Perhaps the best job Darren Rizzi did last week leading up to Sunday's game against Atlanta in the Caesars Superdome – Rizzi's first days as New Orleans Saints interim head coach – was to promote memory loss.
The Saints (3-7) then were on a seven-game losing streak, having not experienced victory since Sept. 15 against Dallas.
Rizzi had no interest in dwelling on that fact that, which led to him becoming interim head coach a week ago.
"Man, it was an emphasis on winning," right guard Cesar Ruiz said Monday. "That was the emphasis, just winning this game. Being 1-0 every week, that was the emphasis, and it feels good that we got to get that 1, not only to break the streak but for Rizz, who cares about us a lot and does a lot to set us up for success this week."
"I probably got lost in the week last week, because it was a little bit of a fresh start and a new season, almost," Rizzi said. "And so, I don't think there was a whole lot of people talking about the losing streak last week more than all the changes, so I think that was a good thing.
"We talked about pressing that refresh button or restart button or whatever you want to call it, so I kind of think that everybody in the building had an approach last week that was just 1-0, 1-0, 1-0. But overall, for the whole organization and the city, getting off the streak was a good thing."
The Saints got off courtesy of a 20-17 victory over Atlanta, and hope to build on the momentum gained for Sunday's game against Cleveland (2-7) at noon in the Caesars Superdome.
That's the next step in the process: Sustaining.
"I think it's going to be our biggest challenge," Rizzi said. "I was telling our coaching staff the same thing, I said the same thing in the locker room after the game.
"It's a little bit easier to get on board right away and then see if things go well, and then kind of pick and choose. Our biggest challenge is can we sustain it? We had energy at practice last week. Our preparation last week is the reason we won the game.
"I really believe that; that made the execution part the way it was, because we prepared, we had great meetings, we had great practices, we had great walk-throughs and that translated to the field. And so, can we bring the same energy? Can we bring the same execution?"
And can Rizzi and his staff continue to keep fresh approaches rolling in; last week it ranged from shuffling players' locker room placements (position groups sit together), to different seating assignments in team meetings (players were urged to sit next to a teammate they didn't know each day), to schedule adjustments.
"I think all the changes that we made last week were received positively," Rizzi said. "But I want the guys walking in here every day thinking about, 'What's next?' And it might be the smallest thing.
"We've got to continue to do that, got to continue to keep everybody alert. I just don't want to get into that same old, same mentality. But, here's the good news – the good news is we made all those changes last week and we had a positive result.
"And so, I think the guys will come in here this week and say, hey, listen, we had a really good result, it was really good last week, and so the buy-in is huge. Are we going to see a few more wrinkles this week? Heck yeah. We're going to try to do that every week. Try to keep everybody on their toes and keep them fresh.
"I think you can always keep it fresh as a coach."
OLAVE UPDATE: Rizzi said he believes receiver Chris Olave , who is on injured reserve after suffering his second concussion of the season, and his fourth in three NFL seasons, will meet with a specialist Tuesday.
Olave is second on the team with 400 receiving yards and topped the 1,000-yard mark in each of his first two seasons. The injured reserve designation guarantees he will miss at least the next three games (against the Browns, Rams and Giants).
THE BIG DOG: Among the flood of congratulatory texts Rizzi received was one from Saints legend Archie Manning. Rizzi said it was his favorite one.
"My son, Christian, who's at the University of Texas, him and Arch (Manning, Archie's grandson) are good friends," Rizzi said. "So I glanced at my phone, I thought it was Arch and then I realized, oh no, this is the Big Dog. This is Ar-CHIE.
"We had a nice correspondence, I really appreciated that. That was pretty cool. He's the one that started it all, right. That was a pretty neat text to get."
