It’s okay to admit the New Orleans Saints made a mistake hiring Kellen Moore as head coach. They hired an “offensive guru” who hasn’t scored more than seven points in the first quarter through 22 consecutive games, and who has gone into halftime with a lead just four times. Moore spent the last year and a half building his own offense with his own coaching staff and he has nothing to show for it. The best plays his team has made have come when Tyler Shough has thrown a ball up with a hope and a prayer to Chris Olave, often working out of structure on third or fourth down. They’ve thrived off of talent and chemistry, not play designs.
We’re not even halfway through Moore’s second year on the job, but we’ve seen enough to say it’s time for a change in leadership. At this point in his tenure, Moore is what his record says he is. AH Datalytics co-founder Jeff Asher found that just 35 coaches hired since 2011 had a worse point differential than Moore does through 22 games, and out of that group, the only ones with winning records were Sean McDermott and Dan Campbell. There’s a chance Moore could turn things around. But the odds are stacked heavily against him.
Just don’t expect sweeping changes right away. Dennis Allen was the first head coach the Saints dismissed during the season since Tom Benson bought the team, and it took direct intervention from Gayle Benson to get that done. General manager Mickey Loomis and the team’s brain trust won’t want to enter the hiring cycle so soon after choosing Moore as their guy. Realistically, Moore is going to get some grace with all of the injuries the team has sustained and come out of the bye week with hope of righting the ship once Jordyn Tyson and Travis Etienne Jr. return from injured reserve. If the offense still stinks in the back half of the season? Maybe Moore doesn’t make it to Year 3. All fans can do right now is turn up the volume on a coaching hire so obviously gone wrong.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints coach Kellen Moore is exactly what his record says he is