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The Saints May Regret Not Firing a Different Coach
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- The Saints May Regret Not Firing a Different Coach
Recently, the New Orleans Saints moved on from Run Game Coordinator T.J. Paganetti after the bye week. Making a move on the staff needed to happen after a horrible running performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers and, really, just the overall run game this entire season. With pressure put on the staff and front office to turn the season around, head coach Kellen Moore had to find a way to get the running game going, as that will completely unlock the offense and actually lead to wins. But now, the question is: Will moving on from Paganetti actually change anything?
Here's the issue. Paganetti's role in the offense and run game was pretty minor. He was a voice in the room, which is what Moore pointed to as a reason why they moved on from him. They viewed the issues as too many voices in the room, and the hope is that the process can become cleaner and more efficient. That may very well happen, but even if the communication and process are better, it doesn't matter if it's coming from a struggling coach.
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Offensive Line Coach Brendan Nugent has already been the major voice in building the run game this season, and he is over an offensive line that is massively underperforming. As I've already mentioned, the Saints have been unable to run the ball for a number of reasons; then, every single offensive lineman besides maybe Kelvin Banks Jr., but he is injured. Last season, Taliese Fuaga, who had an incredible rookie year, also struggled under Nugent, and it has gotten even worse. This has been a theme of Nugent's entire career.
Nugent has been an Offensive Line Coach for 5 years throughout his career, and every season, the offensive line ranks very low. So if anyone was going to be fired, it probably should have been Nugent, but instead, he has an even larger role in the Saints offense. Again, it makes sense that someone in the run game had to be fired, but the Saints likely chose the wrong coach, and now, the chances of things actually changing are very low. Maybe it would have been better if Nugent fully took over the run game and someone else was elevated to offensive line coach, but that doesn't seem like the plan either.
This may be a move that we point to later as something that pushed Gayle Benson to fire Kellen Moore, and now, Paganetti is likely going to land with another team soon.
