Official: Saints hired Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi

sounds like they might be moving on from that Banta dude as well.

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I guess Westhoff is retiring again? The tweets make it sound like a decision by the Saints

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Right? I mean ST was light years better this year

Holy shite have we finally moved on to actual football talk?!?!

Not sure about this guy but if it betters the team I'm all for it. Watching that video of Drew picking his choice for Superbowl winner has me pumped. Don't think I've ever seen Drew look as pissed as he did there. Hopefully the whole team comes out next year with the same huge chip on their shoulders that Drew seems to already have.

I wonder if it had anything to do with that Hardee play against the rams.
Doubt it though, it probably had to do with this guy coming available and westhoff being old.
They had a weird setup with banta being a co coordinator and weather helping him

I think Westhoff is ready to retire and prior to Westhoff being brought in the other guys had the unit performing poorly.

Westhoff was quoted as saying he was surprised by the move. Not sure why he would say that if he was retiring

Might be as simple as a plus-hire (at least that's how initial reports portray Rizzi) who is available is worth snatching up, instead of waiting into the spring to see if Westhoff comes back.

I know he had surgery last offseason, and that doesn't mean he'd have to consider his health before committing again prior to the upcoming season, but sometimes it's best to lock things down regardless and not have them linger as a variable to track into the offseason.

Remember Westhoff was brought in to right the ship; if he doesn't return, why regress back to where ST play was before he was hired if you can hire a good ST coach now?

Edit: This article alone, which describes how he was retained by the next *two* coaches who succeeded the one who hired him--and that he got the Asst HC coach tag as a "promotion" in the process--suggests he's a good pick.

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The return game is awful and the coverage team can't run down the field or block for the return without getting a penalty on every play.

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The Saints ST unit led the league in both actual punt returns allowed and punt return yardage allowed....by a lot. The special team coverage unit played incredibly well this year. Special teams downfield penalties are just kind of a part of the game now.