Previewing Week 1 Saints vs Cardinals | Matchups & Score Predictions | Shutting down Murray & Connor

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Everybody, welcome to the Who That Freaking Naughty Podcast. We're
gonna talk to you about week one of what's going
down in New Orleans.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Not only is the field gold, but the contents gold.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
To welcome in, joined by a liast, we're gonna preview
this Arizona Cardinals game. We'll give you a reason to
be excited about it, hopefully look forward to it. And
we're here for Spencer Ratler about to eviscerate shred, tear
up Buddha Bacer secondary.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah that sound good, Yeah, it sounds great.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Real Hey, look, you know what I'm Let's give Kellen
Moore the opportunity to be the guru everybody says he's
going to be.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
So we're gonna speak positive about it.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
We don't need to be like all these other new
The Saint's Podcast talking about we're drafting arch Manning next
year or in twenty twenty seven or whatever, and.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
We're gonna win three games.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
We're gonna we'll keep it as positive until we need
to get realistic, which might be in three days when
we jump on Sunday's podcast after the game. But until then,
let me tell you we're undefeated. So let's go that's
a great.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Way to look at it.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
That's a magnificent way to look at it. I, on
the other hand, I start realistic from the start and
then I'll get positive as we progress.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Listen facts effects liss around.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
I got this twice in his college career during rivalry
games for early turnovers. If there's anything that this defense
is good that it's probably gonna be forcing some issues
with potential turnovers, forcing things. But I need him to
I need to take care of the ball. I need
Spencer to take care of the ball this game, and

(01:52):
then we can go from there, because I think the
totality of this game is going to depend on who
can affect the other team quarterback the most and who
can support their team's quarterback the most, which.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Will bring us to what We'll hit injuries in a second.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
But Chase Young possibly already missing this game possibly makes
that concerning. But I do want to start on the
offensive side, and I think the best thing that Kella
Moore can do for Spencer Rattler. And I know this,
you don't want to think playoffs right now, but this
is technically not what you want to do all season.
But I think we have to really start Eric McCoy

(02:27):
in the front and running right behind him with Alvin Kamara,
letting those two veterans cook with the offense and hoping
that that puts the Cardinals defense in a state, you
know where when Ak was at as most respected.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
You're bringing eight down into the box.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
We're shortening the field, and that way we can use
the speed of guys like Rashisha heat who I do
think can break into the secondary. You mentioned this on
your show for Saint's Football Talk, but I really feel
like of the entire receiving corps, and.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
I do like all the names we're talking about.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Palmer even cooks as a vet tri a lave as
long as he's you know, healthy, not in you know,
concussion protocol stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
He's a dynamic gup. But I think Shaheed in.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Particular, that you know, flankers slash slot, depending where they
want to align him at any given moment, has that
potential to.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Really put the top off.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
But for any of that to happen, you've got to
have that defense collapsing down. If they're allowed to play
back with space ten yards back, with short underneath zones
with their linebackers and they're able to get pressure with
four and they're able to drop seven guys into coverage consistently.
It doesn't matter if you've got five guys with four
to three speed, it's going to be covered. You've got

(03:32):
to bring that team in and I think Alvin Kamara
can help do that. I think that's kind of the
the pinpoint of what can make this a winnable game.
It's got to be that offense getting in and bringing
that Buddha Baker and that entire Cardinals defense down to
the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
Can you do you see them being able to do
that from three by one because we have seen a
little bit more of an uptick.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
In three wide receivers.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
We're kind of smallish at the receiver position on what
we do with Bele. You gotta have good blocking to
really get the running game going right.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Ruiz hasn't been a minster in the ground game. He's
not up front right.

Speaker 4 (04:12):
Redunds is in the place of pinning, So the interior
of that offensive line is not I.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Don't know if it's fully capable of just playing bullyball
right now.

