Kellen Moore on bye week, preparation for Falcons | New Orleans Saints

Kellen Moore on bye week, preparation for Falcons | New Orleans Saints

All right. Uh I will start with medical. Obviously feel good with where we’re at. Uh really from a roster standpoint. No new injuries occurred over the week or anything like that. Uh the two guys coming out of the game were that did not play in the game were Jack stole and Ty with their ankles. And so we’ll see how those progress as the week goes. And uh our guys are back in today. They had some really good work um you know between lifts and some field work and get our guys back in here acclimated after the by-week. It was a really productive bye-week I think for everyone just uh you know from a self scout evaluation standpoint but also from the you know the mental and the physical uh you know break that you allow yourself to have and so uh feel good with where we’re heading and excited for the opportunities moving forward. What’s that self scouting process like amongst you and the coaching staff? All three phases will kind of you know coordinators will kind of lead it essentially just going back through all the different uh categories that we uh you’re responsible for throughout the season. uh different guys that tee up different responsibilities in game planning. Just go go go through it all. Uh you know, it paints a really good picture for you. Allows you to kind of uh recognize the things that you feel feel good about, the things that you want to improve and learn from. Um you know, it’s always good to kind of go through that and you do that to some extent during the season uh each and every week. I think the by-week allows you to really just kind of dive into it even more. And so, uh you know, it’s great great resource. It’s a it’s a you know it’s a really good um you know piece of information that you can collect and uh and kind of make some adjustments from there and so uh you know there’s circumstances always those that data you got to do a really good job of digging into it but uh I think it’s really productive for all three phases kind of some of the takeaways when you look at the offense so just from a soft scouting perspective yeah I I think uh you know progress is always the goal and just continuing to progress and I think you know for us u you know situational football comes up a lot and obviously you know red zone Um, red zone’s an area that, you know, you look into, you try and find, you know, just cuz every time you’re down there, the value of a touchdown is huge. And so, uh, right now that’s a big opportunity for us to grow in. Um, you know, some of the run game things is opportunities to grow in, create explosive plays. Um, you know, there’s always always little margins that hopefully we can improve on. How beneficial is it to have that by week happen right after that great performance with Tyler Shuck to get him some self scouting and to help his development even more? Yeah, Tyler got a couple games under his belt before the bye-week and so we can kind of utilize that information, collect the collect what happened over the course of those two games. I thought obviously we felt good with where things were trending coming out of the Carolina game and hopefully we can continue to progress there. I thought um you know Tyler’s had a had a good couple weeks. What were your main takeaways when you looked at those couple of starts from during the scout? Yeah, I think um you know he’s doing I think he’s doing a good job. He’s operating at a really high level. Uh the operation feels really clean. Um, you know, I think some of the things that showed up was make some plays on some hard downs. And I think that’s credit to Tyler and these guys on offense of making some plays. Um, you know, third downs, red zone, uh, you know, two-minute drives. Like those those are hard situations and those can be challenging. And so, you know, for him to make some big time plays in that. Obviously, credit to those guys. They extended drives and created some points. Since New Orleans, how much have you learned about the Saints Falcons rival? Yeah, definitely one that uh we’ve talked a lot about. Uh obviously this will be my first experience. I’m excited about this opportunity. Um you know we know the importance of uh certainly your division games, certainly with these guys. Um you know the rich history of this uh this game and so uh it’s going to be a lot of fun and I think as this week progresses, you know, a lot of us are going to get to experience it for the first time which we’re excited for. Were you aware of the rivalry before arriving here or is that something you kind of learn about throughout your process here? No, I think I think you’re you’re aware of it. Uh being at different places, you know, there’s rich history throughout this entire NFL. There’s always these fun rivalry games wherever you’re at, what whatever team you coach or play for. And so, um, you know, this is going to be a really fun one. I’m really excited about this one and I know the importance that it it’s going to carry. The players getting the week off. What did the final week look like for the coaching staff? Did y’all take any time away from Yeah. Yeah. We just we we got some work on the front end and then obviously, you know, I think it’s important for everyone to get away and rejuvenate and kind of recharge the batteries uh physically, mentally. um everyone kind of had had a chance to get away in their own capacity and so uh you know for everyone that’s going to look a little bit different everyone’s you know family situation may be a little bit different whether you travel or stay here and so u yeah I think that’s productive for everyone and what is your like what do you ask of the players during a by-week for instance yeah I think the biggest thing is yeah they need to recharge they need to you know uh embrace all the good in life I think that’s one important thing is there’s a lot of good in life there’s a lot of good good things that you can go u you know