Monday was a day for calmer waters after a choppy Sunday for the New Orleans Saints.
Not "Happyville" calm. Emotions ran high during the Saints' 35-27 loss to the Raiders in their home opener at the Caesars Superdome, a defeat partly owed to New Orleans being its own worst enemy (four fourth-quarter turnovers). The Saints failed to hold a 27-16 lead they built in the third quarter and fell to 1-2 entering Monday's game against the Falcons (1-2) in the Superdome.
But "assessment" calm, after reflection and hoped-for correction.
"I think the big thing for us is, take the emotion out of it and just keep going," Coach Kellen Moore said Monday. "We all have to step away from that and from time to time, we all have to do a better job of that. We had our opportunities in this game, I think that's the big thing. We had opportunities within even that fourth quarter to get this thing done."
"You've got to recognize the good and the bad in every game. It's the NFL, every game is going to be tight. We're 1-2, that's just where we're at right now. There's opportunities ahead of ourself, we've got a lot of big-time moments moving forward. The biggest challenge, I think, in the NFL is just the riding of the roller coaster, so to speak, and the emotions of every game. Everyone puts so much into this game and sometimes you come up short, unfortunately. And you've got to be able to respond and just keep building and keep climbing and getting ready for the next one."
The last one didn't wash off easy. Moore noted the Saints were effective in the run game, in the red zone and on third down. But turnovers cratered the possibility of winning; the Saints, who'd outscored their first two opponents 25-3 in the fourth, were outscored 13-0 by the Raiders in the final quarter.
New Orleans committed seven turnovers in its two losses, none in its victory.
"Ultimately, we just have to focus on our side of this thing," Moore said. "Every opponent is going to put an emphasis on creating turnovers and we've got to do a better job protecting the football. That's every aspect of the offense – tactically, schematically, fundamentally. We've just got to do a better job."
Tight end Juwan Johnson agreed. Johnson, who committed the team's final turnover (lost fumble with 53 seconds left), caught eight passes for 53 yards and two touchdowns.
"I think we should take the good with it and learn from the bad," said Johnson, who has 15 catches for 173 yards and three touchdowns, tying his 17-game touchdown total from last season. "I feel like that's the approach that we should have. We've got a lot of stuff that we can build on, a lot of stuff that we can learn as we move forward. We've only played three games, there's nothing to panic over.
"It's all under our control, the things that we can do. Just playing smarter, that's something we can do. At the end, like, my fumble, I feel like me just tucking my elbow. I wouldn't change anything about how I'm playing but I definitely would change how I was holding the football. I was a little bit careless and I think moving forward, just being intentional about securing the ball, falling in love with it as Coach Dub (receivers coach Keith Williams) would say.
"But the biggest thing is just playing smarter. There's some things that we can take and move forward and make it better. We should keep playing how we're playing: We're playing really aggressive, really strong, really physical. There's just a few things we need to clean up on, we'll be fine."
INJURY UPDATE: Moore said running back Travis Etienne Jr. (hamstring) will miss time with his injury. The statuses of edge rushers Carl Granderson (ankle) and Anfernee Jennings (knee) and linebacker Pete Werner (stinger) will be updated later this week.
NOAH'S ARC: Tight end Noah Fant, a free agent addition in the offseason, has caught eight passes for 66 yards. Three of his receptions have been for touchdowns, including two Sunday against the Raiders. His career high for touchdowns in a season is four (twice), and he has had three in a season three times; he played at least 15 games each of those years.
"I think that's a testament to us just working hard and us working together," Juwan Johnson said. "We pushed each other this whole offseason, that's kind of the reason why I told him to come here last year. We're glad he's here now, we're glad he's doing things that we expected him to do."
