The New Orleans Saints finally did what they needed to: The losing streak is over, let's see where the positivity goes from here.
But the win over the Falcons was created a lot earlier than just Sunday on the Caesars Superdome turf. It was built in the locker room throughout the week with interim coach Darren Rizzi getting the team to buy in after the firing of Dennis Allen, as Mickey Loomis broke down on WWL Radio this week.
"When you have a mid-season change, and this goes for any team, you’re gonna get a little bump in emotion, right, and I thought Rizzi did a great job of accentuating that," Loomis told WWL's Mike Hoss, "of having some tangible things that were different through the week, the preparation."
Listen to the full, exclusive interview with Saints GM Mickey Loomis in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Some of those changes included a locker room that was reorganized to group players by position groups, an adjusted practice and meeting schedule, "activation periods" to begin practice rather than traditional stretching, moving position groups around during practice and an edict to sit in different seats each day during team meetings.
There were superficial changes and more tangible changes, but the goal was the same with all of them. Rizzi wanted to make things feel fresh and new, and players responding to that while also noting that the authenticity they feel from their new coach helped smooth out the process immensely. The team went on to defeat the Falcons 20-17 in a tightly contested game.
"I think [Rizzi] stated some things verbally that needed to be stated," Loomis contiued, "talked a lot about accountability and being all in and having a different mindset for the week, and accentuating that, and yea, and I think most importantly our team responded to that this week.”
The next step, and one could argue a much more difficult step, will be sustaining that energy over the final seven games of the season, the next of which will come again in the Superdome against the Browns and former Saints quarterback Jameis Winston.
“They’ve got a talented team and ... they’re desperate for a win, just like we are, and so they’ve got a really good coaching staff, and look, they’ve had some injuries," Loomis said. "They’ve had some things, you know, bounce the wrong way, much like we have and yet, you know, they’re gonna be desperate for a win and we have to match that intensity and put our best foot forward, and we’re gonna have to play a really good game to get a win, like you have to do every week in the NFL.”
MORE FROM MICKEY LOOMIS
On Marquez Valdes-Scantling's big impact
“I’m guessing that most of our fans didn’t know who Marquez was before the game. They certainly do now. He made two huge plays, three huge plays really, because he had two explosive plays and then the touchdown. I thought Kevin Austin made a couple nice plays in the game, two big catches for first downs in … critical situations. You know, just a lot of guys stepped up."
On Trevor Penning's development
“I always try to look at what are the positive things that have happened throughout the course of the season, even when we’re 3-7. I think one of the positives is, man, I can see … the development of a really good offensive line down the road.
"You know, we’ve got a rookie left tackle who’s done some good things. I know we’ve got a top-flight center in Erik McCoy when he’s available. We’ve got, you know, a developmental guard at left guard in Nick Saldiveri. I think Lucas Patrick has played well when he’s been available. Cesar [Ruiz] is a really solid player and the arrow is up on him, and then Trevor has made a lot of progress this year and each week I feel like, you know, our offensive line coaches, John Benton and Rick Dennison have, man, they’ve spent a lot of time and effort working with Trevor, working on lots of fundamentals as well as his mental preparation for the game and I just, you can see the progress. It’s not there yet, it’s not where we need it to be ultimately, but you can see the progress and I feel like, and this is a better question for the coaches than me, I just feel like he’s gaining confidence and each week … we see plays and we see progress.”