recharge with and so whether it’s family, friends, u all the other things while still, you know, getting yourself physically ready to go and ramp back up for uh for another back end of the season. And so I thought our guys came really ready to go today. You can feel the juice and the energy. Uh you can also feel like they’re they’re ready to get back to playing football. And so uh I feel like it’s been really productive. Um you guys have uh like you ran tempo a lot the first three games especially. It’s been a little lighter. Is there something that is it just game situation? Is it did you want to stop running it less? Like what what kind of uh game game situations maybe? But uh yeah, it’s always an important part of I think of our offense and part of that is putting yourself in situations that allow you to play with tempo. I think um you know when you play games you got to be conscious of uh just going really really fast and you know having really quick three and outs. Uh that’s a really unproductive thing for all three phases and u you know as games go there’s es es and flows with that but I think it’s an important aspect of our offense. You feel like this offense has like an identity after like when you went back and watched it like with their core elements you noticed that you wanted to implement and did so like how did that yeah I felt like um I felt like our run game you know I felt like there was u some consistency in that this past week. I thought that was awesome. And it takes all 11, you know, I thought the, uh, thought offensive line was coming off the ball. Um, you know, Alvin and, uh, the backs, I thought there was some physicality in that run game. I think the perimeter guys, you know, it takes those guys to create those big time runs. And so, uh, I love that. You know, I feel like the run game starting to come alive. We, we got to progress there so we can build that opportunity where we can play in this run game, action game, movement, uh, game on first and second down. Ultimately, that’s the that’s what we wanted to be. Bryce Shang yesterday over 400 yards. What does that tell you about your defense that you know you prevented him from doing that and coming off that performance? Yeah, our defense uh yeah, I felt like our defense played well in that game. Uh did a really good job of keeping a roof on it, preventing you know the big plays and I thought our guys just played really really fast and physical football. Uh and it’s the NFL and every week’s a completely different challenge, completely different uh you know battle that you have to create. Uh you know and every game’s different. every game turns out to be a little bit of a different narrative. And so you got to be able to play these different styles and overcome a challenge here and there. And so, uh, you know, credit credit to those guys in Carolina. You know, Bryce responded really well. He played really well against these guys, made some big time plays, uh, got the victory and, um, you know, so now now there’ll be another challenge for us as well. You mentioned ahead of the just go back to the run game real quick. You mentioned before the Carolina game about the importance of blocking as a or protection as a unit as opposed to individual. Did you see a better sort of unification in the run game on Sunday? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A couple weeks ago whenever we last played. Um yeah, I I felt like it was a much cleaner cleaner operation. I think uh you didn’t see the negative runs. I felt like we were, you know, there was those three and four yard runs which keep you at least on course, you know, and I think that’s a key to the run game. You got to keep yourself on course and then eventually we create those explosive opportunities. And I think there was a good mix of them whether they be with some tempo plays, some huddle calls. Um, you I felt like our our guys just battled really really well in the run game and allowed us to play more mixed down first and second down football with some of the action game and some of those things. What is it going to be without Michael Penn and believe that Drake London is also going to at least miss this week? How do you approach that with them missing two of their top offensive guys? Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see how all that progresses. Um, you know, obviously fortunate for them they have, you know, Kirk as a backup quarterback who, you know, for in this league’s been one of the top guys for a really, really long time. So, uh, you know, they they got to feel fortunate to have Kirk available and ready to go if that circumstance presents itself. Um, they’re a really deep offense. They they’ve invested a lot on that side. Obviously, they still have one of the best running backs in this league. Uh, that’s going to have a huge impact on this game. And so, um, it’ll be a lot of fun. How much does, if at all, the approach change going up against, you know, a young quarterback that was kind of getting his first exposure to the league and then now, you know, a veteran quarterback that’s kind of seen it all. Yeah. Uh, well, I think, uh, I think you’re reaching that point where, um, Penn has played played quite a bit of football now over the course of last year, back in last year and this year, and so, he’s kind of reaching that threshold where he’s almost played a full season. Um, Kirk’s seen a lot of football. Uh, he’s got a great understanding of this game as well as any quarterback in this league. U, you know, he’s going to challenge you because he’s going to have a great feel for what you’re doing defensively. And I think it’s it goes back to our guys playing really good fundamental football. Uh, playing really tied together. Um, you know, I just thought going back to the Carolina game for our guys specifically, the way our guys competed, but the way our guys were just connected, I thought was a really really um, good example playing complimentary team oriented defensive football. You know, the the plays that, you