Saints' Kellen Moore Makes Blunt Admission After 2 Games

It's been a rough few weeks for the New Orleans Saints.

New Orleans has lost both of its first two games of the season. Both were one-score games with the Saints losing 20-13 Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals and then following up with a 26-21 loss Week 2 against the San Francisco 49ers. The start of the season hasn't been the greatest, but that doesn't necessarily determine future success.

For example, last year, the Saints started the season 2-0 and went on to finish with a 5-12 record overall. It's about how you build off of these games. The standings aren't great right now, but Spencer Rattler has looked promising through two weeks. There have been some solid takeaways, like rookie offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., for example.

Now, it's a matter of seeing how the Saints respond.

How will the Saints respond?

After the game on Sunday, head coach Kellen Moore talked about what he's seen through two weeks.

"Through two games, we have a great group of guys that work their tail off," Moore said. "Their play style, you can't take advantage there or assume those sorts of things. We've got everything we need, but we have to play cleaner football and we have to play and do what winning teams do in each and every moment. From the beginning of the game, all the way to the end, every play matters. We can't take it for granted."

A little blunt, but also completely fair. Losing the first two games of the season is obviously not what Moore and the Saints planned for. Both were winnable contests, especially with Brock Purdy missing Week 2 for the 49ers. But, Moore has at least sounded encouraged from what he's seen so far from this Saints group.

There's a solid mix of veterans and young guys on this team. It'll be interesting to see how the team rallies together after two close games. They will have their next opportunity to get in the win column on Sunday, Sept. 21st when they take on the Seattle Seahawks on the road.

Caleb Williams’ Raw Response to Bears Benching Him for Tyson Bagent

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Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has precious little experience watching his team’s games from the sideline, though that’s what happened late in a Week 2 blowout loss to the Detroit Lions.

Detroit humbled Chicago at Ford Field on September 14 by a score of 52-21. Bears head coach Ben Johnson then humbled Williams by pulling him from the game with just under eight minutes to play in favor of backup QB Tyson Bagent, who ran Chicago’s last two offensive drives Sunday afternoon.

“It sucks that your guys are out on the field, and you’re not,” Williams said. “And that’s frustrating because you put [in] so much time, energy and effort, and those guys are out there still battling and you’re on the sideline. But it was coach’s decision, and you gotta move on from it.”

Williams’ expressed the kind of attitude the franchise would want from a quarterback who struggled and sat the final half of the fourth quarter of the most recent game, but who will also unquestionably be back in a starting role for the team’s Week 3 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field.

“In that situation, I’m thinking of how can I help this team, this offense?” Williams continued. “Whether it’s me saying something on the field or to whoever … or whatever the case may be, just to get the momentum going, get us going and get this team rolling.”

Bears Like Tyson Bagent, but Not Enough to Supplant Caleb Williams as QB1

GettyQuarterback Tyson Bagent of the Chicago Bears.

Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, isn’t even approaching the point of losing his starting job.

It’s also fair to speculate that Johnson’s decision to sit Williams was more about protecting his health in a game that was already decided.

That said, Williams noted that much of the rest of the first-team offense remained in the game down the stretch of the blowout loss in Detroit. Furthermore, the Bears definitely have a high opinion of Bagent after inking him to a two-year extension worth $10 million that keeps him under contract through 2027.

Bagent joined the team as an undrafted free agent in May 2023 under the previous coaching staff.

Caleb Williams’ Careless Mistakes, Easy Misses Costing Bears Early in Season

GettyQuarterback Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears.

Williams completed 19-of-30 pass attempts on the afternoon for 207 yards, two TDs and one INT. He also rushed the football five times for 27 yards and took four sacks, which netted a total loss of 29 yards.

Both Johnson and Williams criticized the quarterback’s choice to make the ill-advised throw on a second-and-32 play from inside Bears’ territory roughly halfway through the second quarter with Chicago trailing by just a touchdown.

“He’s got to throw it away,” Johnson said.

“Ended up rolling out, probably need to throw it away right there. Tried to make a play,” Williams said. “But I thought [Olamide Zaccheaus] was going to go high and he ended up breaking flat, and it was just a miscommunication on the field.”

Williams spoke later about not trying to make superhero plays, though that was precisely the issue on the interception, which came on an off-balance throw that well overshot Zaccheaus and proved an easy pick for Lions safety Kerby Joseph.

Williams’ two biggest issues through two games have been missing easy throws in big moments and trying to make something out of nothing, leading to mistakes. Those are certain to be areas of focus for Chicago this week, as the team enters the closest thing there is to a must-win Week 3 game against Dallas next Sunday.

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