First Look: Here’s Why Saints Could STRUGGLE With New England Patriots!

First Look: Here’s Why Saints Could STRUGGLE With New England Patriots!

We get to welcome on our next guest after a New Orleans Saints victory, our guy Nick Underh Hill, New Orleans. Football. Nicholas, how we doing this week, sir? Hey, doing good. Doing good. How you guys doing? Uh, doing fantastic. We got We totally blew it. What? We said if we won this week, we’d have him on video. We did. We did. Can we FaceTime real quick? We did. We did. should say that. That’s on us. That just means he owes us next week after they beat the Patriots. Right, Nick? Uh, I don’t see that one coming. I don’t see that one coming. But Oh, he little faith. Oh, whoa. Did you not see them this last Sunday? The takeaways, the defense, the Spencer Rattler throw to Rasheed Shahed. I mean, they played good. They played all right. You know, shout out to Jackson Dart for being a absolute disaster after going up 14 nothing, too. That that helps. Um, but look, I mean, they they played they played well. They took advantage of their opportunities. They beat an opponent. They needed to beat I I think it’s incredibly important um for them to get that that one. Even if you’re you’re someone checking tankathon after every game to see where they’re at like they needed to win a game at some point to feel it to keep everyone bought in to to you know it gives Spencer Rattler I think more more room to continue to develop which I think is important but more importantly just like as you establish your culture and everything like some point there has to be some level of success even if everybody’s looking around and saying hey look this is a rebuild understand where it’s at um at some point you got to win a game but yeah look I I I thought they played well I thought it is great that the uh bright spots in that game are are all younger guys that I think are probably going to be around for a while. I thought Brian Berie played out outstanding and I think he’s been playing well all season. The the run defense has has looked a lot better. Jonas Sanker might be the best player in their in their secondary right now, which um kind of feels like a like a hot take, but I just think it’s it’s just what what what it is. Like if you’re watching the games, that’s just what it looks like. Quincy Riley looked good in that game. Kendrick Miller was was was running the ball well again. Like I I think there’s a lot of stuff to to feel good about independent of the result and you know whether they beat the Patriots or the Bears or the Rams or the Bucks in the next four games. Like that’s just kind of the stuff I’m looking for. So like I’m I’m optimistic about that stuff even if if the result isn’t there. Nick, in life you got to celebrate the victories. You have spent your entire life, you spend every day tracking these guys, looking at taking notes, watching practice. When they win, you got to start out positive, man. Hey, when they win, I can actually do like cool stories and stuff. So, like that’s that’s the best part of it. Yeah. Like you can’t like really go in there and, you know, be like, “Oh, how does Tel Moore use motion on third and four to get the you know, like no one gives a damn.” Like so you gota there’s like a ton of stuff that’s in my pocket that I’m I’m unloading the clip this week and then we’ll see what happens next week. So I absolutely and like even just in the locker room like people want to talk to you like no one’s trying to get away from you know go watch the the press conferences after that game. There’s like no uh last question from anybody like everyone’s excited to talk about stuff like so so that definitely makes it way better. You well you said it in your in your first answer here like the the Saints were opportunistic. uh they took advantage of the opportunities that were given to them and you can’t apologize for somebody fumbling or throw an interception or whatever it is. You have but you have to be able to take advantage and we haven’t seen them do that to this point. And in order for them to whether it’s stack two wins together or get multiple wins throughout the season, they’re going to have to be opportunistic. They can’t just rely on their roster, their, you know, like their talent pool that they’re relying because they’re they’re going to be at a roster deficit on a lot of their games. Now, not every single game, but they have to do that. So, how do you uh if you’re the Saints and you’re attacking this week? I know there’s a lot of like positive vibes um going on, but how do you kind of attack this week going forward? You know, I think they just got to try to find a way to and this is just such a generic answer, but like they got to find a way to to to build on it. I mean, like they’re trying to play bend but don’t break defense, you know? And every time Staley talks, it’s like, “Hey, we aren’t giving up the the 40 yard bomb, but like