Will Kellen Moore mix things up vs. Falcons?

By Ross Jackson

Before he was the New Orleans Saints’ head coach, Kellen Moore was the Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2024-25 season. During the team’s championship run, Moore pivoted and adjusted his offensive approach on more than one occasion. The most notable came in the Super Bowl game.

Over the course of the 2024 season, the Eagles were a run-dominant team. Quarterback Jalen Hurts had seen the least amount of passing attempts of any quarterback throughout the year and running back Saquon Barkley was the star of the show. That is, until the biggest game of the year.

During their Super Bowl matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, Moore and Hurts aired the ball out achieving Hurts’ second-highest passing yards per attempt (19.4) on 10-plus air-yard passes on the season and the third-most air yards on such passes on the season. Moore and the Eagles flipped their script on the way to an emphatic 40-22 victory over the Chiefs to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl LIX.

In his final game of the 2025-26 season, Moore has a chance to do something similar. It might not be the Super Bowl, but any Saints or Atlanta Falcons fan will agree that the Week 18 matchup between the bitter rivals is a must-win for both sides.

Over the last three games, rookie quarterback Tyler Shough has thrilled onlookers with his downfield attack. Of the 913 passing yards he accumulated in Weeks 15-17, 523 (roughly 58%) have come on passes at least 10 yards downfield. With the talented safety duo of veteran Jessie Bates III and rookie Xavier Watts (five interceptions this season) in Atlanta, finding another way to attack the Falcons’ defense may be necessary.

New Orleans may have found exactly what it needs to shatter precedent last week as running back Audric Estime burst onto the season in Nashville, Tenn. rushing for a career-high 94 yards, 88 of which coming in the second half. 

The Falcons have the No. 26 ranked rushing defense in the NFL. If the Saints want to turn the tables, doing so with a more productive ground game could be the avenue. It won’t be easy. The Saints are dealing with a slew of injuries on the offensive interior and have only run for over 100 yards as a team twice in the six games since their bye week.

However, if New Orleans figured something out in the second half of their comeback victory over the Tennessee Titans last week, controlling the game on the ground could be a massive win for the Saints. 

Falcons running back Bijan Robinson is coming off of a record-breaking game against the Los Angeles Rams after rushing for 195 yards and setting a new all-time scrimmage yards record for the franchise. If Moore and the Saints can control the football and manage the clock with their run game, it would go a long way to keep the ball out of Robinson’s hands.

Whether or not Moore decides to try to pull a rabbit out of the hat on Sunday remains to be seen, but he’s shown a comfort with changing the game script from week-to-week. But he may be just as happy keeping the ball in the hands of his quarterback and relying on his defense to win a fifth game in a row. It’s a proven formula that’s been working quite well as of late.