Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Who adds to you.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Everybody, welcome into that professional podcast we're today. We're gonna
hit you with a few topics, tell you about the
injury report, some things that we feel like need to
be brought up based on what we've been seeing with
this team, and then obviously we're going to try to
preview a little bit of this New York Giants game
and hopefully New Orleans can come away with a win.
This is in a lot of ways, two teams that
are in similar growth patterns and similar paths on differences. Uh,
they picked up a win last week against the undefeated team.
(00:43):
New Orleans has not gotten there first yet, but joined
is always by ellis my friend. How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Making to see you?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I'm doing pretty good, mass Saints Football Talk dot com elliots.
J Williams of Saints Football Talk that coming.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Man again and so he didn't forget about it in
the end.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I like it, by the way, I'm good, mad about you.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I mean, it's weird to say that I'm looking forward
to Saints football, but I am. Like I know everybody's
tired of the losses, but it's it doesn't feel like
it did when Da was here where you're just kind
of like going through the motions, almost like hey, they're
going to win some games.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
But you know, there's no future here.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Even though they're really really bad right now, it feels
like there's a future somewhere that we're gonna get to.
So I'm actually looking forward to every week looking at tape,
looking at opponents, saying, hey, maybe we win, maybe we don't,
but if nothing else, maybe we see growth. It actually
reminds me when I was a kid and I used
to love watching Saint's football, and I was mostly watching
individual players like I wanted to watch Sammy Knight, Leroy Glover,
(01:38):
you know, Duce mccaws or requit, because I want to
see individuals succeed and grow and then hope that would produce,
you know, better results. So let's start with somebody who
we would love to produce results, who isn't going to
play apparently anytime soon. And it's so bad that Rev
got fooled by John Siegler. I really thought this man's
calf was atrophying off the bone.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I really did. I just but it was a believable
thing if you followed New Orleans injury history slightly, so uh,
full injury report for New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Juwan Johnson, Trevor Penning, Dylon, Ryan Caesars, and Chase Young
are all your d nps, and it just it's getting
the point, where are we gonna see this man this
year at all?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
You know you're gonna see him, and you know, one end,
I understand how a calf injury can uh turn into
a potential Achilles injury, and the Saints have invested a
three year contract in him, and so they want to
protect their investment on On one end, I understand that
(02:38):
you know, you end up signing a Chase Young because
you miss on the Marcus Davenport, miss on a Peyton Turner,
and you do not find an air apparent to Cam
Jordan's while you're you're looking for one. So you you're
able to get Chase Young in for a year. Uh,
he is a he performs well in that year under
(03:02):
that one year contract. You don't necessarily get the sack numbers.
But he the inconsistency things that they worried about. He
was there the entire offseason. I recovered well from the
neck injury that they had, and they signed him to
a three year contract. And yet the moment he's back
on a multi year contract, you suddenly get the inconsistent
(03:25):
Chase Young again.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Now, injuries not his.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Fault at all, but it does make you like, come on, man,
one year deal, you hear every day, don't miss a snap,
You give you some money, and you right back to
inconsistent injury status.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
You know, I can't blame him for being injured.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
But at the same time, it's kind of like how
I hinted at early, this is just such a New
Orleans thing to be happening right now, and that's probably
the more grading issue. Like I'm not trying to him,
but why is it always us.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Not gonna blame him?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
In fact, I'm not going to expound on it any
more than that, other than.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Edge is very high on my radar.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Next year, Saints have gotta find a edge rusher in
the draft, especially knowing that Chase Young there's an out
in his contract after twenty twenty six. So he's already
missed four games, right, He's never had a double digit
sack season. That means he's potentially gonna continue missing games,
(04:38):
which then lowers his chance of actually hitting those double
digit sacks. Right, So for me, that means you have
to still be looking at the edge position because despite
signing this man and signing to over fifty plus million,
you still don't know what you're gonna get, and you
only get the rest of this season when he plays,
(04:59):
and then next season to find out if he can
at any point turn into a pass rusher. That's a
ten plus sack of year guys. So just a random
thought on that. The other injuries, you obviously would love
to see Penning play. Based on what Kellen Moore said,
he's trending up, so you potentially will see him a
(05:19):
lot of the high ankle springs that we're dealing with
in connection everything. But listen, that defensive line for the
Giants is their front seven is pretty strong, So you
would like to get that offensive line as healthy as
possible and like to see at least four of the
five starters on it minus Ruives.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, and that look, I'm very much on the I
want to see players like Simpkins get snapped. So I
hope nobody takes me saying like I want Ruiz to
be the long term guy. But I will say, like,
if you miss two starters, that is a lot of pain,
Like it's one thing that if Reize has hurt you,
you could have a guy like Simpkins side in, you know,
and you have Pinning on the other side. Like you
(06:03):
there is an important level to the continuity of an
offensive line and you.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Need that with reps.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And we can talk about one to developed guys and
that's completely fine. You know, Radz's a guy who has
started both sides in the NFL. You know, he's a
reliable backup. He's on the injury report though Trevor Penning
is his first year moving into the spot. He's on
the report, and good or bad, Ruiz was at least
a constant, and to be clear, not all of Ruiz's
play has been terrible. In fact, the gap that New
(06:29):
Orleans is running the best out of right now through
four weeks is actually the a gap between McCoy and Ruiz.
Ruiz has definitely been a problem in pass pro. But
if there's one area of the game that we saw
in Buffalo that we can rely on, it's running that
outside zone run and it's that gap, and then it's
Banks over on the outside on the left side, which
probably doesn't surprise a lot of people, But everywhere else
has been kind of a struggle. So I think that's big,
(06:51):
But at the same time, I mean, it is what
it is.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
You next man up. You just hate to see all
three of these guards all injured at the same time.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
That's what really is.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You tell me if I'm wrong on this. This is
something I came across. I think it was Pat McAfee
who mentioned it that with the offensive line play. Yeah,
when you're a zone blocking offensive line, losing a player
hurts more because that offensive line is acting as a
(07:24):
unit and so there's a certain cohesion that takes place
and a certain timing aspect to it, where the more
reps they get together, the easier. But then you have
an injury and it kind of throws a wrench in things.
