Is Sunday the day the Saints offense finally explodes?

Is Sunday the day the Saints offense finally explodes?

From Fox 8 Sports, this is the Overtime Podcast. From the Gulf Coast studios in New Orleans, this is the Fox 8 Overtime Podcast. I’m your host Sean Fazan riding shotgun as he does each and every podcast is Andre Johnson. Do not forget the junior. Very important. Remember the JR at the end of the name. Before we get into today’s content, be sure to like, to share, to rate, to review. If you’re watching us on YouTube, you already know. Do us a favor. Hit that subscribe button. get hit get the bell notification but when we drop that via content also hi hello hello G Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. Glad you have found us here and I keep checking the ratings every day. Y’all found us. So thank you. Um thank you for finding us. Thank you for coming back. That means we’re doing something right here on the GF Coast Sports and Entertainment Network. All right, it is Friday, day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday they call it here. Busiest shopping day of the year. Busy day for the Saints. Wrap up preparations for the Miami Dolphins. They head to South Beach uh this weekend. I will be there uh fly in Saturday, fly out late Sunday night. Um so I will be there for the Saints versus Dolphins. Uh we’re going to get into that a little bit in particular with the Saints offense. But uh all in all, day after Thanksgiving, I’m feeling pretty good. How you feeling? I’m feeling great. You know, I’m feeling stuffed for sure. I’ve had two Thanksgivings so far. You know, my two Okay. Me and my wife did our own. Then we did one with my wife’s family. Then we got another one tomorrow with my family. The beauty of everybody living in different cities. So, you know, two Thanksgivings down, one to go. I’m actually I’ve learned that turkeyy’s cool and all. I’m a Thanksgiving sides person. I feel like the sides are better than the main course when it comes to Thanksgiving. We hosted uh at my house um we had a lot of people, but even more food. We had three different turkeys, two hams. Um, we had dressing. We had, uh, a lobster and shrimp and crawfish bis. Uh, chicken and sausage gumbo. Uh, we had this corn casserole that my mom made. It was fantastic. Uh, we had, uh, what else did we have? Like this this potato kind of mixture, you know, you had the mashed potatoes and potato mixture kind of casserole type thing. We were hooked up. My refrigerator is stacked right now full of leftovers right now. It was a fantastic Thanksgiving. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well as uh we are now officially in the uh Christmas season here. You see the bl the red pillows. You see the the mistletoe and all that. I don’t know what is that. I don’t know. A wreath or something. I don’t know how you call that. But anyway, um so now I guess it’s okay to get those Christmas direct decorations down from out the attic and start going. I know some of you already started. I know some of y’all have. All right. That tree has been up for three weeks now. Your tree? Yeah. Oh, you’re one of them types. The wife doesn’t play when it comes to Christmas. So, you skip right over Thanksgiving. Soon as Halloween ended, she was putting up Christmas stuff. And I was like, you pick your battles in marriage. Of course, I wasn’t about to pick a battle over the Christmas tree, so I just put it up. See, we do like we kind of do the fall Thanksgiving feel. And now we move on to Christmas. All right. Saints moving on to the Miami Dolphins in a game. Um they’re 2-9. The Dolphins are 4-7. um in the grand scheme of the NFL uh layout this week. I don’t imagine this is going to generate much buzz on the national level, but it’s going to be very important for us here because we are eyeballing this team to see when and where uh we can pinpoints of growth, um points of malpractice, if you will, points of just um filling in the data points of what this 2025 Saints team is going to be. And that’s where we wanted to go with the big picture here today. You know, the big picture being we saw, you know, the offense and how they looked against Carolina. Then it was night and day compared to what we saw two weeks later when they played the Atlanta Falcons. So now looking ahead to a Miami team that started off terrible this year, but has actually won three of their last four games. Is this week against the Dolphins in South Beach the week that the Saints offense can bounce back and kind of get a little revenge for what happened on Sunday? Well, I hope so. I think everyone hopes so. I think everybody wants that to be the case. Um, can they deliver? I mean, that that’s just the point. I mean, we broke down Wednesday a a team that doesn’t score points and we broke down all the reasons why. You had three, five