Saints' Moore Gives Short Answers, Takes Blame after Loss to Panthers

The New Orleans Saints lost a heart-breaker to Carolina, as the Panthers hit a 54-yard field goal as time expired to claim a 20-17. Here is a transcript of Saints coach Kellen Moore's comments after the game, lightly edited for more concise reading.

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We had our chances, didn't get done, didn't play good enough football, didn't coach good enough football. Our defense battled, did some really good things to keep us in that. Special teams did some good things offensively, it wasn't good. And we had a few moments where we were able to drive and sustain some plays, but it just wasn't good. And obviously, we have to address that. Two to zero on (turnovers), a couple penalties that's gonna happen in a game. And we had opportunities to get that done and didn't get done. So obviously, disappointment in that.

What was your approach to that final offensive drive? Were y'all thinking field goal this time?

No, go win the game. Go take the lead and then go our way. Obviously, we had plenty of opportunities in this game. We didn't get it done. We have an opportunity to go essentially take the lead and go win the game at the end. And yeah, I gotta call it more aggressive. I gotta find a way to get us to get a downfield (play) more.

On the (Charlie Smyth) field goal at the end, it seemed like you made the decision to send him out to kick it immediately. Was that sort of a no decision kind of decision at that point?

Yeah, fourth down. Obviously, it felt like Charlie tied that up. And we'll have to go win this thing in overtime.

Was the plan today to really feature Jordyn Tyson in the offense and get him the ball as much as you could?

The way it played out, yes. Jordan did a good job, obviously. Again, there are plays obviously going towards Chris (Olave). And the way they play coverage, obviously the ball ended up in Jordan's hands a few more times than normal, but I thought Jordan did some good things.

Obviously, they get to review film on this, but the run game, is there any sort of reason that you could figure out why it wasn't there today?

Yeah, not good. Yeah, they have a good run defense, but we didn't get any movement, didn't get anything going, any rhythm there. Obviously, ultimately, for me, I wasn't able to create that for us. And so I got to figure it out.

On the fumble on the exchange with Audric (Estimé), what happened on that? It almost looked like he didn't expect to be getting the ball. Or am I not seeing that right?

There's a potential throw opportunity. Again, we just got to clean up the exchange. And there's a run with a potential throw. We just can't have the ball on the ground.

How do you think Tyler (Shough) is playing right now?

He's playing fine. He's battling. Again, I got to do a better job of giving ourselves more opportunities to play better football and offense. So obviously, that's my focus is I got to do a better job because we're not there.

On that interception (thrown by Shough), was that play just always going to Chris and they made a good play and good coverage?

He's the starting point for the play. Obviously, there's other routes on it.

How do you think Travis (Etienne Jr) played coming back now?

Yeah, I thought he had a really good couple of hard runs that really there's nothing there, he found a way to get some yards out of it, which was obviously nice. I thought he battled, I thought he did some good things. Obviously, collectively, we're all working to get better.

How would you describe the mood in the locker room right now?

Frustration, disappointment, had a great opportunity. And no one's going to feel sorry for you. No one's, you got to get this thing right and then we got to move forward. And so, our guys got to get better from this, because again, there's too many things that we're beating ourselves with.

How frustrating is it to not be able to take advantage of their mistakes? You have only three penalties on the day, they have more than 150 yards.

We had opportunities in that game. Again, we didn't get it done.

You said it a couple of times, is that maybe what's most frustrating, that it feels self-inflicted in some way?

Yeah, I mean, you got to give credit to Carolina, they made plays when they had to. But we have to focus on ourselves, we have to get better. And 2-0 on turnovers, again, we were able to pull one out last week going 2-0. It shows up again, 2-0. So we have two turnovers, we don't have to create any turnovers. And we're in that, that's gonna make it hard for anyone.

Do you have a chance to talk to (Saints Owner Gayle) Benson at all? Have you heard from her during this last few weeks?

Yeah, I always see Mrs. B and obviously we have plenty of conversations.

I mean, what's her mood or-

She's been supportive, she obviously, just like all of us, we want to win. We're all striving for ultimately what's in front of us. And we're always going to be disappointed collectively when we don't get done like we did today.

What was your reaction to the pass interference call (on Kool-Aid McKinstry) late in the game?

Yeah, they called it. Yeah, obviously, again, we had plenty of calls go our way. Obviously, there's disappointment when a call goes like that and now they're in field range.

Being an offensive-minded head coach, what would you diagnose as the issues with this offense?

Yeah, turnovers and sustaining drive.

How do you move on from this?

Obviously, you're not gonna feel good (losing after) coming out of a win. We understand that and that's how it should be. We're gonna have to focus on the response moving forward. We got opportunities ahead of ourself. We really have to hone in on ourself and focus on ourself and then get ready for another battle.

With some of those missed tackles that happened late in the Cleveland game as well, when you go back and look at the film of that, is that a possibility that you see that and maybe do roster changes? I mean, are there changes to be made at this point in the season?

We'll look at any opportunity we can to obviously get better and whether it's fundamentally, schematically, adjustments. But we just gotta focus on getting better.

How is Pete Werner and is that considered a serious hamstring injury?

Yeah, we'll see. They're collecting information right now, so yeah, left hamstring.

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