Versus a more of a man gap scheme, it's a
little easier to plug and play when you lose a guy.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Thoughts on that, I think there is a lot of
truth to it, mainly because there is extreme lack of offensive
line depth across the league. Like it's not even just
a New Orleans thing. It's just you have starting offense
of linemen who, if we had to go pound for pound,
defensive lines are deeper and more.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Talented than offensive lines. I think a lot goes into that.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You see a lot of offensive line minds like Jeff
Schwartz late leads talking about you know, this is part
of the CBA and they don't get to do two
to day practices anymore. I mean, five guys all having
to play as one unit is difficult, and the less
practice they have, less experience and reps can lead to
worse play. And I'm not blaming all this on the CBA,
just saying you see a lot of these O line
guys talking about it, and you know, another aspect of
it is if you're going to run zone you have
(08:29):
to have very athletic offensive lineman. Now, luckily guys like
Banks fit into that. He might be a man power
to style a guy, but he works. We've seen him
whether he's needed to swing outside in a screen, whether
he's needed his zone block.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
He's able to handle it.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But can you expect the guard who is number four,
number five to.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Handle it right?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So that's an issue is it's if you go into
like what's more natural most players, you know, through high school, college,
you're probably gonna run more man blocking, something they're more
familiar with used to and that way, if you don't
have uber athleticism, well, a three hundred pound man is
usually pretty strong. He can probably man block even if
he's not good enough to be a zone blocker.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So there is potential worry for that.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
And you know, when we finally saw that offensive line
really take off, you don't want to see that breakdown
because of injuries.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
That is the concern.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Now good news, I guess kind of hinting into the
preview here, New York Giants currently giving up tied for
the worst yards per play and rushing right now, tied
with Chicago Bears. So it's not like you're going against
a juggernaut of a run defense. But at the same time,
I mean says a lot when you're down to guard
four and five.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Now, something that we spoke about, which was it was
noted by Kendre Miller.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
You brought it up in the chat.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
They did switch to More's zone concepts last week. Now,
listening to Moore's press conference on yesterday, he stopped just
short of saying that they would continue to lean into that.
He kind of hinted at it more of it was
(10:01):
an advantage to them wanting to play more under center
last week versus in the gun, and so the wide
zone tied into that with the play action, but then
mentioning more or less like they're gonna play different teams
that maybe are going to force them to have to
play different concepts, and so for that, I believe he
(10:25):
was mentioning that the Giants are a little bit stronger
on the edge. They've got Thibodeaux on the edge, they've
got Brian Burns on the edge, and so he seemed
a little bit more reticent about just kind of committing
to it.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
But here's my question on this. At what point do you.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Say, this is who we are, this is what we're
good at.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
We're going to do.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
This until you prove to us you can stop it,
versus always morphing to kind of try to beat a
team week the week, which I think is in but
also you got to be able to keep some of
your identity into it, versus saying, Okay, even though we
established an identity here last week as a much better
zone running scheme, we're saying this week, it looks like
(11:14):
this team may be better at defending it, so we'll
probably not run it as much.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
At what point do you say, look, stop me?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I think this is a game where you say, stop me,
because I do agree with what Moore is saying about
New York is that they might be a little bit stronger.
But at the same time, New York has giving up
the fourth most ten yard runs in the NFL. They're
given up the most yards per attempt. A lot of
that is coming from the inside though, I mean, so
that's there. But at the same time, your New Orleans
Saints currently average four point five yards per play in
(11:44):
passing and four point four yards per play in rushing,
and that is kind of out of context. We've only
seen them run that outside zoned scheme primarily in one game.
I mean, so if you took that one game as
the reference, well then you're four point five in pass
in about six rushing. Well, clearly you've got one thing
you found that's.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Working, that works, right, use it right right now.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I get what he's saying, but kind of like to
your point, don't get so cute where like, oh you
overthink it.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
You you found what's working.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Do it until someone to this.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
And I just don't think New York's a team that
stops it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Are there teams out there that I would say, hey,
we really should probably reconsider that strategy.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I mean if New Orleans is going against you know,
Tampa right now, Tampa has a very good run defense
up front, Yeah, change change the path. Not against New York,
especially when you finally got a glimmer of hope, you
went against a great team and went pound for pound
until the last five to ten minutes of the game.
Use that, if anything, used as a confidence builder for
(12:45):
Rattler and Kendre Miller and these young guys who need
to pop off and want to pop off.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Now.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
A big component to what they're going to be doing
this week is going to play on Jackson Dark.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, rookie Saints don't tend to do well for whatever reason.
You would think that there's an advantage playing against a
rookie quarterback. And yet we have a long history of
making young rookies, first year quarterbacks look better than they should.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Jackson Dark, I think, gave up six sacks last week
or with sack six times, but his first drive was
a ninety plus yard drive, which is pretty significant for
a rookie. I think it shows he's got some moxy
about him. Also saw where he was one of the
he called one of the plays. I think it was
the pitch to the tight end. He went and spoke
(13:38):
to the tight end prior and said, hey, if they
do this, play flat and I'm gonna.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Pitch you the ball.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So it shows that he's got a little bit of
playground in him, some sort of confidence in him. How
do the Saints do a better job of dealing with
Dart and stopping him from actually, you know, game breaking
them the way we've seen so many young quarterbacks do
that to the Saints.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I was a great question.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
It was five secs because Russell had won, but it
was thirty eight percent pressure raised what Jackson Dart had
in his first kind of run as a starter. That's
crazy numbers Like New Orleans has yet to put out
anything like that so far this year, and kind of
like to your point, like, for whatever reason, notices, no
matter who the coach is, Saints have struggled with guys
(14:21):
who can get out the pocket, whether it be pocket
passers who can run, which is kind of like how
I would to find a Russell Wilson. Russell was never
like a run first quarterback, but he could.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Kill you, you.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Know, and Jackson Dart, I think can do similar, like
I don't look at him like I look at Josh Allen.
But at the same time, he ran for twelve yards
or I'm sorry, twelve attempts in like fifty yards, so
obviously you got to respect it. I think one thing
that New Orleans needs to focus on is that man
coverage we talked about and spies, right, you know, I
want to blitz him from some exotic looks that he's
(14:49):
maybe not seen because.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Last week he did well in pressure, and I'm not.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Saying he didn't, but what is the likelihood that a
young quarterback first time in the NFL doesn't even have
ten games under him like Rattler does, is going to
consistently be able to handle complex coverages and pressure. At
some point it breaks. And I just think that you
don't really leave the meth that you saw the Chargers
do you just hope you're more successful. I don't even
(15:15):
think that, Yeah, the Chargers were bad at pressuring him.
It's just he balled out and sometimes that's gonna happen.
