Hebert: 2025 Saints are far from perfect, but they still own the Giants

Hebert: 2025 Saints are far from perfect, but they still own the Giants

especially in the dome. Uh, you know, Craig’s Electric, Craig told me, and I I wouldn’t I didn’t realize this. I know the last time we won a game, it was um in New York against the New York Football Giants, right? We won 14-1. Uh, so, you know, we could beat the we can beat the Giants. Uh, you know, but the last time we won in a dome was against the Falcanes. Uh, you know, the last home win was almost a year ago, October the 13th, 2024. So, uh, hey, we on a roll now. Uh, listen, we’re on a roll. To get to two wins, you got to win one. And then the Patriots coming to town. Uh, Tom Brady don’t play for the Patriots no more. So, I I I but we beat Tom Brady anyway. Uh, but I like our chances to win uh two in a row. Keep the momentum going. All I know is when you plus five in the turnover margin, you got to win. I listen, you can beat the Tennessee Titans and you’d be playing whoever you think who you think is the best in the NFL right now. The best Buffalo, right? Yeah. Uh if they minus five against the Titans, the Titans would beat him. Now, I was a little disappointed because we won by 12 points. We should have won by three touchdowns. You got to take advantage when you have that opportunity. But I can tell you what, there was nothing giant about the New York Football Giants. Uh they were the New York Munchkins. Uh you know remember Wizard of Oz the Munchkins? Yeah. The New York uh Fighting Munchkins. Uh yeah. They couldn’t get nothing giant about New York football right now, whether it’s the Jets or the Giants. They just hoping the damn Yankees do something. But then they got whacked by the Toronto Blue Jays. But anyway, I digress. But looking at uh what occurred and um I didn’t know if it was going to happen. You got to weather the storm, handle adversity. We were down 14-3. But you got to keep fighting. You got to keep fighting. You take the football away. Yeah. The ball bounces your way. But if you look at it and I said this, look at the NFL how it is. Now we’ve played Now think about this. This is a big enough sample size Luke board. You know what’s our record against the Giants? Think about this. We played 34 times. What do you think? We are now 17 wins, 17 losses. So the NFL loves that kind of stuff. Parody, right? Yes, we’ve won 17 times against the uh New York Giants and they’ve beaten the 17. I mean, it’s unbelievably tied it. We were down 17 to 16, but in what have you done for me lately? We go right there. Uh yeah, we’ve kicked that ass. Uh if you look at it, the Saints have now beaten the New York Munchkins. Uh we’ve beaten them if you look at it eight of the last 10 times. So, what have you done for lately? We won eight of the last time. And in the dome, uh we we we’ve beaten them. We’ve won 12 times and only lost four. So, uh, so that’s counting two lane stadium, too. Two-lane stadium in the season of Superdome. We’re now 12 and four. Uh, so that’s a big positive. This is one area if we continue to do this, uh, is outstanding. Uh, now I know Kell Moore, I’m going to bring this up to him. He’s going to say, “Yeah, that that’s winning football. We do this, uh, you can win.” And how you dictate in the e and flow on third down. Third down, they were only uh uh uh uh three of 10, 30%. That’s what you want to do. And then on offense, we were hovering around 50%. We were seven of 15, 47%. That is outstanding uh winning football. Now, you moving the ball. Now, you got to get touchdowns in the red zone. That’s why we only won by 12 and we’d have won by more, but we were 0 and 0 for three in the red zone and 02 and goal to goal. Uh, so I I’m not saying you got to be perfect, but that’s why you need to be at least like two of three and not zero of three as far as uh scoring points. Now, uh, if you’d have told me this before the game, I said um, that we got to win a turnover battle some cuz I thought we should be able to run uh, better than we did against uh, the Giants cuz other teams were gashing. We only averaged 2.9 yardds a carry, but we did have 30 rushing attempts for uh, 88 yards. Uh, good for Kantri Miller. He’s building upon what he did in the Buffalo Bills game. He averaged 4.1 yards a carry. He had a long gain of 11 yards along