### Saints Head Coach Kellen Moore
**Opening Statement:**
"Really disappointing game for us. Obviously, I thought the Dome was an incredible night, incredible energy. We obviously did a poor job just preparing our football team. We really, in all three phases, did not do enough to win this game. Atlanta came in and played a lot better than us. I didn't coach well enough, play well enough, so obviously, it wasn't good enough. We're at where we're at. We're a 1-3 football team with some good moments, but not enough consistent football to be where we ultimately want to be. We have a lot of work to do. There's a path for us, but it's going to take a lot of work to get there. We've got to keep going."
**On the slow starts:**
"It is just disappointing. Obviously, not coaching it well enough, not executing well enough. They came out, went right down the field and scored. We went three-and-out and didn't score until the second quarter."
**On if they have tried to shake it up to get a faster start:**
"We have tried a number of different things. Obviously, we have to solve this. We have to find a way."
**On if he has experienced slow starts before:**
"At times, yeah. Every experience is going to be different. There are times where it is."
**On the team's preparation:**
"I just think, at the end of the day, they executed better than us. They played faster than us. They, obviously, ran the ball really well, created some explosive plays in the pass game. On our side of it, we weren't able to run the ball well enough. We turned the ball over, and that's a challenging formula."
**On struggles with the run game:**
"We weren't able to run well, and we weren't able to put ourselves in position to have the opportunities to continue to run it and find that ability to finally get it going. When you fall behind, you play in some different circumstances. Obviously, you are going to have to adjust the plan."
**On the gravity and symbolism of tonight's game:**
"We talked about it at the beginning of the week. They guys were fired up. I thought there was good energy. We just didn't execute well enough in the beginning, and they (Atlanta) got going."
**On if there was a moment where he realized the team was not prepared:**
"Again, we just didn't get it done. They started fast, and we weren't able to catch up."
**On if WR Chris Olave is OK:**
"Yes".
**On if he thought about removing the starters:**
"A little bit. Yeah. I appreciate our guys finishing and battling and continuing to fight there."
**On why the starters stayed in the game late in the fourth quarter:**
"Just trying to get ourselves an opportunity to just play some clean football at the end of the game."
**On if he talks to anyone when his team is struggling:**
"Obviously, you're going to have mentors, but more importantly, our group has to come together and find those solutions together. I love this group. This group is going to rally together. It's a really disappointing night for everyone in that locker room. Everyone is disappointed, but these are opportunities for us to come together and find a solution and play better football and coach better football moving forward. We get an opportunity to take a certain path, and we can look back at this as a real growth opportunity. That's what we have to focus on. We have to get better at it, though."
**On kicking a field goal down 17 points:**
"Long drive. We had a little bit of a missed opportunity on third down. It got it to at least a 14-point game, get the points and then, if we could make a stop there, then we could go. We'd obviously have to be really aggressive the rest of the way out. I know it felt like getting some points there got us back to a two-score game. By not going for it there, the rest of the game was going to have to be aggressive. Unfortunately, they went back and scored."
**On the end of the first half and if he considered pressing for points:**
"Trying to get points. Ultimately, we just didn't get it done and put ourselves in challenging situations. We did not want to give them a chance to have the ball before half and hopefully was going to steal some points before half and get points on the backend of it."
**On if Atlanta's offense was what he expected:**
"Every team is going to have flavors and some different things schematically. We had our opportunities and just didn't get it done."
**On Tyler Shough's hand:**
"It kind of swelled up a little bit. I think he got hit at some point in the game."
**On if the hand swelling had an effect on his performance:**
"I don't think so. He seemed fine."
**On the QB pressure from Atlanta:**
"There were some pressure situations. Obviously, when you're in more high-trend passing situations, it's going to be more challenging."
**On potential for different offensive line combinations:**
"We have to look at everything. We have guys who are battling and competing, and I appreciate the heck out of that. We just have to get better. Obviously, we are going to focus on just getting better fundamentally, and schematically, we will keep building."