You can do all the right things and still lose. Right,
So I think kind of what we and I are,
You and I have both been hitting on for weeks
now bring the actual pressure, don't just faint it, especially
from the edge. That way you can get guys like
a Lante Taylor right up in his face and particularly
(15:36):
from his blind side, and get in his face and
see if you can rattle him.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
And if you can, awesome, and if you.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Can't, well, I don't think he's gonna throw three hundred
yards and three tds either, because even last week, which
is a good game, his combined total yards were like
one hundred and sixty yards. So that was almost a
game of attrition between the Chargers and the Giants. And
I don't think Jackson's coming in and you know, rowing
three fifty three or four tds, they're gonna win. That'd
(16:04):
being the Giants by war of attrition, similar to how
New Orleans needs to win, right, So simply play that style.
And I think you've got guys like Granderson and Davis
and even to a degree, Warner and stuff who you
can blitch off edges and make that happen.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You just got to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Just don't sit there and drop everybody in coverage eighty
percent of the time.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, and how much of that was the Chargers not
being prepared to play them either you know, they prepared
to play Russell all week and then you you know,
Russell gets benched, you insert that young quarterback and you
just you didn't Maybe you didn't spend a lot of
time on them. There was no scout, no full on
scouting report. Maybe you expected to see him for a
couple of snaps.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Maybe nobody come in playing QB spy or anything, right,
Like nobody was saying to do that with that. Okay,
you know exactly, which is why I think you don't
overthink it. You stick with what typically works against guys
like that. They're gonna be a you know, a rookie quarterback.
We're gonna press them. We'll still have guys play contained.
One thing, I think Cameron Jordan did really well against
Josh Allen. I know that seems kind of weird to
(17:05):
say because Allen did have some big plays, but our mind, everybody,
we're talking about a guy, you know, PvP.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I'm sorry, MVP, so.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Very good player, but he did a really good job
of containing Allen on the edge and stuff. Make sure
you have that contained, had that QB spy, but pressure,
and I think that's the way you rattle a young quarterback,
especially in his first away game. Hopefully the fans enjoyed
enough to get a little bit loud in the dome.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah that I don't know. That kind
of worries me.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I don't know how well the Giants fans will travel,
But a big advantage of this game will be having
the crowd into it, especially when Dart has the ball.
With communication. Speaking of communication, do you think we go
back to the gun a little bit more considering what
Kellen Moore said last week where they got in the center,
because that helps with the communication and it ultimately ended
(17:53):
up limiting the penalties. But you can tell when talking
to him or you know, paying attention to how he spoke,
he has a preference for the quarterback being in the
gun a little bit more for some of the things
that it helps. Do you saw how well Ratler played? Yeah,
from understanding, you saw some of the things. But again
(18:15):
this is coming from a coach who, in answering questions,
he learns from the mistakes. But you can tell that
he still has preferences absolutely for certain things. And so
you wonder, like how much of last week was just
the opponent And then if he kind of goes back
(18:36):
into the shotgun, which to this point hadn't worked as well.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I'll say this, I agree he wants to run things
his way. Hopefully Buffalo is a lesson to him that, yeah,
that's what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
But what works.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Rattler so far this season four games, has thrown three
tds no interceptions at one hundred and one QB rating
from play action. He's also only been pressured twenty two
percent and taken one sack right, So clearly he's operating
better from that versus no play action from the gun,
where he's been pressured at thirty seven percent of the time,
(19:12):
taking eight sacks and only has an eighty four QB rating.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Play action benefits everybody because.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
One thing we've learned, and I learned this years ago,
I think everybody else can acknowledge it. It doesn't matter
if your running game is good or not. It's the
force respect you want proof. Look at Buffalo falling for
Rattler doing play action to Casper, the friendly ghost like
Ak literally goes out.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
The backsfield ah, and he still does.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Play action and the linebackers still bite. It buys you
that extra second. What are some negatives? Well, generally, if
you're gonna play action, especially a play action boot. You're
limited to halfield reeds.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Good news.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
That's what Rattler's doing anyway, right now. That's fine. I think, Yeah,
I get it. You want to play bigger, fuller.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
You're in game five with what is essentially a rookie
quarterback in terms of less than sixteen games starting keep
with the play action. I just I feel like i'm
you this episode because I'm saying, keep it simple, stupid, right,
You've seen what's working for where you're at.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Stick with it. Man.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
That was something else that he mentioned, which was he
said from the gun, it's easier to get to some
of those duo blocks that he likes to run right
versus being on the center. It lends itself more to
that zone run. So it'll be interesting, I think to
see I am in agreeance. I think there were a
(20:33):
lot of parts of a winning identity that were prevalent
last week, and you would be wise.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
To continue leaning into those things. Now.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
What I did like in listening to more is how
much he champions the players having a say so, and
so he mentioned that there were a couple of players
last week where the players kind of brought something to
his attention and they ran those things. And we do
know that Kamara made a point about one team to
(21:05):
get Kendre Miller more involved in the offense.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
And then you saw that happen.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
And I think that's the biggest difference between the losing
this year and how the players are responding versus the
losing last year under Allen, where you have players that
are saying the communication just wasn't good under Allen and
so you're seeing that be much better with this year's team,
(21:30):
and so you're not seeing guys get so down on
themselves despite the lose. And I think there's a real
belief in that locker room, on that roster that they're.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Like this close.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
And even if you just look at the progression of
the games outside of the Seattle but then the response
to the Seattle game, you can see the progression is
there as they continue to learn each other and more
did speak highly about it in his opening press conference.
He mentioned that, hey, it'll be it may be weeks
into the season before we get to know each other,
(22:02):
but there's a process of learning. So there's a portion
of him that wants to do what he wants to do,
but there's obviously a side to him that he's good
with learning and saying, hey, we were tailor and tinker
until we find a winning formula. And I think a
lot of that winning formula was the zone run play action,
a little bit more man coverage on d loved the
(22:24):
NASCAR package. They brought that up during the interview. Grandison
on the inside cam on the outside, and you had
Chris Rumph on the other side, and I think I
believe you had Brazi running rushing from the interior spot.
And they did it on back to back plays, right,
the first player I think was a penalty and then
(22:46):
the second player ended up being a Grandison sack.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
And so I think that's something you have to lean
into too.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Because on the defensive side of the ball, their time
to rush or the time it took them to get
to the quarterback was like the league lowest.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
They just they didn't have enough juice off the ball.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
And I spoke to that about you know, you're spending
a lot of time rushing your nose tackle your Jonathan bullets.
They don't have explosive getoffs, and so you're you're ending
up with not a lot of pressure, especially not a
lot of speed off the ball, a little timing off
the snap, and so there was a lot of points
of that that were getting there with the identity, and
(23:24):
so I think it would just be wising them to
lean into those things rather than saying we're gonna morph
this week because of the team we're playing.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
The main thing I'd like to see change is as
ten ten percent increase for Kendre Miller. He made it
to thirty percent of the snaps against Buffalo Week one,
hears at fourteen percent of the snaps. I want him
at forty percent, which means Ak by defaults at sixty.
