Saints Head Coach Kellen Moore

Opening Statement

"Tough battle. Really good game. Ultimately, turnovers in the fourth quarter got us, and we weren't able to overcome them. These guys finished better than us. There's a lot of good stuff on this film, but ultimately, we weren't able to get it done collectively."

On answers from the officials regarding the sack-fumble

"It was hard to get much communication during the game, so I don't know."

On the four Saints turnovers

"They made plays. Obviously, a lot of them came at critical downs and critical situations that we weren't able to get those downs done. Credit to those guys. Those guys made plays, and we weren't able to."

On learning from this loss

"I think in many ways, there is a lot of good stuff on this film. As painful as this loss is, as frustrating as this loss is, we can't let this thing linger too long. We were in a position to finish that game, and we didn't finish it. We had our opportunities and were not able to get it done. We have to recognize the entire film, not just the ending."

On his frustration with the lack of flow

"It's just a back and forth. We were trying to create some flow. At the end of the day, we had our opportunities. We didn't get it done."

On frustrations and composure from the players and staff

"There was frustration on the sideline. I have to keep my composure. I have to stay there. I think our guys still stuck with it and battled all the way to the end. I thought our defense had great opportunities down there in the red zone. Khristian Boyd was close to making a play on the QB and didn't get anything out of that one. It was a tough one."

On consecutive turnovers and calming down with a chance to win

"I felt like we moved it well. There were these critical downs, and they made plays. We moved it the last couple of drives. We just weren't able to sustain it and get the points needed to finish the game off."

On the pace in the beginning of the second half

"I felt good about it. Obviously, there was a component of their defense to stay on the ball to keep them in a specific package. I felt like our guys executed well in that instance."

On the positives from the game

"They busted a big run, but I thought our run defense – there was some good stuff in there to force some field goals in the red zone. I felt like we ran the ball a little bit better this week. I think we just have to look at it and get better."

On the four injuries in the game

"We'll see. We'll see what happens. Obviously, we will get information tomorrow and have more clarity."

On if RB Travis Etienne Jr.'s hamstring injury the same issue

"A little bit. It's the same leg."

On the game plan for Etienne

"I think just with the sequencing of things, I felt like he was able to get a rhythm, which was good. I thought he had some good runs in there."

On his vantage point from Tyler Shough's interception

"I did not see the pocket, obviously. They were able to make a play there, kind of late in the progression. I'm going to have to look at it more specifically."

On the atmosphere today

"I thought the atmosphere was awesome. I thought it was a great atmosphere. I thought our guys really rallied off of it. Obviously, we're all bummed Our whole community, our whole team's bummed that we weren't able to get this one done. We will work on it more, moving forward, and I'm excited to find that solution to get it done together."

On difficulty defending tight end Brock Bowers

"Brock, at the end of the day, had a phenomenal game. He made plays in critical downs that were going to him, and was getting plays done."

On safety Justin Reid kicking off in the second half

"Planned thing. It was just an option to kind of change things up in the kicker position. It was just a different look."

On if Reid's assignment was to get an additional tackler on the kickoff unit

"Yes."

Saints Safety Justin Reid

On his thoughts on the fourth-quarter mistakes

"I think we fell short in all three phases, there was a couple of plays I fell short, and we all just got to look at what, you know, we can do better at the film and make sure we get that cleaned up. I thought that we played a lot of good football, and I thought that there were some plays we just left short out there on all three phases, so we just can't do that. We have a lot of good things going; we are going to learn from this, and we are not going to get too down on ourselves. But a lot of guys are upset, a lot of guys are pissed off, I'm pissed off right now, but that's okay because we have high standards for ourselves. We have high standards for what we can do, and we are going to step up to the occasion next time."

On if losing control of the game after three quarters was the most unsettling part

"Yeah, that's what the NFL is, and playing this league long enough, you kind of always end up on every side of it. We had a chance, we're up two scores, we got to run away with that. We just fell short, we need to have a little more production on offense; we need to get some stops on defense, didn't do either one of them, and that's what happens.

