New Orleans Saints will wear new look for game against Falcons
All right, because the Saints have *** bye this week, we’re going to do *** Saints deep dive with two of our favorite people, WDSU analysts James Hurst and Katherine Terrell from ESPN. We’re going to talk about what we’ve seen and what we want to see over the final 7 games of the season. Cat, we’re going to kick it off with you. I asked James this jokingly last week. Is Tyler shucked an extra breeze? I mean if you went on social media the last week, uh, he just might be. I do think that he took *** big step forward. It’s exactly what you wanted to see. I thought he did some positive things with the Rams, but they didn’t win and then he goes out against the Panthers and really does *** great job scrambling. Uh, he opened up, you know, the downfield passing game, so there’s *** lot to like, but he’s got to take that next step and that next step moving forward. And James, when you look at Tyler’s shock, you heard Katherine just say the steps forward. What do you want to see from Tyler moving forward? 2+ games so far from Tyler. Yeah, I want to see him make the easy things look easy. There were *** few moments in the game with short timing routes where he was *** little off. You could tell he just hasn’t had those plays with the starting receivers, so that’s totally understandable what he did on 3rd and 4th down with the downfield passing game, scoring 2 touchdowns that well made up for it, but The NFL is hard. It’s *** very hard game. Every team is good regardless of record, so you want to see him make those easy throws consistently to move the chains to stay ahead of the chains so they’re not facing 3rd and 8th every single time because he’s not going to be that good on 3rd down. We can’t expect that moving forward. Let me ask you both *** question. Maybe James will start with you and then we’ll come. You, Catherine, I don’t want to make it overly simplified here, but I think the most important thing over the final 7 games, with all due respect to everybody on the roster is knowing if Tyler Shuck is the quarterback going forward for the future in 2026 and beyond, am I crazy to think, James, that that is the most important thing and everything else is secondary. Absolutely. The quarterback’s the most important position. The fact that you spent *** 2nd round pick on him, you’re likely gonna have *** really high pick in this upcoming draft. You’ve gotta know what you got in Chuck. So the way it’s played out so far, I think has been good. Um, I was against him starting at the beginning of the year, and it seems like that might have helped him out *** little bit. He’s seen some game plans. He’s adjusted well from his first start to his second start. So everything’s pointing up for him. It’s exciting to see, and they’ve got to see him more and more. They’ve got to see him as much as possible to. Know what they’ve got. Yeah, I agree with James. I don’t think he was ready to start at the beginning of the year. We were all at training camp. We saw the practices. I thought Spencer Ratler won that competition. So the fact that now they were patient and and we’re seeing the results now shows that he’s grown, that they’ve developed them, and I think that’s *** good thing. But you know, is he the guy? And when you have *** draft pick this high, they could be top 5, they could have the number one draft pick. We don’t know yet. You have to know if it’s going to be ***. Quarterback or not, like you said, that is the most important thing, and I do think they realized that and that probably factored in as to why he’s starting now. Catherine, I have another question for you. I’m *** little older than all of you also. I was here when Sean Payton got here in 2006, and I felt like right away we knew who and what Sean Payton was from Milsaps in ’06 to starting 3-0. Do we know who and what Kellen Moore is is *** head coach after 10 games? I don’t think we do. I think there’s been moments where, you know, Moore has looked great. I think there’s been moments where his clock management skills have been head scratching. We saw that at the beginning of the season and then we saw it again against the Panthers. So I think he’s growing as much as anyone else, and I’m not really going to make *** judgment on him based off this one season because there’s so many factors like James said. There are 3 linemen that aren’t playing right now. They just traded away their #2 receiver and so I’m going to give it the next year or two and then kind of make an overall decision. Yeah, James, how do you evaluate the first year head coach for the Saints through 10 games? He is missing some pieces. He’s dealing with *** first year quarterback now. How does he, you know, grade out so far to you in 10 games? Yeah, I’m gonna echo what Katherine said. Uh, she nailed it. You, you can’t make any sort of *** real judgment at this point. Certainly considering one, the roster they had when healthy, it wasn’t *** great roster. I don’t think anyone thought it was *** great roster during training camp. And then two, you traded away. pieces, rightfully so, and you’ve had some injuries. So he’s missing *** lot of pieces. He’s learning, um, the clock management management issues. They pop back up, unfortunately, so that’s, that’s *** little bit troublesome, uh, because that can truly that can cost you some games. But he’s got *** long leash. We can’t make any sort of judgments here. You gotta let him get one if not two, drafts and offseasons under his belt to kind of mold this team and to who he wants them to be. We’re gonna maybe close things up. We still have *** few minutes to go here, but I want to give you all time to let this breathe before we all jump in and do *** prediction, because we’re gonna do *** prediction on the final 7 games. Sorry to put you on the spot. Putting you on the spot here, we’ll go Katherine first and then. James’ biggest surprise, biggest disappointment