That is the balance I think is the perfect harmon
that he defined.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
And I think that also helps out.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
More because Kendre is a little bit better at playing
man running anyway. Right, So when you do want to
have that train block or that duo, will you know
Kendre Miller is just gonna full steam ahead the A
gap or B gap if that says role Ak not
exactly like Le'Veon Bell, but old school football fans remember
when he's very patient, he wants to hit his gap.
He's gonna find his target, then he's gonna explode. That's
(24:14):
just AK style. He's a one cut zone runner. Although
Ak's talented enough to play man, he's always been a
great zone runner where he's a good man rusher. So
that's the big one for me. I'm not even getting
on the wide receivers, the tight end room. I am
excited about possibly seeing Taysom Hill back, even if that
is next week more of a thing. But for me,
the biggest thing baby steps for this offense ten percent
(24:35):
more to Kendre Miller. I think that literally helps out Ak.
I think it helps out the old line, and I
think it helps out Spencer Rattler.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
The more this team gets known and seen as a
run dominating team, the more that is going to benefit
the passing game.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Need to be run balanced, Yeah, need to be run balanced,
just it'll be interest.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Key to that is defense not giving up points and
getting behind by two scores in the first half.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
That's that's get.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
That, and I do believes it.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
As it stands right now, the Saints have yet to
play with the lead this year, so one of the
biggest things they can do is very much start fast
in this game. If they can get a seven point lead,
that'll already be something that they haven't done in four games,
and so that may be a great omen for them,
just that little small detail about it. But how do
(25:25):
we feel about the is are we writing this down
as a win? Should this be a win? Are we
looking at this as a parody thing where the Giants
could come out.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Of this with a w?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Twenty five twenty one Saints win twenty five?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
So win it is?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
This is your first game calin on twenty five twenty
one Saints. Okay, I'm gonna do twenty five twenty one
Giants just because.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
See I'm specifically picking the number twenty five two because
it's an ugly offensive number. Makes you think, how do
you get to twenty five twenty five exactly? That that's
that's how the say is They're going to win this
game ugly, But that single win would help this young
group like Rattler, like Kendre have so much more confidence.
So absolutely, I think it could be an ugly win
(26:16):
for them. But this is definitely a winnable game.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Yeah, I love.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I think confidence is really all they're missing at this point.
I think that I think they believe in the staff,
I think they trust the coaching.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
I think they they just need that little bit of booster.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Confidence that tells them, hey, we can do this, and
if they they potentially could easily snowball. You know, you
get that little bit of confidence your snowball. You get
a win this week, you're going to next week, you
possibly get to win their all of a sudden, you're
two and four. All right, Now, here's a question that
I've seen and we may be able to glance out
(26:55):
with this.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Okay, do you think.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
That Ratler has to win one of these two games
to keep from getting benched?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Well, I mean, do you think he needs.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
To win a game in the next three weeks we'll
call it three weeks to stop him from to kind
of staying off the rookie.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
I'm gonna answer it with two answers, because y'all know me.
I have a problem with not just saying yes or no.
I think Spencer Ratler can look really good of the
next two games and they still lose. And that's why
I don't like to say he needs to win it,
because I think that he can still look good. But
at the same time, I know how the NFL works,
I know how people view things media. If he goes
(27:39):
into the bye week and has not won a game,
they're considering having Shuck take the number one snaps in
the bye week.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
That way, when he has the next week, he's had
two weeks.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
With the starters. It really comes down to how Ratler plays.
But I will say this, as much as I hate
people attributing wins and losses to QBS, it certainly is
going to get done, whether I like it to be
that way or not. So there is a little bit
of a pressure there. There's a couple of people on
Saint's Twitter who put it this way. Rattler has to
do something to stave off Shuck, and he's either moving
(28:14):
positively or negatively. There is no neutral rep. If you
do not do well enough to push Shuck back, then
you're not doing well enough to keep him from encroaching forward.
There is no hey, you did well enough and we've
kept things as they are. No, you're either bringing him
closer to you or further away. He needs to push
Shuck further away from him.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I'm gonna go against the green, Okay, I'm gonna go
against the grain and say that Shuck is the coach's player, okay,
And I'm gonna say that Ratler is the players player.
I think those guys like playing with under four behind Rattler,
(28:58):
And I think if you're a coach like Kellen Moore
that says he wants the players, it's it's a player
led team, right. He said that many times the players
lead team. It is hard to go against the players
if they want Rattler, regardless of the record with him.
(29:21):
There's been several players that have said, and even more himself,
that they're in position to win with Ratler. They're just
not winning. He's definitely not taking them out of position
in the grand scheme like he As I've said before,
(29:42):
once the team starts playing better, his errors will become
more egregious. But as of right now, his errors aren't
as egregious because everything around him isn't playing up to par.
I am going to say that I don't think he
does have to for anything.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
I think he just needs to not be bad.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I think neutral is okay for him, and I think
playing above that is okay for him to keep off Shuck.
But I think as long as he doesn't play bad
or has some type of collapse in the month of October,
I think they like to see Shuck sit for the
entire year if possible.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
How about this, Let's give a stat line of what
we think Rattler needs the average over the next two
games for that to not happen. That fair, I think
he needs to average two hundred and fifty total yards,
not passing total yards, and two TV's a game, and
that will keep Shuck on the bench even through the
bye week.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I think, assuming he's not turning the ball over at
the same.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Time, I think he needs to lead an offense that
can score more than twenty points a game.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, that's what I think he can.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
If he can do that, if if they can cross
that twenty point threshold and just depression in that way,
I think you ride with him until the wheels fall off,
as far as you ride with him until he starts
to make it like it's a screw up, like I'm
just screwing up really bad. I don't think you bench
(31:19):
him for just being a second year quarterback who is
still learning, because Moore has pointed that out, like it's
not going to be perfect with him, and they're very
understanding of that, where everyone else is like, oh, a
franchise quarterback has to make these throws, has to do this,
has to do this, and they quite frankly, don't see
(31:39):
it that way because they still see him as learning.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yep, I won't refute. I think that's a solid logic.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I really like the offense itself needs to be averaging
twenty four ish points. If they can get up to
that number, like the twenty five we talked about. If
they win, that's enough.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Don't do it?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Are y'all all?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Let us know what you think in the comments section
down below. Appreciate y'all watching and listening.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Who that to you? God bless We'll see after the game.
