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Saints Fire T.J. Paganetti: Kellen Moore Sends a Message That the Run Game Has to Change
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- Saints Fire T.J. Paganetti: Kellen Moore Sends a Message That the Run Game Has to Change
Coming out of the bye week, I expected the New Orleans Saints to make some adjustments. Maybe change the play-calling approach. Maybe shuffle some responsibilities. Maybe simplify a few things offensively.
I didn't necessarily expect somebody to lose his job. But here we are.
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Saints coach Kellen Moore confirmed Monday that the team has fired run game coordinator T.J. Paganetti as New Orleans tries to breathe some life into one of the NFL's least productive rushing attacks. The Saints are 2-5 and averaging just 86 rushing yards per game, which ranks near the bottom of the league.
My first reaction? Something had to change.
But my second reaction is just as important. Firing Paganetti doesn't automatically fix the Saints' running game.
The Numbers Made Change Hard to Avoid
When you look at the Saints' offense through seven games, the frustration becomes pretty easy to understand.
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New Orleans is averaging 86 rushing yards per game and just 3.52 yards per rushing attempt. Those aren't numbers that allow an offense to consistently control games.
And the situation really hit rock bottom before the bye. The Saints managed just 18 rushing yards in their 16-10 loss to Pittsburgh in Paris.
Let me say that again, eighteen yards.
At some point, you can't keep talking about execution, missed opportunities and needing to clean things up. Eventually, somebody has to make an actual change.
Paganetti Takes the Fall, but This Isn't All on Him
This is where I have mixed feelings about the move.
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Paganetti came to New Orleans with an impressive background. Before joining Moore's Saints staff in 2025, he spent years with Philadelphia and was part of the Eagles staff during Saquon Barkley's monster 2,005-yard rushing season in 2024 and their Super Bowl LIX championship run.
So this wasn't some coach who had never been around a successful rushing attack. That's why I'm not ready to dump every Saints rushing problem at Paganetti's feet.
A run game requires offensive linemen winning blocks. It requires running backs hitting the correct lanes. It requires tight ends doing their jobs. It requires play-calling that keeps defenses guessing. And sometimes it simply requires being more physical than the guy standing across from you.
Saints guard David Edwards essentially acknowledged that Monday, saying the players also have to take responsibility for what happened and execute better.
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That matters. You can fire the coach, but you can't fire missed blocks.
The Bye Week Needed to Mean Something
I've said before that the Saints couldn't treat this bye week like a vacation. At 2-5, this had to be an evaluation week.
The Saints needed to look at everything: personnel, play-calling, offensive line combinations, rushing concepts, situational football and coaching responsibilities.
Firing Paganetti tells me Moore understands that simply returning from the bye and doing the same thing wasn't good enough.
I actually respect that part of the decision.
Sometimes coaches become too loyal to their system or staff. They convince themselves that things will eventually turn around because they don't want to admit the original plan isn't working.
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Moore made a difficult move. Now he has to prove it was the right one.
My Two Pennies
I don't believe T.J. Paganetti was the only reason the Saints couldn't run the football, and I definitely don't believe firing him suddenly turns New Orleans into one of the NFL's best rushing teams.
But I do believe the Saints needed a shake-up.
This team is 2-5. The rushing attack is near the bottom of the league. New Orleans is coming off a bye after rushing for only 18 yards in its previous game. Something had to give.
Paganetti ended up being that something. Now everybody else needs to look in the mirror.
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The offensive line has to block better. The running backs have to maximize their opportunities. The offensive staff has to find concepts that actually fit the personnel. And most importantly, Kellen Moore has to show that this move was about improving the football team, not simply finding somebody to blame.
The Saints return Sunday against the Cleveland Browns at the Caesars Superdome. That's when the talking stops.
If the Saints come out and establish the run, control the line of scrimmage and finally give their offense some balance, then maybe this bye-week change becomes the spark they desperately needed.
If nothing changes? Then Paganetti clearly wasn't the only problem.
