September 5, 2025 • 40 mins
With the Cardinals facing the Saints in Week 1, Jess brings on Saints Wire managing editor John Sigler to preview the matchup.
They discuss the Saints leading up to the opener, especially the decision to start Spencer Rattler at quarterback, go over keys and important matchups and then make predictions.
They discuss the Saints leading up to the opener, especially the decision to start Spencer Rattler at quarterback, go over keys and important matchups and then make predictions.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Z Yes. This is the Rise Up Sea Red Podcast,
all about the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL, featuring insider
and outsider perspectives. Enjoy the best hour of Cardinals Talk
(00:23):
on the Web. Now Here are your hosts, Jess Root and.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Seth Cox, Hellower's and a Cardinals fans and welcome to
the latest edition of the Rise Up Sea Red Podcast,
the Best hour of Cardinals Talk on the Web. I'm
your host Jess Root from Cardswire dot com, USA Today's
NFL wire site. This is show number three of the
week and we will have one more show coming up
(00:49):
with my co host Seth Cox. This show is our
Opponent Preview. We had the Opponent Preview series back in
the summer and as we come up to Week one,
the Cardinals take on the New Orleans Saints. They take
on They're on the road in Week one, episode six
hundred and ninety three for us and so returning to
(01:10):
the show after a couple of months, is Saints Squires
A Managing editor John Sigler, John, thanks for coming back
on is Now we get to talk about not about
the past, not about the whole, but we've actually got
We've got a fifty three man, roster, We've got a
depth chart that makes that that is something approaching what
the actual truth is. We've got starting quarterbacks and we've
(01:31):
got real football, and that starts tonight with the Cowboys
and Eagles. Cane, Are you glad that football is here,
because I certainly am.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Man. It is such a relief to have real football
talk about. You know, we're done with We're done with
roster cuts, done with transactions, done with training camp practice reports,
done with the draft and free agency rumors and all
of this stuff that we try and make the off
season pass by with. And now we have real games
being played, real highlights to break down in, real things
(02:02):
to analyze. And I just can't wait for Sunday to
get here.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And so we will start this show, which is our
Cardinal Saints preview with the Enemy. John's not the enemy.
The Saints of the enemy this week, but John's not
my enemy. Were we are colleagues across this fine network
of NFL wire sites. Uh, not much to say so
far other than let's talk a little bit. What's let's
(02:27):
led up to the to the season. The season open
Week one, and it seemed from Afar that the one
storyline that lingered the entire preseason was who would be
the Saints starting quarterback Spencer Rattler or rookie Tyler Shuck.
(02:48):
Spencer Ratler wins the job. What can you tell us
about what led to that decision and whether you think
it was well and whether what and you do you
think it's the right decision? And it is? Is it
the decision that the organization hoped?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, so it's not where they wanted to be. But
I'm so proud of them for taking this route, and
the reason being, I just don't think that Tyler Schuck
was ready to start on Sunday based off of what
we saw in pre season, what we saw over over
the summer at training camp. He was he has been
making growth. Okay, he has been improving week over week
(03:30):
from one practice to the next. He's not quite there yet.
And my fear is that was that they were going
to say, look, we drafted this guy top fifty, a
forty eighth overall pick. We have to play him. You know,
we drafted him where we did. We have to play
him even if he's not ready, And so many teams
ruined their quarterbacks with that mindset. I think it was
(03:51):
Kevin Kevin O'Connor, I think, with the Athletic over the
Labor Day Weekend wrote a excellent article about this, about
how organizations fail their quarterbacks, and that's by rushing them
in before they're ready for pulling them out before they've
had time to really settle in. And I'm so relieved
to see the Saints this approach now. Nothing against Spencer Rattler.
(04:15):
I hope he does well. I hope he does well
enough to where we never have to say, hey, maybe
it's time to play Tyler Shuck. But I would much
rather be throwing him in there against you know, Josh
Wett and Kalia Campbell or Klias Campbell, excuse me, against
the Cardinals this week and all of these other really
stout defensive lines lined up early on the schedule for
(04:36):
the Saints, and then put Tyler Shuck in once the
schedule has leveled out a bit, once he had, once
he's gotten those practice reps in, he'll be running the
scout team every day at practice, getting extra time with
the coaches afterwards. Take your time, put him in there
when he's ready. Don't ruin the kid before he has
a shot. And that's the approach they're taking It's what
(04:58):
I would have done, and I'm very relieved to see
them kind of sticking to this plan rather than panicking
and saying, well, we have to play in because of
where we drafted him.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
What did they see in Rattler in the preseason this
year and in training camp? What ultimately did it? Was
it more Shuck just wasn't ready, or did Spencer or
did Rattler Flatley just be Was he the clearly the
better quarterback?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Now? They were neck and neck. It went down to
that final week of preseason, a couple of practices after that,
and I think it really came down to the wire
here and we had kind of this, you know, I
don't want to call it a power struggle, but a
difference of opinion where you have one camp saying we
drafted the kid here, we need to play him, and
the other saying, look their neck and neck, the rookie's
(05:47):
not ready. Let's play the other guy and he can
buy some time until we clearly have a better option,
a better alternative ready to go. Now, as for what
they did see from Ratler, what kept him in this
conversation but really put him ahead to start was his consistency,
like he didn't have these days where he's throwing three
interceptions of practice or not that Shuck do not either,
(06:07):
but I'm just trunning out there as an example, you know,
he didn't have these inconsistencies where he's missing layups, where
he's you know, went, you know, just wilting under pressure.
He was just so consistent from one day to the next.
And whereas Shuck was highly variable to start out, and
(06:29):
he had good days and bad and he didn't really
string together a lot of positives until midway through training camp,
and that's when he started to close that gap with Rattler,
And by the end of the summer they were neck
and right there together, and they went with the guy who,
you know, maybe they're a little more comfortable throwing out
there right now and seeing if he can win a
football game, whereas they kind of want to keep shucking
(06:53):
in the holster for a little longer until they're confident
that he can get out there and be that guy.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Right And in terms of as you guys have a
new head coach, and Kellen Moore, who's the first time
head coach, was been an offensive coordinator for the last
first last couple of stints calling plays for the Cowboys,
calling plays for the world champion Eagles. What have you
seen from him? And it's tough to say so far,
(07:24):
but what changes or what do should we expect to
see from the Saints offensively in terms of strategy and philosophy.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So this kind of started last year when they brought
in Clint Kubiak and that was the first real departure
point from the Sean Payton school of thought offensively, and
that was a you know, a stronger commitment to the run,
you know, relying more on these these gap blocking run
concepts and just trying to take some pressure off of
(07:57):
the quarterback. And we've kind of seen that develop further
with Ellen Moore where he's he's this is just one example.
He had more designed touches, you know, curl routes, screen
passes for the wide receivers Chris o'lave and Rashid Shaheed
than we had ever seen in the in the offense
last year and so these guys, he's recognizing, Hey, these
(08:19):
are my dogs at wide receiver. I'm gonna put them
in a position to pick up some yards after the catch,
gets some lockers out in front of them. And that's
not something we really saw where these two guys instead
were treated as deep threats. You know, we're gonna clear
out a lot, clear out some space underneath for the
tight ends. We're gonna try and get one on one
matchups down the sideline. And they're still doing that to
an event, but both of those guys have taken on
(08:42):
more of what I would consider a featured role in
the offense. It really makes me think about watching i'mon
Ross Saint Brown with the Lions, where they're letting him
play bullyball from the slot, and that's something we've seen
Chris Olavee do really effectively before. He put up just
ridiculous numbers lining up in the slot at Ohio State,
(09:03):
and he hasn't gotten to do that often enough with
the Saints. And that's kind of a wrinkle that I'm
really excited to see Kellen Moore emphasize this weekend.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
So the trio of Chrystal Lobby, Brandon cooks for Rashid Shaheed?
How optimistic is everyone on this receiving corps? Obviously, Juwan
Johnson is one of the underrated tight ends in the NFL,
but how does how does the fan base feel about
the offensive weapons that they have.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Many so fans feel so much better about the receiving
corps now than they did two weeks ago. And that's
because the Saints traded with the Broncos to get to
Von Delay and they're at wide receiver. He's gonna be.
