RESILIENCE: New Orleans Saints Show FIGHT Despite Loss, Chris Olave Exemplifies Team’s Grit

RESILIENCE: New Orleans Saints Show FIGHT Despite Loss, Chris Olave Exemplifies Team’s Grit

As someone that didn’t expect much from the New Orleans Saints in week one, I came away genuinely impressed with where they are. We got all that and a little bit of land for you on today’s episode of Locked on Saints. You are Locked On Saints, your daily New Orleans Saints podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What is good Huda nation and Huda family? I am your host, your friend Ross Jackson, New Orleans native, your New Orleans Saints expert and credentialed member of the media covering those New Orleans Saints as a Saints beatriter over at Louisiana.net. And on today’s episode of Locked on Saints, we’ll go through what got in the New Orleans Saints way in their 13-20 loss in the season opener to the Arizona Cardinals. But I want to kick everything off in this quick postgame episode with a look at what actually impressed me about this team. We got all that coming up for you on today’s show. We appreciate you very much whether it’s your first time or your next time being here with us this time, making us your first listen and being every day here on the show, which is a proud part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And by the way, we’ll end today’s show, as we will with every postgame show, with something positive and something to look forward to because we ain’t overreacting during the 2025 NFL season. I can promise you that right now. And speaking of not overreacting, I’m not going to overreact to a week one loss that I expected for the New Orleans Saints. But I’ll tell you what I will react to. I’ll react to the things that actually impressed me. The Saints actually looked better than I thought that they were going to look coming out here week one going up against the Arizona Cardinals with a brand new head coach, a brand new offense, brand new defensive coordinator, brand new defense, brand new special teams coordinator, brand new things that they’re trying on special teams, and of course, new rule changes across the league on special teams, brand new quarterback, brand new players on offense and defense, so on and so forth. With all of that, I thought the New Orleans Saints were going to look much worse than they did out here. Now, I did predict them to score 19 points, but 19 points as you can put together is a touchdown and four field goals. So, I got pretty close. It was almost a touchdown and two or really it was almost three field goals except Blake Groupy uncharacteristically missing a 37yder. But I don’t want to talk about what went wrong first. I want to talk about the things that impressed me. Let’s start off with this first. I thought that the Saints started off stronger, much stronger than I thought that they would expect at the beginning of the game, both on offense and on defense, forcing that early punt with around 11 minutes left uh in the first quarter early on. I thought that the defense was had the it had the dome rocking. It was the loudest that I had heard the Superdome in a little while. We saw good plays from sacks to tackles for a loss. The Saints finished the first half of this or finished the first quarter rather of this game up against the Arizona Cardinals with three sacks in the first two possessions. I thought that they started off pretty strong. There was a defensive pass interference penalty that helped to convert a third and nine that I thought was pretty bogus on Kool-Aid McKenry. And there were a couple of other things that didn’t necessarily go the Saints way. For instance, the first offensive possession for Arizona was a punt and then the next four possessions were all scores for Arizona. Field goal, touchdown, touchdown, field goal. But then I thought that the Saints closed out pretty well late in the game as well, particularly over the defensive side, only allowing three points in the second half and that offense putting together a couple of really good drives towards the end. When you get to a first and goal from the three though, you absolutely want to get into the end zone there. So having to settle for a field goal in that, not necessarily great, especially when you’re deep in the red zone that way. But that two-minute drive, even though it came up empty on points, was maybe some of the best football I’ve seen from this team over the course of maybe the last year and now this game, certainly better than most of the things that we saw over the course of the preseason, with the exception of some of those good situational moments that they did have in the preseason. And so I thought that the team started on both sides of the field well and finished on both sides of the field as well as expected, but it was the middle portion of the game where things kind of sunk. That third quarter in particular or that second and third quarter in particular. And that’s kind of the thing, right? A lot of these games are won and lost in the last five minutes of the second quarter and the first five minutes of the uh of the third quarter. And that’s where this thing didn’t necessarily play their strongest ball. coming out three and out at at the end of the first half or rather coming into the second half. Not