Gayle Benson (Photo via Twitter)
Kellen Moore’s head coaching carer has already started off terribly.
The New Orleans Saints introduced Moore as their next head coach Thursday morning. His new job comes mere days after helping the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl as offensive coordinator.
A news conference was held where Moore spoke about his excitement about joining the team. He outlined how he plans to get the Saints back into the NFL playoffs.
Before we got there, a moment of confusion came from the Saints owner.
Owner Gayle Benson botched the coach’s introduction with the team when she announced “Ellen Moore” as the new head coach.
Saints new head coach Ellen Moore 😭😭
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 13, 2025
In reality, Kellen Moore is the franchise’s next head coach.
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Kellen Moore Noncommittal To Derek Carr
While he complimented Derek Carr a lot, new Saints coach Kellen Moore was noncommittal when asked several times about his status and whether he will be the team’s starting quarterback in 2025.
Moore, who is less than a week removed from helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl, said he is excited to meet his players and undergo a thorough evaluation of Carr and the quarterback position.
“Derek’s a tremendous quarterback in this league,” Moore said, via NFL Media. “He’s a starter in this league. He’s a premier player in this league. … Really excited to team up with him and go through this process.”
The team has options as they drafted Spencer Rattler last April, who saw immediate action as a rookie. Unfortunately, he went 0-6 while throwing for 1,317 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions.
Carr led the team in all passing categories, completing 189 of 279 passes for 2,145 yards and 15 touchdowns, with five interceptions.
Bombshell Report Uncovers Leaked Emails Exposing The New Orleans Saints For Their Role In Wild Sex Scandal Involving “Predatory Catholic Priests” And Young Boys
New Orleans Saints helmet (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
The role of the New Orleans Saints in helping the Catholic Church manage the fallout from a sex scandal involving “predatory Catholic priests” has been revealed in leaked team emails.
The emails, which were obtained by the Associated Press, suggest that the team was at the forefront of damage limitation efforts after a list of clergymen accused of sexual abuse was published in 2018.
“What followed was a months-long, crisis-communications blitz orchestrated by the New Orleans Saints’ president and other top team officials, according to hundreds of internal emails obtained by The Associated Press,” the AP reported on Monday.
According to the publication, records show that team executives played a much more significant part in managing the fallout than they made known, with both the NFL franchise and the church going to lengths to keep their involvement under wraps.
The documents expose the efforts of the “team’s devoutly Catholic owner, who has long enjoyed a close relationship with the city’s embattled archbishop,” as well as the roles of various institutions around the city – and even a sitting federal judge – in rallying around church leaders.
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: The New Orleans Saints front office helped manage the PR for the Catholic Church after its clergy sexual abuse scandal:
“As New Orleans church leaders braced for the fallout from publishing a list of predatory Catholic priests, they turned to an unlikely ally:… pic.twitter.com/gdTABVETsp
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 3, 2025
Leaked Emails Show That The New Orleans Saints Were Actively Involved In Mitigating The Fallout
The AP notes that, according to the emails, a team spokesperson briefed his boss on a call with the city’s top prosecutor hours before the list of priests was published and mentioned the words: “allowed us to take certain people off [the list].”
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The emails also show that Saints higher-ups were among the first people outside of the church to view the list of suspected pedophiles, although some names were purposely left off.
Team president Dennis Lauscha assisted Archbishop Gregory Aymond by drafting up multiple questions he was expected to be asked once he faced reporters.
REPORT: New Orleans Saints’ president and other top team officials have helped cover up sexual abuse & child pornography scandals involving multiple Catholic priests, Archbishop Gregory Aymond & others associated with the Archdiocese of New Orleans for years…
More info:… pic.twitter.com/pSPMLZErp5
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) February 3, 2025
The report adds:
“The Saints’ senior vice president of communications, Greg Bensel, provided fly-on-the-wall updates to Lauscha about local media interviews, suggesting church and team leaders were all on the same team. “He is doing well,” Bensel wrote as the archbishop told reporters the church was committed to addressing the crisis. “That is our message,” Bensel added, “that we will not stop here today.”
The leaked communication proves that the Saints were being disingenuous when they told fans they had only provided “minimal” assistance to the church in matters of public relations amid the scandal. They then went to the courts to keep their internal emails a secret.
“This is disgusting,” state Rep. Mandie Landry was quoted as saying. “As a New Orleans resident, taxpayer and Catholic, it doesn’t make any sense to me why the Saints would go to these lengths to protect grown men who raped children. All of them should have been just as horrified at the allegations.”
The emails were subpoenaed by attorneys for the victim of a priest who was later charged with raping an eight-year-old boy.
The team told the outlet the partnership “is a thing of the past” last week.
