Hebert’s rant after loss to 49ers: Saints fight hard, but ‘no participation trophies’

Hebert’s rant after loss to 49ers: Saints fight hard, but ‘no participation trophies’

Well, I mean, it’s not PE class. You got to Did you win or lose? Yeah, exactly. No, the Saints are going to play hard. I think they going to be competitive. But, um, I’d rather win ugly than all of a sudden, you know, I was entertained and we lost. So, you have to win. Uh, and the Saints not doing enough uh to come away with a win. And you look 26-21, you know, we’ve played like uh almost 80 times, like 78 times, and half of the games have been decided by touchdown or less in the history of 49ers and Saints, and it was 26 to 21. Uh you look at it now. They’ve won 50 times. We’ve won 27. And uh you know, two lo two ties. So uh no uh the 49ers, you have to say they’ve had our number. Uh it’s just the way it is. You can’t say, “Well, uh, well, we going to beat them without Brock Pury.” They were 0 and3 without Brock Perie. Now they’re 1 and three. Like you would say, not so fast. Yeah, not so fast. I thought I thought we had a great chance to make them 0 and4 uh, you know, without Brock Pury starting uh, to go in the game. But, um, obviously that did not happen. Uh, the one thing that did happen and I thought would h, you know, would occur is that both Alvin Camar and Christian McCaffrey would get off. uh cuz they’ve always gotten off in these games. If if you look at it, and this is not an opinion. I said this in the pregame, there was only two of four active players with a career average of 100 plus scrimmage yards per game. And that’s their career. It was Alvin Camra, Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, and Jonathan Taylor. Well, you look today, McAffrey on 19 touches. I think they want to be around that 20 mark. He had 107 total yards from scrimmage. He came into the game in 10 career games. Now, uh, guess what he is against the Saints? Right around 100 yards. Coming in, he was 95.3, 95 and a half, you could say. Today, he ended up havingund and seven. Now, Chimera, um, I think on the fumble, trying to do a little too much, you know, uh, if he could live a fight another day, you can’t expose that ball like that. Uh, you got a guy like Fred Warner who is a ball hog. That didn’t surprise me. He’s all pro, kind of like Deario Davis. He ended up having 11 total tackles, seven and assisted a tackle fall loss, passed defending a force fumble, and he recovered uh that fumble when that occurred. But looking at Chimera, uh this is what I think needed to be the case. You know, we talked to coach Moore and then the coaches show and all that. And Alvin cannot have a game where he’s not touching the ball at least 20 times. First game he had 13 touches, 57 yards total yards from scrimmage. today. He uh if you look at it, 27 touches, 121 total yards from scrimmage. I think that’s the formula for the offense to help out Spencer Rattler uh when that occurs. Now, you look at M. Jones, I don’t know, we made M. Jones, I’m not saying all pro, but we made him look like um a legit starter considering, you know, when all said and done, he had a quarterback rating of 113. Uh but we didn’t take no interceptions. He had three touchdowns uh but no picks. Uh right on he was on pace to have a 300yd gain. He ended up having uh 279. But M. Jones’s three touchdowns and zero intercepts performance was just the third time he’s done that in his career. And the first time since week 16 of his rookie season of 2021 with the Patriots when they beat the Jaguars like 50 to 10. So this one your normal uh there’s no way 49ers fans can say oh we had confidence in M. Jones that he’s going to bring us to victory. Uh no. Uh we had we did not discourage him for not playing uh with a lot of confidence. Now looking uh from a defensive perspective um backto-back games uh Carl Granison showed up uh not so much on the stat line with Cam Jordan. You know Cam Jordan end up having one tackle. Uh that’s why we need Chase Young to be more disruptive. I thought at times uh when you look at Mac Jones way too much time to throw. We were not affecting him enough. Now, we ended up with three sacks. Chris Rum came up with a nice sack. We he had a quarterback hurry tackle fell for loss. He also had the force fumble that was recovered by Deario Davis. And Demario Davis, that didn’t surprise me. He led the team