great, but I did like what I saw in terms of resilience, fighting, scrapping to keep themselves alive in this game all the way down to being just one play away from or one catch away from potentially tying this game up or having the option to go for it for two to try to win it. And so I thought that New Orleans impressed me in that way as well. They were one play short and it came down to that Jawan Johnson near catch in the end zone. Skyed up had it. He said he had it when he was in the air but then when he came back down he didn’t have it anymore. It was a great play by Buddha Baker. I think a lot of people are going to look at that and they’re going to criticize Jawan Johnson and say that he had a bad day. He was actually the Saints best player on offense for the most part throughout the day leading the team both in catches with eight as well as receiving yards with I believe 76. And so a really strong day for him. the connection between he and Spencer Rattler continues here for uh you know just like it did at the end of last year or during their games last year where they averaged almost 40 passing yards or receiving yards between the two of them over the course of the games that Spencer Rattler started and then if you remove that Los Angeles Chargers game where Rattler only played the first half the number actually goes up to nearly 50 yards per game. So this is what we expected to see from Jawan Johnson. I think that you saw a pretty solid game from him, but of course, what’s going to be remembered is a drop touchdown that could have tied up the game at the end. But overall, I thought that the fight, I thought that the effort, I thought that the grittiness of this team was no better exemplified by any other player than Chris Olive. Chris Olive got look what looked like maybe his ankle twisted up or some lower leg injury, went to the sideline, didn’t go to the injury tent. They put the injury tent up for him. He went back out on the field. He said, “Nope.” And he went back out on the field. And then later on, he got blown up on a play by Will Johnson on sort of this quick pass over to the left. Spencer Rattler talked about it. It was exactly the way that that play should have gone, but they just had the right play call there. And so all of the criteria meant get the ball to Crystal in space in that in that situation. And I’ll go into some of Kellmore’s play calling. I think there were some opportunities to open this up a little bit more than they really did. I’ll dive into that in tomorrow’s episode. But Spencer Rattler throws that pass out to what would have been his left sideline and then Will Johnson blows it up. Chris Alav goes back to the sideline and is just kind of walking around clearly trying to get it was a chest injury that he that was determined. Eventually went into the tent but then came back out continued to walk along the sideline and then went back into the game again. So for a guy that a lot of people have been kind of throwing the injuryprone tag at, this is a dude that absolutely gritted it out and gutted it out for his team even though they came up in a loss here. made some big catches in that two-minute drill as well after all of those moments where he had to come off the field. So, I thought that he exemplified very much the nature of the want to that we saw from this team. Those were all things that impressed me and that stood out for me despite my kind of lower expectations for what I thought that this team would do here as they opened up their week. Coming up next, the Saints did a lot of things that you can build upon, but they also did a lot of things that they must absolutely fix. And unfortunately, despite all the newness around the team, it was a lot of the same old stuff from the past couple of years. Let’s break down what got in the Saints way. And we’ll end on a positive note as we wrap up today’s quick emergency bonus episode recapping the Saints loss to the Arizona Cardinals here on Lock Saints, part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today’s episode of Locked on Saints is brought to you by our friends over at Prize Pix. The easiest and in my opinion most fun way to play daily fantasy sports. All you got to do is pick more or less on two to six players and their prize picks projections and you can win and turn all of your football knowledge into some big time rewards and awards over at prize picks. They also give you some max discounts as well. Coming up next week, Travis Kelce only going to have a prize picks projection of a half a receiving yard. So, if you think Travis Kelce next week can get one receiving yard, that’s a really, really good place to get started. Then pick a few other players so you can walk away with a big dub today over at Prize Picks. Download the Prize Picks app today and use code locked on NFL. It’ll get you $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code locked on NFL. L O C K E D O N for $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It’s good to be right. Today’s episode also brought to you by friends over at Game Time. The NFL season is back and there’s no better place to go and get your tickets, especially if you’re like me and you’re spontaneous and you end up wanting to go to an NFL game at the last minute. There’s no better place for last minute tickets than Game Time. 