It's been a rough couple of weeks for the New Orleans Saints. Team owner Gayle Benson shared an eight-minute prepared statement
on Tuesday following their third consecutive home loss in as many weeks, taking responsibility for the team's performance and that of the people she's hired -- like head coach Kellen Moore. Now in his second season, and with a 7-15 record to his name, Moore is drawing more criticism by the week as his offense continues to stall out.So how did he take the message? Moore fielded questions during his Wednesday press conference in the wake of Benson's public comments.
"Yeah, Mrs. B's great, and uh, you know, she, she like all of us, we all want better results and that's, that's how this business is," Moore started, pausing
to catch his breath, "and so, uh, you know, we got, we got great guys in this building that are doing everything they can to, uh, find the formula and um, you know, all we can control is moving forward as far as, you know, playing better, coaching better, uh, giving ourselves the opportunities moving forward. And so I think our guys have the right mindset, um, again it's the NFL, there's ups and there's downs and, um, you know it's about navigating those and, um, getting better moving forward."
When asked if he had addressed Benson's comments in meeting with the players, Moore said that wasn't something he had felt the need to do ahead of Week 6's road game with the New York Giants: "Our guys, you know, there's awareness obviously to everything. Uh, but, you know, we got to focus on getting better right now, focus on the day, focus on the task, and, uh, you know, we got a great opportunity against New York."
Moore also said that he hasn't had a one-on-one conversation with Benson about the slow start to the season, and that it wasn't something he had discussed with longtime general manager Mickey Loomis, who Benson also singled out in her speech.
"No, but I mean, we'll see each other. Yeah, we'll see each other obviously throughout the week. And so again, she's been great," Moore said. "I mean Mickey and I talk every day. Uh, we spend plenty of time together. Um, we haven't necessarily spoken directly about that, but again, we talk about everything."
And is he surprised to be 1-4? Moore chalked that up to the "ups and downs" of life in the NFL.
"Hey, we're ultimately a results business. We want to win football games. Um, you know, we've come up short a few games in a row and so, um, you know, we got, um, you know, steer the ship in, in the right direction and get this thing going in the right way. And you know, our guys know that we, we feel like we, we'll get there. Uh, we have a lot of confidence in this group and, um, you know, we'll do it together," he added.
He's trying to sell a cohesive message. But when Moore's team is losing games, undisciplined, and ranking among league leaders in turnovers and procedural penalties? That goes back to coaching. If he doesn't have better answers than what we've seen thus far, the threat of Benson dismissing him is much more serious than it may seem at first glance.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Kellen Moore reacts to Saints owner Gayle Benson's public comments
