Dear New Orleans
by k1ngm0j1 | 5 years ago | 2 Comments
Dear New Orleans,
Honestly this is not the letter I intended to write to you following this past cycle. It was an interesting and wild ride, one that did not go how I saw it in my head. I mean don't get me wrong I don't want to call it a failure and for most people it was a successful stop but something is not sitting right.
We all know how it started, things were looking great, we were red hot! Drew was an MVP Caniddate, and we had a top scoring offense in the league. The defense was dominant, Cam Jordan couldn't be blocked. Lattimore & Pat Pete were the best Corner Combo in the league. Demario Davis led a dominant front 7. Man where we rolling, just how I saw it when I took this job.
If you told me A top 5 defense was on the field with a lead and under a minute to go in the Superbowl, I will sign up for that every single time... And 9/10 we are winning that game. But THAT GUY, struck again, as he seems to do in my life. Brady won that bowl for coach Beech with no time left and we were sent home absolutely stunned. Like most of you I already had all my superbowl gear out and ready. I thought "damn I am coming off a SB win just the previous season in GB, I could become the first coach to win B2B championships with different teams". It didnt come to pass. And sadly we never got back. We got close, we got damn close, but we never got back.
We ran into some great teams this cycle and some ones that honestly we had no business losing to. Great teams like Coach Porter's Niners, a dear friend who I am beyond excited for after his success this cycle. We ran into a buzzsaw Cardinals team with a 2time MVP Murray at qb and a coach well deserving of the HOF in coach Adelmann. We ran into teams like the brutal ground and pound of coach Allen's skins, who went on a hell of a run but also came up short. Great great teams but for me that isnt an excuse. I should have been better.
I wont lie to you, I was shell shocked that offseason when Drew retired. We had a lot of conversations and he told me he didnt want to come back and be a shell of himself. He was playing with a lot of discomfort in his shoulder all year and didnt think he could be the guy to lead this team. It was a little later in the offseason then I would have liked but we improvised, I changed the way I called plays and we made a deep run. But a Tyrod Taylor led offense just wasnt the same as having Drew back there & we fell short in the playoffs.
We had to hit the reset button and had to make some tough decisions. Coach GStar was in the league now and having an underwhelming offesne just wouldnt compete with his lob mob antics. So we tore it down and we rebuilt it. A couple of mediocre seasons, again not how I wanted it to go, but that was the low point for us this cycle. We missed the playoffs twice and things didn't look good. Then I saw the alert on ESPN...
"QB Sam Darnold was going to test free agency after failing to agree to a long term contract with the New York Jets"
Those of you that have followed my career know my love for my home and my first organization I won a ring with is no secret. I have many ties in that building and they run deep. To peel back the curtain a little for you all, once Drew told me he couldnt do it anymore I made a phonecall to 1 Jets Drive every single offseason seeing if they would be willing to move Sam. At first I thought we could make it work, it would cost a lot but to get a young QB with the upside of Sam is a no brainer. After a while it seemed it would never happen. I saw that headline hit and I was waiting on Sams front porch at 11:59 right before the legal tampering window opened. As soon as the clock hit 12:00 I knocked. Me and Sam sat down for hours, I shared my plans with him & the fit just seemed perfect. And Perfect it was, Sam's numberes soared here in New Orleans and he became one of the leagues best QB's and one of the best I have had the priveldge to coach in my career. That doesnt come lightly either, there have been several MVP's on my teams, but this felt different.
There was still a lot of work to do, we had againg players on defense and more roster turnover with the CBA 3+1 caused more tough decisions. Losing Kamara for Watt seemed like a bad deal at first, it took Watt some time to adjust to our playstyle. But my lord once it clicked it really clicked, he became a top 5 rusher in the league. Losing guys like Lattimore and Mike Thomas just seemed to be to much to overcome. We added some great players as replacements. Guys like Grant Solomon, a 5th round wr out of Duke who blossomed into a superstar at WR. Calvin Ridley in a Saints jerssey was great to see after being tourmented by him for years. Jordan Wilkenson is one of the baddest men on the planet and an absolute monster at DT. Watching other guys like Eddie Love, Demaryius Byrd and Robert Allen all come in as rookies and grow into great players throughout their careers. I really thought we would do it, these past few seasons we had the pieces in place, we had deep playoff runs, but we seemed to always fall short.
WhoDat Nation, I want to appologize, believe me I wanted that ring as bad as most of you. But I also want to thank you. I want to thank you for coming to the Mercedes Benz superdome every single home game, packing that place out and making it one of the loudest and toughest places to play in all of Redzone. The passion you guys show is incredible and I thank you for that.
To the Saints organization I also thank you, this journey was a remarkable one in my career and all of you put in a lot of long hours with me to try and put a winning product out on the field. I am sorry I did not live up to my promises and I am not one to rest my hat on moral victories or silver linings but this doesnt feel like a complete failure. Don't get me wrong I am utterly disappointed that I don't have more hardware to add and couldnt bring New Orleans their first RZ Championship but I really enjoyed coaching here despite those short comings.
To the great players I was fortubnate enough to coach all these years here I also want to thank you. From the ones I have mentioned like Sam and Drew, to Eddie Love and Alvin Kamara, to Michael Thomas and Grant Solomon. Guys like Cam Jordan and Terrence Watt. Marshonn Lattimore and Pat Pete, Jared Cook and David Njoku. Truly hard working guys like Golden Tate and Jamison Crowder. And the many many players I did not mention I seriously thank you. This has honestly been the most talented group of athletes I have ever worked with and for that reason it is very hard to say goodbye. We had great moments, some great wins. We had some bad losses, but this group ALWAYS bounced back. They never quit and we left it all out on the field. I cant ask for anything more then that.
I don't know what the next step is in my journey. The CBA is scheduled to change a lot of things later this week and for the first time in my career I honestly do not know what is next and where my next "home" will be. New Orleans will always have a special place in my heart. There is plenty of unfinished business here and who knows, maybe in the end this isnt goodbye afterall just a long "see you later."
- Coach Moj