Postgame Quotes: New Orleans Saints 34, New York Giants 27 | 2026 NFL Week 6

Quotes from Head Coach Kellen Moore and QB Tyler Shough

Oct 18, 2026 at 08:00 PM

Saints Head Coach Kellen Moore

Opening Statement:

"All right, guys, wild NFL games, they're always coming in different shapes and sizes. Proud of our guys to find a way to win this game. That's ultimately your number one objective, going on the road. And so obviously we'll extend this road trip here shortly tonight. But proud of our guys to find our way to win. And I think from a medical standpoint, (offensive lineman) Cesar (Ruiz) had a knee, he didn't finish. (Cornerback) Quincy (Riley) had kind of a neck at the end, I think we're okay. And then (cornerback) Kool-Aid (McKinstry) had a little bit of a migraine thing going on. So, everyone else we're ready to play and we're good to go, so."

Kellen, in hindsight, how do you feel about the decision to start pulling your starters in the fourth quarter?

"Yeah, obviously, looking back on it, obviously, they got things going. And they were able to score a lot, and we had to get back into that thing. It was just a couple guys that are kind of managing some stuff. And kind of the guys that are sore and trying to get a few guys out, and obviously it didn't work."

Was that a quick decision for you after that score?

"Yeah, after the turnover, obviously it was a 24-point game. And just trying to give a couple of our guys, it was really (offensive lineman) Erik (McCoy) and (quarterback) Tyler (Shough) and everyone else's playing, and then we had that fumble."

With Kool-Aid, is that something that kind of came up at halftime, or when did the decision?

"Yeah, just during the game. Yeah, we'll work through details of that."

What changed with the run game, where you guys second half just really got to going?

"Yeah, I think ultimately our guys, physical play, runners ran really hard. I thought they finished well. I thought, again, when you don't beat yourself with penalties and negative plays, you're able to get more rush attempts. And get into the rush game and some action game off it. Our guys just did a better job of playing in those mixed downs more."

Did (offensive lineman) Jeremiah (Wright) bring a little something to that?

"Jeremiah certainly, he's a really good blocker. He's a physical player. We saw that, obviously, through camp and all those different things. And we feel great about him. We feel like he can go and contribute and play. And I thought those other guys, though, (offensive lineman) David (Edwards), Ces (Ruiz), I thought those guys could be a step as well."

What'd you like about (cornerback) Martin Emerson today?

"Yeah, just physical football, playing corner in this league. You got to play physical for him. I think the stat I had was two interceptions, obviously, four PBUs, seven tackles, you're just getting involved in the plays. Just proud of him, just because he's had to navigate an injury, rotation, and you're kind of trying to find your groove, so to speak. And yeah, I thought he took advantage of those opportunities."

Coach, he was back in the game, but he had a little bit of a moment over on the sideline after he collided with Quincy. Was everything okay there?

"Yeah, he's got the wind knocked out."

Coach, there was a report before the game that Shough had two broken bones in his left hand?

"Yeah, I mean, his hand, he's battling. So again, he's doing a great job. He's, again, he's able to do everything for us, so."

Turned the game around, ultimately, down 10-0 late in the first half.

"Yeah, I thought that field goal was big, and then really special teams. To me, all three phases at that point, that was a huge turnover, Stalbird to create that forced fumble. And then we were able to score right there, tie the ball game up, and then come out of the second half and just play, I thought, a really good middle eight right there, and so I thought it was a big important part for this game."

Is this kind of what you envisioned with the three running back kind of split and kind of how it worked out today?

"Yeah. Yeah, just rotate those guys. They have different roles and opportunities. Some plays are specific to players, and some are just obviously based off who's out there, but they all ran hard. I thought Alvin's (running back Alvin Kamara) catch on the sideline, and then to kind of stay in bounds and get up field. I thought that was an incredible play. I mean, you guys obviously probably saw his statistics with his, he's the sixth player in NFL history now with over 5,000 receiving, 5,000 rushing. Obviously, he's had a special career, and so just proud of all three of those guys."

Obviously, you take the win however you can get it, but how do you contextualize the start and the finish?

"Yeah, lesson and an opportunity for us, ultimately. Lesson is a little better when you win, ultimately. But yeah, I thought our guys, we talked about the ball going into the game. We created four turnovers. Obviously, we gave the one away, which was a critical one. We talked about the physicality that we have to play with. That was kind of an objective of ours. And to rush for 175, I thought was an important part for us. And then the details of this thing. Those are the three things we focused on. I thought the middle eight was a nice little chunk there. And we have to do a better job, obviously, on the back end of the game. But yeah, I love the way our guys were resilient and stuck with it all the way to the end."

