Hebert’s rant after Saints loss to Cardinals: Get used to this type of (stressful) game

Hebert’s rant after Saints loss to Cardinals: Get used to this type of (stressful) game

Bobby, it was a rough one. Hard-fought battle for this black and gold bunch and unfortunately could not extend that season uh opening win streak in the dome. Well, I think this is going to happen more than not. Uh so I know I’m going to get an ulcer. I I know I’m going to get an ulcer at the end of the game. It’s just it’s going to be torment. It’s going to be torment. Duce and I was talking about this in the pregame. In the red zone, you have to score. And you cannot be one of four in the red zone. You get down there, you got to get touchdowns. You’re just not going to win. The NFL it it’s just too uh too tough. I mean, it’s a being so close. Oh, we played hard, Bobby. We played hard hard. What is that? What is that going to get you? Uh a cup of coffee. I mean, you know, playing hard, but it’s the pros. I mean, either you won or you lost, but I like the effort. They’re playing hard for coach Kell Moore, but so close. But so far, like I said, you don’t think Vegas knows what they talking about. Unreal. That point spread was 6 and 12. What was the final score? 20-13. What I said, take the Saints in the points and I lost by half a point. No, it’s amazing. And to show you the parody in the league, we have now played uh the Cardinals 33 times in life, whether they win St. Lewis playing at Bush Stadium and now they in Phoenix. Uh it was 16- 16, now it’s 16- 17. So we’ve won 16 and lost 17. We all remember the most monumental game when we kicked their ass uh in in the postseason to go to the Super Bowl. Remember that was Kurt Warner and the Cardinals. That was then we end up winning. Uh so that counts. I don’t just don’t count the regular season series. So and then we had their number at home. We were like 9 to4 uh winning at home whether it’s two-lane stadium old school or the supernome. Now it’s 9 to5. I don’t know. I ask coach Kell more of this um because I’m a little spoiled with Shawn Payeyton and Drew Brees. We always like pedal to the metal clock management at the end of the first half. It looks like the Cardinals were going to score, but we need don’t save your timeouts. We needed to utilize the timeouts at the second quarter. we’d have had roughly around a minute and you know why you want to try and score at the end of the first half cuz it’s a two for one. We get the ball to start the third quarter. So that’s how aggressive you have to play. And coach Kell Moore is going to learn from that. Uh but I’m definitely going to bring that up and like uh Duce is saying uh and I you know I preached this I preach this whether it’s the LSU Tigers, whether it’s the Saints or high school football. uh penalties. Uh you might say, “Well, there’s a effort penalty or you jump off sides, a lineman, and all that stuff.” I don’t know. Penalty is a penalty. All I know is I know this from Coach Mor paying attention to detail that you cannot have nine penalties or more or 100 yards. It’s like giving up a touchdown. Uh what did we lose by touchdown? A touchdown. Well, you know, you are not going to win when all said and done when you have these kind of penalties. You had 13 penalties, not nine, not 10, but 13 then 89 yards. What was it? Eight in the first half. No, we had Yeah, I think we had seven. I want to say uh No, eight. We had eight for 59 yards in the first half. No, that was not good. That was That be on the borderline for the whole game and we had that in the first half. You cannot have that. You know why? because it puts you behind the sticks. What I mean, Bobby, what are you talking about behind the sticks? Then you got third and double digits or second and 15 or first and 15. No, the NFL is too good. You’re not going to convert on third down. That means you’re not setting the tone. You are not possessing the football. What end up happening? The Cardinals had the ball 7 and 1/2 minutes more than we did because on third down, uh, not good enough. No, I don’t want to say we suck. suck would be 20 some%. Well, we were 35 and a half% five of 14. That’s not good. So, I can look at all these things. Oh, a it’s not all about the numbers. A lot. It is a lot about the numbers when you got great playing great you pros. When you got pros, I’m telling you, all of that comes in the play. What I am encouraged by, and not necessarily encouraged cuz the quarterback runs do count. Uh, and we we we were one before last stopping the run. what we gave up uh last year 4.9 yards against the run. Today we gave up 5.4. And I’m disappointed in that because I think we will be better long-term stopping the run, but not not so much today. And all runs count. You might say, “Well, Bobby, take away that chunk play. Why take it away? Because it all counts.” Remember Benson had that 52 yard run? Yes, you cannot give up those type of runs. And uh Kyler Murray, you know, again, looking at Vegas, you like the over and under. A number of people said Kyler Murray over and under uh 25 rushing yards. I just think the way he runs around he’s going to have in his sleep more than 25 yards. Not not that much. He only ended up with 38. And Benson ended up averaging 8.6 a carry is by committing. And you know we like Calvin Kamar 4.1 yard average. What I’m encouraged by is Kendry Miller and Devin Neil, right? And Kendrick Miller averaged 4.8, Devin Neil 4.5. That’s winning football. And what I