Kellen Moore - Head Coach, saints Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-14 | Full transcript (primary source).
Kellen Moore addressed the media during a press conference following the Saints' recent game, providing updates on player injuries and discussing the team's performance. The press conference took place on September 14, 2026, as the Saints prepare for their upcoming matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
Transcript
Moore: Good afternoon. All right, so medical wise really came out of the game pretty clean. Obviously, plenty of bumps and bruises and things that guys will test maintenance with the week. The guys that were not available cam, Alvin Delp, all progressing well. So we'll see how their week progresses. Jonah's back. Jonah one is back on practice squad from a roster standpoint and back to the game. I thought it was a great game from the perspective of it was a back and forth battle. Had opportunities to win it. We get to learn a lot from that game in all three phases, both positively and things that we got to improve on. And so I think so much of early season football is focused on really just so much about yourself, just getting better each and every week. There's a lot of stuff that our guys will be excited to improve at, focus in on that this week. And then we'll have a fun challenge again with Baltimore on the road.
Moore: So to clarify, Audrey gone IR, Traitin signed, so there's no corresponding for Jonathon. You anticipate Traitin staying up. Traitin's still on 53, yes. So that was Saturday. Aud went to IR and then Traitin came up and then Jonah was the practice squad spot for Traitin. Move from.
Moore: Tyler mentioned after the game that some of the cover zero they were running was like kind of an unscattered look, I guess, from from like what y'all saw on tape coming into last year. What did you notice about like the way he adjusted to it in the game and says his numbers against the blitz were like much better.
Moore: I think it's just guys being on the same page and just communicating. I think so much of it comes down to communication when everyone's aligned and communicating and everyone understands the responsibilities. It's just about going out and executing. And so I thought from a protection standpoint there's some things that we just gotta get better at. Most of it's, I think, at the end of the day, communication. And then when you have those opportunities downfield, you can take advantage of them.
Moore: Incorporating some of the new pieces to your offense using Travis, Noah, Bryce, Lance, like trying to figure out how and when to use them.
Moore: Yeah, I think there are some positive moments for all those guys. I thought Traitin ran hard. We didn't get the run game going to the element that we wanted. That's a good downhill run team and run stopping team. And we gotta do a better job there. I thought Traitin had some really time. I thought his red zone catch on that third down was a big time catch because he's going to get contact. He's going to get kind of hit as he catches that football. I thought that was a big time play. I thought Noah came up with some good catches in the game. He had some physicality in the run game. And again, I thought Bryce stepped up and did some really good stuff in there. He played a lot of snaps. That was a lot of snaps on offense. It was a good job by him.
Moore: Did you make an adjustment that worked in the run game, or situationally, it was just sort of, you know, you guys were in that hurry up mode.
Moore: Yeah, I think it was 21-0 at one point. So the run opportunities probably became a little bit less until the game got settled down a little bit. And so, you know, credit our guys. They hung in there. They were able to make some plays. And we got it back to more of a mixed down football again, you know, towards that fourth quarter. And so, you know, we got to get more opportunities. We got to play cleaner up there. You know, we got to give ourselves more opportunities just to play that. And so, because then the action game could kind of come off it.
Moore: There was no way that Tyler just did, you know, with Noah early on, there were some misused, some interceptions where he was the primary target. But he had the faith to go back to him, trust to go back to him again later on. And then just also like finding out the chemistry, you know, still working through that chemistry of the game progress.
Moore: Yeah, we just, you know, we missed some opportunities early. And as simple as that, I thought our guys just kept battling. No one flinched. No one changed their demeanor or their approach to this. I think credit to our guys was sticking with it. And so, you know, you hang in and eventually steer the ship the right way and get it going. And I thought our guys did a good job of continuing to battle.
Moore: I'm not trying to get you in trouble, but a lot of people are still scratching their heads over that overturn. Are you comfortable that you clearly understand why that backward pass was a forward pass?
Moore: I've been, I know what the rules, how it's written. So I have an understanding of that now. And so, you know, it's a unique, unique rule, you know, we could probably all do some revisionist history on that and look through it. But, you know, that's what the rule is. I think it was applied properly then in the overturn. I have not seen that rule applied in an NFL game for my own sake. But I hadn't, you know, it's the way it was interpreted. I understand why they called it that way.
Moore: That rule changed or at least the competition committee like look at it. That would be for a long time. So this is kind of irrelevant right now.
Moore: Could you speak to the progress of your rookie receivers in this ball game that you just played?
Moore: Yeah, I thought Bryce and Barry-on. Barry-on had the return opportunities. He had a few snaps on offense, did some positive things there. He'll continue to play that role and it'll be a very important role. And I thought Bryce did a really good job of, you know, playing a lot of snaps in that game. And I thought he was just, he came up with some big time plays, you know, the catch on fourth down, a couple other catches in that game. I just think Bryce has a steadiness to him, a consistency to him that makes him really reliable for us.
Moore: Bryce kind of came in with this, I guess, idea that he was just a small school deep thrower. Like, has the physicality for his frame this early on impressed you?
