Darren Rizzi’s first practice as the interim coach of the New Orleans Saints was extremely fast paced. Every coach has their own individual style and certain tweaks were expected when making the switch to Rizzi from Dennis Allen. While Klint Kubiak is still coordinating the offense, Rizzi is putting an emphasis on time on task at practice.
It started with the locker room layout, then shifted to coaching staff changes, and the latest change is the pace of practice. Derek Carr described the practice as “Extremely fast. Upbeat, fast, nonstop moving.”
Carr said, “That’s the most plays we’ve ran in a practice in my career in a long time.” The increase in plays gives more time to hone in on specific looks and also attack a larger array of objectives.
Rizzi’s approach should lead to a greater attention to detail and, in turn, lead to better performances. That’s the quarterback’s hope as well. Carr added: “You get more time on task on something, we get better at it. Lord knows we need to get better at what we’re doing right now.”
It’ll be interesting to see how consistently they use this pace throughout the week and the season. The benefits are there, but it may simply be unsustainable on the regular. Regardless, it’s a change of pace that hopefully leads to change of results.