thus far through 10 games with the Saints. The biggest disappointment for me is the run game. Alvin Camara had *** better game against Carolina, but before that he had had weeks of 30 and 40 yard games. That’s *** concern to me. I know they’re missing Kendrick Miller. I know they’re missing offensive linemen, but that needs to get better. Um, biggest surprise, I think that’s kind of *** difficult. How you know to see Chris Olave finally step up against the Panthers, that’s not *** surprise. He’s supposed to be your number one guy, but I think with him it did take him *** few weeks coming back from that awful season last year and finally we’re kind of seeing the results. So you know, maybe it’s *** surprise just that it took *** while, but now maybe we’re going to see him move forward too. James, same to you, biggest surprise, biggest disappointment. Yeah, I’m gonna go classically with, uh, biggest surprise, not much of one, the offensive line, Kelvin Banks, and also moving Tae Eeuaga to right tackle, hoping Trevor Petting out left guard. I think when healthy, it was *** really good unit. Um, it’s, it’s gonna be *** cornerstone for this team having two elite level tackles if that’s what they come to be on top. Of having one of the best centers in football, that’s going to be huge for them going forward. Kelvin Banks, he’s been *** hit for sure. He, he can, he can still improve *** good bit, but he’s, he’s on *** trajectory to put him in conversations around Pro Bowl players, you know, in years 234 of his career. Uh, biggest disappointment, I’m gonna go past defense as *** whole. And I’m including the pass rush, the blitz scheme, um, some of the pass coverage. I think we knew that the secondary is one of the weaker units of the Saints’ defense and on the whole Saints team, but the pass rush to complement that has only made the job harder. So I, I hope Coach Daley can dial up some more pressures, some more unique blitzes to get some free runners at the quarterback and pressure them because that’s really hurting the defense at this point in the year. All right, last one for both of you. We’ll start with you, Katherine. Prediction for the final 7 games of the season. It feels like the schedule plays out really nicely for them. Yeah, I mean they play the Jets, they play the Dolphins, and they play the Titans. So I’m gonna, I’m going to give them those 3 wins, although they could get down to that Titans game and maybe they don’t want to win that game. It’s kind of interesting to know whether that’s going to be *** battle for the #1 pick, but um. Yeah, I’m gonna give them 3 more wins. That would get them to 5, which is exactly what I predicted at the beginning of the season. So in picking somewhere probably 89, 10, James, what do you think? Back to back 5 and 12 seasons like Katherine, or do you have *** different prediction? I’ve got the same record. I’ve got them, uh, with *** different win. I think we’re going to win one of those Falcons games. Uh, I don’t think we match up well with the Dolphins, so that’s *** loss to me. Uh, but they’re gonna beat the Titans. Um, I think that I feel good about the Titans. However, the Titans have *** good defense. Um, the last one I think is going to be the Jets. I’m gonna give them 3 more wins, 5 and 12 as well. Um. It is as we expected, although I think the season is taking its own sort of character, and it’s been, it’s been *** good one to watch at this point. All right, quickly, what do you got? I got them going 5 and 12, so 3 more wins. That’s what happened before the season. Fletcher. Optimistic table here. I’m going really optimistic. I think they’re going to beat Carolina again, split with the Falcons, and I think call me crazy here. I think they’re going to get. Miami, Tennessee, and the Jets. I think they’re going to get 5 more and finish with 7 wins and and Tyler Shuck’s going to be the guy. Am I crazy? I think you truly never know with these divisional games, and I’m actually really excited for this Falcons game. I think it’s always fun when they play the Falcons. It always gets *** little weird. And so if they win that one, I think that’s *** huge confidence boozer for them. And also I think that’ll really help fans love Tyler Shuck. That’s true. Heat beat the Falcons at home. All right, James Hirst, Katherine Terrell, great insight. We truly appreciate your time. Thank you.
New Orleans Saints will wear new look for game against Falcons
Updated: 1:44 PM CST Nov 17, 2025
The New Orleans Saints are going with a new look this Sunday when they face the archrival Atlanta Falcons.For the first time in franchise history, the Saints will wear all-black uniforms and black helmets.The Saints started wearing all-black uniforms with their traditional gold helmets in 2006.The franchise introduced black alternate helmets in 2022, but they’ve never worn the all-black uniforms and the black helmets together in a game.The Saints are 2-8 overall and coming off a bye week.The Falcons are 3-7 and will likely be without starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. for the game Sunday afternoon. ESPN reports Penix has a knee injury, which could sideline him for the remainder of the 2025 season.
NEW ORLEANS —
The New Orleans Saints are going with a new look this Sunday when they face the archrival Atlanta Falcons.
For the first time in franchise history, the Saints will wear all-black uniforms and black helmets.
The Saints started wearing all-black uniforms with their traditional gold helmets in 2006.
The franchise introduced black alternate helmets in 2022, but they’ve never worn the all-black uniforms and the black helmets together in a game.
The Saints are 2-8 overall and coming off a bye week.
The Falcons are 3-7 and will likely be without starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. for the game Sunday afternoon. ESPN reports Penix has a knee injury, which could sideline him for the remainder of the 2025 season.