The Cleveland Browns will face a New Orleans Saints team coming off a bye week and dealing with an offensive shift.
The Saints fired offensive run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Monday. The move comes ahead of New Orleans’ November 8 matchup with Cleveland and follows a 2-5 start.
Paganetti was in his second season with New Orleans after joining head coach Kellen Moore’s staff in 2025. The Saints enter the week ranked 28th in rushing offense at 86 yards per game and 30th in yards per rush at 3.52, according to NFL.com.
Their last game was especially difficult. New Orleans managed only 18 rushing yards in a 16-10 loss to Pittsburgh in Paris before the bye, leaving Moore’s staff with a clear area to address during the break.
Paganetti arrived with extensive experience in Philadelphia. He spent 10 seasons on the Eagles’ offensive staff across two stints and served as their run game specialist and assistant offensive line coach in 2024.
That Eagles team won the Super Bowl and rushed for a franchise-record 3,048 yards. New Orleans has struggled to establish comparable consistency, prompting the change.
Saints Coach Kellen Moore Identified Run-Game Problems
Moore entered the bye emphasizing a review of both the design and execution of the Saints’ rushing offense.
“It’s a collaborative opportunity for all of us,” Moore said, according to the team’s website.
The Saints have shown they can run the ball effectively in stretches. They gained 175 yards on the ground against the New York Giants one week before being held to 18 by Pittsburgh. They also rushed for 148 yards against Las Vegas earlier in the season.
Those performances make consistency the central issue. New Orleans will get its first chance to show what it changed during the bye against a Browns defense coming off its own problems at the line of scrimmage.
Browns Need to Repair Their Run Defense
Cleveland allowed a season-high 200 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in its 27-6 loss to Pittsburgh. The Steelers gained 117 rushing yards in the first quarter alone, including a 51-yard run on third-and-13.
“I think when you’re in the attack style front, I think as you work – you’re going to get scheme runs,” Browns coach Todd Monken said. “You are going to get your trap plays, your ram plays. You’re going to get the edge plays, try to pin and get to the edge. And there’s certain things you’ve got to do to combat that with your ability to move the front, with your ability to pressure off edges, with your ability to get over blocks.”
The breakdown followed a Tennessee game in which Cleveland surrendered 141 rushing yards. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger pointed to communication, positioning and tackling as recurring issues for the unit after the Steelers loss.
“It’s not up to our standard,” Schwesinger said.
New Orleans’ poor rushing numbers give Cleveland an opportunity to stabilize that part of its defense. Cleveland enters the matchup at 5-3. The trip to New Orleans completes a three-game road stretch before the Browns return home to face Houston on November 15.
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