Who adds to you.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Everybody, welcome into that professional podcast we're today. We're gonna
hit you with a few topics, tell you about the
injury report, some things that we feel like need to
be brought up based on what we've been seeing with
this team, and then obviously we're going to try to
preview a little bit of this New York Giants game
and hopefully New Orleans can come away with a win.
This is in a lot of ways, two teams that
are in similar growth patterns and similar paths on differences. Uh,
they picked up a win last week against the undefeated team.
(00:43):
New Orleans has not gotten there first yet, but joined
is always by ellis my friend. How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Making to see you?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I'm doing pretty good, mass Saints Football Talk dot com elliots.
J Williams of Saints Football Talk that coming.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Man again and so he didn't forget about it in
the end.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I like it, by the way, I'm good, mad about you.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I mean, it's weird to say that I'm looking forward
to Saints football, but I am. Like I know everybody's
tired of the losses, but it's it doesn't feel like
it did when Da was here where you're just kind
of like going through the motions, almost like hey, they're
going to win some games.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
But you know, there's no future here.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Even though they're really really bad right now, it feels
like there's a future somewhere that we're gonna get to.
So I'm actually looking forward to every week looking at tape,
looking at opponents, saying, hey, maybe we win, maybe we don't,
but if nothing else, maybe we see growth. It actually
reminds me when I was a kid and I used
to love watching Saint's football, and I was mostly watching
individual players like I wanted to watch Sammy Knight, Leroy Glover,
(01:38):
you know, Duce mccaws or requit, because I want to
see individuals succeed and grow and then hope that would produce,
you know, better results. So let's start with somebody who
we would love to produce results, who isn't going to
play apparently anytime soon. And it's so bad that Rev
got fooled by John Siegler. I really thought this man's
calf was atrophying off the bone.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I really did. I just but it was a believable
thing if you followed New Orleans injury history slightly, so uh,
full injury report for New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Juwan Johnson, Trevor Penning, Dylon, Ryan Caesars, and Chase Young
are all your d nps, and it just it's getting
the point, where are we gonna see this man this
year at all?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
You know you're gonna see him, and you know, one end,
I understand how a calf injury can uh turn into
a potential Achilles injury, and the Saints have invested a
three year contract in him, and so they want to
protect their investment on On one end, I understand that
(02:38):
you know, you end up signing a Chase Young because
you miss on the Marcus Davenport, miss on a Peyton Turner,
and you do not find an air apparent to Cam
Jordan's while you're you're looking for one. So you you're
able to get Chase Young in for a year. Uh,
he is a he performs well in that year under
(03:02):
that one year contract. You don't necessarily get the sack numbers.
But he the inconsistency things that they worried about. He
was there the entire offseason. I recovered well from the
neck injury that they had, and they signed him to
a three year contract. And yet the moment he's back
on a multi year contract, you suddenly get the inconsistent
(03:25):
Chase Young again.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Now, injuries not his.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Fault at all, but it does make you like, come on, man,
one year deal, you hear every day, don't miss a snap,
You give you some money, and you right back to
inconsistent injury status.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
You know, I can't blame him for being injured.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
But at the same time, it's kind of like how
I hinted at early, this is just such a New
Orleans thing to be happening right now, and that's probably
the more grading issue. Like I'm not trying to him,
but why is it always us.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Not gonna blame him?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
In fact, I'm not going to expound on it any
more than that, other than.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Edge is very high on my radar.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Next year, Saints have gotta find a edge rusher in
the draft, especially knowing that Chase Young there's an out
in his contract after twenty twenty six. So he's already
missed four games, right, He's never had a double digit
sack season. That means he's potentially gonna continue missing games,
(04:38):
which then lowers his chance of actually hitting those double
digit sacks. Right, So for me, that means you have
to still be looking at the edge position because despite
signing this man and signing to over fifty plus million,
you still don't know what you're gonna get, and you
only get the rest of this season when he plays,
(04:59):
and then next season to find out if he can
at any point turn into a pass rusher. That's a
ten plus sack of year guys. So just a random
thought on that. The other injuries, you obviously would love
to see Penning play. Based on what Kellen Moore said,
he's trending up, so you potentially will see him a
(05:19):
lot of the high ankle springs that we're dealing with
in connection everything. But listen, that defensive line for the
Giants is their front seven is pretty strong, So you
would like to get that offensive line as healthy as
possible and like to see at least four of the
five starters on it minus Ruives.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, and that look, I'm very much on the I
want to see players like Simpkins get snapped. So I
hope nobody takes me saying like I want Ruiz to
be the long term guy. But I will say, like,
if you miss two starters, that is a lot of pain,
Like it's one thing that if Reize has hurt you,
you could have a guy like Simpkins side in, you know,
and you have Pinning on the other side. Like you
(06:03):
there is an important level to the continuity of an
offensive line and you.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Need that with reps.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And we can talk about one to developed guys and
that's completely fine. You know, Radz's a guy who has
started both sides in the NFL. You know, he's a
reliable backup. He's on the injury report though Trevor Penning
is his first year moving into the spot. He's on
the report, and good or bad, Ruiz was at least
a constant, and to be clear, not all of Ruiz's
play has been terrible. In fact, the gap that New
(06:29):
Orleans is running the best out of right now through
four weeks is actually the a gap between McCoy and Ruiz.
Ruiz has definitely been a problem in pass pro. But
if there's one area of the game that we saw
in Buffalo that we can rely on, it's running that
outside zone run and it's that gap, and then it's
Banks over on the outside on the left side, which
probably doesn't surprise a lot of people, But everywhere else
has been kind of a struggle. So I think that's big,
(06:51):
But at the same time, I mean, it is what
it is.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
You next man up. You just hate to see all
three of these guards all injured at the same time.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
That's what really is.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You tell me if I'm wrong on this. This is
something I came across. I think it was Pat McAfee
who mentioned it that with the offensive line play. Yeah,
when you're a zone blocking offensive line, losing a player
hurts more because that offensive line is acting as a
(07:24):
unit and so there's a certain cohesion that takes place
and a certain timing aspect to it, where the more
reps they get together, the easier. But then you have
an injury and it kind of throws a wrench in things.
