One of the New Orleans Saints' worst trends continued in their Week 7 game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite playing in a different time zone -- something Saints head coach Kellen Moore joked about during the week -- the Saints ended another first quarter without putting any points on the board. They've now played more games (7) than scored first-quarter points (6) this season.
It's something that Moore has struggled with throughout his coaching career. The Saints went into this game ranked 31st out of 32 teams in first-quarter point differential. They finished in last place last year, too. When he called plays for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024, they ranked 21st. His Los Angeles Chargers offense ranked 17th in 2023, only keeping their heads
above water by two points. Under his direction, the Dallas Cowboys ranked 19th and 29th before improving to 5th and 4th once his head coach Mike McCarthy took a more hands-on approach. He's consistently struggled to prepare his offense and draw up an effective script to open games. At what point does he do something about it?
What's more frustrating is that you can see the offense playing with tempo whenever they get into a hurry-up situation, trusting Tyler Shough to throw in rhythm and find weaknesses in the opposing secondary. Their best moments have come when Shough plays out of structure to look for receivers like Chris Olave and Devaughn Vele downfield. When they rely more heavily on Moore's playbook and the drives he scripts to lead them off into games, they struggle. He's the problem. The bye week is arriving at a perfect time for some introspection, self-scouting, and adjustments before the Saints attack the second half of their season. If Moore can't figure things out now, you have to ask if he's ever going to.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints have more games played than first-quarter points this season
