Give Saints interim-to-the-interim coach Aaron Kromer credit.
Not for coaching a team that went 13-3 last year to an 0-3 record, but for his keen analytical eye.
“There’s a lot of reasons why,” Kromer said, via Nakia Hogan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune when asked for his theory on their winless start. “It could be we didn’t practice hard enough in training camp. Maybe we had too many distractions at times and didn’t handle them correctly. We think we’re handling them correctly. We say we are, and I want to say we are. My job is to make sure we are handling them in the correct way.
“Playing fast on offense and playing fast on defense, that’s all we need to worry about. If we keep thinking that way, good things will happen in the long run.”
So, the suspensions of head coach Sean Payton for the season, general manager Mickey Loomis for half and interim coach Joe Vitt for six games, the contract drama of quarterback Drew Brees, the constant talk about bounty related suspensions, all those things might have detracted from their focus on one-on-one drills during OTAs?
Imagine that.
The thing that’s become most obvious in the Saints start is something most people already knew — Payton’s pretty good at what he does.
The idea that Brees was so mature and so much of a leader that they wouldn’t miss their real leader missed the mark by a mile. It’s not that Brees isn’t good at what he does, he just can’t do the job of another man that’s among the best in his field and his own task as well.
And bringing in respected defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo doesn’t mask the fact they lack impact players on defense.
So yes, the distractions on top of all that makes obvious one thing.
They’re not following Payton’s instruction to “Do Your Job,” terribly well.