Sports Articles
During my time at WWL New Orleans, I was given the opportunity to write for the radio station’s sports section. One of my articles was published, and is linked below.
Nussmeier: Saints red zone struggles a product of 'self-induced' errors (October 18th, 2025)
Original link: https://www.audacy.com/wwl/local-sports/saints/nussmeier-saints-red-zone-woes-due-to-self-induced-errors
The New Orleans Saints are once again facing a familiar concern after 1-5 start to the season, punctuated last week by a 25-19 loss to the Patriots that saw more than its fair share of missed opportunities.
The black and gold’s woes in the red zone have been a consistent issue for what ranks as the 28th scoring offense through six weeks. The Saints are converting for touchdowns on just 42.1% of red zone trips, which ranks 29th in the league.
“Our first four drives [were] producing points," Saints OC Doug Nussmeier told WWL's Bobby Hebert, "it's just that we weren’t finishing those drives with touchdowns... we’ve gotta coach better, execute better.”
The Saints scored on their first four drives in the game, but only one drive found the end zone. The others saw the Saints settle for Blake Grupe field goals of 34, 48 and 38 yards in the first half. The Saints did do enough to keep pace early, taking a 16-14 lead late in the second quarter, but went into halftime trailing 22-16 and couldn't find the scoring plays to close the gap the rest of the way.
There were only two red zone trips for New Orleans in this game, with one touchdown coming on a short run from Taysom Hill. They had multiple other drives that ended just outside the 20 yard line, including a near miss targeting Chris Olave in the end zone on a key third down in the third quarter. Another promising drive was cut short after a holding penalty negated a Spence Rattler strike to Devaughn Vele inside the 5 yard line.
“We’re obviously looking at different ways to get different guys in position to make plays down [in the red zone], and obviously, another guy who can make plays down there because of his size and his length and his athleticism is Juwan [Johnson],” Nussmeier said, noting that he and the coaching staff are on the lookout for advantageous matchups every week.
Saints final Week 7 injury report: 2 players questionable
Johnson is currently second on the team in targets with 36 and has one of the team's 6 receiving touchdowns, but there have been missed opportunities as well, including a critical fumble in the 4th quarter against the Patriots as the Saints were driving for a potential go-ahead touchdown. He also narrowly missed coming down with a difficult grab in the final moments against the Cardinals in Week 1 that could've potentially sent the game to overtime.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things and ... a lot of our struggles have been because we’ve had self induced penalties or lost-yardage runs,” Nussmeier told Hebert.
The going won’t get any easier for the Saints moving forward. They’ll have to take care of business against a re-energized Bears team fresh off a walk-off win over the Commanders on Monday Night Football. After that? The 5-1 Buccaneers with early MVP candidate Baker Mayfield, the 4-2 Rams and future hall of famer Matthew Stafford, and two more divisional rivals in the Panthers and Falcons.
The Saints will play the Bears up in Chicago at noon this Sunday. You can catch the action right here on WWL and Audacy.
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More from Nussmeier
How has second round pick Tyler Shough handled being the backup in New Orleans?
“[Quarterback’s coach] Scott Tolzien had done a great job with that room ... We want to create competition, and they compete their butts off both in the [QB] room, and when we go out onto the practice field. And they all understand that whoever is the starter and whoever is going to be playing, we’re all going to support him... the whole room has done a great job at supporting Spencer [Rattler], and we won’t have it any other way. Tyler’s invested in getting better, and he’s also on a day to day basis helping Spencer be better, so it’s been a great room.”
What is it like to be the father of LSU star quarterback Garrett Nussmeier?
“As we say, it’s faith, family, football, in that order. So I’m gonna be a dad first. I’m very proud of Garrett, and I’m very proud of the [LSU football] team. Right now they’ve got a great opportunity to do some great things; and obviously my wife Christi, she’s awesome. She’s there all the time for him, and he and I talk all the time... we talk about football a lot. We’re very proud of him and very proud of the opportunity to be at LSU and be the quarterback.”