Moore: Yeah, for Bryce, you know, again, it goes down to preparation. I think he does a really good job preparing. I think his physicality has shown up his ability to block in the run game and play at the catch point because, again, there's a lot of contested catches in the NFL compared to college just naturally. And I think he's done a really good job there.
Moore: Sure. Phil review was kind of the take on the defensive performance. Like Jameer, obviously, at Big Game, he's a really good player at always thinking that.
Moore: Yeah, he's a really good player. Again, we're gonna have plenty of opportunities that we want to improve on. And from a run fit standpoint, from a, you know, communication standpoint, I think so much of that. You feel good about, hey, we're close, but we're not close enough, and a lot of that comes to gap integrity, you know, fitting the runs better. And so we got to take a step in the right direction there. We got to get better. And so, you know, he's a good player. He's going to make a couple. You know, we know that, but we got to control more of these variables.
Moore: To that point, you go on the road to a possible contender to another one this week. So the opportunity to grow in between this week or between weeks to weeks, just how much are you looking forward to that?
Moore: Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing early in the season is we just got to focus on ourselves and just get better. You know, we're going to play really talented teams every week as the NFL. We just got to get better. We got to get better, better, better each and every day, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, walk through Saturday, and then we'll go play again. But you got to kind of come back for the full week and, you know, find our different opportunities individually and collectively to improve.
Moore: Is your review on the two point play you chose and why it didn't work? Was it just they covered it successfully?
Moore: Yeah, I mean, obviously anytime something doesn't work, you're going to be frustrated and they covered it well. Made a good play on us and, you know, we're kind of working through the progression as late in the late in the down, having an opportunity to the corner, but they covered it well.
Moore: What do you like about the rotation? The two rotations you use on defense with Danny and Pete and then Martin and Quincy.
Moore: I think we just got really good players that have earned roles and earned opportunities. MJ has done a good job through camp. He's applied himself really well and so he'll continue to have different opportunities and Danny as well. You know, again, we feel like we have some depth there and those guys have earned opportunities and it's great for I think for our guys overall.
Moore: When you're doing that, you have to like be conscious of like not second guessing in real time of like, oh, a negative play happened. Like, you know, she's an example of Danny was in the game. So it's like not letting it like, you know, I think most of it's pre-planned, you know, packages or rotation patterns that we've already pre-planned. I think, you know, that's that's the main focus to this. I don't think we overreact on one play out there and that's going to dictate the rotation necessarily.
Moore: Go back to that two point play if you don't mind for just a second. When when you call that play, was that the one that was specifically called? Was that one he checked to? Was there a bootleg possibility or was that?
Moore: No, that was that was the play. Yeah, that was the play and trying to get Chris kind of on the move, get him moved off the spot. Obviously, there's going to be attention drawn to him and see if we can get them moving and, you know, they covered it well.
Moore: With just in general with the rotation, why are some positions like, you know, you see defensive line, like rotations, common wide receiver, you don't see it necessarily as much at linebacker or quarterback. What you guys are doing is like, why are some positions open to rotations versus others?
Moore: I don't know. That's a good question. I think there's certain positions that naturally just the wear and tear. You do need to have breaks. Defensive line is always traditionally here. You don't have to rotate those guys. There's teams that play high percentages. I get that. We're going to rotate those guys a lot, but I think, you know, we're rotating a number of guys on defense. I think that's a positive thing for our football team.
Moore: Well, if we asked you about it yesterday, CJ Donaldson, you played like 15 snaps. Yeah. You guys had like a package for him and then you had him in there. It's the third and long stuff. What made you comfortable using him in those situations?
Moore: I did a really good job through training camp and preseason. He's got a nice special teams role. He can play obviously in third down protection. I think he's did a nice job with that. And then, you know, he was able to play some snaps kind of in some short yard situations. I think that was all positive for him. He's done a really good job preparing himself and giving him a chance here.
Moore: Is that obviously such a big frame? Do you guys like that part of the appeal of bringing men's like maybe some of those short yardage? You could use like playing H back a little bit.
Moore: Yeah. Yeah, I think that's he's got a little bit of exposure to that in his past. And so I think there were some intrigued by that. I think credit our, you know, scouts and Joel and these guys for kind of going through the process and kind of identifying him as a piece that could be really valuable to us. And I think he earned it, you know, through training camp and preseason. He's done really nice job.
Moore: Coach, being on the versatility of the offense, I mean, you were able to show the lines a couple of different lifts. We've done compared to being out, CJ Donaldson, a couple of different lifts. What can you say about the versatility of the offense?
Moore: Yeah, I think on offense, every week's a different challenge. And so we're not to do different things and present different opportunities. And so, you know, we got a deep group and we're going to need all these guys as the season takes its course. And so I thought some guys, you know, stepped up and took advantage from opportunities. Well, you know, Alvin will be a part of this here shortly and he's done a great job preparing himself. And so I'm excited with where we could take this.