reasons. I had three and we only I think we overlap once. So, that many reasons why the solvent is not operating. But, um, I’m to the point now, Andre, where I’m okay with a loss as long as they’re scoring points in that loss. Like if they lose out, that would suck. Nobody would like that. But they’re scoring points week in and week out. To me, that’s almost as as as much of a sign of growth as actually uh winning games. You don’t want to lose to to the Jets. You don’t want to lose to the Titans. You don’t want to lose to Miami. Um but I that’s where I’m almost at with this team because it’s been hasn’t just been the losses. It’s been the losses with the lack of scoring. So if you give me a loss where you’re losing 41 to 30 or 35 28 or 34 31 um you know we talk about it would be tough to have the loss and you always play to win but we would come here on this pod and say that is a tangible sign of growth because this team is not scoring points. They’re not scoring points. They’re not scoring points. They’re not scoring points. And there is in its purest most fundamental really neutral to any sport. You got to score more points than the other team. That’s just what it boils down to. Um just go to the game where the last time, the only time, the one time they have scored more than 20 offensive points in a game back in week two against M. Jones and the San Francisco 49ers. So, this is an offense that has kind of come to a standstill. And look, even even the week they won against Carolina, 17 offensive points. The week they won against New York, I think, was 19 offensive points. And they scored 26 total because they had the the the fumble return for a touchdown. So, can Sunday finally be the day? Well, you’re going up against a Dolphins team that’s it’s very interesting the way this team is laid out because they’re not good and yet they’re capable of really like streaky uh terrible and really good performances. They beat Buffalo a couple weeks ago. Uh they destroyed the Falcons a couple weeks ago coming off a victory over uh the Washington Commanders. But in seven losses, Miami has given up 33, 33, 31, 27, 29, 31, and 28 points. Now, it’s a lot of points. That’s a lot of points to surrender. It’s a lot of points to give up. Um, point being you, this team, while they’ve played better the last couple of weeks, and they might have surrendered 13 points the last couple of weeks, this team has shown they will give up points to your opponent. And I look at a young quarterback and Tyler Shuck. I look at a team or defense that I wouldn’t call vaunted. Um, and they got a couple of players here and there. They got Minka. I know they got Jordan Brooks leads the NFL in tackles. I know they have uh was it Bradley Chub who leads their team in sacks but I don’t know Andre do you see a an intimidating defense because I don’t do you see an intimidating intimidating home field advantage because I don’t um and that fan base almost feels a little bit like okay are they good all right I’ll show up to the game this time because it doesn’t feel that fan is going to show up every single week. um long way of saying yes, I think this can be the week that this team, this offense finally explodes. I think this is the matchup. I think this is if you’re going to look for a favorable matchup where your opponent, the venue, um what they’ve shown um to a matchup to perhaps I don’t even sure if I can call it bounce back. Get get to where you need to be. have that offensive explosion, that Kell Moore offensive explosion, because that’s what we need to see. We need to see the offensive genius have his offense look like a premier offense in the NFL. We have not seen that at all this year. So, can this be the week? I say yes, it can. I say yes, it can be the week that Yeah, I don’t know. I’m not I’m not going to say win or loss. I’m not gonna do that. But I am gonna say, oh, this is dangerous, especially with the injury report. I’m gonna say they score more than 20 points this week. Yes, I think the Saints can offense can score 12 points this week. What say you? I hope you’re right. I really hope you’re right. You know, you were the good cop in this situation. I guess that leaves me to be bad cop because I desperately hope that we come in here on Monday and we’re talking victory Monday and we’re talking the Saints scored 31 points against the Miami Dolphins. But I don’t see why this would necessarily be a bounceback week for the Saints because the same offense that struggled last week, they lost Alvin Chimera, which some may argue, you know, could be a blessing in the in disguise. Some may argue as a blow, but either way, I do think Tyler Shuck will be better. I don’t think he was great against the Dolphins. Definitely not as good as he was Falcon. Jimmy. Yeah, the Falcons definitely not as good as he was against the Panthers. No AK, so