with Alan Camra. A long gain of 11 yardds. So that bow well uh for the running game. Now um they end up averaging 4.7. So we were like uh Ben but don’t break. But if you look at plus five in the turnover margin. Now, this is interesting because I said this in the pregame. Who’s going to win the turnover battle? Cuz, you know, we were eighth in the NFL, tied with the Giants. We both coming in the game. We only had three turnovers. And so, all of a sudden, we go uh zero for the season. Now, we’re plus five for the season, plus five for the game. Now, we’re going to be amongst the best. Now, you got to continue that. Now, against the Patriots, uh get three more or take two. Just be plus two. I’m getting greedy. Yeah. Yeah. He’s getting a little greedy. I I would take that. That would go a long way. And then what do we do now? Two weeks in a row of penalties. Uh we winning uh the penalty battle because we were averaging over 10 penalties the first uh three games and uh boy, we got some characters showing up here at the swap room. So what happens when you win, KG Cannon? No. Everybody feels good about themselves. They feel good about life and all that. Yeah. Uh there’s nothing giant like I said about the Giants right now. Uh well, nothing about football in New York goes anywhere. But anyway, uh looking at the penalties uh now, uh this cost the Giants and and they were hovering around where that’s a touchdown. Basically, they had eight penalties. You don’t want to have eight. You I say you never want to have nine and then you don’t want to have 100 yards, but they had eight for 95 yards. So So that that’s like basically a touchdown. And we had seven for 43. Uh that should be the top. Always we can have about a handful. Uh I I think that would uh bode well and go a long way. Uh I thought Spencer Rattler again what he do protect the football. Had a quarterback rating of 100. Uh Jackson Dart two touchdowns, two interception. Had a quarterback rating of 73. How about Taesm Mill Swiss Army knife? I mean he ain’t been practicing. He’s been rehabbing. I don’t know. He’s one for one. He had a quarterback rating 118. He he completed a nice 19yd pass to Jawan Johnson in the seam. Uh he looked like a quarterback throwing the ball. Didn’t look like he was trying to throw it. He looked very accurate. So good for Taesm Hill helping out Spencer Rattlin. Rattler was 20 or 30, 225 yards uh with that bomb for a touchdown. If you look at Now think of this another thing, not only being on that plus in the giveaway takeaway, but being plus five. You want to talk about chunk plays and then you got a scoop and score like this. This speaks volumes. We had an 87 yd touchdown bomb rattler to Rasheed Shahid. Then you had an 86-yd touchdown scoop and score by Jordan Hton. Uh now when you when you think about uh that uh I was trying to think who was the last time uh you know okay what a scoop that’s the second longest scoop and scorer in Saints history. I thought that might have been the longest but you have to look I think Keaton Mitchell. Keaton Mitchell had one that was actually longer than that. that you know you plus five and you tell me you have a 86 yd touchdown 87 yard touchdown way hell yeah the Saints won well that’s definitely what occurred now um today uh the quincy Mckistry earned his name back today he turned back to Kool-Aid ain’t no damn sugar he’s Kool-Aid you’re back to drinking the Kool-Aid Kool-Aid yes I’m drinking the Kool-Aid he earned his nickname today with two big interceptions I thought all the young defensive backs were outstanding taking advantage of the opportunities how Sanker. Uh Sanker coming up big. Looks like a better games for him, right? Yeah. Seven total tackles. Uh six unassisted. Tackle fell lost. That fumble recovery. You know, always around the football. Dear Mario Davis forcing a fumble, and like I said with Hton with that uh scoop and scoreer, outstanding. But looking at Kool-Aid, two interceptions, but leading the team with three passes defended. Uh that’s what you want to see. Now, it’s not always all positive. Uh I don’t know. He might got to go see a sports psychologist. Might that being Groupy? Yes. Uh but he ain’t scared. That was a nice tackle cuz uh cuz Group is a little guy. Well, he’s been lifting. Yeah, he’s been lifting and he’s tough. I’m not saying he’s not tough, but