He's already pushing Brandon Cooks to be that number three
in the receiving corps. And the funny thing to me
(09:53):
is they don't have a single receiver on the on
the fifty three man roster who stands over six foot one,
except for Devon Bailey, who is six foot five. So
he really is a unique weapon in that receiving core.
He's somebody I'm so excited to see in a game
because you know, he arrived so late in the preseason.
We didn't get any look at him in the open practices.
(10:15):
It's it's kind of a big unknown factor there, and
I think there's a lot of optimism around that where
he could have some things that we just haven't seen
enough of at receiver now. The other guy fans are
excited about is Trey Palmer. He played for the Bucks
the last couple of years. He was let go and
the Saints picked him up off of waivers, and he's another,
(10:37):
you know, kind of more slightly built foot one four
to three kind athlete. But he has put up some
real production in the NFL, and I think he could
He's another guy I'm looking at as hey. He might
be year number four Brandon Cooks. Just it's very obvious
to everyone that he's kind of the the elder statesman,
(10:59):
the gravey in the room. He hasn't quite looked like
the guy that Saints fans, you know, recognized earlier in
his career. And I mean, look, I get it, man,
he and I are almost the same age. Probably I
don't run the same way I did when I was
twenty two. I get it. But the Saints have added
this step here and they've added real playmakers, and I
(11:19):
think that's that has given fans a lot of confidence
that wasn't there when we're looking at hey. Is Dante
Petti is going to be a big player for us,
as Cedric Wilson Junior going to be active on game days.
So I think things are trending in the right direction.
Tight end is kind of in a weird spot where
they only have two of them on the roster right now.
In Juwan Johnson and their seventh round rookie of Molik
(11:42):
Multivalve from UCLA. So that's kind of odd. Just in
respect to everywhere Kellen Moore has gone, the tight end
has been a huge emphasis in the passing game. I mean,
he had a you know, I think the year Jason
Witten came out of retirement, he came in and caught
like eighty passes or was thrown to eighty times or
(12:04):
something something wild like that. And right now Jawan Johnson
is the only dude in the room and he just
he just signed a big contract in the spring, and
we're really hopeful that he's going to be, you know,
a big time playmaker for this offense.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
On the defense. Well before go to the defensive side
of the ball, Alvin Kamara, what can we is he
hitting that spot? Is Kendra Miller gonna Kendra Miller gonna
have an increased role or can Camara still be that
guy even though like he's a he's gonna do everything,
you know, in terms of he had almost fifteen hundred
(12:43):
yards of total offense last year but has yet to
hit the thousand yard mark in his career. What can
what can we expect to see from Kamara this year,
is he's now hit that that age thirty mark.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Yeah, he's fine hit that threshold. I feel the same
way about him now as I did mark Ingram when
he hit it. Where both of these guys, and ironically
they played together earlier in their careers, but both of
these guys were part of you know, backfield committees early
on and for most of their careers, and so just
because they're thirty, they don't necessarily have the same wear
and tear that other backs their age have in the past.
(13:22):
I looked at this last offseason, I think, and it's
just one example because they were drafted around the same time,
but Saquon Barkley had like four hundred more rushing attempts
in his NFL career than a that Alvin Kamara does
at the same time. So I wouldn't say that he's
lost a step because he's never really been a you know,
a big play threat. He's never been that guy who's
(13:45):
going to consistently pop off fifteen twenty twenty five yard runs. Instead,
he's going to very consistently get you four five and
six yards of pop And there are strengths to that. There.
His value in that, there's also concerns where the Saints
don't haven't had that home run threat. I believe they
(14:07):
in the Houston Texans have the fewest rushing attempts to
gain twenty or more yards over the last five years,
and half of those from the Saints work from tasm Hill,
So they just haven't had a running back who can
you know, get catch the defense flat footed and take
off and gain twenty five yards. So, if I will
(14:29):
say this, if there's a guy in the backfield who
can do it, it's probably Kendrick Miller. He is a
different athlete from those other guys. He's fifteen pounds heavier,
Bilis Jones junior, who who's the RB three now? And
he has that real speed. We saw it in preseason,
we've seen it in practice, we've seen in the training camp,
(14:50):
we've seen glimpses of it in the regular season. The
guy just needs to stay healthy, stay locked in, focus
on his playbook, and get on the field. And if
he can do that, he's going to be just He
could be transformative for this offense.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Defensive side of the ball, New new play car, new
defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley. What can we expect to see
from the from the defense, where are its strengths and
its and its weakened weaknesses.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah, the strength is in the secondary, I think in
the back seven where they had so many good linebackers
in campus year and it's so tragic because he only
played two of them at a time, and so they
had to let some good players go. And they had
a one draft pick, one former draft pick get picked
up by the Bears, a couple other guys got snatched
up in practice squads. It was rough, but they've got
some good They have some good linebackers. Tomorrio Davis is
(15:45):
just ageless. Apparently Pete Werner is still still playing at
a solid level. The guy everyone is excited about is
rookie fourth round pick Danny Stutzman, who almost immediately won
the right to where the green dot on his on
his helmet a training camp, uh to be on the
mic and relay the play calls from Brandon Staley and
(16:08):
just immediately asserted himself over some guys who have been
here for two or three years now. Now one big
shake up, and I'm really happy with how this has
played out. Is that safety for the Saints. They signed
two new starters. The first thing, they brought in Justin
Reid from the Chiefs. They later brought in Justin Blackman
after Tyron Matthew, you know, surprisingly retired on the first
(16:31):
day of training camp. And then they also added Jonas
Sanker in the draft. And so that that those are
three safeties with really strong instincts and run defense, very
effective range running sideline to sideline, who have a strong
understanding of, you know, where they need to be against
(16:51):
the pass, and I think they're going I think that's
going to be a strength of this defense. Cornerback we'll
see alone Taylor has been limited at practice with a
groin injury. He's training in the right directions. He hopes
to play Sunday. We'll see if they clear him for it.
But outside of him, you know, the kool aid McKinstry
is at one spot. We saw him have some really
(17:12):
nice battles of Courtland Sutton in that last preseason game.
He has a lot to prove. And then it's really
unknown what's gonna happen at that other starting spot, where
it could be Isaac Yatum, it could be another rookie
draft pick, Quincy Riley from Louisville we just don't know
what's gonna happen. And to me, that feels like this
the spot for the Cardinals to attack. Now what's toff
(17:35):
and you mentioned this is the Saints have a new
play caller and Brandon Staley not. My stat of the
week is that Kyler Murray has never beaten Brandon Staley.
He's zero to two against him. Staley's defense with the
Rams and the Chargers has done a good job containing him.
He had I think, let's see, he had fifteen rushing
yards in the first game, but he lost thirty three
(17:56):
on sacks, and then in the rematch he yeah, so
he rushed for a grand total of three yards in
Los sixteen. So I feel like that that could be
a benefit just having a DC who has historically has
(18:17):
done a good job bottling up running quarterbacks, who has
had success against this QB specifically before. I think that
could be a big pivot point for the Saints this week.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I'm not next in the Roses Hered podcast, mister Cardinals
talk on the Web. Let's move on to the next
even where we talk about keys and matchups that's coming
next and rise ups. He read We're back on the
rise of heret podcast Bestar of Cardinals, Talk of the Web.
Talking to Saints Wire managing editor John Siegler, we moved
to the section where we look at this matchup this week.
What are the keys? What are the matchups we're watching?
(18:50):
What do you imagine are going to be the points
of emphasis for the Saints specifically in this game against
the Cardinals? And what are the matchups that you are
whether they're individual or group, what are you most excited
to watch?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, so if I'm the Saints, the points of emphasis
have got to be. You know, we we have to
we have to be in control in this game. We
have to control the pace of play. We have to
keep Kyler Murray on the sideline. We need to run
the football, we need to run it well. We need
to dictate the terms of engagement here. That also means defensively,
they need to do a good job stopping the run.
And that's something that the Saints have been very ineffective
(19:35):
at in recent years, and so that's why they signed
all of these defensive lineman, That's why they hire this
all new coaching staff. The spring is to try and
get in get back to those fundamentals and get get
in the right side of NFL rankings and run defense,
where they've been in the wrong for way too long now.