do, like like I said, the Saints, we didn’t average 3.8, 3.9. We’re at 4.9 yard average. So, not good stopping the run, but that was very good us trying to run the football. I’m going to tell you, we have to be opportunistic or we’re not going to win. Uh, what I mean by that is taking the football away. Not only do we got to protect it, we got to take the ball away. When the game is all said and done, uh, and if you hit your hands, you have a chance to intercept it, you got to intercept it, punch the ball out, whatever. Steve, you very seldom see a game no fumbles, no interceptions. Yeah. No. So, we’re not minus, but we’re not plus. We need to be plus. We need all the help we can have. And that was one thing what the Cardinals are trying to do. If you look at the turnover margin, what occurred uh uh last year and one reason why uh that they weren’t a playoff team uh you know, we we know we were and we only won five game. We were minus two in the turnover margin. Last year they were minus three. So, that’s something they working on. There was no turnovers. So, uh you we but like I said, we got to take away uh the football when all said and done. And again, the red zone efficiency, you cannot be one of four. Um and then we would want them to be one of three uh not two or three, 67%. Uh cuz that’s could be amongst the best if you average around that in NFL, your red zone efficiency and goal to go. If you got goal to go efficiency, uh ma’am, inside the 10 yard line, first down Saints, uh first and uh goal to goal from the seven or eight yard line, you got to get in the end zone where we end up being 0 for one and they were, you know what, they were two for two. See something like that. Can you finish? Can you finish? That’s one thing about Spencer Rattler, and I’ve said this in the pregame. I’ve said this in training camp, he’s moving the team. I’ve seen him in drills when he’s competing with uh with uh with Chuck. Yeah. And all that. He’s moving the team. But how many times all of a sudden eh he’s moving the ball. Got to finish. And and and it was good for our defense cuz we would intercept the ball. Uh you know, good for the defense. You got a takeaway and not only are you stopping them, you know, ultimately you wanted to settle for field goals, but we getting in the red zone and we’re not scoring. We have not. That’s one thing like remember Jacksonville how we won the end in the preseason. But you got to do that a bunch of times. You know, you got to be able to finish. So that’s one thing Spencer knows that that we have to be able to finish in the red zone when all said and done. Uh again, I still think you might want Chris Olive or Rasheed Shahid to be the explosive go-to receivers, but I still think it’s going to be Jawan Johnson. You know, if Joan Johnson, you know, you got him in fantasy football, whatever at tight end, and he got targeted the most right under, he got targeted 11 times and Chris Ave got it targeted 13 times. But Jawan Johnson, eight catches, 76 yards. He’s going to have if he’s playing, he’s going to have over 80 to 90 receptions. So close to scoring at the end of the game, too. Yes. And and make the great catch, right? And that was a long game. 21 yardds. Uh, Marvin Harrison. I I mean, I don’t know. Uh, Kool-Aid. I want to drink the Kool-Aid on Kool-Aid, but he got a ways to go. Kool-Aid’s competing, but he ain’t no uh Latimore. He’s not even to me, he’s not even a Paul to Debo. You know how Okay, like Debo was a little too handsy and Latimore sometimes you didn’t like his attitude. And I think McKenzie is playing hard, but he’s going to get picked on for sure. Uh, we saw that Devonte Adams, they were going against the Rams. We were playing the Rams right now. They would give him 15 targets. Now you got to help out and mix it up uh you know with Kool-Aid. But no, Marvin Harrison uh they end up going after him. They target him six times, five catches. He had that 45 yard long long gain and then he also beat uh Kool-Aid on the touchdown, right? You remember that short touchdown. I think it was only a one-yd grab. But um I could see Jawan Johnson definitely uh being involved um you know with as far as getting the targets and the catches. Now, the punting game, you look at the return game, that all matters. We got to win on special teams cuz that has never been a liability. We’ve always been in the top five and not the top three. Even though we don’t have Dan Rizzy, we have Coach Galliano. We have to continue to excel and win in that area. I I thought Kre Miller was outstanding. Uh you have a kick return for 43 yards, man. I guarantee. And you averaging 29 yards, that’ll be in the top three in the whole NFL. So, that has to continue. Rasheed Shahid only p one punt return he far caught the other one but 11 yards double digits that was a good thing now uh not so much the one thing about Kroger I’m not talking about the grocery store Kroger uh and he might be related to him I don’t know he he won the net this is a great net he could punt it far but sometimes you can’t out punt your coverage if you’re going to punt it far you got to angle it out of bounds and don’t out out kick your coverage well he end up having a 43point net. They had a 42 and a half with Gillican. We know Blake Gillicanin, he he was here and now he’s there. He’s a traveling allstar. You just have to make it wherever you can. But we did give up a punt return of 23 yards. See, that’s where the punter has to grow and help him when you’re