Versus a more of a man gap scheme, it's a
little easier to plug and play when you lose a guy.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Thoughts on that, I think there is a lot of
truth to it, mainly because there is extreme lack of offensive
line depth across the league. Like it's not even just
a New Orleans thing. It's just you have starting offense
of linemen who, if we had to go pound for pound,
defensive lines are deeper and more.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Talented than offensive lines. I think a lot goes into that.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
You see a lot of offensive line minds like Jeff
Schwartz late leads talking about you know, this is part
of the CBA and they don't get to do two
to day practices anymore. I mean, five guys all having
to play as one unit is difficult, and the less
practice they have, less experience and reps can lead to
worse play. And I'm not blaming all this on the CBA,
just saying you see a lot of these O line
guys talking about it, and you know, another aspect of
it is if you're going to run zone you have
(08:29):
to have very athletic offensive lineman. Now, luckily guys like
Banks fit into that. He might be a man power
to style a guy, but he works. We've seen him
whether he's needed to swing outside in a screen, whether
he's needed his zone block.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
He's able to handle it.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But can you expect the guard who is number four,
number five to.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Handle it right?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So that's an issue is it's if you go into
like what's more natural most players, you know, through high school, college,
you're probably gonna run more man blocking, something they're more
familiar with used to and that way, if you don't
have uber athleticism, well, a three hundred pound man is
usually pretty strong. He can probably man block even if
he's not good enough to be a zone blocker.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
So there is potential worry for that.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
And you know, when we finally saw that offensive line
really take off, you don't want to see that breakdown
because of injuries.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
That is the concern.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Now good news, I guess kind of hinting into the
preview here, New York Giants currently giving up tied for
the worst yards per play and rushing right now, tied
with Chicago Bears. So it's not like you're going against
a juggernaut of a run defense. But at the same time,
I mean says a lot when you're down to guard
four and five.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Now, something that we spoke about, which was it was
noted by Kendre Miller.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
You brought it up in the chat.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
They did switch to More's zone concepts last week. Now,
listening to Moore's press conference on yesterday, he stopped just
short of saying that they would continue to lean into that.
He kind of hinted at it more of it was
(10:01):
an advantage to them wanting to play more under center
last week versus in the gun, and so the wide
zone tied into that with the play action, but then
mentioning more or less like they're gonna play different teams
that maybe are going to force them to have to
play different concepts, and so for that, I believe he
(10:25):
was mentioning that the Giants are a little bit stronger
on the edge. They've got Thibodeaux on the edge, they've
got Brian Burns on the edge, and so he seemed
a little bit more reticent about just kind of committing
to it.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
But here's my question on this. At what point do you.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Say, this is who we are, this is what we're
good at.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
We're going to do.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
This until you prove to us you can stop it,
versus always morphing to kind of try to beat a
team week the week, which I think is in but
also you got to be able to keep some of
your identity into it, versus saying, Okay, even though we
established an identity here last week as a much better
zone running scheme, we're saying this week, it looks like
(11:14):
this team may be better at defending it, so we'll
probably not run it as much.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
At what point do you say, look, stop me?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I think this is a game where you say, stop me,
because I do agree with what Moore is saying about
New York is that they might be a little bit stronger.
But at the same time, New York has giving up
the fourth most ten yard runs in the NFL. They're
given up the most yards per attempt. A lot of
that is coming from the inside though, I mean, so
that's there. But at the same time, your New Orleans
Saints currently average four point five yards per play in
(11:44):
passing and four point four yards per play in rushing,
and that is kind of out of context. We've only
seen them run that outside zoned scheme primarily in one game.
I mean, so if you took that one game as
the reference, well then you're four point five in pass
in about six rushing. Well, clearly you've got one thing
you found that's.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Working, that works, right, use it right right now.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I get what he's saying, but kind of like to
your point, don't get so cute where like, oh you
overthink it.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
You you found what's working.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Do it until someone to this.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
And I just don't think New York's a team that
stops it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Are there teams out there that I would say, hey,
we really should probably reconsider that strategy.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I mean if New Orleans is going against you know,
Tampa right now, Tampa has a very good run defense
up front, Yeah, change change the path. Not against New York,
especially when you finally got a glimmer of hope, you
went against a great team and went pound for pound
until the last five to ten minutes of the game.
Use that, if anything, used as a confidence builder for
(12:45):
Rattler and Kendre Miller and these young guys who need
to pop off and want to pop off.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Now.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
A big component to what they're going to be doing
this week is going to play on Jackson Dark.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, rookie Saints don't tend to do well for whatever reason.
You would think that there's an advantage playing against a
rookie quarterback. And yet we have a long history of
making young rookies, first year quarterbacks look better than they should.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Jackson Dark, I think, gave up six sacks last week
or with sack six times, but his first drive was
a ninety plus yard drive, which is pretty significant for
a rookie. I think it shows he's got some moxy
about him. Also saw where he was one of the
he called one of the plays. I think it was
the pitch to the tight end. He went and spoke
(13:38):
to the tight end prior and said, hey, if they
do this, play flat and I'm gonna.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Pitch you the ball.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So it shows that he's got a little bit of
playground in him, some sort of confidence in him. How
do the Saints do a better job of dealing with
Dart and stopping him from actually, you know, game breaking
them the way we've seen so many young quarterbacks do
that to the Saints.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I was a great question.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
It was five secs because Russell had won, but it
was thirty eight percent pressure raised what Jackson Dart had
in his first kind of run as a starter. That's
crazy numbers Like New Orleans has yet to put out
anything like that so far this year, and kind of
like to your point, like, for whatever reason, notices, no
matter who the coach is, Saints have struggled with guys
(14:21):
who can get out the pocket, whether it be pocket
passers who can run, which is kind of like how
I would to find a Russell Wilson. Russell was never
like a run first quarterback, but he could.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Kill you, you.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Know, and Jackson Dart, I think can do similar, like
I don't look at him like I look at Josh Allen.
But at the same time, he ran for twelve yards
or I'm sorry, twelve attempts in like fifty yards, so
obviously you got to respect it. I think one thing
that New Orleans needs to focus on is that man
coverage we talked about and spies, right, you know, I
want to blitz him from some exotic looks that he's
(14:49):
maybe not seen because.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Last week he did well in pressure, and I'm not.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Saying he didn't, but what is the likelihood that a
young quarterback first time in the NFL doesn't even have
ten games under him like Rattler does, is going to
consistently be able to handle complex coverages and pressure. At
some point it breaks. And I just think that you
don't really leave the meth that you saw the Chargers
do you just hope you're more successful. I don't even
(15:15):
think that, Yeah, the Chargers were bad at pressuring him.
It's just he balled out and sometimes that's gonna happen.