Speaker 4 (04:22):
And we didn't necessarily see bullyball from them in the preseason,
not specifically in the running game.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
So is it possible to do that.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
By bringing that level of game of what you're expecting
from the formation that we're likely to come out of.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
I do think it's possible. It depends.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
This really comes down to how well. And I think
that we've seen Ruiz already run zone blocking well because
Ruiz is not a maller, that's just not what he is.
But he does have decent athleticism as a garden and
we've seen him operate, especially with McCoy next to him
in those zone schemes. If anybody, I'm worried about, and
I know that reason, and I'm not trying to hide

(05:04):
the fact that I think he's had a bad preseason.
He did not look good in preseason snaps, not covering
for that, which is based on what we've seen him
do in the past end game situations. He handles himself
fairly well in zone runs. He's not great, But if
we're talking about weak points, I'm more towards, you know,
redunds I'm worried about.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
But on the flip side.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Of that, and this actually comes back to Tron Armstead's podcast,
I know we're shotting out a lot of people, but
there's a lot of people in the Saints world right
now with shows. But Turan talked about how Banks and
Fuaga can be the Ramcheck Armstead, and part of that
is how athletic both of them are to work in
these concepts. The reason I've always been an outside zone
guy for those who followed this podcast many years, me

(05:49):
and lyss have done it. I've always preferred zone to
manpower blocking because it opens up more opportunities. If you
are just a straight power run team and you're running,
you know a smash concept in the b gap. That's
all that run is designed to do, and if it fails,
it fails. Zone is both good and bad because zone,
any zone run is designed to make three holes. Now

(06:11):
the problem is more moving parts is more moving problem,
so it can easily blow up and be bad. But
the reason I look forward to that because AK does
it so well. But I look at our tackles right,
so maybe that interior is not that great. But the
great thing about a wide zone outside zone run is
it pulls up three different paths. Your bounce path and
your bang path both can also go out to the outside.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
If that's not there.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
It gives Alva Kamara more options, and if there's a
running back who can have success with that, it's ak So. Yes,
I agree, offensive line not one hundred percent bought in,
but I do like what you have at tackle right now,
even if one of them is a rookie. But if
there is something a rookie can usually do pretty well
coming into the NFL as a high drafted guy, it's
usually the run blocking that he's okay with. Is the

(06:55):
pass blocking they have to adapt to to get really elite?

Speaker 2 (06:58):
What do you think?

Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think we see some stuff more to the edges.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
I think we see some extensions of the run game,
some screens, some tunnel screens.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
JE sweeps with Rashid or you know.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
I think you have to add elements of that because
and I also am interested in seeing if we can
get the screen game going at all, because this defense
does have elements of the Fangio defense in it, and
so it can be because of the movement up front,
because you have the linebackers typically moving back initially, it

(07:34):
can be susceptible to the screen game and maybe take
an alternative path to getting Alvin Kamara gone.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Because I don't know.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
If you really so we know that that Stalley defense.
That Fangio defense, it begs you to run the ball
against light front, right. They like to have you try
to run the ball against light front because it's designed
to stop it. So I don't know if running up
into the teeth of the defense necessarily makes a lot
of sense this game. You've got Kalaiz Campbell, You've got

(08:04):
Dexter Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
I think is there potentially.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
I don't know if you want to run up the team,
but I think you can get to the edges a
little bit with some things.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
And that's why I'm really hoping from that wide zone,
I really want to focus on the fuagas and get
to the outside, not the ruiz. And like, if you
are going to run in those internal gaps, it's got
to be relying on McCoy, right, And I truly believe
there's a reason you saw this team lost seven games
in row last year, and it was Eric McCoy going down.
I mean, if you're going to have a rookie, or

(08:35):
even in the case of Rattler, a very young quarterback,
you need that guy who's going to handle make sure
that he can recognize the pressure packages, make sure he
can help out with the quarterback because you don't have
Breeze anymore, who can immediately identify everything in half a
second as soon as he walks up to the line.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
And whether you.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Love or hate Spencer Ratler, you want to give him help.
The goal here is to win. I think Eric McCoy
does that, and Eric McCoy is probably the single piece
that got injured last year that cost this team its
chance to win the division. Like I've had to pick
one thing that was the reason New Orleans fell apart,
it was losing Eric McCoy. It doesn't matter whether you're
a Car fan Ratler fan. No quarterback unless they're elite,

(09:14):
can operate without a good center. And even the teams
around the league, Philly known for event grade center. You
know Dallas, one thing they have done well is draft
offensive defensive line, including good centers.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
You need that.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Eric McCoy's key, and how well this team does in
terms of pass protection, I also think comes back to
McCoy because I think he's the one who's gonna be
able to properly identify. Do we need to run a
five zero slide? What do we need to do here
to make sure that we're blocking for our quarterback?