there is an opportunity for Devin Neil. Devin Neil who defin especially in the receiving game really showed some flashes last game hasn’t been able to consistently get going in the running game but he’s not getting consistent carries and we know when it comes to a running back being on the field consistently and getting into a rhythm is a big thing that he hasn’t necessarily gotten to do because he’s behind AK and last game he was behind Taesm as well. So a big opportunity for Deon Neil to hopefully get a lot of touches and for us to see what he can do. You’ve got a wide receiver room full of unproven talent. Chris Olive, we know what he is at this point. We don’t really know what Devon is. We don’t know what Mason Typton is. We haven’t seen anything from the Kevin Austin and the Dante Pettis of the world. There’s so many unproven commodities in that Saints locker room. And then you look at the Dolphins defense. Yes, as a whole this season, they’ve been bad, but in the last four weeks over this winning streak, I mean, they made Kurt Cousins look silly. a Kurt Cousins that played pretty well in the dome last week. They held Bjon Robinson in that game to 25 yards. Bjan Robinson, one of the best running backs in all of football. They got worked by Baltimore. Baltimore Lamar Lamar Jackson scored four touchdowns. Derek Henry ran 400 yards. That was their one loss in the last four. But then they bounce back and they hold Josh Allen and the Bills to 13 points. Yeah. You know, then they go against Washington and we know Washington’s offense is banged up. But they have Jaden, right? Yeah. They don’t have Jaden. They they also hold them to 13 points. So, I see a Dolphins defense that over the last four weeks, it seems like they’re starting to figure it out in a similar way that this Saints defense is starting to figure it out recently over the last month or so. So, for this game, I can’t say with confidence the offense will bounce back, but what might be a victory, I know we always talk about moral victories. At this point, I’m more focused on talent evaluation. I’m looking at Tyler Shuck over the next month and a half. We need to figure out if you’re a guy that we can go into 2026 with with some confidence. Devin Neil, you’ve got an opportunity. There won’t be Alvin Chimera in this game. I don’t think Taesm Hill will get as much action in this game. Devin Neil, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get 15 touches. We’ve been looking for the AK after AK for years. You know, the next running back in New Orleans. Is it Devin Neil? you’ll have an opportunity to prove it in Miami. You know, these wide receivers behind Chris On, are any of them going to be able to make a Rasheed Shahij jump? You know, the undrafted guy who wound up being a staple of this team and a staple of this community for a few years. I thought Typton played okay last last week. Yeah. In the in the few opportunities he had, but when your past game struggles like it did last week, it’s hard to really evaluate the receivers. So, I’m looking at the Typton. I’m looking at the Pettises. I’m looking at the Devon Veles of the world to see if they can, you know, step up and make an impact on the game. I’m still looking at Chris Olive because Chris Olive is the guy who’s going to want to get paid coming up in the next year. So, I’m still looking at Chris Olive as are you one of those I mean top five wide receiver contract type of guys, the offensive line, the young guys, Fuaga, Banks, are y’all going to keep growing? Banks has been good. Fuaga I think has kind of underperformed what we expected him to do in his sophomore season. So, I’m looking at the young players across the offense, and I want to see, can they continue to build on what they’ve done? Tyler Shuck played a really good game. He played a game that was below average. Can you take the lumps that we saw in in Atlanta, you know, when you played the Falcons here, can you apply that to this Dolphins game so that we can see tangible growth? That’s what I’m looking for. Well, let me ask you though because see to me we’re at the phase now for me part of tangible growth is watching those individual players that you name somehow do enough individually to allow the collective unit to score more points. Yeah. So to me like I’m going to be disappointed if I see a 300 yard ef from Tyler Shuck and he only scored 10 points. I’m gonna be still be disappointed um in Devin Neil, not him particularly or Tyler Shuck particularly, but if he gets, you know, a 100 yard rushing game, receiving game, and he only scored 13 points, part of the equation has to be this has to equate to scoring points. So, I’m curious, are you with me on that with I’m to the point now where you we want to win. I don’t I don’t want to seem like I don’t want this team to win, but if you’re going to lose, lose it