Kellen Moore - Head Coach, saints Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-16 | Full transcript (primary source).
Kellen Moore, Head Coach of the Saints, addressed the media during a press conference on September 16, 2026, following a Wednesday practice session. The focus of the conference included updates on player injuries and their readiness for the upcoming game.
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Transcript
Moore: We'll go Joanne Johnson illness did not practice. Isaiah Stahlberg did not practice with a shoulder. Limited was Oscar Delp with the hamstring. Limited was Cam Jordan with the hamstring. And then full participant was Alvin with the knee. And I think good practice. Obviously, normal Wednesday. We're ready to go.
Reporter: Do you anticipate Alvin back this week?
Moore: Yeah, I feel good about Alvin. Yeah, I feel like he's done an awesome job. So he's right where he needs to be.
Reporter: How close was he going to last week and what went into ultimate cinnamon?
Moore: Yeah, he probably put it on last week. I think it was just a matter of time on task, getting a full week's work. And I thought he did an amazing job putting himself in a position last week to practice really well. And so he's in a great place.
Reporter: How's Cam progressing?
Moore: Yeah, good. He was able to participate a little bit and practice last week on Friday. And then this week obviously has been limited based working his way into in the right direction.
Reporter: You think he could potentially be able to give it a go this week?
Moore: We'll see what happens. Yeah, let the week take its course.
Reporter: Is there anything about Bayley's body control that stands out to you, especially like when he leaves the suite?
Moore: Yeah, I think they has a really good job of using his body, you know, to gain leverage, to gain body position on catches. And, you know, I thought one example you can highlight is that inside slot fade on third down where he was the defender played him outside leverage and did a great job of forcing him inside. And then he kind of used his body to naturally kind of box out the defender, get back to the landmark where the throw is going to go. And that was a big time play. And then obviously he's got some red zone plays with evidence of him using his body as well.
Reporter: Is the size that him and Juwan have and their ability to kind of play down field, does that, you know, offer just more opportunities because they had a couple combination routes?
Moore: Yeah, I just say, yeah, when you're a bigger man, you can use your body to your advantage, you know, and it's kind of like a basketball metaphor a little bit as far as, you know, being a bigger man and being able to position yourself and defend, you know, box out guys at times. And so I think those guys have had examples pop up that way.
Reporter: For a fan to catch that touchdown at the end, does that kind of work the weight of not putting on your product?
Moore: Yeah, jokes when we finally got him, it took took a couple years, took two tries to get them. But yeah, Noah's done a great job. Again, you know, I think our tight end room has some versatility and some depth and, you know, similar structures there. Juwan catches a touchdown on one drive, you know, ultimately the next full drive, you know, Noah catches a touchdown on a similar structure, different obviously concept. And so he's excited.
Reporter: The way that Tyler and Noah like worked out their chemistry in game, like the one interception Tyler's saying that he anticipated and now, or for him to sit, it was an out riding and then ended up being an interception. But then they seem to sort it out as the game went along.
Moore: Yeah, you know, we missed an opportunity. That was a big play in this game. But, you know, you move on, you know, there's plays in this game, they're going to be good. There's plays, they're going to be bad. He's got to move on and just keep playing and don't let that impact, you know, future outcomes.
Reporter: Which is guys' process sort of site and protections, like some teams it's the center, some it's the quarterback, like how do you guys go?
Moore: Yeah, usually center starts at QB, can obviously direct it from there. And that's kind of our starting point.
Reporter: What's impressed you about, I mean, you saw from the numbers, the performances, but Tyler and Chris's chemistry, I mean, it's obviously we saw it into week one as well with the games that they both had. What sticks out to you the most about how insane those two guys are with each other?
Moore: Yeah, on the same page, the scramble drill was a big play, you know, where they were able to kind of see it the same way. And Chris took off and went down field and had the big time play there and kind of got us going. And then, you know, I think the post route, that was an incredible job by both those guys. It's kind of a backside route on a concept. And they saw the safety cutting the over route and they were able to work through that progression. Tyler hung in there and made the throw. CO made the catch. So, you know, there's some big plays in there for both those guys.
Reporter: You spent a year coaching Jalen Hurts. Did you learn even more that you can now use as like an opponent against mobile quarterbacks about, you know, what works and what doesn't work and the problems that caused it? I mean, did anything that you gleaned from having that hands-on time?