Unreleased Story: Will a 5 turnover performance prove to be a turning point for Brandon Staley?
It’s been quite the journey for Brandon Staley in the NFL. The former Los Angeles Chargers head coach has fielded his fair share of criticism from fans over the last several seasons; usually with complaints over alleged lack-luster defenses. However, being hired as the New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator this offseason, and with last week’s 5 turnover performance against the New York Giants, Staley is being given the opportunity to change the narrative around his abilities.
So far this season, the results have been mixed. Through 5 weeks of play, the Saints D is ranked 25th overall in the NFL per Pro Football Reference, 25th in points allowed, and 19th in overall yardage allowed. Not exactly the vote of confidence Saints fans want to hear regarding their new coordinator, but looking at what’s under the hood might give us an idea as to why the numbers have been rather pedestrian.
Structurally, Staley’s defense is modeled after Vic Fangio’s split safety defense. The scheme is predicated on taking away deep throws with the heavy use of cover 4, cover 6, and cover 2 coverages, relying on both safeties to play deep while trading assignments based off of the offense's alignment and defensive playcall.
The scheme came into vogue when Vic Fangio was able to slow down star quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow during his time as the head coach of the Denver Broncos from 2019 to 2021, and in that time, many of his assistants began to land coordinating and head coaching roles around the league; Staley being one of them.
The scheme, however, comes with its disadvantages. Playing coverages that consistently require two deep safeties often means that there are less players in the box to stop the run. Cover 4 and cover 6 specifically are also run with the cornerbacks playing off of the line of scrimmage, further taking men out of position to defend the rushing attack.
Because of this, a heavy burden is placed on the linebackers and defensive tackles to fill gaps in the run game with little to no help. Say an offense comes out in 11 personnel (3 wide receivers, 1 running back, 1 tight end). If the defense is forced into a nickel package, that means there’s only 6 players in the box (4 down linemen, 2 line backers). With 6 blockers to match 6 defenders, the offense has a numbers advantage in the run game, and defenses are easily overwhelmed.
Because of this, Fangio-styled defenses have been getting gashed in the run game over the last 4 years. Think back to other coordinators running Fangio’s scheme: Joe Barry in Green Bay (2021-2023), Ed Donatell in Minnesota (2022), and Joe Woods (2020-2022 in Cleveland, 2023-2024 in New Orleans).
The common theme among them? All ran defenses who consistently gave offenses light boxes to run through week in and week out, while having their defensive backs play so far off the line of scrimmage that they’d only get to a run play 10 yards down field. They might as well have been playing a prevent defense every Sunday.
The story against the pass is also contentious. Cover 4 and 6 are great playcalls when looking to take away the deep area of the field, and certainly have their place. However, with the cushion defensive backs are required to give receivers in those looks in order to get deep, the short to intermediate areas of the defense are wide open.
Wide receivers are consistently given free releases off the line of scrimmage to run their routes in peace, and once you notice it, you’ll never be able to look away from it. Take a key first down from the first quarter last week as an example.
On a 2nd and 5, with the Saints being in a quarters coverage, Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger (and the rest of the Giants receivers, for that matter) was given a free release off the line of scrimmage and crossed the face of Pete Werner to pick up the first down before fumbling the football. He was eventually ruled down on the play, but structural weak spots in the coverage still remain.
The turnovers last week were certainly encouraging, but having a football slip out of Jaxon Dart’s hands isn’t going to happen every week. If this defense is going to be more structurally sound against the run, bringing a safety down into the box on a cover 3 or cover 1 call would certainly help.
Brandon Staley’s defense still has plenty to prove, and if he wants to reestablish himself as a potent defensive mind in the NFL, he’ll need to adapt to some of the schematic weaknesses that come with playing two deep safeties every snap. Will the 5 turnover performance last week serve as a turning point for Staley’s career? Only time will tell.