you’re giving up the the nine.” And like that’s cool. You can you can do that, but like you do have to get the turnovers in the red zone stops and get off the field on third down to do it. So like you just showed you can do it. You showed you can get some turnovers. You showed you can get off the field on third down. So you got to keep doing that. You know, I think offensively like we continue to see like growth and add-on to some of the stuff they’re doing. And we were just talking about the the under center plays. Um you know, and they’ve started rolling them out against Buffalo. They’re bringing them back out in this one. And again, like having a kick return and you start at the nine and you’re and you’re pinned back, like you’re probably not going to be sitting back there in shotgun on every snap, but like the under center snaps were were higher um partially due to to that that series. But then they hit the 87 yard out of a out of an under center play action look. Um eye formation offset on the far side. Like you look at Kell Moore’s tendency throughout like his whole entire career. There’s been like 70 of those plays over the last three years. and uh from from that look under center, you know, far offset and uh he’s only thrown out of it four times. That was the fifth time. Like so like you’re seeing cool stuff get built on top of it, too. And they’re creating tendencies now to break them. And like I think if you just keep doing that kind of stuff, it’s going to help your offense. It’s going to put them into advantageous situations. It’s going to give Rattler the time to develop and grow. But like I I think the defense has to remain opportunistic and they have to start scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Like that that’s a major major issue right now. Um, you know, you get five turnovers and you get one touchdown. And a lot of that’s because like they aren’t they aren’t scoring points down there. Um, and Ble I think is is kind of the key. Ble and Jawan Johnson. Like where are those two guys at in that area of the field? I I think they really got to get Ble going. The injuries I think he’s on the other side of it. They’ve been bringing him back slowly. It’s time to make him a weapon. Um because, you know, we’re looking for those bright spots and he needs to be one. You traded a fourth rounder for him. So that that’s that’s the specific area where you’re looking for him. and and Jawan Johnson, too. You know, he’s he’s a top 15 paid tight end. Like, he’s got to make make red zone catches. So, you got to get those two guys going. Um, you know, but I think I think it’s just the continual build on top of stuff. Nick, you had a couple of guys come back and we talked about it last week and Fostro and Taesm Hill. Now, Taesm only plays nine plays and it did it was very p I felt like you could predict um when he came in like kind of what it was. does. I mean, he ran six times and threw once in the in the nine plays and so he was involved in the game plan when he was in there. Very easy to predict. And so, you hope that they, you know, maybe hide it, disguise it a little bit better there. But I did think like even having Fostro for yeah, what do you play 23 plays in this game like it it does help kind of solidify this offense a little bit because Jawan Johnson, there’s flashes without question, but it’s not consistent enough, I don’t think, for what you need at the tight end position. And having those guys back, it does allow Jawan Johnson to kind of get back to what he’s best at or at least what you hope he’s best at. How did you feel like having those two tight ends in your offensive game plan kind of helped out on Sunday? Yeah, I think Taesm looked maybe a little like like a guy that was coming back from an injury, too, like maybe not quite all the bursts here. Probably take a little bit of time. Um, you know, on three of those runs, if you go back and look at it, the uh the Poland guard completely misses his block. So, I think uh Toriselli Simpkins and Trevor Penning are are kind of, you know, to blame on those as as well. Um, but yeah, I think it’s probably going to take some time and like like you said, I think it was incredibly telegraphed. It always is, but like when he’s not moving like like Superman, like I I I think it it probably hurts a little bit. Um, but yeah, I mean, I I think they got to build on he’s got to get his legs under him, you know? I I think Foster kind of had like some some silent impact, you know, when you go through and you’re you’re like, “Hey, how’d that that get sprung or why’d that look good?” Or you just see someone like, “Who’s that making that block?” Like you’re seeing some of the these plays from him that I think, you know, he’s just such a a good energy presence. Um, you know, I think having both of them back though, like you said, like I think it allows everyone to kind of settle into their their natural order. Um, you know, we we’ll see