So yeah, and I know that sounds kind of shallow, like, oh,
(19:58):
you got to stop them, you got to be able
to run, and we've got to run the ball and stuff,
run exactly exactly. But those are the areas where the
Saints have struggled lately. So until they show me that
they can do those things effectively, I'm going to continue
to worry about it now. Individual matchups to watch. Trey
McBride is somebody I'm keeping an eye on. I mean,
(20:20):
obviously he's one of the big playmakers for the Cards,
but the Saints also have struggled against tight ends in
recent years. That was one of the biggest flaws of
Dennis Allen's defense when he was called when he was
calling blades for the Saints. There was one year they
played the Raiders in prime time where, oh, gosh, who's
(20:40):
the tight end who just came out of retirement to
play for the Dolphins. He was with the Giants. I'm
blaming out here. It was him either either way, he
had like eight catches against seven different defenders. When the
Saints played the Raiders one night back in like twenty
one wall Darren Waller. Yeah, and I have had nightmares
(21:04):
of Darren Waller catching passes over the middle for six
years now. So if the Saints can do a better
job defending trade McBride and kind of take to take
away that. You know, that's one of the easy buttons
that Kyler Murray can press on offense is just throw
a to McBride. If they could take that away that
immediately is going to make things difficult for him and
(21:26):
the number one guy he's going to be running against
if he's healthy, it's going to be Alone Taylor, who
is the Saints go to slot defender. He's been moving
around a lot more under Brandon Staley. They've specifically been
drawing comparisons to how he used Jalen Ramsey on the
Rams a couple of years ago. So that's probably the
first matchup I'm going to be looking for when these
(21:48):
two teams kick off on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Who do you think will be the guy covering Marvin
Harrison Junior most in this matchup?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
If it's me, I would be cool a Nick Instry
on him. That's somebody that you know, hey, he was
he was the number one corner at Alabama. Like he
has played against guys like Marvin Harrison before and won
those battles, and he has a lot to prove after
his rookie year. It's kind of kind of up and down.
It wasn't quite what we expected, but it could have
been a lot worse too. And now he after all
(22:21):
of the departures the Saint Savadic corner over the last
twelve months, Paulson Adibo going to the Giants, Marshawn Lattimore
going to Washington, I really feel like this is McKinstry's
moment to shine. And yeah, Courtland Sutton got the better
of him a couple of times in the preseason. That's
going to happen, you know. You know he's like that too,
(22:42):
And I'm really eager to see if mckinstree can stand
up in this challenge and how he handles running against them.
Marvin Harrison junior junior excuse.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Me personally, I with the Cardinals revamped defensive line and
edge presence, I want to see how Josh sweat. Josh sweat.
They're the tree of Joshwitz, Zaven Collins and and Baron
Browning fair against the against the Saints tackles, tell you waga,
(23:12):
And then they're the rookie Calvin Banks, who you know?
He he's he's good, he could be good, and he was.
He was really underrated going to the draft and went
higher than a lot of people went. And I could
have seen the Cardinals taken Calvin Banks. How do you
see the tackles faring against the Cardinals with Josh Sweat
(23:33):
and Javan Collins and Baron Browning.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
So I trust these guys a lot in past protection.
I think they've earned it. Calvin Banks was the number
one rated pass protector at PFF in the preseason. You know,
we're not just in this draft class, but out of
everybody who got on the field in August, and I
saw a lot to feel encouraged by from him. Tell
(23:58):
you say, waga. He's moving back to write down where
he played in college at a very high level. Feel
great about that too. I think they're gonna hold up
pretty well. It wouldn't shock me if Josh Sweat has
some good moments there, because that's that's just what he does.
That's why he earns the money that he does. But
I feel good about that match up. I don't anticipate
(24:19):
pressure off the edge being what kills this offense. What
worries me the most is the guards where you're down.
Trevor Pinning at left guard, who has been their best
option at that spot. He's gonna miss this game. At
right guard, You've got Caesar Ruiz for her first round pick,
who just has not met expectations. It's like he took
he did seem to take a step forward last year
(24:41):
in Clinton Kobiac's offense. Now he's taken three steps back,
and he's been at the scene of too many crimes,
too many negative plays in the preseason. I'm worried about
fifty one. And to me, that looks like the weak
point where somebody like Kalais Campbell could break through, ring
some havoc and get the Saints team playing off balance the.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Other matchups that you are going to be watching in particular.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Oh man, So let me think here. So one player
who's going to be very important for the Saints defensively
is going to be Devon Gotchaw. And he is someone
they traded with the Patriots for They traded a seventh
round picked again and not not much, but for this
(25:32):
guy specifically, he is he is shouldering a ton of
pressure to anchor this defensive line, to kind of set
the tone, to be a good mentor for younger guys
like Brian Brazi, and to be their starting nose tackle.
He's probably going to play forty stats a game for
Brandon Staley, and so I'm looking at him. I'm looking
at the Cardinals and I'm just like, man, is he
(25:56):
going to win his battles in the trenches? And I
know that does That isn't always the most exciting to watch,
but I mean, we've got the cards interior line here.
Who do they have starting at center? Now?
Speaker 2 (26:09):
It's a surgeryar there?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Okay, yeah, the third year pro. That should be a
good battle. I think they brought Will Fernandoz back.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I think as well, he's not the starter yet. So
it's last year's third round pick Isaiah Adams, Who's who
he's starting a right guard. And then Evan Brown he's
back at left Brown at left guard this year.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Okay, man, you know we're in some real football talk
when we're looking at guards and nose tackles and really
hyping these guys. Got the big dassies, man, So I'm
excited for it. Gotchall is. I mean, he looks different
than the other defensive tackles. It's happened. They have some
big dudes in that room. But just seeing him go
(26:51):
through one on one drills, seeing him, you know, walling
off two blockers by himself, it's like, oh, yeah, we
got one here, and I would it would be very
encouraging to see him win those battles and control of
the line is for Avinel on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
One other one in my case is especially since you
said Chrystal Lobby will be allowed to be able to
go from the slot. Him against Garrett Williams is going
to be fun because Garrett Williams was has been very
good in the slot Chrystal Lobby where that's was his
strength at Ohio State. So that might be that might
be some must watch television on there in the middle
of the field. Coming to next. On the Rise of
(27:32):
Hered podcastapst Our Cardinals talk on the low, Let's move
on and make some prediction picks, predictions and props. If
John's willing to do that, that's coming next and rise
ups he read We're back on the rises here podcast,
Best Our Cardinal's Talk on the web. Is now time
to make our picks, our predictions, and maybe maybe some
numbers that we can throw out there to help you out.
So the Cardinals are six and a half point favorites
(27:54):
on the road. That line moved quite a bit from
when it first opened back in May and it was
three and a half and moved to five and a half,
and then more recently with the decision to go with
Spencer Rattler, it's nearly a full touchdown. How do you
say the Saints are playing at home the super Dome?
This She's a super Dome is never an easy place
(28:15):
to play, but at the same time, it is also
not the same place it was in terms of playing
as it was when Sean Payton was and Drew Brees
were there. How do you see this team this game
playing out.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Yeah, so I think the Saints are going to come out,
try and establish the run, try and keep pressure off
of Rattler. We saw him in six starts last year.
He did just man, he just wasn't quite the game
changer that some of his fans hoped he could be.
But I do think they're going to try and keep
pressure off of him by running the football well, by
(28:55):
you know, getting aggressive defensively trying to contain Kyler Murray
and it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a fun
one now, I know that. You know, like you said,
the Superdome isn't what it once was, and that's true.
The Saints have played the fewest home games in the
(29:16):
NFL at their home venue since the league expanded to
seventeen seasons, and I think only seven teams have won
fewer home games because of that, among the Saints also
being very bad during that stretch. And yes, yeah, so
that was kind of one of the first things that
Kellen Moore said he needed he felt he needed to
(29:37):
do after taking the job was we've got to reassert
ourselves as a strong home team, as a place that
other teams don't want to have to go, and that
starts here. Can they get it done? I'm not super optimistic.