Moore: I don't know if there's anything. I think the thing I learned more was just, you know, every quarterback's got different exposure, different style of play. And, you know, I think Declan's, you know, first week of season done just an incredible job. You know, I think the world of Declan and how he's kind of blended a couple of worlds together, you know, and I think that's the impressive thing is, you know, Lamar's got a lot of time on task on certain things and they're not going to lose all that, but there's an added component that they're putting in with the ability to run the football from under center and kind of the keeper game and all the things that he's able to add into this. And so, you know, for Lamar, he's going to make some plays off schedule. I think that's the biggest thing when you have quarterbacks that are able to play off schedule. We can't stop. We got to keep pursuing. We got to plaster is what we say on the back end. Those guys got to cover guys for maybe a little longer because inevitably Lamar's going to make one of those happen, you know, in one of these games. We just got to do a great job of continuing to play.
Reporter: You thought Declan introduced some things that you've never seen Lamar do before or?
Moore: I think just, yeah, I think just some structures that maybe they haven't lived in. You know, Baltimore over the last few years with Lamar played a lot of different styles, but, you know, the under center component, more of the keeper game, you know, he's lived that before Lamar's done plenty of that. But I think just, you know, they put a really good emphasis on it.
Reporter: Not asking to speak for Declan here, but you were kind of in issues once as a extremely young play caller, really. Like when you're, I mean, he's 30 years old. Like, how do you get to like, kind of overcome some things when you don't have like the experience necessarily?
Moore: I think Declan's done an amazing job. He's done a great job of preparing their team all off-season and, you know, they played really well week one. And, you know, that's a good opportunity for teams when you have a transition is there's an element of unknown, which I think is a great asset. And, you know, they're going to be able to keep adding new components the first few weeks of the season that maybe are new from everyone's viewpoint of Baltimore. And, you know, they may come from Atlanta or Chicago or somewhere else where he's had exposure. And so, yeah, I think that's he's done a great job of preparing them and he'll continue to add elements that'll be challenging for defenses.
Reporter: You mentioned the term timeline task. As far as maybe you all starting faster offensively, is it just time on task and finding more synergy or is it something that you coach differently to start faster?
Moore: Yeah, we just got played better in the first quarter. Simple as that time on task thing. It's a, you know, design and execution thing. And for all of us, we all get have to look at it. And so our defense three and out, our offense, you know, we had a first down there. I thought it was a good short yardage play. We ultimately didn't get third and three and that kind of, you know, derailed the drive that had some movement going. So, you know, we just got to execute better there.
Reporter: It's time on task also, like, as you get new pieces into the offense, figuring out how to use them or wanting to, like, sort of play. It's that part of the process as well.
Moore: I would say that's a continuous evolution through a season. There's always different ways that you can utilize guys. You know, for all of us, we've had a great off season. You know, everyone's kind of been through training camp. We know where we're at. We know where, where we're going and there'll be adjustments as we go. And so, yeah, I think that's just inevitable.
Reporter: How many reps, like, yeah, I guess you're talking about the coming reps and you have a training camp, but like, what are we kind of talking about? You've had months of work before this, but what is that? Is it small in the grand scheme of things? Like, what's kind of?
Moore: I mean, everyone's got the same structure in the NFL. We got the same kind of rules and regulations for training camp. There's a lot of work that goes into training camp as far as building your foundation and what you believe in. And then week in and week out, it's just about, you know, playing different match-ups. You know, every opponent's going to be a little bit different. You're going to have to make adjustments and tweaks and add some little pieces to your game plans each week. And so, it's just constantly evolving.
Reporter: Would you, do you think of y'all's output in like an under-center game? I mean, you did more of that this week than you really did at any point last year. Is that like an emphasis? Did you like the way it looked?
Moore: Yeah, we had some opportunities in there. Ultimately, the game kind of shifted focus to, you know, we were playing a little bit of a, you know, what the scoreboard's at at that point and just the amount of possessions you're going to have left. And so, we weren't able to probably be under-center as much as we probably had planned on. But yeah, I thought there were still some positive things in there. You know, when the run game and the action game can kind of play off each other and then, you know, some drop back in there. I think all that's added value.