I I I would if our kicker makes his kicks, I don’t care if he’s tough or not. You know, he could be soft as cotton, but if he makes his kicks, I don’t care. But do your job. Yeah. But here’s Groovy right now. Um he’s missed five field goals for the season. All of last year he only missed four. Uh so that’s not encouraging there. Um so yeah, he might have to go see the sports psych psychologist to sit down with you. Yes, now I’m I’m going to try I’m going to encourage him. Uh I’m going to encourage him. But looking at um that explosive play, that chunk play uh rally to Rasheed Shahed. Uh if you look at it, it’s like okay 143 and 14-6. Groupy had just made a 53 yd field goal, but when you look at you know we backed up uh rally to Rasheed 87 yd touchdown and Ro this is really the first explosive play of the season. Now we had a a 39 y against the 49ers that was Rasheed. So that was the biggest chunk play up into that but nothing like that 87 yard touchdown. Uh that’s what you want to see. That’s actually the longest uh passing touchdown. You got to go back to 2016. So basically like nine seasons ago when uh that kind of play uh occurred. But I tell you what, a big win. Uh you know, but we we were playing well enough to win. It wasn’t like except for that Seahawks game. We were fighting, but you don’t get uh you know participation trophy. You don’t get no moral victories. you have to win the game and uh that was outstanding to come away with that win 26-4. Now we have to build upon that. Uh we got to be opportunistic and you know this might even be better than if we were let’s say we would have drove down and scored on our first drive. If if we’d have did that on the first drive and we were setting the tone where really we wouldn’t have been handling handling uh any adversity, but we went, you know, remember got the ball, we went three and out and uh we had we didn’t have as good field position as we did against the Bills, you know, when you’re trying to flip the field where we’re starting and all that. Yeah. But we end up going uh three and out and uh the Giants get the ball, they go eight plays, 59 yards. Uh we’re down 70-0. I said, “So much for the fast start that that that ain’t happening.” And you kind of felt the little bit of that air in the dome kind of go. Well, there the fans weren’t going to be yelling just to be yelling. You got to give him something to yell about. Initially, there was that great excitement cuz you had um Taesm Hill and Deario. Oh, yeah. Yeah. When I mean Taesm and Foster leaving the champ. Yeah. When Taesm also first went into the game, people start getting optimistic. But uh you know, we had this when you know we’re trying to answer. We go 14 plays, 70 yards, almost eight minutes, but we uh end up kicking a 28 yard field goal, right? That’s when you need to tie the game in the future instead of making it seven to three. Uh make that uh 7 to seven. But uh also I’m going to ask uh coach and this would be a coach question Galliano. When do we decide we are running the ball out on on on kickoff? You know how all of a sudden like, oh man, we didn’t go nowhere. you know when he decide not to run off but because you can’t be going all of a sudden oh that was a terrible return what we got to the 12 yardd line or something. So that that’s something when you look uh what occurs, but then you look the fast start that the Giants got off and then we’re able to weather the storm. You know, it’s now seven to three, but they go eight plays, 70 yards, and uh Darth Johnson plus 14 yd touchdown. Now it’s 14-3. But again, we kept fighting in there. Uh we moved the ball and uh went 12 plays only 49 yards, but the groupy kicks a 53 yd field goal. But then we kind of uh took off from there after it was 14-6 then 14-3. And I think I agree with coach Kell Moore. What was important and you always want that momentum going into the half that we were able to take the lead going into halftime cuz you know this whole season we’ve only led for four minutes and that was way the Cardinals game you know. So you look we have not really led. So I think even groupy you got to get points there. It was just a 29 yd field goal. We ready to have a touchdown, but at least, you know, we’re able uh to uh to take the lead. And I was like, well, we have the lead at halftime. So, you got to feel good