity to see if we can uh get it done. You mentioned some of the missed opportunities that were there. I assume you’re talking about with offense based on some of your comments from yesterday. What were some of the things stood out to you? Thought the first two drives of the game we were moving it just fine. First drive ultimately ends up in the fumble. Second drive we have a sack, you know, right around it seems like this little area that we seems to keep uh nipping us uh which is around the 40 yardd line. We’re kind of approaching field goal range and we get a we get a big sack that knocks us out. And so um you know our defense makes a big stop backed up. That was a phenomenal, you know, that’s just a phenomenal uh example of just effort and finish and strain and our defense just battled for that four plays in a row and we obviously created another turnover there and so uh you know we just we we have opportunities in these games. We’re just not able to capitalize and so um we we just got to find a solution. Have you identified any kind of line for that that line? tends to be negative plays whether it be uh either via penalty or uh you know negative run, negative sack. Um you know and so obviously we got to do a better job there because uh you know it’s happened a few times in some of these games where you’re making a lot of positives and it’s just the ability to sustain a drive over the course of you know you’re approaching that six or seven plays and you just got to keep going. You got to keep going and if it takes 10 plays to get down there we just got to get there. aren’t the players that you are you have seen top of the league I guess defenses these past back toback weeks. Is there a reason why Spencer is struggling? Is he doing anything different in practice? No, not not per se. I think uh I think um you know his preparation has been very very similar, very consistent through the course this entire season. That’s one of the things I love about him. Um you know the turnover thing has been unfortunate. Chicago’s done a phenomenal job creating turnovers. Uh they created them but you know we obviously got to do a better job protecting. I think uh you know this week you know we we had a few unfortunate ones. Um you know the ball security ones are the ones we got to for sure control because I feel like those are very much more in your control. Um thought the edge rusher you know he made a phenomenal play on the backed up interception but you know we got to find a way to uh continue to protect this football. It’s like insignificant. I don’t know. Tyler had a lot of throws like outside the numbers. Was that due to situation what the Bucks were giving you? would say his preference is I would say that’s probably going to be related to the situation of the game. You’re in a you know multi-score lead and so the defense are going to force you to um you know throw outside and underneath and you’re not going to get the big chunkers um when you’re down by 17 points and so um you know something we kind of had to navigate there. Did you like Spencer’s decision to on the interception he was targeting Morell? Like was that the right lead or how? He’s throwing to the right guy. I mean Foster’s got a chance. He’s open. He’s got a play. There’s obviously a defender um in the way and he he’s a really tall, long athletic uh edge rusher and so he made a phenomenal play on the ball. Obviously, we can look at it and try and find a a lane uh to get there or, you know, protect the football on second and short, but um you know, the guy made a great play and it was a really unfortunate situation. When there’s an interception like that and then Tyler’s interception later that goes off the hands of a receiver, how do you sort of how do you sort of Yeah. kind of like what’s the negotiation for you in terms of understand you know taking a look at what the the context around? every context of a turnover has to be really really dissected and I think uh you know it takes all of us takes all of us uh from a schematic standpoint to an execution standpoint to a fundamental standpoint and so um we all share in these turnovers they they all get pinned on to individuals but um you know those that’s where you know stats have to give it to someone um but again I think we just got to execute at a higher level uh you know there were some unfortunate plays in this game that created turnovers that you know you feel like um we’re in the right process. It’s just not being uh you know executed the the way in which we hope for and so we just got to get better. You wish you had run the ball a little bit more yesterday or would have loved to have run the ball a little bit more. Um you know just uh you know the the lack of flow in that game just you know made it challenging. Even early in the game though when it was just a 7-3 game you only had five runs in the first half. Yeah. Why? Why was that game saw an opportunity there? Yeah, I felt I felt Yeah, certainly felt like, you know, throwing the football a little bit early in that game to try and, you know, get some momentum, get the lead. Uh, felt like there were some opportunities going into the game that we felt really really confident about. Um, you know, couple couple run plays that we end up throwing it. So, obviously those become past attempts. uh which those are certainly um part of the plan going into that against those guys was you’re going to have to throw some balls in on run plays where you’re throwing a outlet whether it be a bubble screen or a quick outlet and so there were a few of those early in the game which which was all part of the plan. Uh what do you think of just how there’s just operation of the offense itself? Yeah, going into the game like in those circumstances I thought operated operated well. um you know, we just got to keep uh you know, trying to find ways to execute at a higher level from an offensive perspective. And so, um I thought his his personal operation I thought was pretty clean. Some of the improvement that he had talked about like running the scout team, could you see that kind of take place in yesterday’s game? Yeah. Yeah. I think navigating the pocket obviously when you’re in a multi-score game like that, um you’re going to ch have some challenging pockets and I thought you navigated that pretty well. Um Jason only had five snaps. Is that related the lack of run what went into that? Yeah. Yeah. Not by design. Um probably one of the you