what Taesm is going forward. Um, you know, I think that’s what what they did is is probably I think you can blend it probably a little bit better, but that that’s probably the package of plays that that I want to see from him this season. Like I I thought Kubak centralized him way too much to the the offensive operation and then he gets hurt and the whole thing just kind of crumbles and then it’s like, well, they can’t score, they can’t do this, and it’s like, well, yeah, he tried to build it around like use check and that’s pace of him and it worked and it worked, man. and it worked great, but then it then he’s gone and it and it didn’t, you know, he’s what is he 35 years old last year, the contract, I think he’s a player that could help you win games, so you you use him and you put him out there, but uh I I don’t know that, you know, you you make it the uh you know, the the the piece of chicken in the in the pan and the seasoning on top. And I think that’s probably the best way to do it. Nick, we saw a uh we saw a really like a just absolute brutal, horrendous call on the ref and the pass there and and I know you get bad calls every week and I know that the team every week, every single team turns in plays to the league office for explanations on penalties or penalties that weren’t called. Dad, do you know if we’ve heard back from the NFL league office at this point? As of yesterday, they hadn’t. They they had reached out to kind of get an explanation. I mean, that’s just, you know, it’s nasty, man. Like, and and that’s that that matters. Like, it actually matters. He has a chance to Yeah, he has a chance to maybe lead the league in sacks. Unbelievably, but like five and a half, like that puts you up there. Um, and that that’s money at the end of it whether I I got I got to look to see if he’s got incentives or not, but like you know, if you end at eight and a half sacks or you get 10 or whatever, you know, like a sack can make a major difference in how you’re how you’re perceived. Oh, he’s not a double digit sack guy. Well, like what if he gets stopped at nine and a half? You know, it’s like, well, that one like was actually there. Um, it it matters. It really does. Um, and look, it’s just nasty to watch the game and and then that happens. You know, I I don’t need to see um, you know, James Harrison type hits out there anymore. Like, you kind of look at some of that stuff now, the old games, and you know, even just going back 10 years, like you cringe a little bit, some of the stuff that that you know is is out there and getting celebrated, but like man, that that was the softest thing I’ve ever seen like like legitimately. And, you know, we’re Dave’s moves, so it’s not like a in the- moment thing. like it was legit. Like he got him around the elbows and it’s just like he he he had too much force when he hit him so they throw a flag is basically how it looked to me. Um and that’s just kind of like all right man like that’s that’s ridiculous. Um so yeah definitely like I I I don’t think you can give like a retroactive stock in that case. Um you know what’s an apology do at this point? Like that’s just something where where he got robbed and um it could legitimately be something that that cost some money down the line and it could have caused caused a loss too. like it was it was a big play in the moment. I mean, you’re a team that’s, you know, fighting, biting, claw, scratching, everything to get your first win and something like that happens to give breathe life to the other team is is tough. I will say like the one positive that I took away from it was I thought that it gave Kell Moore a chance to kind of like grow up a little bit as a head coach and kind of show a little like u uh substance. So, a little um toughness right there. He he kind of got after the ref. He was I think it was a moment that I think he took advantage of and probably gained a little respect from his team because they might not have seen aggression from him like that before in a game. So I I thought it was a good opportunity for him. Yeah, it’s a good take. I’m I’m going to steal it and and use it because like that’s a very good point. Hey, I was watching the game. I was like, “All right, Kell. All right, bud.” Yeah. No. Hey, uh Nick, where were you when I was getting hit by James Harrison with all that talk? I mean, I was living in Pennsylvania, man. I mean, so you saw it firsthand then. I mean, you’re right there. Just watching like, “Hey man, sucks, man.” Look at that little white fullback that just got trucked. Yeah, that was cute. Oh, thanks. I appreciate that. My My golf stop would have broke that, you know. Fair enough. Fair enough.

On Off The Bench, Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn were joined by Nick Underhill of neworleans.football to talk about the Saints’ win over the Giants and what to expect against the New England Patriots.

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