while scoring some points because I think that’s the last hurdle that has to be overcome because like if everything ends this season with them scoring 14 points a game. Like you’re going to go into the offseason not feeling any any sense of any growth at all from the head coach who was also the offensive play call. To me, you got to see some sort of t tangible results in terms of not necessarily wins and losses, although that that’ll come with it. putting the ball in the end zone and scoring points. That has to happen. I agree with you. I think if the Saints go out there and lose 37 to 28, that’s a good game for the offense. But the thing about this Saints team right now, I think if they score 28 points, they win the game. I all the more reason why scoring is more important. Like I think right now the way the defense is playing, the defense was really good against Atlanta. They were excellent against Carolina. I mean lately the defense has been they were good against Tampa a few weeks ago. Outside of the the Rams game lately, the defense has been solid and Cam Jordan talked about it. I believe it was on Monday. He talked about, you know, just the way that this defense has grown and the way that they’re starting to figure it out. I think 24 points can probably win this game against the Dolphins team with a quarterback who’s leading the NFL in interceptions. You’re looking at That’s the thing. Exactly. A Saints defense that we’ve seen has been able to take the ball away. If the You mentioned you think the Saints can score 20 points. If they can score 20 points, I think they win this game because your defense has been on fire and you’re playing against a quarterback that will and has given away the ball. I’ll just go through the rankings real quick. Miami defensive rankings, they’re total 24th in the NFL. The passing defense is not they’re 12th. Um, and the Saints, by the way, have bumped up a couple spots. I know a couple of the games over over Thanksgiving uh mess with the averages. 29th in rushing, 21st in scoring. And the Saints and them are right right neck and neck with each other. So, you’re not seeing a top tier defense in any any department except for passing. What I mean by that is you knew going into the Falcons game. The one thing defensively they had they got after the quarterback. Maybe what second in the NFL in sacks. You don’t you don’t see necessarily see that outlier right here with the Miami Dolphins defense. And I think they’re a team they’re like if you get up on them early, which is something the Saints have not done all year. I I don’t they don’t it doesn’t feel like a really close locker room. It doesn’t feel like there’s a whole lot of uh chemistry between coaching staffs and players and locker room. It doesn’t feel like there’s a that’s a all for one kind of mantra inside that locker room. And you also mentioned something important because if you are able to get a few extra possessions and you are able to get a couple picks or a couple fumble recoveries, all the more reason why you should be scoring points. And to me, that is the number one goal for me watching the Saints this week. score freaking points. And I don’t think at what week, we’re in week uh week 13, we’re still kind of asking that question. That is something that I did not expect this far into the season that they haven’t quite figured out the equation of the offense. And look, Tyler Shuck, I think, is a guy I think he’s got the right mindset to come back off of a of a, you know, subpar performance, below average performance, whatever you want to call it. Um, but this is a big game for him as well because you you don’t want to be like you were last week. You want even if you’re not as good as you were against Carolina, if you are better than you were last week, that’s at least a sign of okay, there’s some positive momentum. If you are what you were last week, that means three out of the four starts you were not good enough and only one you were. And again, that leads you to, okay, maybe we are back in the quarterback sweep stakes. So, it’s a it’s a big game all the way around locally and it’s a big game all the way around that it feels weird almost saying this but almost where the the win the win or the loss almost feels a little secondary in this game but all the way around it’s a very important game. Yeah. You mentioned earlier you said you know we all wish the Saints would win. I don’t know if everybody watching this podcast hopes that the Saints win on Sunday for certain reasons and certain events that come around every NFL calendar around April, but so that’s why for me, I’m not necessarily focused on the win and the loss. I think, like you said, if they score points, the win will come with it because I think the way the defense has been playing and the way that Miami has played throughout the season, I