know, when a guy makes a play, usually there’s two or three other guys that had a huge impact on it as well. And so, uh, it’s going to take a group effort. Um, you know, whoever plays quarterback for them, obviously they’re two two really talented players. And so, uh, stylistically, they may have a few differences here and there, but, uh, we’ll have to prepare for both. Know metrics can be really hard for showing the performance of offensive linemen, um, from the outside, uh, from trying to grade on the outside. Um, with Kelvin Mags, what’s your best way to to gauge when you think he’s doing well? What do you look at and and what is your review of him so far this year? Yeah, I feel awesome about Kelvin. Uh, you know, I think, uh, when you play left tackle in this league, um, you know, I think he’s he does a really good job of being assignment sound. He plays some really hard downs. We call these, you know, certain situations just hard downs. The left tackles in this league have hard downs. They have third downs where they’re one-on-one with really good rushers. Uh, it’s different than some of the other positions. You know, on the offensive line, you’re going to be in a little bit of a one-on-one situation, and so you’re going to play in some ch more challenging situations than other people. Uh, I thought he’s done just a really consistent job throughout this entire season. And uh the awesome thing I think about Kelvin is when you see something come up that maybe didn’t play out the way he wanted to, you don’t see the same mistake a second time. You see him react and and and make an adjustment, you know, within games the next week, so on and so forth. And uh his demeanor is just really really special to me. Um yeah, this league there’s really talented players and someone may get you. Uh and then he doesn’t let it bother him one bit the next play. He responds the right way. And so I feel really fortunate that we were able to uh draft Kelvin. I think he’s gonna be a big time left tackle for us for a really long time. A lot of the charting data like has Faga and Banks like I guess it’s like on an island is the term of like one-on-one without much help. Is that a philosophy that you have of trusting young tackles in that situation? What kind of goes on? Yeah, I think by game plans there’s different opportunities. Obviously, when you need to help these guys um by matchups is certainly an important aspect. I think our guys have done a really good job of u handling those one-on-one situations. quarterbacks getting the ball out of their hands, uh, not creating those, uh, sack opportunities and so, um, every game plan’s a little bit different, but I think, you know, those guys are really special players and I feel really good about them. How do you contextualize things like pressure numbers, for instance? I think a lot of people will throw up like this player allowed this many pressures and that means this. How do you actually contextualize that on your own? Yeah, obviously it it’s a data point, so you always you’re always going to try and collect as many data points as you can uh as you’re you know game planning or you know evaluating what you’re doing on offense or as a team in general. And so uh it’s an important aspect. I think our guys um you know I think there’s a combination from a pressure standpoint of quarterback play, offensive linement obviously on an individual one-on-one standpoint. U but I feel like our guys are progressing well and uh you know I feel really good about these tackles. Are there times where I mean you you talk about collecting data points so there’s like there’s the total number but then if you look at them individually you might find that you know are all pressures created equal or do you find times where it’s like ah that one’s that has more to do with this than that or Yeah. Yeah. I think there’s some contextual things. I think just like our self scout I mean we can just throw a bunch of numbers up there and say we have this many sacks and then okay let’s look through all these sacks. What situations are we creating oursel? What situations are we putting oursel in? Are there a lot of, you know, unfortunate big leads or, you know, um, you know, second and long situations? You know, second down has a few more sacks than we’d want, but part of that is, okay, we’re looking at the numbers and, okay, there’s second and tens and twelves in here that, you know, okay, now let’s go back to how can we avoid these situations, put oursel in better, more favorable situations. And so, um, it’s all really good information for us to collect and put oursel in, you know, better situations moving forward. Lastly, you talk to us. So, you talking about um Tyler’s improved footwork and kind of the drills you guys run in practice. Like what what do you kind of look for? Is it like the individual? Could you just expand on like what you guys do that has led uh to Tyler’s like better feet? Yeah. Um yeah, from an individual standpoint, there’s obviously a lot of fundamental opportunities you have during practice. Uh Scott Toline does an awesome job with these guys. um working with them just from a fundamental standpoint, drilling and putting yourself in as many of these situations as possible. Um I think there’s always two parts to development from a footwork standpoint for quarterbacks. There’s the uh ideal setting where you have to play with rhythm and timing and and you want when when you have the ideal situation, you want to play in ideal timing and and that’s really really important aspect. And so that’s the first part, but then there’s the part of inevitably you have to move off your spot. the timing is different and so you got to, you know, you got to work both of these environments. And so, um, they do a lot of different drills. I think that’s the one thing. It’s it’s a creative element. You’re constantly trying to put yourself in different situations in practice. Okay, we’re going to put oursel in a, you know, step up situation. Okay, now we’re going to put oursel in a