You can do all the right things and still lose. Right,
So I think kind of what we and I are,
You and I have both been hitting on for weeks
now bring the actual pressure, don't just faint it, especially
from the edge. That way you can get guys like
a Lante Taylor right up in his face and particularly
(15:36):
from his blind side, and get in his face and
see if you can rattle him.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
And if you can, awesome, and if you.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Can't, well, I don't think he's gonna throw three hundred
yards and three tds either, because even last week, which
is a good game, his combined total yards were like
one hundred and sixty yards. So that was almost a
game of attrition between the Chargers and the Giants. And
I don't think Jackson's coming in and you know, rowing
three fifty three or four tds, they're gonna win. That'd
(16:04):
being the Giants by war of attrition, similar to how
New Orleans needs to win, right, So simply play that style.
And I think you've got guys like Granderson and Davis
and even to a degree, Warner and stuff who you
can blitch off edges and make that happen.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You just got to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Just don't sit there and drop everybody in coverage eighty
percent of the time.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, and how much of that was the Chargers not
being prepared to play them either you know, they prepared
to play Russell all week and then you you know,
Russell gets benched, you insert that young quarterback and you
just you didn't Maybe you didn't spend a lot of
time on them. There was no scout, no full on
scouting report. Maybe you expected to see him for a
couple of snaps.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Maybe nobody come in playing QB spy or anything, right,
Like nobody was saying to do that with that. Okay,
you know exactly, which is why I think you don't
overthink it. You stick with what typically works against guys
like that. They're gonna be a you know, a rookie quarterback.
We're gonna press them. We'll still have guys play contained.
One thing, I think Cameron Jordan did really well against
Josh Allen. I know that seems kind of weird to
(17:05):
say because Allen did have some big plays, but our mind, everybody,
we're talking about a guy, you know, PvP.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I'm sorry, MVP, so.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Very good player, but he did a really good job
of containing Allen on the edge and stuff. Make sure
you have that contained, had that QB spy, but pressure,
and I think that's the way you rattle a young quarterback,
especially in his first away game. Hopefully the fans enjoyed
enough to get a little bit loud in the dome.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah that I don't know. That kind
of worries me.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I don't know how well the Giants fans will travel,
But a big advantage of this game will be having
the crowd into it, especially when Dart has the ball.
With communication. Speaking of communication, do you think we go
back to the gun a little bit more considering what
Kellen Moore said last week where they got in the center,
because that helps with the communication and it ultimately ended
(17:53):
up limiting the penalties. But you can tell when talking
to him or you know, paying attention to how he spoke,
he has a preference for the quarterback being in the
gun a little bit more for some of the things
that it helps. Do you saw how well Ratler played? Yeah,
from understanding, you saw some of the things. But again
(18:15):
this is coming from a coach who, in answering questions,
he learns from the mistakes. But you can tell that
he still has preferences absolutely for certain things. And so
you wonder, like how much of last week was just
the opponent And then if he kind of goes back
(18:36):
into the shotgun, which to this point hadn't worked as well.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I'll say this, I agree he wants to run things
his way. Hopefully Buffalo is a lesson to him that, yeah,
that's what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
But what works.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Rattler so far this season four games, has thrown three
tds no interceptions at one hundred and one QB rating
from play action. He's also only been pressured twenty two
percent and taken one sack right, So clearly he's operating
better from that versus no play action from the gun,
where he's been pressured at thirty seven percent of the time,
(19:12):
taking eight sacks and only has an eighty four QB rating.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Play action benefits everybody because.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
One thing we've learned, and I learned this years ago,
I think everybody else can acknowledge it. It doesn't matter
if your running game is good or not. It's the
force respect you want proof. Look at Buffalo falling for
Rattler doing play action to Casper, the friendly ghost like
Ak literally goes out.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
The backsfield ah, and he still does.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Play action and the linebackers still bite. It buys you
that extra second. What are some negatives? Well, generally, if
you're gonna play action, especially a play action boot. You're
limited to halfield reeds.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Good news.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
That's what Rattler's doing anyway, right now. That's fine. I think, Yeah,
I get it. You want to play bigger, fuller.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
You're in game five with what is essentially a rookie
quarterback in terms of less than sixteen games starting keep
with the play action. I just I feel like i'm
you this episode because I'm saying, keep it simple, stupid, right,
You've seen what's working for where you're at.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Stick with it. Man.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
That was something else that he mentioned, which was he
said from the gun, it's easier to get to some
of those duo blocks that he likes to run right
versus being on the center. It lends itself more to
that zone run. So it'll be interesting, I think to
see I am in agreeance. I think there were a
(20:33):
lot of parts of a winning identity that were prevalent
last week, and you would be wise.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
To continue leaning into those things. Now.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
What I did like in listening to more is how
much he champions the players having a say so, and
so he mentioned that there were a couple of players
last week where the players kind of brought something to
his attention and they ran those things. And we do
know that Kamara made a point about one team to
(21:05):
get Kendre Miller more involved in the offense.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
And then you saw that happen.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
And I think that's the biggest difference between the losing
this year and how the players are responding versus the
losing last year under Allen, where you have players that
are saying the communication just wasn't good under Allen and
so you're seeing that be much better with this year's team,
(21:30):
and so you're not seeing guys get so down on
themselves despite the lose. And I think there's a real
belief in that locker room, on that roster that they're.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Like this close.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
And even if you just look at the progression of
the games outside of the Seattle but then the response
to the Seattle game, you can see the progression is
there as they continue to learn each other and more
did speak highly about it in his opening press conference.
He mentioned that, hey, it'll be it may be weeks
into the season before we get to know each other,
(22:02):
but there's a process of learning. So there's a portion
of him that wants to do what he wants to do,
but there's obviously a side to him that he's good
with learning and saying, hey, we were tailor and tinker
until we find a winning formula. And I think a
lot of that winning formula was the zone run play action,
a little bit more man coverage on d loved the
(22:24):
NASCAR package. They brought that up during the interview. Grandison
on the inside cam on the outside, and you had
Chris Rumph on the other side, and I think I
believe you had Brazi running rushing from the interior spot.
And they did it on back to back plays, right,
the first player I think was a penalty and then
(22:46):
the second player ended up being a Grandison sack.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
And so I think that's something you have to lean
into too.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Because on the defensive side of the ball, their time
to rush or the time it took them to get
to the quarterback was like the league lowest.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
They just they didn't have enough juice off the ball.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
And I spoke to that about you know, you're spending
a lot of time rushing your nose tackle your Jonathan bullets.
They don't have explosive getoffs, and so you're you're ending
up with not a lot of pressure, especially not a
lot of speed off the ball, a little timing off
the snap, and so there was a lot of points
of that that were getting there with the identity, and
(23:24):
so I think it would just be wising them to
lean into those things rather than saying we're gonna morph
this week because of the team we're playing.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
The main thing I'd like to see change is as
ten ten percent increase for Kendre Miller. He made it
to thirty percent of the snaps against Buffalo Week one,
hears at fourteen percent of the snaps. I want him
at forty percent, which means Ak by defaults at sixty.
