The New Orleans Saints had the option to play it safe and hope for a tie late in overtime against the Lions. They didn't do that, instead, opting to go for a 2-point conversion to beat the Lions in Week 1.
Tyler Shough's pass targeting Bryce Lance at the back of the end zone fell incomplete and the Saints fell 31-30 after a wild second half in overtime that also featured a Saints rally from 21 points down. Head coach Kellen Moore chatted with Bobby Hebert and Mike Hoss on WWL Radio this week and explained his reasoning.
“I think we had a chance to go win this football game," Moore said, "and that’s the goal of every game is to win the game."
Hear the full, exclusive interview with Saints head coach Kellen Moore in the player above or the video atop this page.
The other factor to consider in that moment was the time left on the clock. Should the Saints have kicked the PAT and tied the game, the Saints would have had to kick the ball back with 1:34 remaining and the Lions holding two timeouts. Kicking would've meant, effectively, surrendering any chance to win the game and putting the result on a defense that had already been on the field for 73 plays to stop the Lions from driving into field goal range.
Moore did say after the game that even without any time left, the Saints would've playing to win the game.
"They’re going to have an opportunity to go win this thing and so we had an opportunity to control it at that point," Moore continued. "I felt good about the decision. Ultimately, you know, disappointing we weren’t able to get it done with the 2-point play and so obviously, yea, I thought it was a heck of an opportunity for us and we just came up short.”
The Saints fall to 0-1 and will hit the road again in Week 2 for a matchup with the Baltimore Ravens.
MORE FROM MOORE
On the overturned scoop and score
“At the end of the day, guys, the interpretation of the rule ... I understand why they called it. Obviously I don’t love the result of it. I don’t think it matches general football observations and so it’s a bummer the way the rule is stated and I think for anything it’s just our frustration is ... the revisionist history that we’re all playing in our mind and through our film study of OK, haven’t heard of this one before and haven’t seen it applied in the NFL, but I understand why they called it. I see the rule and I see the way it’s written and I understand how they interpreted it as much as, you know, it may be ... obviously very frustrating for the ultimate result for us.”
On getting off to faster starts
“Obviously it’s a focus for us and it’s a part of the game that we’ve certainly fallen short on and again. Not in every aspect -- [our defense forced a] three and out. I thought we moved it fine. We got the short-yardage run by CJ and unfortunately we missed the third down opp there, but we’ve got to find a way to build that energy and that juice early in the game. I think our guys do an excellent job of responding to adversity, but we need to be a little bit more proactive and obviously that starts with me to be able to find the rhythm we need to be able to execute and get that thing done."
On matchup with Ravens
“It’ll be a fun challenge for us. Baltimore is an excellent program for a really long time. [Head coach Jesse Minter] is going to do a great job with those guys. I think they obviously have talent at every level of this team and so, you know, I think they certainly played well against Indy. You know, they’re a really well coordinated defense. I think they do an excellent job. They’re really sound and then that offense, obviously they have playmakers all over the field.”