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (09:40):
I could kurk the Kellen Moore was on Pro Football
Talk dot Com and then you know, they posed a
question about, you know what Brady says about a lot
of college quarterbacks coming in unprepared these days, and.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
You know, they asked him specifically, what's.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
One of the things that you know is kind of
high up there on the list, and setting protections was
one of them that they just simply don't come into
the league very prepared to do. And so it underscores
the importance of having an Eric McCoy who is seeing
that right. And that may have underscored why the offensive
line took such a nosedive and the offense in general

(10:15):
last year without McCoy, because that level of intelligence, that
level of experience was not out there on the field
and you had young quarterbacks out there.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Not to mention not just with the young quarterbacks, but
a lot.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
Of weight was actually taken off of Derek Carr's shoulder
last year when they mentioned that he would be doing
less checks at the line of scrimmage, less things at
the line of scrimmage, and more or less just focusing
on the play. That was because McCoy was handling the
biggest that kind of the biggest.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Output of that.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
I got a hot take for you because I know
you mentioned it, and look, I don't disagree with what
you're saying about the cardinals defensive premise of like what
they want to pick, but I actually believe there's more
talent and part of this comes down to the youth
of the Saints offensive line, the front five versus the
front seven of Arizona. I'm not trying to be disrespectful,
but if we talked about just last episode about how
the aging of the Mario Davison Cameron Jordan offsets a

(11:06):
lot of what New Orleans is doing. Well, if you
look at the front seven of the Cardinals, they average
age above thirty. Calias Campbell amazing name, and I think
probably Hall of Famer Do's thirty nine years old.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
More real.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Tough time convincing me at thirty nine he's gonna dominate.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
If he is, he's gonna be working probably as a
five tech in this situation. Really tough to believe he's
going to be dominating our guard tackle combos, especially if
he gets a one on one with somebody like Fuaga
Banks depend on if he's rolling on the left side
of the right side. You've got Dalvin Tomlinson on the
inside that they picked up from Cleveland. He's also thirty
years old, right, So, like it's not that I'm saying

(11:40):
that there isn't talent there, but I think with what
New Orleans has put into their offensive line, I know
there's an injury there. People are really worried about it.
People are really worried after Reese's performance. But I think
that the Cardinals team they have, I mean Josh Schwetz,
one of their pass rushing linebackers. He's a cast off
from the Philadelphia Eagles championship team, and not that he's bad,
but he was never he was never a dominant starter