On what makes Brock Bowers difficult to limit

"Yeah, the kid is special. He had a hell of a game today. First game back, he was excited to be back, and he just got open. They featured him; I'm sure he had probably at least a third, maybe half of their touches, and he's a talented kid, so credit to him. They did a good job featuring him and getting him the ball and allowing him to make some plays, and kudos to them winning the game."

Saints Quarterback Tyler Shough

On the fourth quarter and his message to the team trying to get back in the game

"I mean, one, we've just got to be better. Towards the end there, we had opportunities all the way towards the end, and we feel very comfortable in those moments, and we're just a couple plays away. Whether it's a miscommunication or a good job by them, but we can clean that up for sure. More than anything, it's just keep going. It's a long season. There's a lot of great stuff to watch on film, a lot of stuff that we can learn from. Finishing strong in that game is really one of those things, and that starts with myself protecting the ball. It starts with all of us."

On what the big takeaway is from today and moving forward

"Yeah, 100%. There are ebbs and flows to the game. We obviously had some momentum there, and we got to finish it off in the end zone on some of those and protect those opportunities for field goals. Obviously, those fourth downs you've got to get the ball out of your hands in some of those moments. Turnovers are not necessarily the worst thing, but you've got to get out and get it out of your hands. More than anything is how do we learn from it and how do we keep that same intensity throughout the game. I thought the playstyle, our communication, were good. We just got to figure out a way to get over that hump."

On emotions in the locker room

"Oh, man, it hurts for sure, because you understand the work that was put in and you understand the fight. That's the best thing for our team is—it hurts whenever you love each other that way. We all let each other down. As a team, we are going to figure out how we keep going. More than anything, it's stuff to learn from on film. It's not anything to freak out about. It's more of, there's some really good stuff, but how do we shore this up to where we want to be in the position where we want to be at the end of the year? How do we do that? That's a really good football team, and they're playing well, and I think we're a really good football team and playing well. So it comes down to a couple plays, and we'll fix those up."

On the first fumble in the fourth quarter and what he thought compared to the Goff play

"Yeah, I mean, I thought I threw it. Personally, I thought my arm was going forward. I'm not exactly sure on the rule, but it doesn't really matter to me. I've got to get it out sooner regardless. I thought I was going to get it off in time. Sometimes it happens like that. So keep learning from it, and we'll get it done."

On emotions regarding the calls and how that affects the next play

"It's part of the job where you have to continue to do that, good or bad. But you're humans too, and you want all of your guys to make the play or make the big play on defense, and we want to go out and score every single time. We're fighting together, and that's the best part—is when we can rally off each other. But at the same time, we have to respond regardless. So it's a unique battle, but for us as an offense, I feel we do a good job of resetting. At the end there, they made a couple more plays, and we had to do a better job of ball security because that was kind of the story of it. So we'll clean that up and put a huge emphasis on it as far as doing our job that way."

On what he saw on the interception

"Yeah, I knew they getting to a 'junkie 2'. So I was trying to find that alley right there. I just got hit. I've got to eat that one, either take the sack or run. They did a good job in that coverage, and it wasn't necessarily a surprise, but I need to find a way to get out of their hands to the checkdown there or run. That kind of sucks. It happens that way when the ball gets floated in the air like that. So I've got to be better there as far as protecting it in those situations, especially on that side of the field."

On keeping composure after consistent turnovers

"It goes back to going to the next play and how do you go back to the next play. They made a couple of good plays. At the end of the day, it's football. Stuff like that's going to happen, and I think we understand how we fix that more than anything, and it's staying neutral throughout it. We're not going to fall victim to riding that emotional wave. At the end of the day, we lost, and we have some plays that we can fix in order to win."

On changing the play at fourth-down and what he saw and switched to

"Yeah, I knew they were getting into Cover 0, so we got into one of our answers for it. They did a good job popping out and bracketing (Chris) Olave there. So I tried to run it. They did a good job covering it. So we got to maybe switch things up, get into a different answer. At the end of the day, execute better on that play. Felt the operation was good. Communication was good. We got to find a way to get it there on third-and-one and fourth-and-one."

