New Orleans Saints’ Defense Faces Tough Proving Ground Against Matthew Stafford, Puka Nucua

New Orleans Saints’ Defense Faces Tough Proving Ground Against Matthew Stafford, Puka Nucua

The New Orleans Saints defense is going to have to continue rising to the occasion in order for the New Orleans Saints to have any dreams and hopes of upsetting the Los Angeles Rams. 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 Hudad 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 beat writer over at louisianaapasports.net. And on this bonus episode of our wouldbe crossover Thursday, we’re going to dive into some of the biggest things that you need to know about the Los Angeles Rams, including them retooling their defensive secondary with the trade for Roger McCreary, as well as the offense for the Los Angeles Rams potentially being at full health and why the New Orleans Saints defense needs to rise to the occasion. 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 or here on the show which is a proud part of the Lockdown podcast network your team every day. This is going to be a major test not just for rookie quarterback Tyler Shuck over in the offensive side but a major test for the New Orleans Saints defense which has found some ways to impress over the course of the past couple of games. Of course, the rushing defense has been very inconsistent all throughout. gave up 222 rushing yards just two weeks ago, but then held the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to under 100 rushing yards last week. But it’s going to be the Saints secondary that’s probably going to be under the most pressure with Puka Nakua expected to get back out on the field. Now, before I go any further, you might be wondering what happened to crossover Thursday, Ross. You told us that there was going to be a crossover Thursday and then you told us the crossover Thursday was going to be later and then now we’re still looking at your ugly grill. Well, there’s a good reason for all of this. The reason being that we had some recording issues in our what was a fantastic crossover. You’re just going to have to believe me. It was the best crossover ever. And just tell everybody that uh that Travis Rogers from Locked on Rams and I did. I’ll show you a little bit of like a quick 20 second sample of the end product of that recording and you’ll quickly understand why you’re stuck looking at me and listening to me again. But looking at the Rams and what their biggest story is, I think probably a lot of it centers around who might be on the field for them on time. Yeah, I think the big one obviously did not play in London against the Jags. He he took the week off. He took obviously the buy. You get most of this week. So he basically has not played football in three weeks. So you get the idea, right? I’m not going to subject you to that for half an hour uh here on this channel and everything. So, look, if you want it, if you want that episode, reach out to me. I will send you that episode personally and you could check it out either on audio or video, however you like. I will send it to you directly to your email if you want it. Just reach out. I truly truly will. But you can see there that that’s probably not something you wanted to sit through for a half hour. So, here I am. And in that clip, you you heard something important, and that was the well, you kind of heard something important, which was the indication of the importance of Puka Nua, the wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams. He has been Matthew Stafford’s go-to guy in just about every situation, but has been out dealing with an injury. Also had the bye-week to recover. The expectation though is that Puka Nakua will be back out on the field up against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Now, the Rams have a really challenging schedule after the they take on New Orleans. And so, I suppose that there is a world in which the the Rams say, you know what, best start that they’ve had in a few years now. This is, you know, the Rams are my Super Bowl pick coming into or the NF NFC representation in the Super Bowl pick coming into the season. And they’ve started off much stronger than they usually do. And so now that they’ve kind of banked a little bit of cash, if you will, they have an opportunity here to maybe look at Pukaku and say, “You know what? Sit for another week. They’re one and seven. We can handle this. You come back when the schedule gets a lot tougher because their schedule gets very, very challenging after this Saints game.” While the Saints, their schedule lightens up on the backside, right? Five divisional games after the Rams, as well as three non-division games that are up against opponents like the New York Jets, the Miami Dolphins, and the Tennessee Titans. So an okay situation for New Orleans as they try to get sort of the best out of Tyler Shuck that they can before the end of the season. And so maybe we don’t see Puka Nakua, but I expect that we will see Pukanua. And so Puka as well as Dvonte Adams that is a top tandem for the New Orleans Saints young secondary to go up against and this defense as a whole will need to rise to the occasion around that. Not just quarterbacks Kool-Aid McKenry, Quincy Riley, and Alante Taylor, as well as the safeties in Justin Reed, the you know, the veteran as well as rookie Yonas Sanker. Not just the secondary, who of course are going to be challenged by Matthew Stafford and this Rams passing game, but you’re looking for a guy who has been like legitimately very very good, like great uh in Chase Young, who has been awesome since returning to the field. Back on the field for three