(12:03):
with Philly. He's one of those that was good enough
to get a job somewhere else. But they don't induce
fear in me. I do think they could run on
them if the if some of these big name guys
that were talking about were five years younger, I'd be
a little bit more with you.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
But they're not five years younger.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
I think a lot of these guys are good, solid
veterans at the end of their career, and I think
that this team has the offensive line to go one
on one with them.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
We'll see if they win that.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
I just don't look at this Cardinals defense trying to
pull off what Vic Fangio would want to do, having
the athleticism and the youth to do it at least
to it as effective of levels we've seen him do
in other teams.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
Fair Enough, I will say with this, and I think
Kellen Moore is mentioning it as well. The first thing
you start looking at with this defense is not necessarily
the player.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
But the scheme, and the scheme by.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
Alignment, is designed to limit what teams can do when
attempting to run the ball up the middle. So while
the players are playing a factor, I'm looking at the
scheme and I think the scheme is going to force
you to maybe want to do other things more or
less than necessarily worrying about the players.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
And they can make it.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
Hard to run up the middle just by the alignment,
just by what you're asking guys to do.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
And yet I do you have to have some.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
Level of talent there for it to work to its effectiveness.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
But they do have a lot of back end talent.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
See, and that's why.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
And this is so true because I completely agree that
the style of what they want to do.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
You're absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
I think this also comes back to that, you know
that that battle of the trench we always talking about,
because the offense, if you're ever going to be a
successful offense, what you have to do is you have
to dictate the game. If the defense is telling you
how you can play, you're already on the back foot,
probably going to struggle to score points.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
So I get that that's what they're design to do.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
But if Kellamore is going to have a successful offense,
and I'm saying if I'm not saying they're going to
do it, you can't let Arizona dictate what you do.
Because I agree complete with your last statement. The secondary
is good in Arizona. If there is an area they
have that can scare me and cause problems for that
young quarterback, it is that secondary.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
So if they say, hey, look, we know it's gonna.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Be tough to run, so we're gonna try to come
out early and attack that secondary, I think that's the
path that.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Can lead to destruction.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
I think you have to try to punch them in
the mouth, go pound for pound and say hey, Eric
McCoy is gonna move down with Thomason off the line.
Fuagun Ruiz are gonna combine and move Campbell off the line,
and even if you only get four yards, we're gonna
continue to punch these old guys in the.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Mouth and eventually they're gonna wear it down.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
And that keeps our quarterback from cost some mistakes, and
cost some mistakes can for me, are the biggest concern
because if in the first quarter, let's say you get
a turnover and you give them seven points, you're already
playing from behind.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
We know how difficult that is.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
So speaking of offense, we absolutely need to start fast
on offense, if not only to give our young quarterback
a bit of cushion, but also to take James Connor
out of the game as best as best you can. Again,
I am as we flip sides of transition over to

(15:08):
the defensive side of the ball, I'm expecting that scheme
just like I talked about with the Cardinals. I'm expecting
Stalley's scheme to help with stopping the run up the middle.
And yet James Connor is still a problem because he's
a load, and I don't know if I trust yet
that our team has improved in tackling. Yes, there's more

(15:31):
eyes on the ball because we're playing more zone coverage
and so there's less back to the ball guys having
to fly down misstackles. But I need to see them
improve in tackling before I trust them and say that
I think that they can kind of mitigate a bigger
back like that. So for me, getting up seven to
ten points as early as possible to limit how much

(15:54):
they decide to run Connor will be important. I actually
went back and looked at the Panthers game the Cardinals
played last year, I think Week fifteen, either Week fifteen
or Week sixteen, they played versus the Panthers, and I
wanted to look specifically at that game because Elijah Ava,
the defensive coordinator for the Paanthers, also has his teeth
in the Fangio Sean and so what I noticed from

(16:18):
that was that a the Cardinals were very patient. They
were down earlier, they were still very patient with the
run game. But one of the first things I noticed
was that Murray played very tentative versus that scheme, and
I do believe it was because of the coverage.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
Aspects on the back end.

Speaker 4 (16:36):
Murray is an elite quarterback from a talent level as
far as what he can do extending a play and
with his legs. But he's he's also still a young
quarterback when it comes to seeing coverages, and he'll hold
the ball and there'll be opportunities for the Saints to
maybe converge on the middle.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
He'll throw some balls up if his vision is obscured.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
I really do like this defense versus them more than
people what actually considering, especially when it comes to limiting
his yards while he's scrambling.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, Connor's an interesting one because I just dogged on
their defensive line about having older guys. But how often
do we talk about running backs who are thirty years
old who still scare you? But I mean he's coming
off back to back thousand yard seasons, back to back
seasons over four and a half yards per carry.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
I think Connor still has that now.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Is Connor as good as maybe his Pro Bowl year
if we go back to like what was it, twenty
twenty one, he was a Pro Bowler?

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Like is he on that level?