I think I think this Cardinals team is that they
have tried to build themselves up for the playoffs. They
have different ambitions this year than the Saints do, and
(30:00):
I hate but I have to pick against them, But
I think I'm taking the Arizona in this one. We're
making our picks right now by myself in the staff
at Saints wire. I went with a twenty three to
seventeen Arizona.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Okay, so you do like the Saints to at least
cover if you're going with that, that they're going to
stay within that touchdown arrange, making it tougher than expected.
That the truth is is that the depth and the
talent on the two rosters, there's a gap, and the
quarterback gap is very noticeable between Rattler and Murray. But
(30:35):
I don't think this is going to be a blowout.
I don't think it will be because one, it's you know,
it's a home opener, which means there's always extraduced in
the stadium. And I think in part part of the
reason why I won't be a runaway game is because well, one,
the Saints will try to run and I think the
Cardinals will get enough of a lead early that they
(30:57):
will slow the game down and that'll be James Connor
and Benson run game. I've got the Cardinals winning this
one twenty seven to seventeen. It's still they still cover
the six and a half. It does have them just
going just over the projected total of forty three. How
do you fare how do you think you fare the
(31:19):
Saints will fare offensively overall. Do you see rushing touchdowns?
Do you see turnovers happening? How do you see that?
How do you predict that will play out?
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Yeah? So offensively. I like this matchup. I think the
Saints have some they have some weapons at the top
of the depth chart. They can compete with anybody. You know,
Chris Olave, he can line up with any corner of
the NFL. Juwan Johnson has called touchdowns on some of
the best linebackers in the NFL. Lavonte David hates to
see him coming. But with that said, I think that's
(31:57):
going to fall off later in the year, just because
the depth chart is so thin for the Saints. You know,
they've had so many subcar draft classes. They've swung and
missed way too many at bats over the last few years,
and it's going to take time to you know, replenish that.
And so I think they're going to be a team
that maybe starts better than they finished this year, just
(32:18):
because once injuries start filing up, it's inevitable for everybody.
And I know Saints fans hate to hear that. They
think they're the only team that deals with injuries, but
everybody does, and I think that's going to hurt them
worse than other teams because they don't have that depth
to fall back on. You know, they've made the fewest
picks in the draft over the last five ten years.
(32:41):
So I feel a lot better about this game being
played in Week one as the home opener. Like you said,
the home crowd is going to have some extra juice
for that. I feel better about that than if it
were in like Week eleven or Week seventeen or something.
So yeah, I think the Saint's going to keep it
competitive for sure.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
And what sort of statistical projections. How do you think
Rattler will do Kamara defensively? How do you see that
playing out?
Speaker 3 (33:11):
It's really hard to say, because Aka played a single
snap in preseason. We just have not gotten a look.
And he didn't touch the football on that snap either.
He went in and he ran a route into the
flat and then they pulled him off to the sideline
for the rest of the day, So we have not
really seen him in a real game situation in Kellen
(33:34):
Moore's offense. Now we know he's going to be the
primary rusher. We know he's going to catch a lot
of passes. Because that's what really separates him from so
many other running backs. We just don't know exactly what
that's going to look like, and we don't know what
kind of volume he's going to see, how many touches
Hendri Miller is going to get, what kind of a
(33:55):
role of Bealis Jones Junior is going to have, whether
Devin Neil is even going to be active for this game.
But AK is part of some pretty big plans offensively,
and I'm very eager to see what Kellen has been
cooking up, and you know why, He's kind of been
disguising that over the last month. So that's I'm very
excited for AKA. I hesitate to put numbers on it,
(34:18):
but he does have some of the look. He might
be the best running back in NFL history to never
have a thousand yard season, but if you look at
his scrimmage yards, he may have more one hundred yard
games than almost any other active player right now. And
I feel pretty comfortable saying he's going to go over
one hundred total from scrimmage. What percentage of that is rushing,
(34:41):
what percentage is receiving. That's hard to say, but I
do think he's going to make a big impact in
this and I'm very excited to see what they're planning
for him.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
All right, Well, with that, we will wrap up this
edition of the Rise of Here podcast. Miss our cardinal's
talk on the webin and give a big shout out
to John. Over to Saints Wire to see the opponent
coverage that we're getting. We will see. Uh not only
are you hearing this audio wise, but much of what
we talked about in this show you will see on
(35:13):
our Behind Him Only Enemy Lines posts where I will
I will write what John tells us about the Saints.
Got a few questions for him, and on Saints WI
you'll see be able to read what I had to
say to him. So John, thank you so much. We
will well, best of luck. I'm hoping this is a
Cardinals win because if the Cardinals have any aspirations of
(35:36):
the postseason, loosten to the Saints in Week one ain't
gonna ain't gonna cut it, and things are gonna sound
bad here. So take your lumps, take your lump's new
head coach, and hope for the future. Right.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Absolutely, Look, man, look as long as we're not the
most penalized team, as long as we're not getting blown
out sixty nine to nothing like b Y you did
for Little Portland State last weekend. I'll be happy. So
one thing I do want to touch on before before
we jet here, I was I've been keeping up with
the teams and because as you as you know, having
been in my position before the the upcoming draft is
(36:11):
of a high priority to the Saints, to the to
the player, to their plans for the next year. And
I've been keeping up with the schools they've been spotted
at that they were in the house when ASU took
one over on Northern Arizona. They beat up the Lumberjacks
last week?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Did they did? I was there. I have season tickets
to my son Devils.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
So oh awesome, man, Well I.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Do since two thousand and seven. That's where I went
to school as my my mom went to school there.
I went to school there. It's it's half an hour
away from me. I've been going almost twenty years. I've
been going to those games. So yeah, I was Finn
and that and the Devils have some legitimate talent to
Sam sam Levitt and I'm not necessarily going to be
a quarter They're looking for quarterback. Although I did talk
(36:56):
I did talk to you about you definitely have the
conspiracy theorists like me going hmm, yeah, they drafted Tyler Shuck.
But you've got gart Nessmeyer at LSU and been some
coordinator and and and and and sure like you see
(37:18):
you see Manning. But do you know that's not gonna happen.
You know, the Mannings aren't gonna let Arch come to
New Orleans. As much as it would be great for
the NFL, the Mannings won't let that happen.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
But not not not yet. But but I got my
question for you is if you, if you can lay
the magic wand right now, get one of those sun
devils on the Saints in next year's draft, who do
you think could help them the most.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
I'm gonna say it's probably gonna be Jordan Tyson. Jordan
Tyson because he's like, he is an incredibly talented receiver.
I don't know, he's not I don't think he's gonna
be necessarily what like the top receivers were this last year.
But he can run past people. He's got great hands,
(38:07):
he has great footwork and route running. You know, another
guy like Chrysal Lovey and you can move him around.
He can win outside, he can win inside. Uh, he's
probably their best aside from Levitt Tyson's probably their their
best talent on that team.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Yeah, he's exciting. I was looking over the box the
box score of the player grades from this one. So
he he counted for most of Levi's passing yards and
both of his tds here, so that that would definitely
be welcome. He's six foot two, so he would immediately
be one of the foulest receivers in the room for
New Orleans. Yeah, we do, man, So that's exciting. I'll
be sure to remember his name. Hopefully he can make
(38:48):
some more big plays for you guys here in the fall.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
All right, man, thank you John for superior time, and
we will wrap up this edition of the show. You
will catch this on on Cards Wire. You get John's
answers to my questions for behind the lines on cards
where as well, and you can catch what I have
to say to him over at Saint swaz Check out
the covers over there, as we're going to see the
Saints and their gold on black uniforms taken on the
(39:14):
Cardinals and they're all road whites. Can't wait to see
it happen. Guys. Thanks John for so much for your time.
We'll be back again tomorrow with our show with my
regular co host Seth Cox as we preview the Cardinals
game ourselves. That's John Sigler. Catch him again on Saint Sir.