games now. two sacks already including the force fumble has put down a lot of pressure on the board as well and then of course has been a value to the team in the run defense when the run defense is working unlike in Chicago right so we have to acknowledge the inconsistency of the run game like I you can’t give up 200 plus rushing yards and not have that talked about you know what I mean and so that of course is still a part of the script for New Orleans but the thing that you need to see from this defense is them um understanding the compet competition that’s ahead of him, knowing that this is an NFC favorite team that right now actually has not won a game against an NFC opponent and is looking to capitalize. Now, the Rams have hovered around kind of like mid20s in terms of scoring. And so, if the Saints offense finds some rhythm under Tyler Shuck, there’s maybe some opportunity there to alleviate some of the pressure from the defense. But, if this turns into a shootout, the defense is going to have to make a play at some point that gives their offense an opportunity. if the offense isn’t producing, which is sort of what we’ve seen so far through the season, and that’s a huge question mark for the Saints with an offensive head coach and Kell Moore, the offensive genius, and all these other things. Like, they’ve got to get that figured out before it’s before it’s too late. Uh, the defense is going to have a really, really rough time if the offense, if the Saints offense isn’t able to stay out on the field. So, the defense absolutely has to rise to the occasion here, especially if Puka Nakua is available. I think that his availability is a major factor in this game and could change everything for the Los Angeles Rams and therefore everything going up against the New Orleans Saints. So look for the New Orleans Saints defense to find a way to get it done if they can. And of course, don’t forget familiarity here between uh Shawn McVey and Brandon Staley. And that familiarity goes both ways. Yes, Brandon Staley very accustomed to understanding what it is that Shawn McVey likes to do, but Shawn McVey very accustomed and understanding of what it is that Brandon Staley likes to do as well. Plus, they’re years apart, of course, create a lot of difference in terms of the variations of things that they could potentially deploy. So, we’ll see how things go, but that is going to be a massive factor in this game. the Saints defense, particularly the defensive secondary and pass rush, trying to limit that passing game of Matthew Stafford, Puka Nakua, Devonte Adams, and all the other weapons that they have on that Rams offense. And keep in mind, too, both of these teams have struggled when it comes to uh special teams, particularly field goals. We’ve seen Shawn McVey pass on some opportunities to take field goals and instead going for it on fourth down, which I think NFL teams are just doing more anyway. Now that a touchback gets you two first downs away from field goal range, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to take a field goal in opposing opportunity that you could potentially then kick off and then two plays later you’re giving up a field goal the other way where instead you could potentially either score a touchdown on fourth down or force them to start with worse field position because you turn the ball over on down. So, I think we’re going to see a lot of decision-m change for offenses around the NFL, but the Rams would be undefeated right now were it not for blocked field goals in particular. The Saints, Bill Galliano, they’ve done a very good job of getting after some of those field goals. And so if the field goal block team can get their hands on one, that could potentially be a big factor. But of course, the Saints right now have Blake Groupy, who has not been as consistent as he was, as you know, during the season as he was during training camp. And at least for a little while, carried the worst field goal percentage of all field goal kickers that were active at one point during the season at 70%. So watch for special teams to have a big-time impact in this game as well. And don’t forget that the New Orleans Saints, of course, are going to have a big test ahead of them when it comes to a fantastic Los Angeles Rams defense. But that Rams defense does have one weak spot that could work in the advantage of rookie Tyler Shuck. We got that coming up for you next as we continue on with today’s episode of Lockown Saints, part of Lockown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today’s episode of Lockdown Saints is brought to you by our friends over at Prize Picks, the best and easiest way to play daily fantasy sports. Whether you’re keeping up with the NFL or the NBA or both, there’s no better time to get in on the action. And Prize Picks makes it super easy to do exactly that. All you got to do is choose more or less on two to six player projections, and the decisions that you and I make every day can all of a sudden get you paid over on Prize Pix if you get those right. Uh, for instance, you’ll get a stat projection for Puka Nua on the number of receptions. Choose more. Go ahead, do it. Choose more. And then do it for another few players. And if you get those right, you can be walking away with some cash. And right now, don’t forget that you also have the injury reboot feature so that if a player leaves early and doesn’t return, it won’t count against you. Absolutely love that kind of stuff over at Prize Pix. So, download the Prize Pix app today and use the promo code locked on NFL for $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup. That’s promo code locked on NFL for $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup prize picks. It’s good to be right. Today’s episode also brought to you by our friends over at Game Time. There’s no better place to buy your tickets to your favorite event on the last minute, which is what I often do a lot. I have some friends that used our game time code and used game time to grab tickets to the Paul McCartney concert just the other day. Really, really cool that they got an opportunity to see that. It’s a guy I’d love to see at some point. But you have your favorite NFL games there, too. I pulled up Game Time, and in just a couple of taps, I was able to find some amazing deals, including uh your favorite NFL games for as low as $100 and in some cases even lower, especially here in New Orleans right now. So, the Game Time app is absolutely a place to go. They even have uh featured where you can see the view from your seat before you buy your tickets. And of course, the price you see is the price you pay. That’s the Game Time guarantee. Download the Game Time app today and create an account and use the promo code locked on NFL. You’ll get $20 off of your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download Game Time and use that code Local for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Today’s episode of Locked on Saints also brought to you our friends over at Mazda. Mazda Crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. They deliver confidence in every ride as well with more IHS Top Safety Pick Plus awards than any other anyone else uh as of August of 2025. From footwork to breath work, you know that the new that the your favorite athletes, they sweat all of the details and Mazda brings that same level of intention to how they craft every model as well. You can feel that fantastic craftsmanship and every single detail from the metallic accents to the available Napa leather upholstery and of course that all-wheel drive too that is standard in every crossover SUV so that you can drive with confidence through almost any season. make everyday drives feel like anything but with that smooth handling and those intuitive controls over at Mazda. Like your favorite players, they sweat every detail. And so when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. Let’s get it, Huda Nation. Continuing on with our bonus episode here, kind of in place of our Crossover Thursday episode. We did a full episode earlier today talking about Kell Moore’s u commitment to Tyler Shuck, the non flip-flopping, the difference between flip-fpping and quarterback changing. Look, it’s all stuff that we knew was going to happen, right? We said it from the very beginning of the season once Tyler Shuck was drafted, that even if even if Spencer Rather won the quarterback job, which he did, he would have to work and be nearly perfect in order to hold on to it for the entire season. When you draft a quarterback at pick number 40, you’re eventually going to get them out on the field and get an opportunity to see them. And that’s exactly what happened. The Saints saw a window, they saw a door, and now Tyler Shuck’s gotten out on the is going to get out on the field this weekend to go up against the Los Angeles Rams. And make no mistake about it, he’s done enough in the background to earn that opportunity as well. It’s not just his draft status. The Saints obviously feel like they might be able to get something done here, but they have to see him in order to get things figured out, especially while they hold the number one overall selection in the NFL draft, putting him in prime position to potentially land another quarterback next year. So, the entire story here around Tyler Shuck begins this weekend up against the Los Angeles Rams. And that’s a tough defense to go up against. Again, I believe that it’s actually a good thing, right? If you lose this game, it’s not really going to do a lot to your confidence because you’re going up against a Super Bowl, well, let’s say a a deep playoff expected run team. I think they should be a Super Bowl favorite in the NFC, but they also are 0 and2 against NFC teams. So, you know, we’ll see how things go for them. But I I think that a big part of this game comes down to how Tyler Shuck and Kell Moore go out and attack the one weakness that this uh Los Angeles Rams second or Los Angeles Rams team have which is its secondary dealing right now with injury to Darius Williams who is limited in practice on Wednesday. We’ll see how things progress. Travis said during the originally recorded crossover that again I’ll send you if you want it but I’m telling you the quality is not great. Um that one of the things that he mentioned was that Darius Williams might not play this weekend and pro and even went so far as to say probably won’t play this weekend. Now we’ll see how things go and how things progress. He was only limited on Wednesday so we’ll see. But the Rams did go out there and made a trade for Roger McCreary the former Auburn corner 5 foot10 just under 200 lb. He was the guy in the uh drafted in the second round to the Tennessee Titans. He ended up being traded just a couple of days ago. And so the Rams could be looking to continue to retool that secondary a bit and potentially could lean on Roger McCreary to go out there. Now, in my opinion, Roger McCur is a talented player, but him fitting into this new defense and turning things over the same week might be a little bit challenging. And so guys like Chris Olive, Rasheed Shahed, Brandon Cooks, whatever wide receivers remain on the roster with the trade deadline approaching going into this game up against uh Los Angeles, there’s an opportunity here to attack