A two-word phrase has carried the tonnage of a mountain – or, at least, the equivalent of the weight the New Orleans Saints were carrying around during a seven-game losing streak – as the team managed to stop the slide after changing its head coach nine games into the regular season.
One-eleventh.
Interim head coach Darren Rizzi rides with it, his special team units have sworn by it since he was hired in 2019 and since Nov. 4, when Rizzi took over after Dennis Allen was dismissed, every player in the locker room has slurped from the chalice as the Saints have won consecutive games over Atlanta (20-17) and Cleveland (35-14) to raise their record to 4-7 entering this week's bye.
Maybe it was because the locker room needed a new message or, perhaps, the simplicity added to the resonance.
Whatever the case, the slogan has been stickier than the new hands linebacker Demario Davis said he'd order from Amazon.
"The whole five-plus years that I've been here, it's been kind of our mantra on special teams," Rizzi said Monday. "In one way, shape or form all those guys have been a part of it at one time or another because special teams kind of touches every part of the team.
"So, there's very few guys that haven't gone down that road with me before. I think that they appreciate 1/11th kind of equals the accountability. It's a deal where if you're doing your job on the field, it's tangible. Everybody sees it.
"But we try to take it and carry it over to the preparation, and what you're doing when you're not in the building – just an overall accountability. It's one of those things, it's easy to kind of hang onto, it's obviously a football analogy and guys can carry it over in all parts of their lives. Guys have really taken to it, I'm proud of that and hopefully we can continue to do all the right things on and off the field."
On the field, the numbers have straightened enough after weeks of misalignment that New Orleans has managed to pull to within two games of NFC South Division-leading Atlanta.
On defense, despite allowing an average of 450 yards against Atlanta and Cleveland, the Saints have posted shutouts in the fourth quarter of both games, produced stops on 19 of 27 third-down attempts and three of five fourth-down tries and generated six sacks – all by defensive linemen.
On offense, New Orleans has ripped off explosive plays of 40, 67, 71, 34 and 31 yards on passes, and of 33 and 75 yards rushing.
The 1/11th message has an attentive congregation.
"It can mean a multitude of things, but the biggest thing can be just doing your job," tight end Juwan Johnson said. "Doing your job, watching the film, taking care of your body, doing what you have to do off the field so you can stay on the field. Just those little things, just taking care of 1/11th.
"You're one of the 11 guys that's on the field, if you're taking care of that and every guy is doing that, 11 guys are on the field doing that, you'll have pretty good results. That's really been his whole thing, his whole message – taking care of the things you can take care of, not being distracted. Because you can be distracted.
"We could have been distracted by the bye week this past game. But I think the biggest thing is just taking care of what you have now and worry about the rest of the stuff later. Just kind of having those blinders on like a horse, looking forward and attacking the day as it is."
And it doesn't matter who is or isn't available; safety Ugo Amadi has been slot corner the last few games, first due to injury and now since cornerback Marshon Lattimore was traded.
"I feel like all the thing with the aura, the energy, getting people ready to go on Sunday, having a motto – one struggle at a time – not thinking too ahead of ourselves and just staying in the moment, not making the moment bigger than what it is," Amadi said.
"With our roster we feel like we deserve the world, but it's not going to be like that. You've always got to take it one step at a time, one day at a time, one game at a time."
The stacked days have resulted in consecutive wins. Rizzi has been willing to use every tool at his disposal, literally, to convey the message.
Prior to the game against the Browns, he wore a construction worker's uniform in the team meeting and showed the players a level. Rizzi said he looked like Bob the Builder.
"When you finish the job, you use it to make sure it's even," Amadi said. "If it's any little unevenness it'll show you. Having that level out there for us was big, visual evidence of this is what it looks like when you win a game. It's going to be leveled out – you secured it, did a nice job and everything is even."
"Some people are auditory learners; some people are visual learners," Johnson said. "He kind of brought out his whole Halloween costume.
"He had a construction jacket on, a shovel, a level, a tape measure, a hammer – he had a whole bunch of stuff to let guys know when you come to work, you have to bring things so you can finish. You don't just show up and finish. It's all in the little things that you do."
It was all Rizzi, doing his 1/11th.