I'm Jess Ruth. Thanks for listening. As always, We'll be
back again soon.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Thanks for listening to the latest edition of the Rise
Up See Red podcast. Listen to previous episodes and subscribe
to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Audio Boom,
or many other podcast platforms so shows are delivered directly
to your mobile device. Please get the show a five
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(39:54):
We'll be back soon for the best hour of Cardinals
talk on the web, Rise Up Red, Sea be Ready
Sea Red, and of course Rise Up Sea Red.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Z z
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Z z
Z Yes. This is the Rise Up Sea Red Podcast,
all about the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL, featuring insider
and outsider perspectives. Enjoy the best hour of Cardinals Talk
(00:23):
on the Web. Now Here are your hosts, Jess Root and.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Seth Cox, Hellower's and a Cardinals fans and welcome to
the latest edition of the Rise Up Sea Red Podcast,
the Best hour of Cardinals Talk on the Web. I'm
your host Jess Root from Cardswire dot com, USA Today's
NFL wire site. This is show number three of the
week and we will have one more show coming up
(00:49):
with my co host Seth Cox. This show is our
Opponent Preview. We had the Opponent Preview series back in
the summer and as we come up to Week one,
the Cardinals take on the New Orleans Saints. They take
on They're on the road in Week one, episode six
hundred and ninety three for us and so returning to
(01:10):
the show after a couple of months, is Saints Squires
A Managing editor John Sigler, John, thanks for coming back
on is Now we get to talk about not about
the past, not about the whole, but we've actually got
We've got a fifty three man, roster, We've got a
depth chart that makes that that is something approaching what
the actual truth is. We've got starting quarterbacks and we've
(01:31):
got real football, and that starts tonight with the Cowboys
and Eagles. Cane, Are you glad that football is here,
because I certainly am.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Man. It is such a relief to have real football
talk about. You know, we're done with We're done with
roster cuts, done with transactions, done with training camp practice reports,
done with the draft and free agency rumors and all
of this stuff that we try and make the off
season pass by with. And now we have real games
being played, real highlights to break down in, real things
(02:02):
to analyze. And I just can't wait for Sunday to
get here.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And so we will start this show, which is our
Cardinal Saints preview with the Enemy. John's not the enemy.
The Saints of the enemy this week, but John's not
my enemy. Were we are colleagues across this fine network
of NFL wire sites. Uh, not much to say so
far other than let's talk a little bit. What's let's
(02:27):
led up to the to the season. The season open
Week one, and it seemed from Afar that the one
storyline that lingered the entire preseason was who would be
the Saints starting quarterback Spencer Rattler or rookie Tyler Shuck.
(02:48):
Spencer Ratler wins the job. What can you tell us
about what led to that decision and whether you think
it was well and whether what and you do you
think it's the right decision? And it is? Is it
the decision that the organization hoped?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, so it's not where they wanted to be. But
I'm so proud of them for taking this route, and
the reason being, I just don't think that Tyler Schuck
was ready to start on Sunday based off of what
we saw in pre season, what we saw over over
the summer at training camp. He was he has been
making growth. Okay, he has been improving week over week
(03:30):
from one practice to the next. He's not quite there yet.
And my fear is that was that they were going
to say, look, we drafted this guy top fifty, a
forty eighth overall pick. We have to play him. You know,
we drafted him where we did. We have to play
him even if he's not ready, And so many teams
ruined their quarterbacks with that mindset. I think it was
(03:51):
Kevin Kevin O'Connor, I think, with the Athletic over the
Labor Day Weekend wrote a excellent article about this, about
how organizations fail their quarterbacks, and that's by rushing them
in before they're ready for pulling them out before they've
had time to really settle in. And I'm so relieved
to see the Saints this approach now. Nothing against Spencer Rattler.
(04:15):
I hope he does well. I hope he does well
enough to where we never have to say, hey, maybe
it's time to play Tyler Shuck. But I would much
rather be throwing him in there against you know, Josh
Wett and Kalia Campbell or Klias Campbell, excuse me, against
the Cardinals this week and all of these other really
stout defensive lines lined up early on the schedule for
(04:36):
the Saints, and then put Tyler Shuck in once the
schedule has leveled out a bit, once he had, once
he's gotten those practice reps in, he'll be running the
scout team every day at practice, getting extra time with
the coaches afterwards. Take your time, put him in there
when he's ready. Don't ruin the kid before he has
a shot. And that's the approach they're taking It's what
(04:58):
I would have done, and I'm very relieved to see
them kind of sticking to this plan rather than panicking
and saying, well, we have to play in because of
where we drafted him.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
What did they see in Rattler in the preseason this
year and in training camp? What ultimately did it? Was
it more Shuck just wasn't ready, or did Spencer or
did Rattler Flatley just be Was he the clearly the
better quarterback?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Now? They were neck and neck. It went down to
that final week of preseason, a couple of practices after that,
and I think it really came down to the wire
here and we had kind of this, you know, I
don't want to call it a power struggle, but a
difference of opinion where you have one camp saying we
drafted the kid here, we need to play him, and
the other saying, look their neck and neck, the rookie's
(05:47):
not ready. Let's play the other guy and he can
buy some time until we clearly have a better option,
a better alternative ready to go. Now, as for what
they did see from Ratler, what kept him in this
conversation but really put him ahead to start was his consistency,
like he didn't have these days where he's throwing three
interceptions of practice or not that Shuck do not either,
(06:07):
but I'm just trunning out there as an example, you know,
he didn't have these inconsistencies where he's missing layups, where
he's you know, went, you know, just wilting under pressure.
He was just so consistent from one day to the next.
And whereas Shuck was highly variable to start out, and
(06:29):
he had good days and bad and he didn't really
string together a lot of positives until midway through training camp,
and that's when he started to close that gap with Rattler,
And by the end of the summer they were neck
and right there together, and they went with the guy who,
you know, maybe they're a little more comfortable throwing out
there right now and seeing if he can win a
football game, whereas they kind of want to keep shucking
(06:53):
in the holster for a little longer until they're confident
that he can get out there and be that guy.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Right And in terms of as you guys have a
new head coach, and Kellen Moore, who's the first time
head coach, was been an offensive coordinator for the last
first last couple of stints calling plays for the Cowboys,
calling plays for the world champion Eagles. What have you
seen from him? And it's tough to say so far,
(07:24):
but what changes or what do should we expect to
see from the Saints offensively in terms of strategy and philosophy.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So this kind of started last year when they brought
in Clint Kubiak and that was the first real departure
point from the Sean Payton school of thought offensively, and
that was a you know, a stronger commitment to the run,
you know, relying more on these these gap blocking run
concepts and just trying to take some pressure off of
(07:57):
the quarterback. And we've kind of seen that develop further
with Ellen Moore where he's he's this is just one example.
He had more designed touches, you know, curl routes, screen
passes for the wide receivers Chris o'lave and Rashid Shaheed
than we had ever seen in the in the offense
last year and so these guys, he's recognizing, Hey, these
(08:19):
are my dogs at wide receiver. I'm gonna put them
in a position to pick up some yards after the catch,
gets some lockers out in front of them. And that's
not something we really saw where these two guys instead
were treated as deep threats. You know, we're gonna clear
out a lot, clear out some space underneath for the
tight ends. We're gonna try and get one on one
matchups down the sideline. And they're still doing that to
an event, but both of those guys have taken on
(08:42):
more of what I would consider a featured role in
the offense. It really makes me think about watching i'mon
Ross Saint Brown with the Lions, where they're letting him
play bullyball from the slot, and that's something we've seen
Chris Olavee do really effectively before. He put up just
ridiculous numbers lining up in the slot at Ohio State,
(09:03):
and he hasn't gotten to do that often enough with
the Saints. And that's kind of a wrinkle that I'm
really excited to see Kellen Moore emphasize this weekend.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
So the trio of Chrystal Lobby, Brandon cooks for Rashid Shaheed?
How optimistic is everyone on this receiving corps? Obviously, Juwan
Johnson is one of the underrated tight ends in the NFL,
but how does how does the fan base feel about
the offensive weapons that they have.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Many so fans feel so much better about the receiving
corps now than they did two weeks ago. And that's
because the Saints traded with the Broncos to get to
Von Delay and they're at wide receiver. He's gonna be.
He's already pushing Brandon Cooks to be that number three
in the receiving corps. And the funny thing to me
(09:53):
is they don't have a single receiver on the on
the fifty three man roster who stands over six foot one,
except for Devon Bailey, who is six foot five. So
he really is a unique weapon in that receiving core.