situation where we can’t step up. Okay, how do we react to this? Okay, maybe it’s to the left or the right. Um, you know, I think Tyler’s done a really nice job as as our entire quarterback group has, I think, um, of playing that way. And so Tyler had some really good examples the last two weeks of stepping up in the pocket. I think that’s a big challenge for a lot of younger quarterbacks coming into this league is uh you got to step up and through the pocket getting out behind it uh while you can. You certainly can. Uh there’s probably more challenges and uh that come up, you know, in those situations. Way too simple. But is stepping up like kind of the key to avoiding sacks? Well, I think um I think it’s the cleanest opportunity, but it it takes everyone being tied together. I mean, obviously we need the interior of the offensive line protecting at a really high level that allows you to create that pocket to step up. Um keep your eyes down field, make really good decisions. Um you I think, you know, obviously there’s been some progress there, I think, in a positive manner. To the point of having that ideal timing, obviously not all tied. So much was made of his play out of the structure of the offense against Carolina. When you’re evaluating quarterback, how import is it to see it work within the structure of the offense as well? Yeah. Yeah. Again, kind of talking about those two environments. Um I think it’s important that you know guys got to be able to execute in both environments. You know, there’s an element of when things are perfect. Yeah. We we want it to go well and um be clean and execute when when that opportunity presents itself. But at the same time, you know, the best quarterbacks in this league have an off-schedule component of them. Um you look at all these guys, their ability to play off schedule and make plays in those situations. Credit to Tyler and our guys of uh making certainly some big big time plays in this past game uh in those settings and uh I think that leads you to extended drives, big plays and ultimately points. G came out um last week and said, you know, Mickey’s not going anywhere. I’m just wondering what that does for you as you know your coach and your relationship with Mickey and knowing that he’ll be here for the future and what that does for your guys’ relationship. Yeah, I’ve had a I’ve had a great opportunity to work with Mrs. Benson and and Mickey and the rest of our leadership and um you know, I think um you know, again, it’s always important to have have a plan and to be able to build it together collectively. And so, uh you know, I think we have an awesome group here. It’s a group that allows us to kind of build it build it in in a really clean manner that u you know, leans on certainly the experience of Mickey’s um and a number of our personnel guys has been awesome for us to utilize and so u you I’m excited for where we’re going. I’m excited um you know the way our guys have handled some challenging situations early in this year to navigate that to to come out and um you know we got some awesome opportunities moving forward with some you know four division games you know the back end of the year some other big time opportunities I’m excited for where our guys are continuing to grow with the word rebuild often you know carries sort of this dirty word reputation a lot in the league but you know in in the situation that you all are in you know what are some of the signs of optimism for you that this process is going in the right direction and that the vision is is clear. Yeah, I think our guys are growing and um you I think that’s an important aspect of this thing is um you know it’s always important to see a team grow together. Um you know and there’s different ages and different situations for all these players uh for our veterans to continue to battle the way they’ve battled. Uh to see Deario and Cam and all those guys the way they played on defense you know last week was really really special. um you know, and I think it shows the character and the the focus that our guys have had uh each and every week. And so then you flip to the other side and see some of these younger guys are having opportunities to play and and battle and and grow each and every step of the way. And to see them kind of take those little steps each week is exciting for me. And so uh you know, I’m excited for our guys, excited for the opportunities moving forward to continue to stack this thing and put ourselves in a really good position. Coach doesn’t look well and the offense now. What are you liking from the offense coming out of the by as a whole, you know, stepping up? Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s great opportunities for some of our younger receivers. Um, you know, Vle had had certainly played a lot of snaps in this past game. He’ll continue to do that moving forward. You know, opportunities naturally come his way. Um, you know, for some of these other guys, um, you know, like Tip and Dante to be up and ready to go and, you know, hop in there. You know, these guys are going to have more and more opportunities as this thing progresses. And I think it’s important that those guys take advantage of those opportunities, which they will. What can you say about Chuck’s mental toughness so far in his two games that you evaluated? Yeah, Tyler’s just been really steady. Um, you I think that’s always the sign of a a really special quarterback. Uh, games are going to have this element of up and down. You know, there’s going to be good plays, there going to be plays that are challenging, and uh your ability to just stay right here and just continue to go uh is an important aspect of this thing. And um you know I certainly have seen a lot of that out Tyler the last few weeks. All right. Thanks guys.

New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore speaks with the media from the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025 ahead of Week 12 vs. the Atlanta Falcons.
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