What did you make of Alvin today?

Just kind of, I mean, just throughout the course of the game, running the ball, catching the ball, et cetera. "Yeah, I thought he made some big plays, timely plays when we needed them. Yeah, I thought it was a good day for him."

Just to clarify on Kool-Aid, did he go out of the game because he didn't have an injury designation during the game? So did he go out of the game because the migraine was affecting his play?

"Yeah, I think it was just a collection of migraine and on the field. And we just gotta work through that. So that's kind of coming out of the game, hopefully, how it played out."

Is it a Cesar's knee, like feared to be anything serious?

"We'll see. He'll get the MRI. That's the goofy logistics. So, I think he'll try and get an MRI as quickly as possible before we get out to Paris and collect as much information as we can. But he was moving around okay in the locker room, so we'll just see."

Just out of curiosity, how would you, if you had to sign somebody midweek? How does the logistics of a process like that work?

"Yeah, make sure you have your passport, and yeah, obviously you're flying commercial across the pond (laughter). So, we'll see how that works. But we're excited about this opportunity. This will be a lot of fun going to Paris. We'll fly tonight and get there, and our guys are really looking forward to this. It's going to be an awesome setup, awesome opportunity."

I'm sure there's a lot that you all get to do over the course, that you'll be doing over the course of the week, with this being the first game in France. But even without all that, would you have wanted to travel this early to acclimate?

"Yeah, I think this will be great. It'll allow us to get acclimated and allow our players, we're already on the road, we're playing out here in New York. So, it allows us to continue this, get into our full normal routine out there. So our guys will kind of have a couple days to get acclimated, and then we just have a normal routine Wednesday on, which I think will be great for our players. You're not traveling at the end of the week, a long jet lag type trip."

I know you've preached just wanting to just focus on individual game and one game at a time, but to have this coming on the heels of the three losses with the owner's comments this week, what was the feeling?

"I think our guys just had urgency. Urgency, anytime you lose three games in a row, that's frustrating for everyone. No one wants that. Everyone wants the same goals. Everyone has the same objectives. And it's about guys sticking together and finding a way to get this one, and then we'll go from there. So just proud of our guys."

I think we asked you this earlier in the week, but just in light of what happened overnight how are you feeling about going to Paris with the protests going on?

"Yeah, the league and our organization has done a phenomenal job of setting all this stuff up, great communication. I feel great about it."

And you touched on (linebacker Isaiah) Stalbird and that kind of changing the momentum of the game. Can you just kind of touch on the energy he provides in those special teams plays?

"Yeah, our kickoff unit, I think specifically, is a really special unit right now. They're making big time plays. I feel like every week we have a highlight of our kickoff unit, getting the ball pinned on the 25, on the 27. It's always a big tackle. Isaiah tends to be that guy. (Linebacker) Chris Rumph had one today as well. And so I think that's a unit that's really special and they're doing a great job."

You've placed in a business before on the idea of the team being able to travel away and be together. Does this week offer another opportunity for that?

"No question. Will be great for our guys to spend some time together in a different place. They'll have opportunities kind of early in the week and maybe a touch at the end to experience France and Paris and Versailles and all the different opportunities that are around there. And it'll be great."

Saints Quarterback Tyler Shough

How much did you all need that after what's happened the last three games? With (Saints Owner and Chief Executive Officer) Gayle coming out this week and making those comments, how much was a win?

"Man, you're never going to apologize for winning in the NFL. Doing that as a team felt really good. I think our process was there. Our play style was there. We got to put that away earlier as a team, and we know that and we're going to find a way to get that done, but man, it was a good feeling."

What turned the game around? You were down 10-0 very late in the first half.

"Like I said, we were just sticking to our process. We knew that more than anything, we can move the ball. They had a couple good third down stops, but we liked everything that we saw, so we just kind of kept pushing, kept pushing, and then it started to open up for us."

To get the run game going today, just how crucial is that for what you all want to do, and did it open up things for you eventually?

"One hundred percent. We were able to kind of put a full offensive game together, just run the ball, different actions, drop back on us to get into some different formations. Kellen did a good job having those schemes up for us, and then the running back and O-line played their butts off all day, man. We had plenty of time to throw and we were running at will at some of those times. They did a really good job helping. (Saints running back) Kendre (Miller) and (Saints running back) CJ (Donaldson) just did an incredible job today, so it helps us in every other way, off the field too and on the field."