He's somebody I'm so excited to see in a game
because you know, he arrived so late in the preseason.
We didn't get any look at him in the open practices.
(10:15):
It's it's kind of a big unknown factor there, and
I think there's a lot of optimism around that where
he could have some things that we just haven't seen
enough of at receiver now. The other guy fans are
excited about is Trey Palmer. He played for the Bucks
the last couple of years. He was let go and
the Saints picked him up off of waivers, and he's another,
(10:37):
you know, kind of more slightly built foot one four
to three kind athlete. But he has put up some
real production in the NFL, and I think he could
He's another guy I'm looking at as hey. He might
be year number four Brandon Cooks. Just it's very obvious
to everyone that he's kind of the the elder statesman,
(10:59):
the gravey in the room. He hasn't quite looked like
the guy that Saints fans, you know, recognized earlier in
his career. And I mean, look, I get it, man,
he and I are almost the same age. Probably I
don't run the same way I did when I was
twenty two. I get it. But the Saints have added
this step here and they've added real playmakers, and I
(11:19):
think that's that has given fans a lot of confidence
that wasn't there when we're looking at hey. Is Dante
Petti is going to be a big player for us,
as Cedric Wilson Junior going to be active on game days.
So I think things are trending in the right direction.
Tight end is kind of in a weird spot where
they only have two of them on the roster right now.
In Juwan Johnson and their seventh round rookie of Molik
(11:42):
Multivalve from UCLA. So that's kind of odd. Just in
respect to everywhere Kellen Moore has gone, the tight end
has been a huge emphasis in the passing game. I mean,
he had a you know, I think the year Jason
Witten came out of retirement, he came in and caught
like eighty passes or was thrown to eighty times or
(12:04):
something something wild like that. And right now Jawan Johnson
is the only dude in the room and he just
he just signed a big contract in the spring, and
we're really hopeful that he's going to be, you know,
a big time playmaker for this offense.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
On the defense. Well before go to the defensive side
of the ball, Alvin Kamara, what can we is he
hitting that spot? Is Kendra Miller gonna Kendra Miller gonna
have an increased role or can Camara still be that
guy even though like he's a he's gonna do everything,
you know, in terms of he had almost fifteen hundred
(12:43):
yards of total offense last year but has yet to
hit the thousand yard mark in his career. What can
what can we expect to see from Kamara this year,
is he's now hit that that age thirty mark.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Yeah, he's fine hit that threshold. I feel the same
way about him now as I did mark Ingram when
he hit it. Where both of these guys, and ironically
they played together earlier in their careers, but both of
these guys were part of you know, backfield committees early
on and for most of their careers, and so just
because they're thirty, they don't necessarily have the same wear
and tear that other backs their age have in the past.
(13:22):
I looked at this last offseason, I think, and it's
just one example because they were drafted around the same time,
but Saquon Barkley had like four hundred more rushing attempts
in his NFL career than a that Alvin Kamara does
at the same time. So I wouldn't say that he's
lost a step because he's never really been a you know,
a big play threat. He's never been that guy who's
(13:45):
going to consistently pop off fifteen twenty twenty five yard runs. Instead,
he's going to very consistently get you four five and
six yards of pop And there are strengths to that. There.
His value in that, there's also concerns where the Saints
don't haven't had that home run threat. I believe they
(14:07):
in the Houston Texans have the fewest rushing attempts to
gain twenty or more yards over the last five years,
and half of those from the Saints work from tasm Hill,
So they just haven't had a running back who can
you know, get catch the defense flat footed and take
off and gain twenty five yards. So, if I will
(14:29):
say this, if there's a guy in the backfield who
can do it, it's probably Kendrick Miller. He is a
different athlete from those other guys. He's fifteen pounds heavier,
Bilis Jones junior, who who's the RB three now? And
he has that real speed. We saw it in preseason,
we've seen it in practice, we've seen in the training camp,
(14:50):
we've seen glimpses of it in the regular season. The
guy just needs to stay healthy, stay locked in, focus
on his playbook, and get on the field. And if
he can do that, he's going to be just He
could be transformative for this offense.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Defensive side of the ball, New new play car, new
defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley. What can we expect to see
from the from the defense, where are its strengths and
its and its weakened weaknesses.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah, the strength is in the secondary, I think in
the back seven where they had so many good linebackers
in campus year and it's so tragic because he only
played two of them at a time, and so they
had to let some good players go. And they had
a one draft pick, one former draft pick get picked
up by the Bears, a couple other guys got snatched
up in practice squads. It was rough, but they've got
some good They have some good linebackers. Tomorrio Davis is
(15:45):
just ageless. Apparently Pete Werner is still still playing at
a solid level. The guy everyone is excited about is
rookie fourth round pick Danny Stutzman, who almost immediately won
the right to where the green dot on his on
his helmet a training camp, uh to be on the
mic and relay the play calls from Brandon Staley and
(16:08):
just immediately asserted himself over some guys who have been
here for two or three years now. Now one big
shake up, and I'm really happy with how this has
played out. Is that safety for the Saints. They signed
two new starters. The first thing, they brought in Justin
Reid from the Chiefs. They later brought in Justin Blackman
after Tyron Matthew, you know, surprisingly retired on the first
(16:31):
day of training camp. And then they also added Jonas
Sanker in the draft. And so that that those are
three safeties with really strong instincts and run defense, very
effective range running sideline to sideline, who have a strong
understanding of, you know, where they need to be against
(16:51):
the pass, and I think they're going I think that's
going to be a strength of this defense. Cornerback we'll
see alone Taylor has been limited at practice with a
groin injury. He's training in the right directions. He hopes
to play Sunday. We'll see if they clear him for it.
But outside of him, you know, the kool aid McKinstry
is at one spot. We saw him have some really
(17:12):
nice battles of Courtland Sutton in that last preseason game.
He has a lot to prove. And then it's really
unknown what's gonna happen at that other starting spot, where
it could be Isaac Yatum, it could be another rookie
draft pick, Quincy Riley from Louisville we just don't know
what's gonna happen. And to me, that feels like this
the spot for the Cardinals to attack. Now what's toff
(17:35):
and you mentioned this is the Saints have a new
play caller and Brandon Staley not. My stat of the
week is that Kyler Murray has never beaten Brandon Staley.
He's zero to two against him. Staley's defense with the
Rams and the Chargers has done a good job containing him.
He had I think, let's see, he had fifteen rushing
yards in the first game, but he lost thirty three
(17:56):
on sacks, and then in the rematch he yeah, so
he rushed for a grand total of three yards in
Los sixteen. So I feel like that that could be
a benefit just having a DC who has historically has
(18:17):
done a good job bottling up running quarterbacks, who has
had success against this QB specifically before. I think that
could be a big pivot point for the Saints this week.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I'm not next in the Roses Hered podcast, mister Cardinals
talk on the Web. Let's move on to the next
even where we talk about keys and matchups that's coming
next and rise ups. He read We're back on the
rise of heret podcast Bestar of Cardinals, Talk of the Web.
Talking to Saints Wire managing editor John Siegler, we moved
to the section where we look at this matchup this week.
What are the keys? What are the matchups we're watching?
(18:50):
What do you imagine are going to be the points
of emphasis for the Saints specifically in this game against
the Cardinals? And what are the matchups that you are
whether they're individual or group, what are you most excited
to watch?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, so if I'm the Saints, the points of emphasis
have got to be. You know, we we have to
we have to be in control in this game. We
have to control the pace of play. We have to
keep Kyler Murray on the sideline. We need to run
the football, we need to run it well. We need
to dictate the terms of engagement here. That also means defensively,
they need to do a good job stopping the run.
And that's something that the Saints have been very ineffective
(19:35):
at in recent years, and so that's why they signed
all of these defensive lineman, That's why they hire this
all new coaching staff. The spring is to try and
get in get back to those fundamentals and get get
in the right side of NFL rankings and run defense,
where they've been in the wrong for way too long now.