think that the defense can hold Miami to 13 16 points. Can the Saints score more than that? Well, and you know they last game they were actually able to move down the field. Moving down the field wasn’t the issue. It was once they got down the field, the play calling in the red zone and the missed field goals by Blake Groupy who was no longer here. That’s kind of what stopped them from scoring more points against Atlanta. Maybe a new kicker will change things. Hopefully Kell Moore, just like I said, Tyler Shuck has been taking his lumps and learning. Culturally Kell Moore has been learning as well because if there’s anybody who I’m really disappointed with who I expected more from and haven’t gotten, it’s Kell Moore as a offensive mind and as a play caller. So hopefully this is the game where he kind of lets loose. Well, and you said something interesting because it they they’re not going to have Chimera this week. Um and even even you and I have said that, you know, obviously we don’t believe Chimera is the same player, but even him not being the same player is still probably their best option on the football. So, you’re not going to have that weapon available. Who do they turn to? Is it Devin Neil? They they brought up was it Evan Hall? Um former to the practice squad. U we’ll see the standard elevations for the week. Um but I’ll go through the injury report here. It’s what I got here my phone. Chimera is out. Uh Faga, Devin Neil, and um Faga and Devin Neil both had were on the report, but they’re not they had no game status, so they’re they’re in. They both fully practiced today. Chris Olive is an interesting one because apparently he uh did not practice Thursday according I wasn’t out there Wednesday but apparently he he exited practice early Wednesday and was back too limited on Friday today officially listed as questionable with a back situation. Um that’s something to monitor because um backs can be tricky. Um so if he was good enough to come back to practice that’s obviously a good sign but you got to monitor that going forward. And look, if they don’t have a lav and Chimera, maybe I need to rethink my 20 point prediction. Uh because that’s going to be um that that’s going to be much more difficult. Uh in the Dolphins case, Rasul Douglas is questionable with a foot. Uh Austin Jackson with a toe, questionable. Bonito Jones with an ankle, questionable. Darren Waller, limited practice all week is questionable. Um, so we talked a lot about the offense and I think rightfully so. That’s the injury report. I think this is a different kind of challenge for the defense. The defense has certainly played better, but the Dolphins have so much speed, speed, speed, speed. And I love the Saints defense. There’s no doubt about it. I love the way Brandon Stale has been playing uh from a schematic standpoint. And look, he’s kept the team in games despite inept offensive play. We understand that. But this is a different animal when you talk about uh Devon. Is it Achan or Achain? I’ve heard it. I I’ve heard a Achan A. There’s so many different ways they say it. Well, he is fast. I know that he leads a team in receptions and rushing yards. I think he’s fourth or fifth in the NFL in rushing yards. Scored nine touchdowns and he’s been on fire during Yes. And I remember Jaylen Wadd when he came here 2021 for that Monday night game. Y’all don’t remember that was the COVID game where the Saints had a they got ravaged with COVID and they were literally trying guys uniforms on that they had just met playing that night on a Monday. That’s how crazy it was. Ian Book started that game if you remember Ian Book. Well, Jaylen Wild was the best player on the field. He’s excellent run after catch. He’s a really good receiver for obviously the skill set of Tuake Aloa. That’s a different that’s a different beast when you talk about next level speed. And if that can be defensively if it if they slip up a little bit I think that could be the reason why. Absolutely. And another that Achan and Jaylen Wall like that’s the thing. This Dolphins offense has been up and down but the talent is there. I mean we’ve seen Darren Waller in his age coming off the couch essentially. He took over a game earlier this year with two touchdowns. Yeah. Jaylen Wadd is capable of torching a defense. Han has been phenomenal over the last four games. He’s capable of torching a defense. Tua, if he’s not giving the ball to the other team, he is a guy who’s led the NFL in passing in the past. If Tua gets so hot, he’s hard to stop, you know. And when I look on the other side to the Saints offense with all these injuries, once again, it could be a detriment, but it could also be a blessing in disguise because Tyler Shuck talked on Wednesday and he said something very interesting. It’s something that I have alluded to on this podcast when it came