The NFL’s first game in Paris gave the New Orleans Saints a national stage to pull themselves out of a 2-4 hole. Instead, a 16-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped the Saints to 2-5 heading right into their bye week.
The defeat pushed Kellen Moore’s hot seat into full scorch territory, especially after owner Gayle Benson publicly warned that early-season slides are completely unacceptable.
Rather than deflecting, Moore immediately put his own staff and kicking unit under the microscope post-game, confirming that midseason coaching evaluations and roster cuts are officially on the table before the Saints play another down.
Saints HC Kellen Moore Hints at Changes in Coaching Staff: Report
Moore said, “They’ll evaluate if staff changes are needed but not jumping in,” per Saints insider Nick Underhill.
“We’re all frustrated. You’ve gotta take the emotion out of it and truly just evaluate it, and find what the next steps are.”
Whatever those steps are, be it coaching changes or who calls the plays, Moore needs to do it fast before Benson looses her patience again. Benson gave that warning when she had seen enough. Another announcement from her would be about moving on from Moore rather than another warning call.
And Moore didn’t even give Benson a reason to be patient. The run game was terrible as they managed just 18 rushing yards. Plus, they disappointed in other areas where they could have shown some promise as well, like slow starts and capitalizing on turnovers.
“Seventeen runs for 18 yards, it’s going to be hard to win football games doing that,” Moore said.
“We had our opportunities, but ultimately they made a few more plays than us. Margins are small in this game and when you have your opportunities you’ve got to take advantage of them, and they made more than we did.”
Kellen Moore’s Hot Seat Talks Peak at Dangerous Time
If Benson is ready to pull the trigger, the Paris loss handed her a natural exit window. Entering a Week 8 bye gives the Saints a 15-day window to strip the operation down, hand the interim tag to an assistant, and rebuild the scheme around what actually works.
If Moore stays, those two weeks become a forced audit where he has to make real cuts, starting with offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.
Nussmeier’s play-calling has lacked any situational feel. The Saints are routinely burning downs on slow-developing wide-receiver screens or interior runs that stall out drives before they reach the 40-yard line.
“We have a really dynamic passing game, and we can attack them in different ways, and we’re able to do that, but in order to win against defenses like that, and you saw it kind of later in the game, they were able to just read and batted some balls down,” QB Tyler Shough said of the terrible run game, per ESPN’s Katherine Terrell. “It’s tough in those scenarios whenever you have to get it out.”
If Moore refuses to strip Nussmeier of the headset during this 15-day break, he’s essentially tying his own head coaching future to a coordinator whose offense hasn’t scored more than two touchdowns in a game for a month.
Kellen Moore Drops Bold Hint on Coaching Staff Changes After Saints Fall to 2-5 in Paris