Speaker 1 (17:28):
I don't know, But like you said, it's not like
we're talking about the Saints coming into this league or
into this season being known for the run defense as
they were five or six years ago, so you know,
it is something that they have to prove it at
this point.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
And even though I.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Liked guys like Colin Saunders coming in everything as much
as I love Tomorrow Davis, you've got to have somebody
stand up and show that we can block those A
and B gap runs because we got gashed from the inside.
So it's one thing to get gash on the outside. Hey,
corners are known for misintackles. Sometimes that happens, but New
Orleans was getting gashed last year from the inside runs.
I mean a gap run going fifteen twenty yards. That's

(18:02):
just unacceptable. I mean, you can't have a guy rush
up the middle and make it to the third level.
That's something that they had to improve on, and I
hope they have because they have tried to obviously make
moves in the offseason to do that. We'll see it's effective.
And and you're right with Connor. I mean, Arizona plays
a very patient game. They're not a team that is
a high point scoring team, and part of that is

(18:24):
to protect I think Kyler Murray to an extent. But
they're still good. I mean last year I think they
finished it was twelfth. I think in points scored last year,
so they're not like setting forty point games, but they're consistent.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
And that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
If you let them get their ball rolling, it's hard
to stop it. So it's like you said, it's tough.
But as a team, especially with his defense that has
so many veterans, they've got to come out and put
a stop to things early on.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
If you really want to look.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
About how can this game look, well, you'd like to
see a three and out from Arizona in their first drive.
That's the confidence builder you need, especially to give your
offense and love. And now I wanted to bring up
the injury report here because a little bit of concerned
for me.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Here's your Saints injury report.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Trevor Penning not participating, which we kind of expected giving everything,
but the bigger one, you've got a Lante Taylor. Now,
I know you have your thoughts on whether you're confident
Lanta Taylor working the inside, but he's a little bit
of injured, looking like he will probably play. But if
nothing else, you're not looking at him like it being
one hundred percent right. Chase Young looking like he might

(19:24):
be on the opposite side with his calf injury. Probably
not playing this Sunday, but it is only Thursday at
the time of us recording this.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Maybe things change.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
Then you've got Christian Boyd defensive tackle you just brought in,
already on the injury list limited. I probably will see him.
And then you got Jordan Howard, one of our safeties.
So you've already got five people on your Saints injury list.
It feels like the past couple years we just can't
keep a clean list. But Chase Young one worries me
the most because Murray.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
I'm not sold on Murray in terms of like being
a high end caliber quarterback yet. But one thing is
is a high end athlete and he works great in
the scramble drill. You've got to get to him ear
and pressure him because if you don't, he's going to
a Pro Bowl for a reason.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Everybody might be balled into him. But he's a good quarterback.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
And missing Chase Young, who in my opinion, was your
best pass rusher last year, even if it was in
sack numbers, that could be difficult.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
You know. I'm so two things.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
I'm not very confident that Alante Taylor will play Okay,
I'm not very confident they need him to play one
because I do feel like Ugo Almighty has done a
great job about as bit of a job as he
can do in that spot, but because I expect us
to be a.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Five man front a lot of the time.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
Watching that Panthers game, they use Trey McBride to block
the edges a lot.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
In that game. They didn't send him out on routes
like he was.

Speaker 4 (20:49):
The alignment forced him to have to stay in a lot,
and I think you can do the same thing for
the Saints. You absolutely don't like Ugo Almighty being the
slot guy over the top, but you do like being
able to keep eyes on him and just come up
and make the tackle. Now, a lot of people are
high on Chase Young being like the guy, and I'm

(21:11):
actually higher.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
On Carl Grandison this year.

Speaker 4 (21:15):
There's a lot of principles in that Penny front that
are based in like a four to six defense, and
so you want your best pass rusher lining up on
the strong side, and I noticed during preseason.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
Chase line up on the right side a lot.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
I can't recall him lining up on the left side,
but I did see Carl Grandison line up on the
left side a lot. I'm expecting Carl Grandison.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
To have a big year.