So yeah, and I know that sounds kind of shallow, like, oh,
(19:58):
you got to stop them, you got to be able
to run, and we've got to run the ball and stuff,
run exactly exactly. But those are the areas where the
Saints have struggled lately. So until they show me that
they can do those things effectively, I'm going to continue
to worry about it now. Individual matchups to watch. Trey
McBride is somebody I'm keeping an eye on. I mean,
(20:20):
obviously he's one of the big playmakers for the Cards,
but the Saints also have struggled against tight ends in
recent years. That was one of the biggest flaws of
Dennis Allen's defense when he was called when he was
calling blades for the Saints. There was one year they
played the Raiders in prime time where, oh, gosh, who's
(20:40):
the tight end who just came out of retirement to
play for the Dolphins. He was with the Giants. I'm
blaming out here. It was him either either way, he
had like eight catches against seven different defenders. When the
Saints played the Raiders one night back in like twenty
one wall Darren Waller. Yeah, and I have had nightmares
(21:04):
of Darren Waller catching passes over the middle for six
years now. So if the Saints can do a better
job defending trade McBride and kind of take to take
away that. You know, that's one of the easy buttons
that Kyler Murray can press on offense is just throw
a to McBride. If they could take that away that
immediately is going to make things difficult for him and
(21:26):
the number one guy he's going to be running against
if he's healthy, it's going to be Alone Taylor, who
is the Saints go to slot defender. He's been moving
around a lot more under Brandon Staley. They've specifically been
drawing comparisons to how he used Jalen Ramsey on the
Rams a couple of years ago. So that's probably the
first matchup I'm going to be looking for when these
(21:48):
two teams kick off on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Who do you think will be the guy covering Marvin
Harrison Junior most in this matchup?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
If it's me, I would be cool a Nick Instry
on him. That's somebody that you know, hey, he was
he was the number one corner at Alabama. Like he
has played against guys like Marvin Harrison before and won
those battles, and he has a lot to prove after
his rookie year. It's kind of kind of up and down.
It wasn't quite what we expected, but it could have
been a lot worse too. And now he after all
(22:21):
of the departures the Saint Savadic corner over the last
twelve months, Paulson Adibo going to the Giants, Marshawn Lattimore
going to Washington, I really feel like this is McKinstry's
moment to shine. And yeah, Courtland Sutton got the better
of him a couple of times in the preseason. That's
going to happen, you know. You know he's like that too,
(22:42):
And I'm really eager to see if mckinstree can stand
up in this challenge and how he handles running against them.
Marvin Harrison junior junior excuse.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Me personally, I with the Cardinals revamped defensive line and
edge presence, I want to see how Josh sweat. Josh sweat.
They're the tree of Joshwitz, Zaven Collins and and Baron
Browning fair against the against the Saints tackles, tell you waga,
(23:12):
And then they're the rookie Calvin Banks, who you know?
He he's he's good, he could be good, and he was.
He was really underrated going to the draft and went
higher than a lot of people went. And I could
have seen the Cardinals taken Calvin Banks. How do you
see the tackles faring against the Cardinals with Josh Sweat
(23:33):
and Javan Collins and Baron Browning.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
So I trust these guys a lot in past protection.
I think they've earned it. Calvin Banks was the number
one rated pass protector at PFF in the preseason. You know,
we're not just in this draft class, but out of
everybody who got on the field in August, and I
saw a lot to feel encouraged by from him. Tell
(23:58):
you say, waga. He's moving back to write down where
he played in college at a very high level. Feel
great about that too. I think they're gonna hold up
pretty well. It wouldn't shock me if Josh Sweat has
some good moments there, because that's that's just what he does.
That's why he earns the money that he does. But
I feel good about that match up. I don't anticipate
(24:19):
pressure off the edge being what kills this offense. What
worries me the most is the guards where you're down.
Trevor Pinning at left guard, who has been their best
option at that spot. He's gonna miss this game. At
right guard, You've got Caesar Ruiz for her first round pick,
who just has not met expectations. It's like he took
he did seem to take a step forward last year
(24:41):
in Clinton Kobiac's offense. Now he's taken three steps back,
and he's been at the scene of too many crimes,
too many negative plays in the preseason. I'm worried about
fifty one. And to me, that looks like the weak
point where somebody like Kalais Campbell could break through, ring
some havoc and get the Saints team playing off balance the.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Other matchups that you are going to be watching in particular.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Oh man, So let me think here. So one player
who's going to be very important for the Saints defensively
is going to be Devon Gotchaw. And he is someone
they traded with the Patriots for They traded a seventh
round picked again and not not much, but for this
(25:32):
guy specifically, he is he is shouldering a ton of
pressure to anchor this defensive line, to kind of set
the tone, to be a good mentor for younger guys
like Brian Brazi, and to be their starting nose tackle.
He's probably going to play forty stats a game for
Brandon Staley, and so I'm looking at him. I'm looking
at the Cardinals and I'm just like, man, is he
(25:56):
going to win his battles in the trenches? And I
know that does That isn't always the most exciting to watch,
but I mean, we've got the cards interior line here.
Who do they have starting at center? Now?
Speaker 2 (26:09):
It's a surgeryar there?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Okay, yeah, the third year pro. That should be a
good battle. I think they brought Will Fernandoz back.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I think as well, he's not the starter yet. So
it's last year's third round pick Isaiah Adams, Who's who
he's starting a right guard. And then Evan Brown he's
back at left Brown at left guard this year.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Okay, man, you know we're in some real football talk
when we're looking at guards and nose tackles and really
hyping these guys. Got the big dassies, man, So I'm
excited for it. Gotchall is. I mean, he looks different
than the other defensive tackles. It's happened. They have some
big dudes in that room. But just seeing him go
(26:51):
through one on one drills, seeing him, you know, walling
off two blockers by himself, it's like, oh, yeah, we
got one here, and I would it would be very
encouraging to see him win those battles and control of
the line is for Avinel on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
One other one in my case is especially since you
said Chrystal Lobby will be allowed to be able to
go from the slot. Him against Garrett Williams is going
to be fun because Garrett Williams was has been very
good in the slot Chrystal Lobby where that's was his
strength at Ohio State. So that might be that might
be some must watch television on there in the middle
of the field. Coming to next. On the Rise of
(27:32):
Hered podcastapst Our Cardinals talk on the low, Let's move
on and make some prediction picks, predictions and props. If
John's willing to do that, that's coming next and rise
ups he read We're back on the rises here podcast,
Best Our Cardinal's Talk on the web. Is now time
to make our picks, our predictions, and maybe maybe some
numbers that we can throw out there to help you out.
So the Cardinals are six and a half point favorites
(27:54):
on the road. That line moved quite a bit from
when it first opened back in May and it was
three and a half and moved to five and a half,
and then more recently with the decision to go with
Spencer Rattler, it's nearly a full touchdown. How do you
say the Saints are playing at home the super Dome?
This She's a super Dome is never an easy place
(28:15):
to play, but at the same time, it is also
not the same place it was in terms of playing
as it was when Sean Payton was and Drew Brees
were there. How do you see this team this game
playing out.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Yeah, so I think the Saints are going to come out,
try and establish the run, try and keep pressure off
of Rattler. We saw him in six starts last year.
He did just man, he just wasn't quite the game
changer that some of his fans hoped he could be.
But I do think they're going to try and keep
pressure off of him by running the football well, by
(28:55):
you know, getting aggressive defensively trying to contain Kyler Murray
and it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a fun
one now, I know that. You know, like you said,
the Superdome isn't what it once was, and that's true.
The Saints have played the fewest home games in the
(29:16):
NFL at their home venue since the league expanded to
seventeen seasons, and I think only seven teams have won
fewer home games because of that, among the Saints also
being very bad during that stretch. And yes, yeah, so
that was kind of one of the first things that
Kellen Moore said he needed he felt he needed to
(29:37):
do after taking the job was we've got to reassert
ourselves as a strong home team, as a place that
other teams don't want to have to go, and that
starts here. Can they get it done? I'm not super optimistic.
I think I think this Cardinals team is that they
have tried to build themselves up for the playoffs. They
have different ambitions this year than the Saints do, and
(30:00):
I hate but I have to pick against them, But
I think I'm taking the Arizona in this one. We're
making our picks right now by myself in the staff
at Saints wire. I went with a twenty three to
seventeen Arizona.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Okay, so you do like the Saints to at least
cover if you're going with that, that they're going to
stay within that touchdown arrange, making it tougher than expected.
