A good NFL owner engaged with their team's performance would have given Kellen Moore an ultimatum by now: every week brings a risk of losing his job. That was the implied threat in Gayle Benson's speech a few weeks ago, but we'll see if she has the willpower to follow up those tough words with gutsy decisions. After the New Orleans Saints
embarrassed themselves, and her, it's time she put her chips on the table.The Saints got outcoached and outplayed in Paris. This was a game Benson spent years working to receive, traveling around the world and meeting with movers and shakers in different countries to put her team on a big stage. And they laid an egg. After the game, Moore's press conference revealed a coach that doesn't have answers for the problems
he's facing. He wouldn't be the first NFL head coach to be left behind on the tarmac, but he should be next.
Just look at the other coaches in that group. Most recently, the New York Jets dismissed Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start to the 2024 season, putting him at 20-36 (.357) as their head coach. Joe Philbin was fired by the Miami Dolphins after starting 1-3 back in 2015, with his 24-28 (.462) record being judged enough to make the call. That was just one year after the Oakland Raiders fired Dennis Allen, who went 0-4 and 8-28 (.222) overall as their own head coach. For context, Moore is now 8-16 (.333).
Moore's team is undisciplined, prone to turnovers, and commits too many penalties in big moments. That's all a product of coaching. He won't bench running back Kendre Miller after fumbling at the goal line (the Saints were lucky to have the rusher ruled down before losing possession, on review) or take a 116-game veteran tight end like Noah Fant out of the lineup after ranking third on the team in penalties. Daniel Carlson ranks third-worst in field goal hit rate and is one of four kickers who has been flagged for kickoffs falling short of the landing zone multiple times, but Moore hasn't replaced him. They can't run the football and take some pressure off their quarterback or adapt the protection plan for a backup left tackle lining up against the game's best edge rushers. If Moore had the answers to any of those problems, we'd have seen them by now. If Benson isn't ready to fire him midseason like she did Dennis Allen and his New Orleans Pelicans counterpart Willie Green, she's going to look exactly as weak a decision-maker as her critics expect her to be.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Kellen Moore should be the next NFL coach left behind on the tarmac