Reporter: I think under-center kind of reps were up across the league in week one. Why do you think that is?
Moore: Top teams in the league. Some LA Rams and a handful of teams to have a success playing under-center. So again, it's a trends in copycat league. Defenses have certain trends right now that everyone's kind of copying and that's what this league's about.
Reporter: This could be said about most NFL teams. Not all. And you just go from one really good running back to another really good running back. You had gifts last week. You got Henry this week. Well, how would you compare those two as runners?
Moore: I think they both have a really good ability to find the one cut in the zone game, you know, and kind of cut that thing back. And if you, you know, miss an opportunity and they have a crease, they can get there quickly. And then it's a challenge. Obviously, you know, they have different styles once they get to that crease. But I think both have really good vision.
Reporter: Do you think like open field tackling for a regular person like me, like Derek, maybe you feel like one of the hardest things someone could like, there's just some stuff you watch and it's like, there's no way like a regular person like he's a pretty.
Moore: Yeah, yeah, I'd say he's outside the norm of what a running back traditionally looks like. And he's, you know, I think the most amazing thing is how long he's done this, you know, this has been going on for years and doesn't feel like it's tailing off at all. He's playing really, really good football. He's been doing this for a long time. And he did a Tennessee for a long time. And then he goes to Baltimore and he keeps going. And so, you know, it's a tremendous challenge because, you know, it's, it's group tackling in some cases, you know, you need the whole group to pursue and finish. And that's going to, what it's going to take.
Reporter: Great question. I would, I would assume a lot of credit goes to his preparation and his work and the things he puts into this because, you know, playing right back in this league is a physical wear and tear. And for him to still be, you know, at the top of this league, you know, each and every year, you know, he's obviously putting some incredible work into it.
Reporter: How much does he complicate what you guys want to do on defense?
Moore: Again, I think it just requires such an emphasis on it. It's really, you got to play team defense and everyone's got to be tied together from a gap standpoint, from assignment standpoint, from a tackling standpoint, because, you know, one-on-one opportunities, it's, it's going to be challenges, but we're going to need to rally and finish plays.
Reporter: Like stylistically, like, is that as complicated as it can get to? Like on the first play in this last game, they had like seven guys go in the wrong direction and Lamar's going out the other way. Like, he's kind of, pick your poison while we're there.
Moore: Yeah, I think, you know, they're going to continue to do a great job. If you can run the football the way they can run the football and then create the keepers off of that with Lamar out in space, you know, that's a conflict that defense is going to have a hard time with.
Reporter: I'm sure you all want to run the ball more effectively than you did last week. What were the factors that prevented you from having more success in the run game?
Moore: Yeah, I'd just say Detroit did a really good job of, you know, they had a good pressure plan. They did a really good job there. We weren't able to get to the second level and create space. You know, it's going to take all 11, you know, it's going to take all 11 and we just got to keep keep going.
Reporter: The split between Kendrae and Travis was even, I think we've got nine carries. Was that the goal going in to keep it even or is that just not one?
Moore: I think, yeah, it's important to rotate these guys. You know, we got to rotate all these running backs and there'll be different packages or responsibilities from week to week that are different. But, yeah, I think it's important. You know, I really, I think, really, my one year in Philly is probably the only year I've ever been with, you know, where a running back just kind of takes everything until he can't. Everywhere else you usually rotate these guys.
Moore: Yeah, I thought there was some good. Obviously, you had the big time turnover, which was, you know, critical opportunity for us in this game, just to create some momentum and great pursuit there. And, you know, for Vern, I thought there were some real positives in there. There's some things he's going to want to improve on. That was the second NFL football game, you know, as much as, you know, we feel like he's been around here for a long time. That was the second NFL game. And so I'm excited for where he's going.
Reporter: Performance like his, I don't know, alleviate concern is the right word, but, you know, you lost Percy and there may be some questions of how your interior would handle that. Like, does that go a long way forward?
Moore: Yeah, I think we just have a group that's going to just keep getting better. And that's the, that's the goal of this. They just got to keep getting better. There's a few younger guys that are going to keep growing and keep getting better. And we got some veterans who've played this game for a number of years. Like, you know, we got to rally and play a really consistent football there. And if we do that, we'll be, we'll be just fine.