in tackles with 11. He was tied and assisted with Sanker, the rookie. They both had five. But I would say who really stood out on the defensive side would be uh Carl Granderson, Grandandy Man, and and Chris Rump. Uh who’s familiar with Brandon Staley’s SK scheme. So, uh, so that was a good sign. The one I thought, uh, didn’t show up and got picked on, uh, and they were familiar with him was Isaac Adam. He was on their team last year, so they were going after him. They weren’t going away from Isaac. And Alante Taylor, uh, Alante Taylor, uh, like I thought it’d be more Kool-Aid, but no, it was not Kool-Aid. He had that one hands to the face penalty. I think we’d have had a three and out the beginning of the second half. Uh, but yeah, I I thought uh that Alante Taylor definitely has to play a lot better. and Isaac Gab, I don’t know. He’s going to be like week to week, I think, if he is the future. That’s why we drafted uh Riley um from Louisville to maybe end up uh being the guy there. Now, looking at um overall occurred, the same song and dance. Uh not good. It was just like preseason. Third down. Third down. We got to be more consistent. We got to get off the field. Coach Moore said that on third down. You told me halftime, same old Saints. Yeah. A team can’t deal with 50% converting on third down. They were eight of 15, 53%. And uh one time we were 0 for Steve. I know on third down we were not good at the beginning. It took forever, right? Yeah. Yeah. We we were uh all of a sudden 0 for four on third down to start the game and then we got a little better, but 411 36%. No, that’s not winning football. We need to flip that. Again, I might be saying the same song and dance every week, but no, we need to be hovering around high 40s or low 50s as far as third down conversions. And if you’re top defense, you’re holding your opponent to 30 some%. Well, that’s the one thing how you controlling the eb and flow of the game. At least we were three for three in the red zone. No, exactly. We were good in the red zone. That’s one thing Spencer has not been in practice or anything. We get in the red zone. You can’t be selling for field goals. We were three for three, but then we need to force uh field goals defensively. Yeah, I’m not saying you got to take away the football, but you can’t let them go two for two in the red zone. We got we have to be able to force uh field goals. I thought great balance as far as the play calling by Kell Moore. We end up having 30 rushing attempts, averaged 4.1, and we threw 35 passes. I think that’s about right. We don’t want Spencer Rattler throwing it over 35 times or 40 times a game. So, that was good balance there. Uh net putting average, how you trying to flip the field with Kroger, not so good. 37 12. You might say, “Well, Bobby, what do you want?” A 42 and 1/2, that’s 5 yards different, but that is major. Um, Marstead was 37 and a half. So, that was a wash of 37 37 and a half. The same, but that was not good. For us to win, we got to be more opportunistic. Again, like the last game uh to kick off the season against the Cardinals, did we win the turnover margin? No, we didn’t lose it, but we didn’t win it. We got to be like plus one. Uh, you know, we got to take it away and we got to protect it. So, let’s say like when Chimera fumbled, so we got to get two back, you know, whether it’s interception or fumble. So we plus one instead of even. We need all the help we can get right now to try and win a game. I I think Spencer Rattler is fighting his behind off. You can look at his effort on his runs. Uh moving to six and all, but uh that was really frustrating. Now we got better. I don’t know what the coach told him at halftime, but situational penalties. Now I always tell you know nine uh penalties or more or 100 yards. No, it’s like giving up a touchdown. Well, what did we have in the first half? I think we have like five penalties. I think we ended up with seven for 45 yards. So that was a terrible first half. Correct. As far as penalties. So that wasn’t good. And for us to have a chance, come on, Blake Groupy. I I mean, I have never seen He was unbelievable in training camp, but you have to do it when the games count. Uh that that was a 40-yard field goal. And you think about how uh how all those points matter that if he makes that field goal, I don’t know how the game’s going to turn out, but let’s say the