Darren Rizzi is quick to admit that Monday at the Saints facility was a bit of a whirlwind of emotions.
On the one hand, he's staring down the barrel of his first shot as an NFL head coach. Even in an interim capacity it's a rare shot that doesn't come often, if at ever. On the other hand, it came at the expense of a good friend and 6-year colleague in Dennis Allen, fired in his third season in the top job and after a 7th consecutive loss.
"At the end of the day a man lost his job today and so that’s the difficult part," Rizzi told Bobby Hebert and Mike Hoss on WWL. "At the same time, it’s where we are and, you know, I’ve been honored by, you know, Mrs. Benson and by Mickey and the rest of the organization to lead the ship moving forward and that part is an honor and a blessing, so there’s definitely some mixed emotions."
Listen to the full, exclusive interview with Darren Rizzi in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Once those emotions subside, only the work will remain, and Rizzi will have to lean on his 32 years of coaching experience to help him get there. There will be decisions made throughout this week and the other 7 games weeks remaining, but one that's already been made is that there will be a focus on leadership and somewhat of a step back from from the special teams coordinator duties, though Rizzi still expects to be heavily involved in that regard.
Assistant special teams coach Phil Galiano will take on a bigger role, and the team is planning to hire experienced NFL coach Marwan Maalouf in a quality control role to help pick up the slack in the room. Maalouf and Rizzi have worked together with the Dolphins and at Rutgers. He also crossed paths with several Saints coaches during his time as special teams coordinator for the Vikings from 2019-'20.
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The added help will allow Rizzi more time to focus on his new role, though he plans to let offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and defensive coordinator Joe Woods "do their jobs" with minimal interference as he focuses on more big-picture challenges and gameday management.
"I think the most important part right now is understanding where we are and get a heartbeat on the locker room. ... The second thing is, at this point the leadership role is the No. 1 most important thing in my opinion, and so that’s where I need to be," Rizzi said. "I need to be a leader of the organization."
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What needs to change to find success
"Our consistency, in my opinion, is the thing that’s got to get better, and that’s where, you know, I think we can make the biggest jump. … We’ve had some good first halves, we’ve had some good out of the gates and things like that and all of a sudden in the second half maybe we disappeared a bit overall. I also feel like we’ve did a little bit of those stretches where the offense is playing good and the defense isn’t and vice versa, or maybe we have a special teams blunder in the Falcons game where Shaheed fumbles and so, you know, here’s what I’m looking, I’m looking for us to go out Sunday and try to play as complete a football game as possible, a complementary game where all three phases are helping each other out, you’re getting on the same page for four quarters, not this peak and valley stuff."
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On 4th & 1 decision; Hayball fake
“In hindsight looking back on [the 4th & 1 decision near midfield late against the Panthers], we probably should’ve went for it. I think analytics tell you to go for it there. I think the draw offsides play was a bad call, but we also could’ve called timeout there and reloaded the deck and went for it. In hindsight I could understand, we did punt the ball back to them there and maybe looking at that one, that’s one we’d like to have back.
"As far as the fake goes, listen, that’s something that we’ve had up all season, you know, that plus many other fakes. That particular fake was a check. We liked the look. Matt, Taysom and Matt could’ve got out of the look if they want, kind of like an audible on an offensive play. We had the look we wanted and Matt took off and the Australian flash was running for his life, but good for him. I was happy for him. I saw – I saw some stat that, you know, he was like, he had the most miles per hour for a punter since like 2018 or something crazy, the last six years, one of those … Next Gen deals, one of those GPS deals, so I was laughing at that one, but heck of a play by him and something we’ve been repping and working on, just we happened to have the opportunity in the game.”
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On managing veterans vs youth in locker room
"We’re gonna treat everybody fairly, but that doesn’t mean we treat them the same. ... I think our roster has a very unique balance of older veterans and a lot of younger guys. We’ve got a lot of younger guys playing for us right now, we just do. That’s the way our roster makeup is, and so there is a delicate balance there. There is a fine line and, you know, Alvin Kamara and Jordan Mims, they’re maybe not getting the same amount of reps throughout the week or whatever it is, so listen, I had a great meeting today with the leadership of our team, our captains, Alvin [Kamara] and Marshon [Lattimore], and I’ll tell you what, I walked out of that meeting with the leadership of our team as excited for this opportunity and really, with a really positive, positive feeling and so those guys, I think it’s important that our leaders lead and I think it’s really, really important that our best players play the best possible ball they can play, and you know what, our young players have to stop playing like young players. We’re at the point of the season where we’re gonna need those guys, if they have a Saints jersey on and they’ve got a fleur de lis on their helmet, we need them to show up and play on Sundays and no one really cares what year they’re in and how they got here and where they came from."