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We took a look at the things that impressed me in this game and my list is actually a little bit longer. We’ll dive into some more of that in tomorrow’s episode. So, don’t forget we are here daily and then some. Uh, every single Monday through Friday and then some. Make sure you come back for tomorrow morning’s episode as well as we kind of dive a little bit deeper into everything. Uh but for New Orleans, despite the things that impressed me, there were certainly some things that they need to also address and get fixed. And the really unfortunate part about this, especially for you as a fan, is that you watched this team on Sunday with a brand new jerseys, brand new endzones, painted gold, brand new head coach, all the newness that we talked about as we opened up the show, still suffer from what felt like the same old things here in 2025 as they open up their season that they struggled with in their very recent past. Let’s start off with penalties. You know them, you hate them. uh 13 penalties in this game I believe the most for New Orleans Saints opener uh ever. But as of right now with still a couple of games left to play in week one at the time that I’m recording this the most in week one as well. Um New Orleans has done this to themselves quite a bit over the course of the past few years. is a team that has not only lost to its opponents because of the opponent’s play, but has often times lost to the opponents because they’ve ended up playing against themselves. This was something that safety Justin Reed talked about with us at the podium after the game during his media availability where he highlighted that it’s one thing to play up against the other team. It’s another thing when you have to play against yourself, too. And the Saints, you’re going to hear this, I think, a lot over the course of 2025 season, and it’s going to irk you because you heard it in 2024 and you heard it in 2023. Self-inflicted wounds. And that’s what opened up here in 2025, this loss for the New Orleans Saints. All the good that they did, had they played a cleaner game early might have actually had them in the lead at one point late or at least put them in a better position later on. Right. couple of those penalties ended up or one of those penalties rather a third down penalty ended up costing the Saints what would have been a third down stop that turned into a score turned into points over on the other side. So the thing that I want to focus on here is 10 plus penalties by one team going up against a team that does not hit or that stays in single digits when it comes to penalties. New Orleans had 10 penalt or 13 penalties in this game. For teams that did that last year, suffered 10 or more penalties while going up against a team that remained disciplined and had singledigit penalties, they were 27 and 40 last year. That’s a 40.3% win percentage. So, is it the end of the story if you end up having that dynamic between two teams? No. But does it make the uphill battle a little bit or does it make the battle a little bit of an uphill battle for you? Absolutely. Yes. The other thing that I thought made this game a bit of an uphill battle were 10 missed tackles. According to Pro Football Focus, eight of those in the run game, two of those in the passing game, including a missed tackle on third down that turned into a first down. And that was a Justin Reed missed tackle, which he took full accountability for and his postgame presser after saying that he let his teammate down. He let his team down rather uh in missing that tackle that turned into again a first down on what could have been a third down stop. could have forced a punt and then that turned into a first down, first set of downs that turned into another scoring drive. And so putting points, letting points on the board by giving up these third downs, one by penalty and one thanks to a missed tackle in the passing game, not ideal. Something that this New Orleans Saints team is absolutely going to have to clean up. They struggled with miss tackles a lot last year and they open up the game here with double-digit missed tackles, at least according to Pro Football Focus in their immediate game analysis. Finally, when it comes to things that they struggled with or that that hampered the Saints and kind of limited their abilities here, it was third down conversion surrendered. Arizona converted 46% of its third down conversions. Just to give you an idea of where that ranks, the Saints finished the season in 2024, 21st in the NFL, allowing it’s 41.07, so we’ll just call it 41% of third downs to be converted against them last season. Had they allowed 46%, they would have been the 31st ranked team in the NFL, bumping up, getting just below Arizona, who allowed over 45% of their opponent’s third down conversions to be converted. So, that’s not a great place to be for New Orleans. New Orleans last year had 10 games in 2024 where they allowed at least 40% of the opposing teams third downs to be converted. In those 10 games, they went 1 and9. And then they open up this game now in week one of the 2025 season, allowing 46% of their the the Arizona Cardinals fourth or third downs to be converted. That’s not going to help you out very