Motivation can come in a variety of forms for NFL teams, and Darren Rizzi found it on his first day as the Saints interim head coach and in the form of visual aids.
That day it came in the form of a shovel, with the message being that everyone on the team had a hand in digging the whole they found themselves in throughout a 7-game losing streak. Everyone's hand had to be on the shovel as they filled it back in.
The message landed, so much so that the idea "has taken on a life of its own," Darren Rizzi said. The idea has turned into a new prop at every team meeting. There's been a construction vest, a hard hat, a hammer, even a tape measure, all there to illustrate a concept and a focus for the week.
“I look like Bob the Builder in front of the room, just for the record,” referencing the old kids cartoon.
"Every day I’ve had to add one. ... I’m gonna have to show up about 20 minutes before the meeting to get all the props in there now," Rizzi continued, laughing.
It might have added a bit of extra stress to his week when it comes to finding a prop and establishing a meaning for it, but he won't be complaining as long as those messages keep landing.
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One of the props for Week 11 was a level, something he used to emphasize finishing.
"I felt the level was a really good, symbolic thing, that you only use a level at the end of the job," Rizzi said. "You don’t use a level on Day 1 when you rip a building down, you use a level at the end to make sure you finish off the work and the job is done right.”
The idea resonated with the players, and the results were as demanded. The Saints finished out a close game on their terms for the second week in a row. In this case it came on both ends, with the Saints outscoring the Browns 21-0 in the final frame and turning a 14-14 nailbiter into a runaway win that sent the team into the bye week still feeling like magical finish is possible.
"You never know what gets your guys going or ... for your guys to know what it really means or what message you’re trying to get across," said Saints DB Ugo Amadi, "and I felt like that was a very clear message like, all right, when you get the job done everything is gonna look level, it’s gonna look even, and that’s when you know you did your job.”
The props will continue because A. They've been successful and B. there's still a good bit for this team to fix when it comes back from the bye week. One issue has been explosive plays, something this Saints defense has seemed unable to limit. Even in the case of the Browns offense the Saints limited to 14 points, it should've been more. Those two touchdowns were a 89-yard catch-and-run by Jerry Jeudy and another 30-yard TD grab by Elijah Moore.
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What prop might work to illustrate that? I'd guess a fire extinguisher, but we'll have to wait and see, because Rizzi ain't budging.
"[Explosive plays] are still a little bit of an Achilles heel. If we take care of the football, No. 1, on offense and don’t turn it over and then No. 2, you know, we have to make the methodical, go down the field, not have 89-yard touchdowns, you know, that’s important," Rizzi said, "and I think they had one explosive run and seven explosive passes yesterday and so we’ve got to cut that number at least in half and some of those were self-inflicted, so yea, I can’t give away my props – I can’t let the cat out of the bag, you’ll have to find out after the fact.”
Whatever it looks like, the props are just an example of something that's been clear throughout the two-plus weeks of Rizzi ball: The messaging in landing in a way that is certainly not guaranteed when you walk up to address the team. Rizzi just also has a knack for pushing the right buttons at the right time. Ahead of his first game he made the decision to make Alvin Kamara a captain, a move that was described as the most "duh" decision of all time. This upcoming week he'll be changing up the practice schedule so the off falls on Thanksgiving rather than the typical Tuesday. It's all followed a theme of change that's included reorganizing the locker room and a host of other things throughout the game weeks for his team.
The moves are landing in a way that's helped give this team belief in its head coach, but more importantly itself again, just ask Juwan Johnson .
"The one thing I have always taken into account is if you think you’re better than the other guy across from you, and every person on the team thinks that they’re better than the guys across from them, then why wouldn’t we win?" Johnson said. "And I think when you put it in that perspective, things can happen, things can work out that way, and I felt like for a little bit we kind of lost some belief. We were still fighting, but I think the biggest thing was just, you know, like I said, in weeks prior, just look at yourself in the mirror, you know, you’re a man, are you a man that’s gonna give up, are you a man that’s gonna let somebody take your livelihood, because this is something you’ve wanted to do your whole life."
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Can the winning ways continue? They'll have to for this team to give itself a chance at the postseason. It'll likely take a 5-1 finish to have a shot, while 6-0 would be the surest bet. That run will start after the bye as the Saints host a Rams team that's as hot as anyone and took them to task in Week 16 of last year in a similar must-win scenario. If the two-game streak becomes three, it'll start having to be taken seriously around the NFL.
Still, cliches exist for a reason, and the Saints are sticking to the one that lands right now: One game at a time ... and one prop at a time.
"I feel like in the past we was getting a little too ahead of ourselves, especially with our roster, we feel like we deserve the world," Amadi said, "but it’s not gonna be like that. You’ve got to take it one level at a time, one step at a time, one game at a time.”