know when you look at the play numbers that’s just that’s on me. Um you know we certainly had a lot of stuff in the plan for for Tason to be a part of this thing and it just didn’t allow itself and so um I got to find a way to get them on the field more. Is that also related to like the lack of red zone red zone situational calls? you know, uh there’s a lot of situations that you have plays for, but you got to get to them. Can you go into like uh developmental scout team just like I mean he’s I’m presuming on that he’s he’s running this week’s looks um like I mean is it really just about getting the feel down? Yeah. So, playing a scout team quarterback, um, you know, obviously you’re imitating the opponent, you know, as your starting point, but, you know, concepts are concepts, schemes are schemes. Uh, we all have a lot of similarities there. And so, I think the beauty of it is a lot of times you’re going to run a concept. It’s that you can look at the picture and say, “Hey, that’s very similar to this concept we run.” And so, I can execute this in a very similar fashion and put myself in a real game-like situation. And I think Tyler’s done a nice job throughout this whole process of doing that. Um, you know, the other part of it is obviously some of the pocket movements and some of those things that you naturally have to do because you’re kind of in a scout team setting. It puts you in some challenging situations to help navigate. Um, it stresses you in some of those situations. And so there’s plenty of little components that you can uh develop on, you know, in that situation. Is there like a when you are running is there just kind of going out there playing football like you are. Well, I think you’re able to test yourself in an environment that allows you to do that. Um, you know, you can kind of navigate some things and maybe maybe push the push the edges a little bit, push the envelope as far as, you know, can I make this throw? Can I can I um, you know, is this a decision I can do this late in the process? Whatever it may be. And so, you do get to test yourself and and kind of find those edges that you get to work around. Thought he did a really nice job. thought he did his job. Um, you know, I thought the communication was really good up front. Um, you know, we got to execute some situations a little bit better, but I thought, um, he held his ground really well. Did anything stand out? Yeah, it was just turnovers. Um, you know, unfortunately, and so, uh, you know, there were some we moved the ball, um, you know, in some instances there we just weren’t able to execute and sustain it long enough. And so, um, you know, offensively, we just got to find a way. We just got to find catch a little groove here and, uh, so we can play a little bit higher level. May not answer this, but what are the, uh, the pros and cons for staying with Spencer or vice versa? Like, what are you thinking about as you mle a change here or not a change? All we’re trying to do is put oursel in the best position to be successful on Sunday against LA. And so, um, what that ends up being, we’ll we’ll make a decision quick. I think the really important aspect is starters need to get every rep they can. You don’t get into this whole, uh, you know, weekly competition or any of that stuff. These guys got to get ready to rock and roll. And, um, you know, we just got to make a decision and go. Not not to parse your words or anything, but but obviously if the decision was always just about winning the next game, you might always go with a more experienced guy. like at what point is it Tyler might not be the best chance to win, but he needs time to develop and things like that. Yeah, that’s a that’s a fair question. I think uh you know, we’re trying to win. We’re trying to win. We’re trying to put ourel in really good situations to be successful. Uh we can develop along the same exact path as well. Um you know, and plenty of guys around on our team have uh gotten better each week and put ourselves in really successful situations. And you know, we have a couple really young quarterbacks. They’re both young. both uh you know I don’t even know if if Spence has really played a full NFL season technically. Uh so they’re both young guys. Um I think the world of both of them I think the world of these guys, the rest of our quarterback room, these guys are going to keep developing and doing it the right way and we just got to find find a way to play a little bit better. Um I got to call a little bit better, put these guys in the best situation so that we can have an environment that allows that position specifically irrelevant to who the QB is. We got to create an environment that allows those guys to thrive. Do you think Tyler’s development has reached a point where you could win with them? Tyler Tyler’s done a nice job through this whole process. Um, hey, we we we went through the whole training camp and they were right next to each other. Uh, went all the way to the end. Uh, thought Spence has done some really good things. Tyler’s continued to develop. Um, you know, they’re both progressing, I think, in a positive manner. In your experience, what is the hardest part about developing as a backup quarterback aside from the obvious that you’re not throwing to the first team? I think sometimes it’s the communication aspect of it. Um, like we’re kind of talking about throwing the football and the concepts. You can get a lot of similarities and you can get a lot of that, but I think it goes into the protection game, the checks, the audles, all the communication aspects that you don’t necessarily get with the whole group on a week- toeek basis. I know you’ve uh I’m taking away from this for a second, but I know you’ve been to LSU since you’ve been here. Any thoughts on uh BK’s firing? Yeah. Um, obviously unfortunate. Um, you know, they got a lot of really good coaches up there, including including him. And so, um, you obviously they’ve had a ton of success. Um, they’ve been operating at a really high level. And, you know, obviously I’m I’m a huge fan of LSU, you know, particularly because of, uh, Garrett being up there for all these years. And so, I’ve obviously watched them for a long time and watch them every single Saturday. And so, you know, it’s it’s just a challenging thing. It’s unfortunate um you know just because there’s been a lot of good that’s gone on up there before this. Anything you can glean from the joint practices