much. Arizona, by the way, as a part of that, the raw numbers there, uh, is that they went six of 13. Three of those six were passing plays on third and 10, third and 11, and third and 12. And then you add in a third and nine, which was surrendered by penalty. The one that I referenced earlier with Kool-Aid McKenry that I thought was a little bogus if I’m being completely honest. Uh that gives you four third downs that were converted. One of which by penalty, so it doesn’t factor into the six of 13, but of those they were four of those were all third and longs. And I’m not talking third and a little long. I’m talking third and long, nine, 10, 11, and 12 yard conversions, one of which by penalties. So, those were the three things that I thought got in the Saints way the most. Penalties, missed tackles, third downs, and third down defense in particular, and especially third down defense in the middle of the game. Third down defense at the end of the game actually quite strong. And so, now I want to get to the things that I thought were positive. Situational football. And that situational football includes the two-minute drive at the end, which was almost a touchdown. I know it would be better, Ross, if it was a touchdown. I completely understand. But again, that the fact that the Saints were even in position in this game to toss a touchdown for a chance to tie or win uh was beyond me and and beyond my expectations for where this team would have been going into this game. Uh the other thing that I thought that that’s a part of that situational football was a block field goal by Brian Breaz, right? Special teams is situational. You have a leaping six foot five Brian Brezie over the center getting that field goal block and that is reminiscent of what he did in New York years ago where they won that game that gave them and was a part of the chance that came in giving them an opportunity to win the game on the very next defensive drive. Alante Taylor with a big-time third down sack. A perfectly called play by Brandon Staley. I was watching the game and I saw the safety on uh Alante Taylor’s side stacked immediately over the top of him, which means that they’re not literally like standing one behind each other. They’re separated by many yards. But when you see a slot corner and then a safety kind of ready to replace him in coverage, that typically means that that slot that they’re showing you that the slot corner is going to blitz, then you can bluff that blitz or you can actually blitz. They sent Deontay Taylor and he came screaming off that right edge or left edge of the offensive line and got the sack up against Kyler Murray. So last year he started off with three sacks in the game. I had him pegged for two in this game, but he still got one. Really, really good stuff there. The pass rush as a whole as well was impressive, five uh sacks, although they did miss a couple of opportunities. Kyler Murray did get loose and picked up some big yards and things like that, but I thought for the most part in terms of the damage that Kyler Murray could do or would have done to last year’s defense as the Saints actually did a pretty good job containing him here. And then again, I’ll highlight the resilience that to me was exemplified most by Chris Olive. Watching this team fight tooth and nail all the way down to the last moments um was something that I thought gives you an idea of the culture that Kell Moore has created. And just like he said in the locker room to the players, losing the first game, the only thing that it means is that you’re not going undefeated. So, this is a team that’ll be looking to rebound again at home in this very stadium as I stand in this Caesar Superdome up against the San Francisco 49ers, who by the way, injury to watch. Tight end George KD dealing with a hamstring injury. So, be watching out for that over the course of the week. All right, coming up in tomorrow’s episode, we’ll dive a little bit deeper into some of the play calling into some of the things we saw on offense and defense that we liked and didn’t like. We’ll get into some of all that in tomorrow’s episode. We appreciate you very much as always for making us a part of your day, part of your routine for saying yes to me on the show. If you see me, please say hi. And if you need anything else around your New Orleans Saints in between these episodes, make sure you follow me on your favorite social media, RossJackn OA. Hit me up. Let me know how the family is doing. Let me know how you living. Let me know how you moming them. And trust that Nation, I’ll holl at you.

The New Orleans Saints stumble in their 2025 NFL season opener against the Arizona Cardinals. Alvin Kamara and Juwan Johnson shine despite the loss, with Johnson leading in catches and receiving yards. Chris Olave’s resilience stands out as he returns after an multiple injury scares.

Penalties plague the Saints, committing a frustrating 13 infractions. Defensive struggles on third downs and missed tackles contribute to the defeat. Bryan Bresee’s blocked field goal, Alontae Taylor’s late sack and a strong two-minute drill offer glimmers of hope.

0:00 Saints Impress Despite Week 1 Loss
11:06 What Got In The Saints’ Way
17:17 Positive Takeaways from Saints’ Performance

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