Saints Head Coach Kellen Moore
Opening Remarks
“Obviously fun game for our guys. Fun to see those guys play together. Three phases coming together, playing complementary football. One phase has a down moment; the other phase picks them up and so I just thought it was a really good example of our team playing together, having a ton of joy as they went through it and I thought the physicality was a positive. We knew that was going to be a physical game with the way those guys play. They’re a really good team. They’ve had a ton of success the last few weeks and so we knew it was going to be a battle.”
On what changed for Carolina after the first drive
“Yeah, obviously we had some missed opps [opportunities] on that first drive. It was unfortunate, but I thought our guys just hung in there, kept battling, tightened up things a little bit more and so I felt like after that it was pretty good.”
On if this felt like the best game the Saints have played
“I think in all three phases, just playing complementary football. And we know there’s missed opps out there, there’s opportunities we want to grow in and we got to talk about and get better because of, but I just felt like all three phases were really playing well together and collectively.”
On QB Tyler Shough’s performance
“Yeah, I thought Tyler took an awesome step today. I thought he made some big-time plays, some off schedule plays. The two to [tight end] Juwan (Johnson), off-schedule, moving within the pocket. I thought he hung in that pocket really, really well, delivered. Can’t say enough big things about CO (wide receiver Chris Olave), Juwan, these perimeter guys, the plays that they made.”
On the outcome of the blocked field goal
“Yeah, I thought the beauty of that was — the rule is the rule. The ball went past the line of scrimmage, we touched it. Hey, it’s their ball. I understand that rule. It’s something we talked about a lot – in the heat of the moment, you see a football and your natural reaction is to recover the thing. So, we get to educate ourselves because of that. But I thought the way our guys responded was just phenomenal, respond there to create a turnover right after that.”
On the touchdown by TE Juwan Johnson
“Yeah, really good play. That’s the backside route. You’re playing a high-low game on the front side. He worked through his progression, stepped up in the pocket and really found Juwan on the backside of the original play and so I thought it was a really good example of Tyler’s ability to move, keep his eyes downfield and make a play.”
On if he said anything to Tyler Shough before the touchdown to Juwan Johnson or if it was just a play call
“Play call, let him play, he’s playing really good.”
On Tyler Shough’s composure in those third-and-medium, third-and-long situations being a gamechanger for the offense
“Definitely was some really good moments there because of that. I thought, again, playing in the pocket, stepping up, stepping up, finding the guys downfield. I thought there were some big-time opportunities there and third downs are hard downs. For us to come away with some really successful plays on that, I thought credit to those guys who are out there making the plays.”
On if WR Chris Olave’s speed and verticality, offsetting the Rashid Shaheed trade
It’s a good question. I think CO [Chris Olave] can attack every element of this field and so we’re going to be able to utilize it. He obviously made a phenomenal play downfield a couple of times. A few of the other guys got in there and played some roles. Maybe not as many targets to those guys, but those guys were out there playing and they did an awesome job executing. So we feel like this group is going to grow together and progress.”
On what was done to slow down Carolina RB Rico Dowdle
“Yeah, team football. Team football on defense, assignment sound, gap sound, tackled really well. We missed some tackles. He broke some tackles there, but I thought we just did such a good job of not giving up those big, explosive long runs as we went.”
On this game meaning more to WR Chris Olave after his concussion at this stadium a year ago
“I think that’s fair to ask CO. Obviously, his experience is — he’s had to navigate that through this entire journey and so obviously you can anticipate that’s something that’s going to weigh on your mind a little bit. It’s natural, but the way he played today, I mean, that was just incredible. Incredible plays, phenomenal. The energy, the juice that he brought to our team, I thought it was a really special performance.”
On what he is expecting from Tyler Shough for now and where he wants to see his development grow from here
“We’re just going to keep growing. Every game there’s going to be five plays that we’re going to say we’re going to want to improve on those. There are going to be some plays we can lean our hat on and continue to reinforce. We just got to keep growing.”
On the importance of the eight-minute drive to seal the game
“Yeah, that was such a cool drive. Just a really, really cool drive. Physicality, offensive line battling, it was really Taysom (Hill) and the running backs and they just went for it. Really cool drive for those guys. Really an identity-type drive where you can lean on when you talk about being a physical football team and grinding games out like this, that’s a really good example of it.”
On the decision of the coin toss
“Yeah, traditionally, normally we prefer to defer. We’re trying to get a little bit of a spark the last few weeks. It didn’t get the result that we hoped, so we’ll decide each week how we want to best suit this and make that decision before the game.”
On how the decision was made on which side to defend
“Which direction you’re kicking and all that stuff? Yeah, usually that’s in communication with special teams and just talking field conditions and stuff. Sometimes there’s wind that factors into that.”
On the end of the first-half sequence
“Yeah, obviously trying to have the last possession of the [half], the last relevant possession of the quarter and so I got to look at it to see. Ultimately, we weren’t able to get the points you want. I got to look at seeing where we can improve there. Execution-wise, schematically, get ourselves in position maybe. I’ll look at how those timeouts progressed and where we can potentially improve there.”
On what the conversions on third downs tell you about Tyler Shough
“He’s executing and playing really good football. Those are not easy downs. We talked about there are hard downs in this league and teams that can execute in those downs and make plays, they’re the ones that are the most successful teams. Credit to our guys who went out there and made those plays, the protection, Tyler, the perimeter guys. Some guys stepped up.”
On using the momentum of this win into the bye week and going into the final stretch of the season
“Yeah, obviously you won’t play for 13 days now. So to have a win as your last moment, I think can carry some momentum, carry some energy. Our guys got to recharge during the bye week. We got to use it to our advantage and put ourselves in position to kind of attack this backend of the season and so I’m excited for our guys to be able to utilize that and get ready to go.”
On what was working about the run game
“Physicality. [Running back] Alvin [Kamara], credit to him. Some really just physical, dirty runs where he was able to finish really well. I thought there was some progress there and just got to keep growing in that area.”
On the energy still being good despite the 1-8 start and it being reinforced with the win
“No doubt. Ultimately we are here to win football games and we want to win football games collectively and it takes the entire group. I give a ton of credit to our guys, the way they battled the last few weeks to come up short a number of games in a row. And to come back, recharged, ready to go each Wednesday, ready to put in a new plan and just go about the week every single week the same way and so I think it’s credit to our guys. We have the right kind of guys in the building to keep growing and keep developing and keep getting better as a team.”
On what he saw on the interception by CB Alontae Taylor?
“I didn’t get a great angle of it. Obviously big-time play. Just credit to him. Just being in place and having vision on the ball, obviously, big-time play.”
On stopping Carolina QB Bryce Young
“Yeah, I thought a combination of rush and coverage. When those things tie together and they play complementary and our defense is able to play with a little bit of a lead and a little bit of that momentum and now you can feel like, hey, I can come after this quarterback, I can rush the passer. The DBs can play with a little bit more vision and play in some favorable situations. I think all that stuff adds up to favorable situations for us to go for it.”
On the Saints’ defense
“Yeah, I thought the play style was really good. The physicality, the effort, the finish, to create a couple turnovers was obviously game-changing for us and I thought our guys kept tackling the football. There are more opportunities out there that we’re going to look at and say, hey, we’re really close here, how can we keep getting better and keep taking advantage of these opportunities.”