trying to flip the field and all that matters. Now, looking from a a defensive perspective, um Pete Warner led the team in tackles. Uh look, he had nine total tackles, seven assists. He had a sack, a quarterback hurry. Demario Davis, he doesn’t look like an old man. Uh he had a couple tackles for loss. He also had nine combined tackles. The two players on defense that disappointed me and and uh one of them we paid a lot of money and he’s a homeboy, Dutchtown, Justin Reed, right? Uh from the Chiefs. Justin Reed, I I got to get this in my notes cuz this this was a significant drive at the time. uh you know when you dare to make the tackle or are you going to make the tackle or you gonna miss quarter? No, that that was the third quarter. Uh I want to say um I have to find I’m going to find exactly but he missed the tackle on that particular play and I want to say it was like a third and 12 uh situation. I’m going to find it. Yeah, Steve, whatever. But the point was Justin Reed, he missed the tackle and and they had to punt. Yeah. And then he also was second and it was when second quarter I think. Yeah, cuz I talked about that at halftime. I should have remembered that. And then he also and then he got beat in a pass cover. Yeah, here it is right here. It was um at the time the score was 10 to 10 and they end up uh sustaining. They went 10 plays 71 yds. If Justin Reed need him to come up big, he did not come up there. It was third and 10. He hit McBride 12 yardd gain make the tackle and then he also McBride beat him in coverage for a 25 yd gain and then Connor end up Murray to Conor that little flip play four yardd touchdown to make it 17- 10. You need your great players to play great. I’m not putting any added pressure. It it’s just the way it is. And uh that that was so I was a little disappointed on in Kool-Aid a little bit and Justin Reed I thought you know we always talk about diamond in the rough. You know who truly was not a diamond in the rough, but a diamond. I mean, uh, he’s a shiny old diamond. Cam Jordan. Cam Jordan up a little. Cam Jordan. Look, he set the tone minus 11. You remember at the beginning of the game, a great defensive start. Minus 11. He gets Colum. That’s a hard dude to track down. Look at Cam Jordan. A sack and a half. He ended up with three total tackles, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries, a pass defended. filling up that stat sheet. filling up that that that’s what Carl Granderson I thought the guys were familiar with Carl Granison and Cam Jordan they bowled out a sack and a half Carl Granison a tackle for lost quarterback Curry and two passes defended now you look on special teams that area your covered units and that’s one reason why he made the team over you look at um who’s the guy the linebacker from Appalachian State that went to the Bears uh DeMarco Jackson DeMarco Jackson they kept Stalbert instead DeMarco Jackson or Nephi Sumo All, you know, Stalberg led the team in special teams tackles with two. So, uh, doing his job, a young guy getting that kind of that tweener, a big safety, smaller linebacker, but he can contribute at a high level in special teams. But I think we just going to have these type of games. Uh, every it’s not nothing going to be easy when we win this year. Uh, we need a little bit of luck. The ball bounce our way. We got to take it away. Like you said, between my heart and my stomach, I don’t know if it’s going to be able to take it this year. No, cuz it’s going to be uh and and you know what, and this is the kind of game we have to win. It’s not going to we’re not going to be in those shootouts. If a team scores 30 some points against us, I’d say shame on our defense and we’re not going to keep pace. No, I think it’s going to be uh like a a 2013 uh that it’s going to be like 173 or or those type of games. I think we’re going to see throughout the season. It ain’t going to get easier. The 49ers are coming to town. You can see our next opponent right now. They on the late game playing against the Seattle Seahawks. It’s now 7 to7. 49ers coming to town and then I think uh we go to Seattle right and then we go to the Buffalo Bills. No, I’m telling you that’s why you just got to find a way to win. We got the left coast and the East Coast. Yeah. Give me give me an ugly win versus Boy, look how entertaining uh we were, but we lost. No, I’d rather win ugly. I’d rather win three to two. Oh, you know what? Boy, that was some terrible football. They got a safety. We kicked a field goal. A baseball a baseball score. We won three to two versus I don’t know. But I It was 3837. Uh but we didn’t win. No. G give me an ugly win because it’s all about did you win or lose the game and boy just a gut-wrenching loss cuz the Saints are right there at the end. They were fighting hard and you know the Hud that nation was there to cheer. Uh you know and they set the tone at the beginning and when you look at it at the beginning of the game the crowd was into it. We already had three sacks. Even though we were down three to zero, we took the lead. We’re able to play at the right time. Stand up and get crunk. We were crunk. We went 10 plays, 75 yds. Alvin Chimera, uh, 18 yd touchdown. And that was a red zone touchdown, but we need to have more of that in the red zone.

The New Orleans Saints fell to the Cardinals 20-13 in the season-opener, but what are the Cajun Cannon’s takeaways? Here’s what Bobby Hebert had to say.

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