Report: Saints owner says calls to fire GM are 'ridiculous'
New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson gave a vote of confidence to general manager Mickey Loomis as he has come under fire for the team's 2-8 start to the season, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Friday.
Loomis has been the Saints' GM since 2002, adding the title of executive vice president in 2013.
The team's issues include an offense that ranks toward the bottom of the NFL with 297.2 yards gained per game. Only two teams are worse than New Orleans' 15.5 points per game.
Quarterback Spencer Rattler has averaged 198.3 yards passing through eight games. Only five quarterbacks that have appeared in at least eight games are worse.
On defense, the Saints are 13th in the NFL with 317.5 yards per game, although they are in the bottom third of the league with 25.0 points allowed.
"It may not be what fans want to hear, but as far as firing Mickey Loomis, that's ridiculous," Benson told the newspaper this week. "(He) does a great job."
The Saints' 1-8 start was the worst in franchise history since 1980 before they earned a 17-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday that was led by the defense. The victory ended a four-game losing streak, with the only other win this season against the New York Giants.
The Saints have missed the playoffs in four consecutive seasons and are all but assured to not see a postseason game this year.
"You don't think Mickey Loomis is losing sleep at night over all of this? He is," Benson said. "... It's not an easy job. It's not like he's sitting on his butt, not worrying about things."
Loomis put together a team that won the Super Bowl following the 2009 season. It started a run where the Saints advanced to the playoffs in eight of 12 seasons, before the current postseason drought began.
The Saints have nine regular seasons with double-digit wins under Loomis after having just five in franchise history before he took over the GM role.
Bengals rookie quietly in line for a much bigger role entering Week 11
One most welcome surprise for the Cincinnati Bengals in recent weeks has been the transformation of their running game. Unfortunately, the bye week, a second-time opponent in the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a key injury could derail all that prior momentum.
Not that the Steelers have a stupendous defense, but if Pittsburgh can score at will like many Bengals opponents have this season, ageless wonder Joe Flacco will be forced to air it out a lot and render Cincinnati's offense one-dimensional.
To help Flacco avoid a quadragenarian shootout versus Aaron Rodgers, the Bengals need to play keep-away and lean on the run. Can they count on a rookie sixth-round pick to help the cause?
Bengals rookie Tahj Brooks could be thrust into major duty after Samaje Perine injury
Former Texas Tech tailback Tahj Brooks slid all the way to the 193rd overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Bengals happily scooped up the productive ball-carrier then, as a deep running back class was part of the reason for Brooks' tumble down the board.
Any hopes Brooks had of substantial playing time early on were dashed when Cincinnati could run the ball whatsoever. Chase Brown was averaging around two yards per carry. Brooks has only managed six carries for 18 yards in his young career thus far.
But aging vet Samaje Perine and Brown suddenly became a phenomenal 1-2 punch of late. It's a bummer that Perine will be out for Week 11 with an ankle injury, as the team confirmed on Friday.
Perine is a savvy back who still has more explosiveness than you'd think at 30 years old. The good news is, the Bengals' disreputable offensive line has rallied from early adversity to pave lots of running lanes, which should open things up for Brown against Pittsburgh.
When the Steelers and Bengals met in Week 7, Brown had 108 yards on only 11 carries. The question is, does Brooks have the vision and conviction to hit the hole without hesitating, and produce like a solid RB2?
That much is unclear. What is clear is that Brooks should have the chance to prove himself. Maybe Zac Taylor won't trust him with a lot of reps, but Brown's health should take priority.
Plus, Brooks did have quite a run at the end of his college days, rushing for over 1500 yards in each of his last two seasons with 27 touchdowns on the ground in that span.
It'd just be nice to see a Cincinnati rookie do well. Watching Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter try to play NFL linebacker has been a disaster and a big reason why the defense is so bad. Maybe Brooks will provide hope that this latest underwhelming draft class can turn into something salvageable and respectable for the Duke Tobin-led scouting department.
I'll play you out with some Brooks Texas Tech highlights rather than any more depressing Bengals personnel fodder.
