Mickey Loomis still waiting for Saints offense to click but says, ‘I think it’s coming, because I think we’re capable’

Halfway through the 2023 season, general manager Mickey Loomis is still looking for that complete game that has eluded the Saints through nine games — especially on offense.

However, Loomis stressed, “I think it’s coming because I think we’re capable.”

“We’re nine games into the Derek Carr era here. So it’s no surprise we’re not always on the same page,” said Loomis, who pointed out that there were growing pains in Drew Brees’ early tenure with the Saints — though they were masked by the team’s win total in 2006 before things evened out a bit in 2007 and 2008. “It wasn’t perfect. That was an evolution.”

However, Loomis did agree with his frustrated fan base by acknowledging that, “It’s never fast enough.”

Loomis’ thoughts on the offense stood out as perhaps the most compelling topic when he visited with media at the season’s midpoint Wednesday, with the team both underachieving at 5-4, yet sitting in first place in the NFC South.

“Look, we haven’t had 60 minutes of offensive football that you felt really good about. But we’ve had 15 minutes and 25 minutes and 30 minutes,” Loomis said. “So that’s what we’re looking for. Because that’s what we’re used to here. Let’s be honest. That’s the bar that we have that didn’t exist before (Brees) started hitting his stride. Now that bar’s still there, and that’s what we measure it against.”

So what is the solution?

“That’s a good question. If I knew that, we’d have it fixed already,” Loomis cracked. “I think some of it is, look, we’ve got a lot of new parts offensively. … And the way that teams practice these days, one of the things we have to look at is, ‘How did we prepare in this last offseason? And what can we do different so we can be better early in the season?’”

Loomis pointed to the red zone, in particular, as an area where precision is needed from everyone across the offense that develops over time.

When asked if the heavy criticism directed toward offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. for his lack of creativity, etc., Loomis said, “Look, if you’re not playing really well, the blame for that is everyone. Everyone has a piece of it.”

“It’s all our responsibility. He’s a good coach. He’s had a lot of success. That hasn’t changed. He’s still a good coach,” Loomis said. “Whether or not it’s the right play call at the right time, yeah that’s all fair. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of our roster, we expect him to do that. And he can do that. Has done that.

“So I’m not trying to evade the question, I’m just trying to say there are a lot of factors here that belong to all of us — not to Pete exclusively.”

Loomis’ confidence that the 2023 Saints team is “close” and “capable” mirrors some of the optimism he expressed after they missed the playoffs in both 2021 and 2022, as well, with records of 9-8 and 7-10 – with injuries playing a heavy factor, but also some of these same offensive shortcomings.

When I asked Loomis why he seemed more optimistic about these three years than the team seemed to feel about its last dip from 2014-2016, Loomis said he felt like those teams had more flaws.

“Our defense in particular had gotten older. We probably hung onto those guys a little longer than we should’ve, and we didn’t replace ‘em. We kind of got away a little bit on the character stuff, maybe I didn’t emphasize it as strongly as I needed to. We had a lot of really good guys in there, but we had a few that … ‘Ahhh, these aren’t the right guys when we’re dealing with adversity,’” Loomis acknowledged. “That’s not the case here. I think we’ve got a lot of really good players on defense; we’ve got some really good elements on offense. We gotta get the quarterback and get everybody on the same page — quarterback, coaches, receivers, all that. But I just feel the elements are better.”