2 weeks Ago
New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara (41) is tackled by Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman (6) in the first half of an NFL football game in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024.
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Alvin Kamara didn’t quite call for the New Orleans Saints to hold a players-only meeting after their latest loss. But he came close.
Standing in the visiting locker room after a 26-8 defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Saints running back said he planned to meet with the team’s captains sometime soon. The group, he said, had to figure out a message, one that could help them climb out of the hole they find themselves in. “There’s some stuff going on that we just need to discuss openly,” Kamara said.
Stuck in a six-game losing streak, Kamara said the Saints are a team that fails to pay attention to the details. And he’s right in that regard. So much has gone wrong for the Saints in this stretch that if New Orleans does hold a players-only meeting, the group will have plenty of topics to cover.
Chief among them? The Saints have to avoid apathy setting in, tight end Foster Moreau said. “Fighting off laziness, fighting off losing hope -- that’s our main opponent,” Moreau said. The Saints, after all, are in a territory where the season could soon become lost.
Only three teams have made the playoffs after starting 2-6, and each of those -- the 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars, 2020 Washington Commanders and 1970 Cincinnati Bengals -- ended up winning a weak division. Luckily for New Orleans, the NFC South remains wide open with the Atlanta Falcons leading at 5-3. But none of that matters unless the Saints get on the same page, Kamara said.
Though the running back clarified he feels that hasn’t been a problem this season, Kamara added he wants to hear from leaders like Cam Jordan and Demario Davis on what they think has gone wrong. Kamara said he has his own theories, but realizes others might have a different opinion. As far as captains go, the Saints have a lot of them.
New Orleans selected eight players this season to represent them -- a list that ironically doesn’t include Kamara. Jordan, Davis, safety Tyrann Mathieu, quarterback Derek Carr, center Erik McCoy, tight end Taysom Hill, safety J.T.
Gray and long snapper Zach Wood were all voted on by their peers to represent the Saints this year. But Kamara made clear he wants to hear from other player-leaders, as well -- not just those who are technically captains. And that suggestion was seemingly well received in the Saints locker room.
Linebacker Pete Werner said he feels a players only meeting is necessary, as well. “When you see these consecutive losses, it turns back to accountability with players and just personally within yourself,” Werner said Monday. “Guys, you got to look at yourself in the mirror and you got to figure it out.
You got to get it done and we're not, so the coaches aren’t going to help with that. It's going to be the players, players at the end of their going out there and performing. So it's going to start with us.
” Whether the Saints’ leaders can come up with a message that resonates is a different question. Just a few weeks ago, tight end Juwan Johnson admitted that he’s not a “rah rah” guy and that loud speeches can quickly go in one eat and out other. And Davis echoed similar thoughts: Execution matters more than the message.
“You can have a meeting of the minds and all that, but at the end of the day, the game is played within the white lines,” Davis said earlier this month. “It’s not like there’s this lofty thing we’re trying to find. It really just comes down to execution and the execution comes from focus.
” But the Saints have reached a point in which there will likely be a meeting of the minds. On Monday, Allen gave his approval of the meeting -- telling reporters that he wants to see his players accountable and do anything that can help the Saints win. Kamara, meanwhile, said he isn’t absent of blame.
He pointed to his third-down drop in the red zone, right before Blake Grupe missed a 44-yard attempt in the fourth. On Sunday, the Saints went 2 of 16 on third down and failed to score a touchdown, including when they took their lone trip inside the 20. But Kamara said he doesn’t want to “be a loser” — and that’s been the case of late, he added.
“I’m not pointing fingers, but I’m solutions-based,” Kamara said. “I always want to figure out from every perspective. .
.. My desire is to figure out what my brothers (are) feeling, what they’re thinking.
” Then take that and put it to good use if it's not already too late..
