As the Saints sat in the locker room in Glendale after yet another loss, it was very quiet.
A group that had so often in the past lit up opposing locker rooms with celebratory dance parties was suddenly left with a new, much-less-enjoyable feeling. Well, it was at least new for several key players, one of whom is Alvin Kamara. That's when the normally lead-by-example type player demanded the room's attention and delivered an impassioned speech that very much was heard by the players around him.
"The years we've been good, it's been like, a certain swag and a certain confidence about the offense. Even when we're down, it was never like we were looking at the score. It was like, 'alright, well, shit, let's go. Let's play football.' It wasn't a score thing," Kamara said. "It wasn't like, what the other team was doing thing. It's like, 'let's go out execute, and shit, we're gonna like the result.' And I feel like, just honestly, I feel like we haven't really been playing like that."
The veteran running back wasn't about to pat himself on the back for displaying leadership, but it had to be done. WR Tre'Quan Smith, who was a member of winning rosters earlier in his career, spoke about it immediately after the game. Demario Davis and Dennis Allen spoke to it days later.
The exact words won't be quoted here -- and it's probably for the best on this here family website -- but the message was summarized with a PG rating by Davis on Monday: "We've got to get back to our swagger."
But how does that happen? It's been an elusive answer throughout a 2-5 start that in many other years might've torpedoed the season. In the 2022 NFC South, that's a record that has you right in the mix. That fortune isn't lost on the players in the room who know things have to turn around, and it has to happen soon.
"The best teams I've been a part have been the teams where the team takes over," Allen said. "You know, it's a player's game. And when those guys take ownership and take leadership, I think that's a good thing. I think that's positive, because they're the ones that are going to end up bringing us bringing us out of this."
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For the better part of two decades the man Kamara refers to as "nine" would've been the most likely candidate to rally around. That man, Drew Brees, was actually in the locker room with his family after the loss in Arizona. He looked good. He looked healthy. He won't be coming to the rescue this time.
"The people in this locker room are the ones that got to step up and lead and will this team to do what we want to do," Kamara said.
On defense the candidates are clear. Davis and Cam Jordan are the emotional leaders, and they'll take ownership of stepping up on that side of the ball. But on offense? There's still no Michael Thomas, no Jarvis Landry. Terron Armstead is in Miami. Even if he's making speeches, Kamara can only do so much.
More often than not, it's got to be the man with his ball in his hands on (almost) every snap. Perhaps that's why Allen chose this week to fully erase the injury variable from the starting quarterback equation. How effectively can you develop your identity around a "backup" QB, even if he's started four consecutive games. It never happened for Trevor Siemian last season and it never happened for Taysom Hill the year before that. There's an argument to be made that it hasn't happened yet for Andy Dalton, even with the veteran helping to engineer a run of impressive offensive performances.
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There are compelling arguments to be made that the pick should've been Jameis Winston, but even if he's healthy enough to play the significant back and foot injuries suffered earlier in the season are still lingering.
One way or another, it was time to make a decision. The head coach did that. He did it early in the week. It's now Dalton's job to lose, and it's his job to fully take the reins of the emotional leader.
"He's stepped up as a leader," Allen said. "He's been the guy with a little bit of a calming presence out there on the field for our guys. I think that's been good to see, and he's executing the offense at a high level right now."
The 35-year-old was in Cincinnati for the majority of Brees' reign in the Crescent City. He was in Dallas for the final season of that era. He was in Chicago for the first post-Brees effort. He knows the least about the Saints' former "swag" of any of the starting quarterback options you could've thrown on the table. Still, it's no excuse.
With the Raiders coming to town in Week 8 for what feels like a must-win game, it's time to see if that swag can be reclaimed. That's on Davis. That's on Kamara. That's on Cam. It's a little bit on everyone.
But the instant AD said the words "we're going with Andy" on a conference call earlier this week, a lot of that weight was shifted squarely on the veteran QB's shoulders. How he carries that could define the season, and the latter part of his NFL career.
Let's see what he's got.
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