How significant is this win for the team? You've lost three in a row, owner's comments, you're going to Paris next week, how significant?

"It's a huge win, just because we understand how good we can be, and we were shooting ourselves in the foot in those games, and this is a good stepping stone for how we can continue to build and put this together. Still wasn't a complete game, but against a really good team in New York, man, it's a huge win for sure, so we got to keep climbing and building off of it."

Did things feel kind of disjointed in the passing game early? I think you started 7 of your first 18, and then it seemed like you kind of found a rhythm.

"No, it wasn't disjointed, we just had a couple penalties that maybe would skew the stats, so we're seeing everything fine, we had some backed up stuff. Just some tough situations that we can't live in. So, again, I think we just had a good process, taking what we were given, being aggressive whenever we could, too, so."

What was your vantage point at Alvin's touchdown catch and just making a bunch of guys miss?

"Yeah, it was just Alvin being Alvin, man, he catches a flat route and houses it, so just a really good job by him and all those guys, flipping and flying, blocking downfield. You get that ball in space, good things can happen."

Report came out this morning that said you have two broken bones in your hand. I know you didn't really want to talk about it earlier, but is that the case, and how has it been playing through that, and the brace and everything on your hand?

"Yeah, just obviously something to manage throughout the weeks, but like I said before, it hasn't really affected me. It's getting better every single day, so that's the biggest thing, and continue to manage it. Again, it doesn't affect me throwing, doesn't really affect all that stuff, just a couple handoffs, change it up, but it's getting better, and we'll keep going."

You talked during the week about how you felt like you needed to scramble a little bit more. There were no rushing attempts up against the (Minnesota) Vikings, it was 4-for-33 today. Did you feel like you made good decisions in that part of the game and how you feel like that impacted the offense?

"I think there were a couple of times where I could have thrown it to the running back, jumped it out to the flat, but also just taking what the defense was giving me with my legs too. They did a good job covering some of those situations and I'm always going to try and be a threat with my legs too, whether that's in the run game or pass game as well. I'm going to keep trying to emphasize that."

(Saints left guard) David (Edwards) in the locker room said that the run right before halftime down to the two-yard line, felt like that gave the offense just a lot of juice. Did you feel that as well?

"Yeah. I'm trying to get a first down, touchdown every single time I can, and that's our play style. We're going to do everything we can that way. I don't care the scenario, we're going to go out there, keep fighting."

Getting (Saints wide receiver) Bryce (Lance) his first career touchdown today, what did you see on that play that would enable him to kind of just leap over back?

"Yeah, we just had a kind of rub concept. They missed a switch off and he was able to stay friendly there in the back line and was able to finish it. Ran that play, practiced that play quite a bit, and I was really happy for him and you could see the smile on his face just kind of being able to get one. I know we've been trying to connect on some for a while now, so we're going to keep going with him."

And then for you to kind of leave the game and then have to come back in. Does that involve a mental reset at all? Is it kind of hard to get back into it there, or do you just have to go out there and play it?

"It's both. Obviously, it's not ideal whenever you come out of the game, you're anticipating that that's going to be it. But at the same time, we got to figure out a way to finish. I want to just go out there and play every single rep. A couple of those times we were close to converting, so it didn't really affect me mentally, but also at the same time we got to go out there and finish it. It's not good enough from that standpoint and we got to be better there."

What did you make of Isaiah Stalbird's (Saints linebacker) play and what kind of impact did that have on the momentum?

"Man, him, the entire defense, just showing up huge the whole day. Turnovers from a juice perspective, Stall (Isaiah Stalbird) (Saints linebacker) works harder than everybody in the building when it comes to just his physicality fundamentals. I'm really happy for him and our entire defense. We obviously got to figure out a way to put that out, that fire out, earlier and finish the game, and offense, defense, special teams included. At the end of the day, you get the dub and that's what matters, but we got to be able to finish it."

Does it have an impact? I think it's just a few plays later, you were scrambling and got that 20-yard gain. I mean, does it have a carryover effect? You see something like that and then want to do something like that yourself sort of deal?

"No, not at all. Just taking every single play for what it is."

You started, I think 8-of-20 and then you found a rhythm 9-of-9. What changed? What allowed you to kind of get into a little bit of a groove?

"I was feeling great the whole time. I think we just had a couple penalties earlier on that can skew the stats and then they just made a couple good plays, but again, it didn't change my process the whole time. We got to be able to figure out how to put our foot on their throats and finish that game off earlier."