the one spot that Travis talked about as the weakness for this Los Angeles Rams team, and that’s the secondary. The issue is that the offensive line for New Orleans, which has been inconsistent at best when it comes to pass protection and run protection, that they’re going to have to buy Tyler Shuck time. Now, maybe there’s something different about how the line is orchestrated, how the offense is orchestrated that creates some of those opportunities, but even when uh Tyler Shuck went in up against the Tampa Buccaneers, he was throwing at 2.48 seconds per throw. That was his time to throw. So, still a lot of quick moves, a lot of checkdowns, a lot of keeping things underneath and all those other things. So, does that change with a week’s worth of of of preparation, a week’s worth of practice, all of those pieces? But when you have guys like Byron Young as well as Jared Verse and uh you know guys on the interior that are fantastic as well over in um over in Los Angeles breathing down your neck. That front is going to make things very challenging for the young rookie going into the situation. It’s going to make things challenging for Kell Moore and it’s going to make things challenging for this offense which still doesn’t really feel like it has its identity. I mean they barely ran the ball last week against Tampa Bay Buccaneers. not going to be able to not do that up against Los Angeles because if you become one-dimensional, those guys that we just mentioned are pinning their ears back and they’re coming after you. They’re coming after you to make some plays. And so, you’ve got to be able to get this run game going or at least a screen game or something like that, which the Saints have completely erased from their offense out of nowhere. And so, or at least a running back screen game’s got to get going. And so there are just those little bitty pieces that I think could make all the difference for the New Orleans Saints and rookie quarterback Tyler Shot going up against a very talented but retooling Los Angeles secondary and Los Angeles defense. So that might be the one lane where the Saints might be able to say found a crease going to exploit it. And we’ll see if the rookie and the New Orleans Saints find a way to do exactly that. Both uh Travis and I picked in this game for the Saints to lose. Uh we were both right around the same. Travis’s prediction was 27 to13. Mine was 24-10. The Rams have not have allowed only one touchdown in their last 21 defensive possessions against opponents. And so to expect the New Orleans Saints to do much more than put one touchdown on the board would mean something spectacular is happening. And that could be good news for Saints fans. And so I don’t want to rule that out to where all of a sudden you get that bump from the new quarterback and you see how things go. Uh but as of right now going into this game, this feels like one in which the New Orleans Saints are very much outmatched and the Tyler Shuck era might begin a little bit rocky before it begins to smooth out against more manageable opponents after this week. We appreciate you very much for being here. Sorry for all the technical difficulties on the crossover. I hope that this was at least supplemental for you to be able to do it. And again, if you want to see the episode, reach out to me. I will send it to you directly and you’re more than welcome to check it out. Uh but I’m not going to publish something that isn’t up to a certain standard and so I’m happy to do this to make sure you get the content that you are looking for. I appreciate very much your patience and your understanding. We’ll see you again here tomorrow as we go even deeper into this matchup and how the New Orleans Saints what the New Orleans Saints need to do to potentially though unlikely steal away a big-time upset victory in Los Angeles. We appreciate you very much as always making us a part of your day, part of your routine for saying yes to me and the show. If you see me, please say hi. 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. The family is doing them. Know how you living. Let me know how you moming them. And trust that Nation, I’ll holler at you.

New Orleans Saints face a major test as their defense and Chase Young prepares to battle the high-powered Los Angeles Rams offense featuring Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua with Nacua returning from injury.

Tyler Shough—now making his debut as Saints quarterback—must find an opening against the Rams’ retooled secondary, which adds Roger McCreary amid uncertainty around Darious Williams.

BECOME A LOCKED ON SAINTS INSIDER: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonsaints

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-saints/

Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More
🎧https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nfl/

LouisianaSports.Net’s Ross Jackson hosts the Locked On Saints Podcast keeping the Who Dat Nation up-to-date with everything you need to know about your beloved New Orleans Saints.

And follow Ross on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New Orleans Saints and talking with fans.
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/RossJacksonNOLA

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Peloton
Let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.

PrizePicks
Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.
Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL

Rugiet
Ready to level up your confidence ? Head to https://rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 15% off your first order.

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)