New Orleans Saints executive vice president/general manager Mickey Loomis talked about the Saints' current situation coming off a 26-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 in an interview with voice of the Saints, Mike Hoss, on WWL's weekly Saints Hour on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
The most pressing topic was the loss to the Buccaneers in the Caesars Superdome on Oct. 1 and Loomis did not equivocate about the performance.
"I didn't think we played well on either side of the ball and we made some mistakes that we just can't make and expect to beat a good football team," Loomis said.
With the team at 2-2 and 13 games left in the regular season, the "sky is not falling" as Hoss stated, but Loomis stated an important caveat.
"I agree the sky is not falling but we also have to act like it is falling in some degree and have a sense of urgency about improving, paying attention to details otherwise we are going to find ourselves in the same boat week after week," Loomis said.
One particular point of emphasis in a week which the Saints scored nine points, including two red-zone field goals, is the team's red zone offense and finding a way into the end zone.
"Our coaches on offense, our players on offense all understand that," Loomis said. "This is not some deep secret. We understand what needs to be done and we are going to go about attacking that and see if we can get it corrected."
After struggles in previous weeks, Loomis felt the offensive line performed better against the Buccaneers.
"We need to continue to improve there, but also we need to have some consistency in terms of who we've got out there, and so we haven't been able to do that because of various injuries," Loomis said.
Loomis said there were good things about the play of running back Alvin Kamara and wide receiver Michael Thomas and that they are excited about wide receiver/return specialist Rashid Shaheed and wide receiver Chris Olave.
"There's some things that I feel like I see signs of that gelling together and it needs to happen quickly," Loomis said.
Loomis was especially happy to have Thomas back after his struggles with injuries gave limited him to only 14 games in the last four seasons.
"Yeah, we certainly miss the 149 catches that he had one season, but we also miss his passion for the game, his passion to compete," Loomis said. "That's contagious, so I appreciate that being back on the field for us along with his ability as a receiver."
On the defensive side, Loomis was more complimentary saying the unit has played well through the first four games but said lapses in the last six quarters and inopportune penalties have hurt the team.
"We have to not put ourselves in that position where we have a critical mistake at a critical point in time," he said.
Loomis said the Saints will have to bring their "A-game" against Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots on Sunday, Oct. 8. The Patriots are coming off a 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
"Just like us, they are desperate for a win coming off a game where they probably didn't feel like they put their best foot forward, just like we did," he said.
Playing a complete game will be a key, and Loomis said each week so far there has been something different to fix.
"It gets back to 'Hey do your job, do just your job and do it well,' and then everything will come together," he said.