Speaker 4 (21:41):
Not to mention, when Cam Jordan spoke about Chase Young,
he spoke about how A they were trying to bring
him along and make sure that A. He understands he's
not a sack master if you've never had more than
ten sacks in a year. But also Killing Moore mentioned
that when they're doing fit study, Carl Grandison is the

(22:03):
guy that they're pointing to Chase Young to say, play
like this all the time. He's the guy that's setting
the tone in that room on the edge. It's not
Chase Young. So there's a reason that they're listed as
coach starters. I'm higher on Grandison as long as Grandison
is healthy. I think Chase Young is somebody that you
can rotate in. He comes in, Grandison takes over for Cam.

(22:24):
When Cam leaves out, Chase Young stays on the right side.
I'm focused on Grandison. I think he has a big
game on this end. But I also do think that
Chase Young plays. I think they they monitor him for
a reason, but I think he plays, and I just
think they lower his snapcomt a little bit.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
That's fair.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
I love that you bring up the Penny front because
in a lot of ways you're gonna see the Saints.
Likely again, we've technically not seen the Saints defense yet,
so we'll see if it ends up being this way.
But Arizona runs a lot of that Penny front. You've
also I'm.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Expecting I would expect, based.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
On the personnel they put together with Staley, to also
have a lot of that three four OK for those listening,
A three four OK. You're gonna bring two linebackers, your
Jack linebacker and your Sam.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
We're gonna be on that outside.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
So kind of like what Elias was saying, you end
up with a five man front is still slightly different
than a penny it's basically just how you're aligning those
outside backers. But both of those are fronts that, as
you were saying, we like to get things, condense them down.
We definitely don't want to give up a lot inside.
We want to have all of our gaps covered and
then we trust our guys on the boundary and a

(23:27):
lot of times to play free.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
You know. I mean, you're gonna have a boundary.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
Corner roll where you're gonna be one on one on
several opportunities, which means whoever ends up getting that one
on one, whether it's kool aid to whoever is going
to have to be able to log down their positioning.
Who might not have a rolling safety to come over
the top. Because if you do a penny front, like
you were saying, well, one of the keys to a
penny front is rolling safeties down to fill in spaces, right,

(23:50):
So by extension, you're going to have a spot potentially
open behind.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
So you've got to have those gaps feel bit.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
More importantly depending on who they want to rotate, and
I get with Carl Granderson, he's been more consistent Granderson.
I would love to have him have that pop off
year where he reaches that double digit number. I think
that he's had those flashes where you're like, there are
games where you think he's gonna get it, and Threo's
other games he kind of gets washed out. Be nice,
and this is the year where you see the complete Granderson,
like he's finally got the tools completely finished off. He's

(24:19):
not gonna have those games where he disappears and then
games where he pops off. He's reached that level of
his development where he's gonna be that consistent guy.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Would love to see that.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
I think that's part of the key because stopping New Orleans,
I think really comes down to stopping Ak more than anything,
whether we're talking the screen game, the run game. Whereas
with Arizona they's got an established quarterback. It's stopping Murray, right.
So if that's Granderson, that's that guy. I mean, heck,
if it's our new young linebacker who for some reason

(24:51):
is wearing a number in the twenties.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Is the NFL rule of hated? They change it?

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Why don't we have people wide receivers wearing sixty seven,
linebackers wearing three.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
I'm sick of it.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
No, stop this nonsense, bring back normal numbering. But Stutsman
might be the guy whoever, is the guy who could
provide an inter your pressure that you know, that critical sack,
even if it's Cam the veteran that I think is
the key to stop that a little before we wrap
up here, predictions, give me a score.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Prediction lines. First, we've done this year.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
What do you think are you confident in New Orleans
with their khaki uniforms and their khaki in zones? You
think you're on the come in and put in the
work or do you think Arizona's got the edge.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Twenty one seventeen. I like us on the win.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
Like I said, I looked at that Panthers game and
that that Panthers defensive front is very similar to ours.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
They came back late. They they came back. It was
like thirty to three.

