Canal Street Chronicles
The New Orleans Saints were embarrassed in front of their home crowd on Sunday, falling 24-10 to the rival Atlanta Falcons in Week 12 of the 2025 NFL season at Caesars Superdome. Here’s the biggest overreaction from this weekend’s matchup:
Is Kellen Moore officially on the hot seat?
Look, I completely understand the building frustration surrounding Kellen Moore throughout his disastrous first season as head coach in New Orleans. Considering the lack of initiative, emotion and growth he’s shown through eleven games—especially after the bye week—it’s becoming increasingly hard to defend Moore.
That said, like I mentioned following the Saints’ Week 3 blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks, it’s not always smart to fire a first-time head coach after his first season—especially considering the roster and situation Moore inherited in New Orleans. To put into perspective why patience is essential with a first-year head coach, Detroit Lions HC Dan Campbell began his tenure with a 3–13–1 season but followed it with a 9–8 record, then 12–5, and eventually a franchise-record 15–2 season in 2024. Sometimes, it simply takes patience and experience for a coach to put it all together.
There are definitely things Moore has to clean up if he wants to remain a head coach in this league for a long time. First, he needs to trust his personnel and start taking more risks by going for it on fourth down and dialing up more shot plays. Second, he has to stop being overly reliant on one playmaker—Taysom Hill and Juwan Johnson, for example—and unleash the guys who are producing when given opportunities (Devin Neal, Devaughn Vele, Mason Tipton, etc.). Third, he needs to light a fire under his guys and coach with emotion; as a former player himself, he knows the impact that can have on team morale. And finally, he has to stop letting players who are hurting the team take the field—Blake Grupe being the most prominent as of late—especially since he’s emphasized that this is a developmental season, yet still hasn’t given 24-year-old Irishman Charlie Smyth a chance to kick, even while Grupe continues to struggle to the point it’s costing the team games.
Concern is definitely warranted, but I’d settle down on the calls to move on from Moore already. History just doesn’t support firing a first-time head coach after his first season.