That is the balance I think is the perfect harmon
that he defined.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
And I think that also helps out.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
More because Kendre is a little bit better at playing
man running anyway. Right, So when you do want to
have that train block or that duo, will you know
Kendre Miller is just gonna full steam ahead the A
gap or B gap if that says role Ak not
exactly like Le'Veon Bell, but old school football fans remember
when he's very patient, he wants to hit his gap.
He's gonna find his target, then he's gonna explode. That's
(24:14):
just AK style. He's a one cut zone runner. Although
Ak's talented enough to play man, he's always been a
great zone runner where he's a good man rusher. So
that's the big one for me. I'm not even getting
on the wide receivers, the tight end room. I am
excited about possibly seeing Taysom Hill back, even if that
is next week more of a thing. But for me,
the biggest thing baby steps for this offense ten percent
(24:35):
more to Kendre Miller. I think that literally helps out Ak.
I think it helps out the old line, and I
think it helps out Spencer Rattler.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
The more this team gets known and seen as a
run dominating team, the more that is going to benefit
the passing game.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Need to be run balanced, Yeah, need to be run balanced,
just it'll be interest.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Key to that is defense not giving up points and
getting behind by two scores in the first half.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
That's that's get.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
That, and I do believes it.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
As it stands right now, the Saints have yet to
play with the lead this year, so one of the
biggest things they can do is very much start fast
in this game. If they can get a seven point lead,
that'll already be something that they haven't done in four games,
and so that may be a great omen for them,
just that little small detail about it. But how do
(25:25):
we feel about the is are we writing this down
as a win? Should this be a win? Are we
looking at this as a parody thing where the Giants
could come out.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Of this with a w?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Twenty five twenty one Saints win twenty five?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
So win it is?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
This is your first game calin on twenty five twenty
one Saints. Okay, I'm gonna do twenty five twenty one
Giants just because.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
See I'm specifically picking the number twenty five two because
it's an ugly offensive number. Makes you think, how do
you get to twenty five twenty five exactly? That that's
that's how the say is They're going to win this
game ugly, But that single win would help this young
group like Rattler, like Kendre have so much more confidence.
So absolutely, I think it could be an ugly win
(26:16):
for them. But this is definitely a winnable game.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Yeah, I love.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I think confidence is really all they're missing at this point.
I think that I think they believe in the staff,
I think they trust the coaching.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
I think they they just need that little bit of booster.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Confidence that tells them, hey, we can do this, and
if they they potentially could easily snowball. You know, you
get that little bit of confidence your snowball. You get
a win this week, you're going to next week, you
possibly get to win their all of a sudden, you're
two and four. All right, Now, here's a question that
I've seen and we may be able to glance out
(26:55):
with this.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Okay, do you think.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
That Ratler has to win one of these two games
to keep from getting benched?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Well, I mean, do you think he needs.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
To win a game in the next three weeks we'll
call it three weeks to stop him from to kind
of staying off the rookie.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
I'm gonna answer it with two answers, because y'all know me.
I have a problem with not just saying yes or no.
I think Spencer Ratler can look really good of the
next two games and they still lose. And that's why
I don't like to say he needs to win it,
because I think that he can still look good. But
at the same time, I know how the NFL works,
I know how people view things media. If he goes
(27:39):
into the bye week and has not won a game,
they're considering having Shuck take the number one snaps in
the bye week.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
That way, when he has the next week, he's had
two weeks.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
With the starters. It really comes down to how Ratler plays.
But I will say this, as much as I hate
people attributing wins and losses to QBS, it certainly is
going to get done, whether I like it to be
that way or not. So there is a little bit
of a pressure there. There's a couple of people on
Saint's Twitter who put it this way. Rattler has to
do something to stave off Shuck, and he's either moving
(28:14):
positively or negatively. There is no neutral rep. If you
do not do well enough to push Shuck back, then
you're not doing well enough to keep him from encroaching forward.
There is no hey, you did well enough and we've
kept things as they are. No, you're either bringing him
closer to you or further away. He needs to push
Shuck further away from him.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I'm gonna go against the green, Okay, I'm gonna go
against the grain and say that Shuck is the coach's player, okay,
And I'm gonna say that Ratler is the players player.
I think those guys like playing with under four behind Rattler,
(28:58):
And I think if you're a coach like Kellen Moore
that says he wants the players, it's it's a player
led team, right. He said that many times the players
lead team. It is hard to go against the players
if they want Rattler, regardless of the record with him.
(29:21):
There's been several players that have said, and even more himself,
that they're in position to win with Ratler. They're just
not winning. He's definitely not taking them out of position
in the grand scheme like he As I've said before,
(29:42):
once the team starts playing better, his errors will become
more egregious. But as of right now, his errors aren't
as egregious because everything around him isn't playing up to par.
I am going to say that I don't think he
does have to for anything.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
I think he just needs to not be bad.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I think neutral is okay for him, and I think
playing above that is okay for him to keep off Shuck.
But I think as long as he doesn't play bad
or has some type of collapse in the month of October,
I think they like to see Shuck sit for the
entire year if possible.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
How about this, Let's give a stat line of what
we think Rattler needs the average over the next two
games for that to not happen. That fair, I think
he needs to average two hundred and fifty total yards,
not passing total yards, and two TV's a game, and
that will keep Shuck on the bench even through the
bye week.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I think, assuming he's not turning the ball over at
the same.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Time, I think he needs to lead an offense that
can score more than twenty points a game.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, that's what I think he can.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
If he can do that, if if they can cross
that twenty point threshold and just depression in that way,
I think you ride with him until the wheels fall off,
as far as you ride with him until he starts
to make it like it's a screw up, like I'm
just screwing up really bad. I don't think you bench
(31:19):
him for just being a second year quarterback who is
still learning, because Moore has pointed that out, like it's
not going to be perfect with him, and they're very
understanding of that, where everyone else is like, oh, a
franchise quarterback has to make these throws, has to do this,
has to do this, and they quite frankly, don't see
(31:39):
it that way because they still see him as learning.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yep, I won't refute. I think that's a solid logic.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I really like the offense itself needs to be averaging
twenty four ish points. If they can get up to
that number, like the twenty five we talked about. If
they win, that's enough.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Don't do it?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Are y'all all?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Let us know what you think in the comments section
down below. Appreciate y'all watching and listening.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Who that to you? God bless We'll see after the game.
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