Blake Grupe has underwhelmed this season to say the least. The New Orleans Saints named him a captain for the first time in his career. Despite the early struggles, Kellen Moore retains the same level of confidence in Grupe from the beginning of the season.
Fans may find that confidence strange and difficult to understand. In five games, Grupe has missed five field goals. Most fans are already calling for his head. It's not surprising. The Saints have been in close games, and Grupe's misses have taken valuable points off the board.
Moore is standing behind his kicker, for better or worse. He's giving Grupe time to bounce back, but that time can only last so long.
Kellen Moore's belief in Blake Grupe feels like more than just coach speak
Coaches typically aren't going to throw their players under the bus. Even when moments of understandable frustration, coaches try their best to not blast players publicly. Once he gets to that point, the damage has been done, and action is imminent. It may be a demotion or a player being released, but either way, the ice is thin.
That doesn't seem to be the case for Grupe. Not yet, at least. Moore gave an endorsement of Grupe to reporters saying, "I think Blake is a really good kicker. People go through challenging circumstances in this league, and so the job is to find the solution, get better. He knows that, we all know that. We're in this thing together and so certainly our goal and aspiration is how can we just execute at a little bit higher level and so that's where we're focused."
Moore isn't ignorant of the struggles, but he isn't at the point of releasing Grupe. Moore's words do check all of the typical coach speak boxes. However, the timing suggests this is true belief. Grupe's struggles have extended for over a quarter of the season. Moore believes in fresh slates. Well, Grupe's slate features the missed field goals of all distances.
Grupe is at the point of the Saints saying "enough is enough" could happen at any time. One of his misses was from beyond 50 yards on Sunday, but that begins to matter less when you also have chip shot misses on your resume.