game would have been 26-24, then we only need a field goal at the end to win and you have a chance to get have the game-winning kick instead of having to go score a touchdown. So, all those things uh come into play uh when all said and done. And u I thought in the return game um looking at Rasheed Shahed, this is winning football. anytime you returning at double digits. He had 11 and a half yard average. He had that long gain of 19 in a perm return. Uh Kendrick Miller. Uh now I know we didn’t just draft him this high just to be a kick returner. Now he only averaged 1.6 yard of carry. Now he had five attempts. Uh but no, uh Alvin Camar averaged 4.8. So we need to have a Kendrick Miller around that area, but he had that one good kick return. I thought 34 yards that that was nice. But uh in the return game, I I think we had good production there when you you look at as far as fuel position. But again, I think we might be saying this a lot. So close, but so far uh 26 to 21. Um I think they’re playing hard, but uh you don’t get brownie points, right? Yeah. You don’t get participation trophy. I mean, a loss is a loss. Now the Saints are 0 and2. Congratulations. You played hard. Yeah. Uh no, no. And and it’s not going to get easier. Uh, it’s going to be a monumental upset. I’m telling you, if we go to Seattle and win, it’s going to be a hostile environment. And, uh, I know the 49ers came up with a win and they were in a dog fight. So, I can I can think I think we can be in a dog fight against Seattle. Hopefully, that’s the case. Uh, but I would be surprised if we win. Same thing at Buffalo. Come on. We’re going against the Bills. So, that’s why I thought we had to win one of these games. That’d be the um the Cardinals or the 49ers. Now, with that being said, I thought we’d beat the 49. I mean, beat the Cardinals and I beat the 49ers and the 49ers all banged up. I thought, well, we can be one-on-one cuz we were playing them at the right time to come away with a victory. And obviously, obviously that was not the case. And um no, what’s bugging me is like, and look at I’m a capitalist. If you want, you pay your hard-earned money and you want to sell your tickets, sell your tickets. If the Saints are winning, people aren’t selling their tickets. But we used to disgusting. We used to play the 49ers and Joe Montana. They were winning Super Bowls and all that. They wouldn’t know no damn far fans like that cuz all the Saints fans wanted to be in that number. It was like a sea of red. But the Saints are on offense. You’re hearing defense chants. Well, uh uh especially in the red zone. I’m hearing defense. Defense now. Yeah. Now, uh the 49ers, we in the red zone and the 49er fans are chanting that. It kind of remind me of the Lions game when there was all that all blue. Then when we played Detroit, but Detroit finally was winning. Honolulu blue everywhere. But wait, but that was fans coming down from Michigan. All them damn fans ain’t coming from California. Uh, no. No. The thing is, if you’re from Louisiana, how can you cheer for the 49ers? Now, is your uncle, your grandma from California or or what were you on that bandwagon cuz of Joe Montana? I mean, I’mma tell you, you know, like, oh, I like the Steelers cuz they used to win. My grandpa told me, uh, you know, about the Steelers or it could be the Cowgirl. You know, they ain’t won in over a quarter of a century. So, I don’t know if you’re from Texas, yeah, you could cheer for Dallas, but to me, if you’re in the Gulf Coast, Golf South, uh, the Saints should be a priority. And it was not really a home game. It was almost like we were playing in a neutral site. Uh, when you really think about it, you know how when you have a kickoff game in college, oh, uh, they’re playing in Dallas, it might be, uh, LSU against Oregon or whatever, you know? Yeah. Then that’s what is kind of like the atmosphere. But hey, how you change that? Uh you win games and everybody wants to be in that number, but when you say uh like who sold their tickets, that lower bowl behind the 49ers bench, that was all red. See red. Yeah, see of red. [Music]

WWL Radio’s Bobby Hebert sounds off after the Saints fall 26-21 to the 49ers, the second consecutive game that came down to the final offensive possession, and the second consecutive game that came up just short for New Orleans.

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