3 changes Saints' interim coach Darren Rizzi has made that make sense

During the New Orleans Saints' disastrous 2-7 start under now-fired head coach Dennis Allen, the team didn't even warm up right, which may have led to an amazing eight in-practice injuries that have plagued New Orleans this season. That is one of three key changes interim coach Darren Rizzi has made in his first week on the job, going into the Saints' next game at home against Atlanta (6-3) on Sunday (Noon central, FOX).

Let's take a look at some of the changes that Rizzi has made and why they make sense.

3 changes Saints' interim coach Darren Rizzi has made that make sense

3. Aggression

Rizzi said some nice things about Allen - an assistant from 2006-10 and the team's defensive coordinator from 2015-21 before being promoted to head coach - as he replaced him on Monday. And he took his share of the blame for the Saints' seven-game losing streak that got his former boss fired.

"Tough day for me, tough day for this profession. Dennis did a lot for this organization," Rizzi said. "And I consider him a close personal friend. We've all had a hand - me included - in where we are right now. And we're all going to have a hand in digging us out of this hole we're in."

But Rizzi did not mind saying he would have done something differently in the Saints' ridiculous, 23-22 loss Sunday at Carolina to the then-worst team in the NFL before the Saints.

On 4th-and-1 at the Saints' 46-yard line while leading 22-17 with 5:46 to play, Allen decided to punt after trying to draw Carolina offsides.

"The draw-offsides play was a bad call," Rizzi said on WWL Radio in New Orleans on Monday night after his promotion. "Analytics tell you to go for it there. We also could’ve called timeout there and reloaded the deck and went for it."

Keeping the Saints' defense off the field would have been a good idea. Because it had allowed a winning touchdown drive that ended with 1:01 to play in the 15-12 loss to Philadelphia in week three and gave up a winning field goal drive that finished with :02 left in the 26-24 loss at Atlanta in week four. The Panthers later scored the winning touchdown with 2:18 to go.

2. Coaching staff changes

Defense has been a major problem for the Saints this season, and Rizzi acted quickly. He demoted defensive line coach Todd Grantham to an advisory role and replaced him with pass rush coach Brian Young, who will also help linebackers coach Michael Hodges with the troubled run defense.

The Saints D-Line has been getting pushed off the ball at contact consistently this season and has been terrible at allowing rushing yards before contact.

Defensive coordinator Joe Woods will now call plays, which Allen had been doing.

"It's a shuffle," Rizzi said. "Shuffle the deck there a little bit on defense."

Sometimes change for the sake of change works, and Rizzi feels that needs to happen.

"We've been doing things around here the same way for a long, long time," he said. "And maybe some are good, and maybe some aren't. There will be some different things we do going forward for sure."

1. Warming up better before practice

This is an unbelievable that the Saints were not doing this in the first place.

Rizzi has installed an "activation" period to get the Saints stretched and warmed up better before practice as the team has had an uncanny eight injuries at practice this season, including four players sidelined for the upcoming game.

"Imagine you’re going to work out. You shouldn’t just go to the weight room and start lifting weights,” he said. "Or just pick up a basketball and play basketball. That’s how you get hurt. The 'activation' is a sports science thing, so that when practice starts they’re already sweating."

The in-practice injuries this season that led to missed games were to starting defensive tackle Khalen Saunders (back), starting linebacker Pete Werner (hamstring), starting wide receiver Chris Olave (hamstring), starting cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry (hamstring), starting guard Lucas Patrick (groin), wide receivers Cedrick Wilson (ankle) and A.T. Perry (hand, then a hamstring) and defensive tackle John Ridgeway (oblique).

Saunders, Werner, McKinstry and Perry all missed the very next game. Werner missed three games. McKinstry missed the last game Sunday. Olave remains questionable with his second concussion.

Allen had said last week, he was considering a new warm-up routine. Rizzi did it immediately.