**On the mood in the locker room:**
"That locker room is disappointed, frustration. These guys put a lot into this and for us to not have a game like we expected, there's a lot of frustration in that. Our guys just have to come together and stick together. That's the path of the NFL. There are highs and lows in the league. These are challenging circumstances when you're dealt a 1-3 start, with the energy our guys have and the goals our guys have. We just have to keep going. You get to use these things as big-time growth opportunities, as challenging as they are and as frustrating as they are for everyone a part of this – fans, players, coaches, everyone a part of this thing. We just have to move on and keep getting better. We can't ignore this team. We have to learn a ton from this game. We're going to be back here on Sunday with one more opportunity in this stretch."
**On if this feels different from last year's start in the first quarter of the season:**
"I don't know. This one is just, obviously, disappointing. We have had some close games. This one just got away from us. They played a lot better than us. We're going to have to learn from this one and grow from this one. Again, this is the first quarter, essentially, of the NFL season. We are 1-3. That is just what we are. We have some opportunities ahead of ourselves. We obviously have to turn the page and play much better football."
**On the path forward:**
"Just playing more consistent football. Protecting the football, getting turnovers. Again, we are going to have to find that path for the consistent football that we need."
**On his concerns regarding the lack of preparation:**
"That's the part I'm going to focus on. How can we help prepare our guys for those situations? Ultimately, we're not getting it done, so you're going to keep looking back on what Monday through Saturday looks like and how we can keep improving that so Sunday can have a better formula. Again, there are moments that are good but just not enough."
**On the game structure process:**
"We go put them in and go through them on Friday's practice and Saturday and Sunday."
**On correlations between last year's slow starts and this year's:**
"We did a lot of studies through the offseason from a schedule and logistics standpoint, from an on-field standpoint. Again, we just have to find the solution."
**On the energy of the Caesars Superdome pregame:**
"Anytime you get to play a national game, those are big-time opportunities. It is just disappointing, obviously, for us. I know there are frustrations for everyone. We're all frustrated. We're all disappointed in where we are at. We're going to have to learn from this one and move forward and find some better opportunities."
**On the magnitude of this game:**
"That's a good question. Obviously, it's a really awesome moment when you play a nationally televised game. It's probably a little bit more juice in these games nationally with the build-up and all that stuff. You have to look at this as one of our games. Obviously, as disappointing as it is, we're going to have to learn from it. We're going to have to grow from it. We're going to have to keep moving because there are going to be a whole bunch of more games that are coming ahead of us. There are going to be opportunities that we can change this path very quickly."
**On the 20th anniversary of Domecoming:**
"I think this is a special night as far as Domecoming and Monday Night Football. It's something we certainly talked about throughout the week. I think our guys grew a great appreciation for it and understood the opportunity that was presented. I thought there was great energy in there. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the juice continued just because they were able to get things going early, and we weren't able to catch up."
**On the defensive problems:**
"Bijan (Robinson) is a really talented runner. He made guys miss and got to the second and third level quickly. We weren't able to generate any turnovers. They only had eight third downs (attempts). Obviously, they were getting a lot of production on first and second down."
**On the matchup facing Bijan Robinson:**
"He's a talented player. He's going to make plays. Obviously, we weren't able to get it done."
**On the penalties, specifically red zone defense penalties:**
"There were penalties. I don't have any that stand out that I was necessarily saying were completely wrong. There are penalties that occur in the game, and we certainly had some."
**On if this is an urgent situation for the team:**
"I think we have to use this as a big-time learning lesson and launching point. We have to look at this as a great lesson, a very hard lesson that we have to learn. We have to move forward and turn the path. I know we have opportunities ahead of ourselves. I know we have the right kind of guys in that locker room to keep sticking together, to keep growing. We're going to find it."
**On the discipline of the team with penalties in critical situations:**
"I know we got a couple of defensive pass interference or holds, one way or the other. They're going to call those. They're going to call those when we have our hands in those positions. As frustrating as that is, that's what's going to happen."