That the truth is is that the depth and the
talent on the two rosters, there's a gap, and the
quarterback gap is very noticeable between Rattler and Murray. But
(30:35):
I don't think this is going to be a blowout.
I don't think it will be because one, it's you know,
it's a home opener, which means there's always extraduced in
the stadium. And I think in part part of the
reason why I won't be a runaway game is because well, one,
the Saints will try to run and I think the
Cardinals will get enough of a lead early that they
(30:57):
will slow the game down and that'll be James Connor
and Benson run game. I've got the Cardinals winning this
one twenty seven to seventeen. It's still they still cover
the six and a half. It does have them just
going just over the projected total of forty three. How
do you fare how do you think you fare the
(31:19):
Saints will fare offensively overall. Do you see rushing touchdowns?
Do you see turnovers happening? How do you see that?
How do you predict that will play out?
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Yeah? So offensively. I like this matchup. I think the
Saints have some they have some weapons at the top
of the depth chart. They can compete with anybody. You know,
Chris Olave, he can line up with any corner of
the NFL. Juwan Johnson has called touchdowns on some of
the best linebackers in the NFL. Lavonte David hates to
see him coming. But with that said, I think that's
(31:57):
going to fall off later in the year, just because
the depth chart is so thin for the Saints. You know,
they've had so many subcar draft classes. They've swung and
missed way too many at bats over the last few years,
and it's going to take time to you know, replenish that.
And so I think they're going to be a team
that maybe starts better than they finished this year, just
(32:18):
because once injuries start filing up, it's inevitable for everybody.
And I know Saints fans hate to hear that. They
think they're the only team that deals with injuries, but
everybody does, and I think that's going to hurt them
worse than other teams because they don't have that depth
to fall back on. You know, they've made the fewest
picks in the draft over the last five ten years.
(32:41):
So I feel a lot better about this game being
played in Week one as the home opener. Like you said,
the home crowd is going to have some extra juice
for that. I feel better about that than if it
were in like Week eleven or Week seventeen or something.
So yeah, I think the Saint's going to keep it
competitive for sure.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
And what sort of statistical projections. How do you think
Rattler will do Kamara defensively? How do you see that
playing out?
Speaker 3 (33:11):
It's really hard to say, because Aka played a single
snap in preseason. We just have not gotten a look.
And he didn't touch the football on that snap either.
He went in and he ran a route into the
flat and then they pulled him off to the sideline
for the rest of the day, So we have not
really seen him in a real game situation in Kellen
(33:34):
Moore's offense. Now we know he's going to be the
primary rusher. We know he's going to catch a lot
of passes. Because that's what really separates him from so
many other running backs. We just don't know exactly what
that's going to look like, and we don't know what
kind of volume he's going to see, how many touches
Hendri Miller is going to get, what kind of a
(33:55):
role of Bealis Jones Junior is going to have, whether
Devin Neil is even going to be active for this game.
But AK is part of some pretty big plans offensively,
and I'm very eager to see what Kellen has been
cooking up, and you know why, He's kind of been
disguising that over the last month. So that's I'm very
excited for AKA. I hesitate to put numbers on it,
(34:18):
but he does have some of the look. He might
be the best running back in NFL history to never
have a thousand yard season, but if you look at
his scrimmage yards, he may have more one hundred yard
games than almost any other active player right now. And
I feel pretty comfortable saying he's going to go over
one hundred total from scrimmage. What percentage of that is rushing,
(34:41):
what percentage is receiving. That's hard to say, but I
do think he's going to make a big impact in
this and I'm very excited to see what they're planning
for him.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
All right, Well, with that, we will wrap up this
edition of the Rise of Here podcast. Miss our cardinal's
talk on the webin and give a big shout out
to John. Over to Saints Wire to see the opponent
coverage that we're getting. We will see. Uh not only
are you hearing this audio wise, but much of what
we talked about in this show you will see on
(35:13):
our Behind Him Only Enemy Lines posts where I will
I will write what John tells us about the Saints.
Got a few questions for him, and on Saints WI
you'll see be able to read what I had to
say to him. So John, thank you so much. We
will well, best of luck. I'm hoping this is a
Cardinals win because if the Cardinals have any aspirations of
(35:36):
the postseason, loosten to the Saints in Week one ain't
gonna ain't gonna cut it, and things are gonna sound
bad here. So take your lumps, take your lump's new
head coach, and hope for the future. Right.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Absolutely, Look, man, look as long as we're not the
most penalized team, as long as we're not getting blown
out sixty nine to nothing like b Y you did
for Little Portland State last weekend. I'll be happy. So
one thing I do want to touch on before before
we jet here, I was I've been keeping up with
the teams and because as you as you know, having
been in my position before the the upcoming draft is
(36:11):
of a high priority to the Saints, to the to
the player, to their plans for the next year. And
I've been keeping up with the schools they've been spotted
at that they were in the house when ASU took
one over on Northern Arizona. They beat up the Lumberjacks
last week?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Did they did? I was there. I have season tickets
to my son Devils.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
So oh awesome, man, Well I.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Do since two thousand and seven. That's where I went
to school as my my mom went to school there.
I went to school there. It's it's half an hour
away from me. I've been going almost twenty years. I've
been going to those games. So yeah, I was Finn
and that and the Devils have some legitimate talent to
Sam sam Levitt and I'm not necessarily going to be
a quarter They're looking for quarterback. Although I did talk
(36:56):
I did talk to you about you definitely have the
conspiracy theorists like me going hmm, yeah, they drafted Tyler Shuck.
But you've got gart Nessmeyer at LSU and been some
coordinator and and and and and sure like you see
(37:18):
you see Manning. But do you know that's not gonna happen.
You know, the Mannings aren't gonna let Arch come to
New Orleans. As much as it would be great for
the NFL, the Mannings won't let that happen.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
But not not not yet. But but I got my
question for you is if you, if you can lay
the magic wand right now, get one of those sun
devils on the Saints in next year's draft, who do
you think could help them the most.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
I'm gonna say it's probably gonna be Jordan Tyson. Jordan
Tyson because he's like, he is an incredibly talented receiver.
I don't know, he's not I don't think he's gonna
be necessarily what like the top receivers were this last year.
But he can run past people. He's got great hands,
(38:07):
he has great footwork and route running. You know, another
guy like Chrysal Lovey and you can move him around.
He can win outside, he can win inside. Uh, he's
probably their best aside from Levitt Tyson's probably their their
best talent on that team.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Yeah, he's exciting. I was looking over the box the
box score of the player grades from this one. So
he he counted for most of Levi's passing yards and
both of his tds here, so that that would definitely
be welcome. He's six foot two, so he would immediately
be one of the foulest receivers in the room for
New Orleans. Yeah, we do, man, So that's exciting. I'll
be sure to remember his name. Hopefully he can make
(38:48):
some more big plays for you guys here in the fall.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
All right, man, thank you John for superior time, and
we will wrap up this edition of the show. You
will catch this on on Cards Wire. You get John's
answers to my questions for behind the lines on cards
where as well, and you can catch what I have
to say to him over at Saint swaz Check out
the covers over there, as we're going to see the
Saints and their gold on black uniforms taken on the
(39:14):
Cardinals and they're all road whites. Can't wait to see
it happen. Guys. Thanks John for so much for your time.
We'll be back again tomorrow with our show with my
regular co host Seth Cox as we preview the Cardinals
game ourselves. That's John Sigler. Catch him again on Saint Sir.
I'm Jess Ruth. Thanks for listening. As always, We'll be
back again soon.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Thanks for listening to the latest edition of the Rise
Up See Red podcast. Listen to previous episodes and subscribe
to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Audio Boom,
or many other podcast platforms so shows are delivered directly
to your mobile device. Please get the show a five
star ready and always support the sponsors who support the show.
(39:54):
We'll be back soon for the best hour of Cardinals
talk on the web, Rise Up Red, Sea be Ready
Sea Red, and of course Rise Up Sea Red.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Z z
Speaker 1 (40:27):
Z z
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