Speaker 4 (25:48):
That game ended up being but they held Murray in
check a lot of that game, only when they gave
up some big plays in the screen game, which I
hope we I hope we played discipline ball against the
zone run, not giving up cutback lanes.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
But I also hope we played just playing in that
we can cover the screen game. But I see Murray
as being able.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
To be steiny just based on how this defense is designed.
And then the biggest thing is this second half adjustments
adjustment game. I feel much better about Kellen Moore in
that aspect that I felt about Clint Kobyak last year.
We didn't seem to make offensive adjustments. I think that
defensive scheme for the Cardinals is going to do some
things They'll have to adjust, and I feel really good

(26:33):
about Kellen Moore's ability to adjust as as.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
A game goes on, it's a home game. I think
this is a win.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
It's always been written down as a win for me,
even when looking at the schedule.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Initially, I like it and I do like these bring
up the Panthers game because you talk about Murray slowing
him down. He had thirty six or thirty two attempts
in that game in only two hundred yards, right, so
when you did get a pass off, it was a
four yard checkdown.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
There wasn't a lot of slashing.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
What killed that game and it winning overtime, was the
fact that Connor only seventeen times for well over one
hundred yards, like he was successful in limited reps. And
that's what we have to hope we can close down.
And that's also why I'm not ready to pick the
Saints winning this game until they can prove to me
that they can stop those A and B gap runs
that I know. I'm going back to old school football.

(27:17):
And if y'all have noticed who are watching, the NFL
has done this. We've told y'all for years the NFL
goes through cycles. We'll guess back. Guess what. We're back
in the era of big linemen who are three hundred
three hundred and thirty three pounds. We're back in the
era of full backs. We're back in the era of
inline tight ends being.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
Two forty two to fifty. Welcome back, everybody.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
You're gonna have two hundred and fifty pounds linebackers that
people start talking about being the number one guys in
the NFL draft. No longer the Roe Kwan Smith weighing
two twenty five. So can wet who are great at
mental processing. The NFL goes through stages, We're currently in
an era where you gotta stop the run. You got
to eat up that middle because if you don't, these
massive running backs who are six one, six, two, two

(27:54):
thirty who can run four fives are gonna kill you.
And until they can show me they can stop Connor,
which I hope they can, I've got twenty four to
twenty loss. I still think New Orleans is gonna show
some good things, and man, if they can really show
that that defense can collapse that center and not give
up what they did last year, they might win this game.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
I do believe that making sure that James, that's why
getting the head early is important, but staying disciplined in
those cutback lanes because he's such a load to get down.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
I mean, two hundred and thirty pounds is a running
back that's a big man.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
He's such a load to get down.

Speaker 4 (28:28):
And then you know, just making sure that, Like, I
want this game in Kyler Murray's hands versus this scheme,
because he's gonna make mistakes. However, if James Connor is
able to keep them on schedule, then that's going to
be what ends up opening up everything else. But if
they can just limit Connor and force the game to
be in Murray's hands, I like this scheme versus Murray.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
I don't think he performs well versus it.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, I think that's completely fair take.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
And I'll be very clear for Saints fans watching, I'm
not gonna be picking against the Saints all year.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
They're just some things I need them to prove. Rattler's
part of that.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
But I also would say I'm not looking for Ratler
to prove everything in Week one, but I am looking
for the defense to prove something because if we're gonna win,
starts in the trenches, and this defense has got to
be what carries his team. You got a young quarterback,
doesn't matter if their name is seuck Rattler or a hater,
you better give them a defense because if you asked
Spencer Ratler to come in week one and have a

(29:23):
fourteen point deficit, not gonna work.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
But let me know.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
If y'all enjoyed the podcast, make sure y'all check you
out the website.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Saints Football Talk to promote.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
I didn't forget Saints Football Talk dot com.

Speaker 4 (29:37):
Saints Football Talk dot com. What was that old little
Chris song number one spot? I'm coming for the number
one spot.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
I'd be up there sat Football Talk dot Com.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Y'all check it out. Pods on there, as well as
all of Olias's articles. We have an episode before you
following the game. Who that guy Blessed? We appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
We'll see you on the next one.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
Peace,