about yourself going in at halftime. But uh I I tell you what, a big Saints win. And then after that second quarter, the Giants never scored again. Never scored. Uh so, yeah, that was the thing. Uh what was the unanswered point? Did we have like 23 unanswered points? Yeah, cuz I I want to say it’s 14 to three. Correct. So, we scored 23 unanswered points. So, the kudos goes to the team and the whole team effort and and props go there because uh you know, we totally turned the tide and and had the momentum throughout uh to finish that strong. Again, uh the New York football fans, they were coming, they were representing, but you can’t talk to no uh smack to know who that nation member. No. Uh then what have you done for me lately? No. Well, we’ve whipped you. Uh the the the bottom line is they have not gotten the best of the Saints. Uh like I said, if you look at it, uh playing in New Orleans, you might as well stay in New York and don’t even travel. Uh because uh we’ve won 12 times and only lost uh four. And like I said, wherever you’re playing, whether New York or in New Orleans, we won eight of the last 10 games. So a big win for the Saints. Now the Patriots, I expect us to be able to take care of business. Now we have to you got to take care. Don’t feel advantage. You know, it’s been a year since we got a home victory. We broke the seal. We broke the seal and now we just need to come away with a big win. But again, uh it could have been even more. And uh no, I like to see in NFL history, you could do like plus three, plus four, or plus five. What’s the winning percentage? If some I would be shocked if somebody ever lost and would be Charlie, look that up. If somebody’s ever been plus five in an NFL game, it’s almost mathematically impossible and lost. Yeah, that I’d want to know. But who screwed the pooch on that? Who would be uh uh uh plus five and still lose the game? Uh cuz to me, I think like even plus two, you win like low 80s 80% like 82% of the time at plus two. So you can look at plus three, plus four, plus five, go, “No, the Saints are going to win. We have to win.” But but but they was they was keeping it interesting in the fourth quarter. It ain’t over till it’s over. Sure. You got that ridiculous call. You can’t hit the quarterback no more. You know how old school I put a skirt on him. Don’t know what I hit. You can’t hit him in the head. You can’t hit him too low. Oh, God forbid you hit him too hard cuz you can hit him hard and I I thought you can hit him hard but just don’t land on him. Now you can’t even hit him hard cuz if you hit him too hard and the quarterback’s helmet moves, oh that must be a penalty. No. Oh. So what the NFL like Mickey lose and all they going to put that into the front office, you know, in the NFL and they going to say, “Oh, you know what? They tell you the apology. Oh, we missed that one.” Yeah. Well, it was that Carl Granners who was so unblocked. I think they had to call something. Yeah, they had to call someone. He’s coming free. How you supposed to coach that up? No, that was ridiculous. Go hit the quarterback that you maybe throw him down. Don’t don’t land on him or don’t hit him too hard. No, that that was ridiculous. You can’t have those kind of plays. I know you want to protect the quarterback, but but you you cannot didn’t even follow through on the tackle. He let up. That’s what I’m saying. You there’s there’s if that would have been against Rattler, you can’t call that. Any quarterback, you cannot make that call in the NFL. Like I said, I know you want to protect the quarterbacks, but you cannot that that that can be crucial in a critical game. Matter our supercomputer Charlie was at it, Bobby. The Chargers lost a playoff game with a plus five turnover margin. What? They lost 3130 to the Jags in the 2023 wild card game. Blew a 27point lead. That That sounds like when the Bills came back against Warren Moon and the Houston Oilers. You when uh Frank Wright came in for Jim Kelly. Yes, indeed. No, I guess miracles can happen and thank God it didn’t happen today because I thought, “No, Saints are winning. We’re plus five. We’re going to win this game.

WWL Radio’s Bobby Hebert reacts after the Saints’ 26-14 beatdown of the Giants that featured five takeaways and a second-half shutout.

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