New Orleans Saints fans have begged Kellen Moore to start holding people accountable for the shortcomings of the team, with many asking for Moore to be held accountable himself. Well, fans finally got the former, as the Saints moved on from run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti, though it's hard to say that was truly the move to change things up.
The Saints simply couldn't walk out the bye week and change nothing. The team needed to do a week of self reflection, and the answer being that nothing needed to change other than the results would have been a fireable offense.
The run game was flat out embarrassing in the game preceding the bye week, so it is no surprise that a change happened in this aspect of the team. It hasn't been good enough since Moore took over and was arguably the second most obvious change to make other than Daniel Carlson, who is somehow still on this team.
T.J. Paganetti could be the scapegoat for Kellen Moore, Saints
The results will ultimately be the determining factor of whether or not the move was enough, but this does feel like a small fish move. Something needed to change, but Moore likely wasn't going to be forced into any changes he didn't want to make. For that reason, finally holding those involved accountable for the failures of the team is commendable.
Did Moore get the right guy, though?
Paganetti was the run game coordinator, but it still seems like the direction of the run game is coming from the same leaders. Brendan Nugent was already doing a large majority of the work during the week, and now he's receiving a larger share of the workload.
Nugent is the offensive line coach, and it can be said the offensive line is the biggest catalyst for the struggles on the ground. That's the guy getting more responsibility?
Moore's hope is this makes communication more seamless, and maybe less cooks in the kitchen gets that done. However, it's hard to sit around and believe Nugent is going to all of a sudden solve the issue he's been a part of creating when he's the leader of the most guilty party is a hard sell.
Firing Paganetti was a start, but it has the feeling of a move to appease fans who want change. Truthfully, the needs are much higher than a run game coordinator. If the Saints really wanted to shake things up, firing Nugent and giving Paganetti more control would have truly presented a switch.
At least, Paganetti has history of being involved in strong rushing offenses. The offensive line has been terrible, so giving the offensive line coach more influence on the run game is a decision that's going to have exceed current expectations.
At least there was a change, however. Has to count for something.
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