On what he liked about being able to move the ball the first 3 quarters

"We feel very strongly about our ability to, in any circumstance, gain positive yards and keep going. I think we were moving the ball well a lot of the time. At the end there, we shot ourselves in the foot when it came down to those turnovers. Stuff like that's going to happen, but how do we try to limit those and make sure that we're on the other side of the coin from the turnover margin. So, that was the story at the end there, and it sucks, but there's a lot of stuff to build off of."

On what was working at the beginning of the second half and if it was something they liked about their sequencing, or the look that the Raiders were stuck in

"A little bit of both. We did a good job of staying on the ball, being able to kind of get in a different place, and we were executing really well, communicating well, and we were able to finish off in the red zone a couple of really good times. So tempo is going to be a big factor and also executing in some of those looks. That's stuff to continue to build off of, and we're going to keep going that way."

On if they liked the matchup specifically with Juwan (Johnson) and Noah (Fant) at TE in the red zone or if they were the open guys

"Both, for sure. We feel like those guys are mismatches all over the field. All of our guys—and (Devaughn) Vele, Olave—you got all those weapons down there—(Travis) Etienne (Jr.), AK (Alvin Kamara). So it's how do we dissect that look and get it to the best guy. They did a phenomenal job getting on those routes, and we've got to come up big and continue to make plays."

On receiving a lot of different looks today offensively—all active players got on the field—and if that is how they want to operate

"Yes, we want to be balanced, but change things up personnel-wise. We want to get the ball to all of our guys. So that's the best thing is being multiple that way and still running what you're good at. That's the challenge every single week, and we still got to focus on us. It's still September football. It's still early. There's a lot of stuff to clean up expectedly, but at the same time, we don't want to live like that. We want to continue to get better, and we're going to do that. We're going to really evaluate what was good and what we can clean up going forward."

On the energy in the Caesars Superdome today

"I thought it was awesome. The energy in the Dome and the fans were active the whole game. We appreciate their support. It's going to be another big game coming up next, for obvious reasons. We're going to need everybody showing out, and we're going to put it together this week. Have a great week of practice and get after them."

On if he found a lot of significant growth in the run scheme as well to build off of for future weeks

"Yeah, the O-line and the RBs did a great job today in the run game. There was some really good stuff to build on. Very physical. We've got to clean up some plays, but it definitely helped out a lot, and a lot of those things came down to the wire on a couple of those fourth downs. I was really proud of our effort in that way and stuff to build off of."

On the last first-down drive, and if giving them 1:54 with multiple timeouts was intended towards the end of the first half

"No, that wasn't the exact intent. Obviously, you want to score, but ideally you would like to maybe run it, run out the clock a little bit more. But at the same time, if you have the opportunity, you are going to score. So they did a good job on driving down. We've got to figure out a way to slow it down a little bit at the end, but that's part of it."

On Olave's biggest step from last year to this year

"His consistency—every single day, I feel he's the same dude. I've felt like that since I've gotten here. But more than anything—our dialogue, our chemistry has grown. Whether that's, 'Hey, find me on this look,' or 'we get this, you know, I'm coming to you' or maybe a play breaks down, stuff like that, and we're continuing to talk to each other that way. That's part of it. Sometimes they're going to get some points, we're going to have some negative plays, and we're going to have some great plays. And that's the fun part of playing with a guy like him."

Saints Wide Receiver Chris Olave

On the difference between last week's win over the Ravens and this week's game

"Of course, I feel like we got one win, two losses, so we definitely missed two opportunities, but it's only week Three, so all we can do is learn from this. Of course, it's a tough loss; it was a great position to win, but we just got to learn from it and not let it happen again."

On playing in close games in the fourth quarter

"We just got to control what we can control, man. There's going to be plays like that where it's out of our hands; it's a tough part at the end of the day, but that's what they went with. We had another opportunity to go down and score and take the lead."

On if he felt the offense had a good start to the game

"Not at all; first drive, three-and-out- that's not what we want at all. We want to go down and get some points, especially when we get the ball first. So, it was a little dirt; we had thirteen points at halftime, but we know we can be a lot better."