you guys had against the Rams? I think both teams will naturally look at that exposure just because there’s you know it’s two it’s pretty much the same roster with a few moving pieces. Um so I think both teams will take a peek at it. Uh take it for what it’s worth and u and then you got all this other film. But uh you know it was great work. It was awesome work. I think it was good for our players to kind of get a feel for theirs and so it’ll be good. Was Danny Sman’s usage plan a little different yesterday than previous weeks? It was really similar just the way the sequencing got packaged. I think he ended up with uh you guys correct if I’m wrong, eight plays maybe something like that. Yeah, I think it was eight. So, um yeah, it was very it was very similar to the last couple weeks. It was just the way those drives ended, you know, shorter drives and then we were into some of those third down packages that played with uh, you know, just Dear Mario on the field. [Music] Yes, he is. Yes. Yeah. Just consistent play. Uh, consistent play leads to confidence, leads leads to that swagger that he plays with. And you can just see it. You can see it. It’s It’s been building the last few weeks. I think this back end, this younger group, um, has been building the last few weeks. I think there’s a lot of positives with that group and they just got to keep progressing and uh taking this thing where we all know they can take it to. Nine sacks. Was there anything that opportunity or was it just We’re always trying to get him on on the field a little bit more. Uh you know, probably you know haven’t done a good enough job getting him on the field the last few weeks. And so uh you know he he deserves his opportunities. He’s he’s a really solid player. He does a good job. He can do a a lot of the dirty work in some of those run game things. cuz I thought he had some really good blocks um in some of those runs in the first half. Jawan is obviously a big part of what you all doing offensively drops this year. Yeah, we just got to navigate it together. Um we’re all in this thing together. Um obviously there’s fundamental stuff that we’re always trying to focus on and improve on. And uh I think a lot of times the challenge for all of this, for all of us, is once you get past this, you got to take the emotion out of this and just get to the factual part of this. You know, if something happened, okay, this happened. Now, how do I respond to this? How do I get better? How can we help uh from a teaching standpoint or from a fundamental standpoint? And I think that’s always a challenge for all of us because this is an emotional game. We all get emotional related to this game. And so, um, while those emotions are all, it’s healthy to have those emotions, the highs, the lows, you have to get past that. And then you have to get to this kind of neutral mindset of, okay, um, how are we going to move forward? Are the jobs becoming a problem? No, there’s there’s a couple plays and you’re just looking looking, okay, how can we get better in those situations? And um everyone should come out every game with a couple items that they can focus on and then we have an opportunity to, you know, whether it be a drill or an adjustment from a teaching standpoint or a schematic standpoint to allow us to get better. What went into you guys claiming uh Zer from the line? Yeah, we just um kind of unique circumstance. He’s played some football in Baltimore. We felt like uh you know, he’s had some success there. Like kind of his play style. He’s a really physical blocker. um you know, I believed Cleveland before that and so uh just felt like it was an added piece for our for our roster. Um get him here, get him acclimated, kind of go through that process and um we’ll see where everything takes it takes from there with um going into yesterday’s game. You had mentioned that you were anticipating Quincy Riley starting at corner, but then seeing where things were for Isaac throughout the week. Has has Riley done enough to hold on to that starting position moving forward at this point? I think he’s done a lot of a lot of good things. Um, you know, and so Quincy’s continued to earn those opportunities. Um, Ike’s doing a great job. You know, I I’s a professional, the ultimate professional. He’s doing a lot of positive things for our team. He’s contributing in really good ways on special teams. Seasons take a lot of different courses. Uh, Ike will be ready if the opportunity presents itself. But um you know Quincy I thought you know part of those younger guys on the back end I think they’ve all been progressing better and better each week for Deon to play as much as he did. Is that kind of a sign you guys have the trust in him as a pass blocker already and then you know good carry at all what kind of went into that is it just circumstances. Yeah he’s he’s the backup running back. He’s going to play plenty of opportunities just like uh Kre did when he was the number two. um they did a really good job in protection and um obviously the carries will come his way naturally over the course of the next few weeks. And what stood out to you about uh Audrey Guest to go up and add him into the practice? Um yeah, I thought just uh his experience going to Denver and then Philadelphia. So there’s some exposure there that we have some familiarity with our staffs. And uh he had an awesome preseason. Um, you know, obviously he’s a recent draft pick and so obviously there’s recent exposure to him going back to Notre Dame and so um yeah, we feel like, you know, he’s a big physical, strong, good-looking running back. Um, you know, he’s practiced a few days with us now. Uh, it’s been impressive. He’s a really good player and so again, another piece to kind of just keep keep growing and keep getting him acclimated to our system and then obviously we’ll see when the opportunities present theirel. More on the quarterbacks. You said before that, you know, like you’re gonna make a you’re going to announce a decision sometime this week, right? You’re not going to like do it for competitive. No. All right. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Kellen Moore speaks with the media from the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Monday, October 27, 2025 the day after the Saints’ Week 8 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and ahead of Week 9 against the Los Angeles Rams.
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