to Tyler Shuck and Mason Tipton. I always say, what was Tyler Shuck doing for the two months that Spencer Rattler was starting? He was running the scout team. Yeah. So, running the scout team, Tyler Shuck wasn’t building chemistry and getting reps with Chris Olive and Rasheed Shahed and Jawan Johnson and Alvin Chimera. He was getting reps with Mason Typton. He talked about Devin Neil on Wednesday and how they’ve really had an opportunity to build chemistry together. and he said Devin Neil is a guy who’s kind of followed the same path that I have from the scout team to the starting lineup now. So Tyler Shuck despite the fact that he’s playing with a lot of backups, he’s playing with guys that he’s probably taken the most practice reps with the team. And I look in Cleveland, you know, when Shadore Sanders stepped in, obviously he won his first game start last week, but the week before where he just kind of got thrown in in the second half and the Browns players were saying, “We’ve never even heard his cadence before. like we’ve had no practice reps with him. We’re still trying to figure a lot out. That might not necessarily be the case with Tyler Shuck because some of those offensive linemen, your starting running back, your starting receiver and Mason Tipton, I mean, even the Dante Pettises and the Kevin Austin’s of the world got to work with Tyler Shuck a lot throughout the offseason. Devon Vele, I’m sure, has worked a lot with Tyler Shuck. It’s to the point where Tyler Shuck, despite playing with backups, he’s had a lot of work with these guys. And I want to see can this chemistry show itself on the field against the starting NFL defense. And I I just wonder what the lesson learned is from last week to this week. Um where you pulled your young rookie quarterback making his third start in crucial situations despite him making some plays to get your team down there, you know, to turn to a guy who we both love. It’s a great player, but it was not the matchup didn’t work. I don’t know if you guys saw the wind with Taesm Hill. uh the Wednesday game plan show we did. I broke down the throw he made um in the end zone and that that play just had no chance. It had absolutely no chance whatsoever by design, by execution, nothing. It was just a horrible call and a horrible situation. And it was one that I thought kind of really kind of let the wind out of their sales a little bit because it really felt like had they got that start the second half, crowd back into it, they would have been rolling, but they weren’t able to do so. So, I’m very curious to see how he approaches it when it comes to Tyler Shuck because hey, man, what else you got to lose right now? And do you need to see if this can be your guy? And I’m telling you, this is this is the type of matchup where a rookie quarterback, if it all lines up, can make a statement, can play well. So, I I just hope Kell Moore, I hope Tyler Shock can certainly take advantage of the situation. I hope they’re able to, we say this every week, avoid the first quarter hole. I mean, you’ll remember from Wednesday what we talked about, they have not started the second quarter with a lead the entire season. That is unbelievable to me. And the more I read that, the more I say that, the more I kind of just look at that on paper. Second quarter, you are trailing in every single game. That’s unbelievable. So all these things you just hope it it all kind of you know it all kind of comes together for a game against a Dolphins team that like I said before yes they’re playing better and they’re coming off a buy and I’m not sure how Mike McDaniel is off of a buy but you know sometimes teams do well. We saw the Saints do it after a buy. They didn’t look so good. So um all you can do is take the opportunity for what it is. Go out there and above all else score points. That’s the message I want to leave with this podcast today. Absolutely. And for me, I mean, I’ve said it all year, the number one objective you had as the New Orleans Saints coming into this season, more important than anything else, I said it since week one. I’m saying it now, you need to know if there is a franchise quarterback in your locker room. We saw it wasn’t the other guy. Tyler Shuck has an opportunity to prove it’s him. Kell Moore, let him loose. Let him do what he does. We need to see if he’s got it or if he doesn’t have it. If we need to pick a quarterback in April or if we can get some supporting pieces. We’ll see. I just I don’t want to see another 17 or 14 point. I just don’t want to see it. That’s not going to be good for Kellmore. All right, for Andre Johnson Jr., I’m Sean Fazan. We’ll catch you guys next time on Overtime.

Sean Fazende and Andre Johnson Jr break down the #Saints upcoming matchup against the Dolphins, and whether their offense can bounce back from a disappointing performance