The New Orleans Saints likely don’t want to fire Kellen Moore, but if they come out flat again against the Cleveland Browns, then they have no other choice. The amount of pressure Moore is under has been a common conversation, but it’s worth restating again. On Sunday, Moore should be under “do or die” pressure.
Gayle Benson put Moore and Mickey Loomis on notice a little less than a month ago that she was prepared to make changes if things didn’t change. She didn’t put a timeline on when change needed to happen, but it was safe to assume the end of the season at the latest. If the Saints come out flat again after the bye, there’s no reason to even waste the time waiting.
The team had two weeks between their last game and Sunday, and not making enough improvement for a noticeable difference should be unacceptable. The team beat the Giants after Benson’s initial comments, but they nearly choked that game away then lost the following week. At some point, Moore has to get the team to perform like a squad who just had their head coach called out by their owner.
Kellen Moore has a streak of disappointing, embarrassing performances in big moments
Moore hasn’t seen a ton of big games as the Saints head coach, but the team has been disappointing and embarrassing in the few big moments in Moore era. The closest the Saints have come to playing well in a big game was playing the Bills close early last year. That wasn't truly a big game as much as it was just a good opponent
The team didn't have many big games during Moore's first season, and the hot streak at the end of the season was against lesser competition in games with no microscope on it. They were low stakes games with low attention on them. The Saints flourished.
While this week is a regular noon kickoff against a team that's without their starting quarterback, there still feels like a bit of pressure on this game. The Saints have been terrible in games that were definitive big moments.
Whether either of the first two games fits in the "big game" category is subjective, but games against the Falcons and Steelers are definitely included. The home opener vs the Raiders and the matchup vs the Giants after Gayle Benson's comments are also strong candidates to be big moments.
Falcons- 20th anniversary domecoming, Steelers- first ever game in Paris, Raiders- home opener after biggest win of Moore's career, Giants- Benson just put everyone's feet to the fire. These were all massive moments leading up to the game, and the Saints delivered embarrassing results.
They were blown out by the Falcons in what was the biggest game for the cities for a multitude of reasons on the only primetime stage the Saints have had in two seasons. That was the biggest game of the year, and the Saints put forth their worst performance. The game in Paris was close but still uninspiring, specifically on offense.
They choked away the Raiders game and tried to do the same vs the Giants. You see the pattern here?
Every time the Saints have a game with real attention on it, whether locally or nationally, they've wet the bed. It's just a matter of how bad was it. Putting this game in there is a slight stretch, but the history of poor performances under pressure, plus the two weeks to prepare, is the reason this game feels like the last straw for Moore.
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