SAINTS SQUAD SHOW: Saints Nearly Choked Away 24 Point Lead vs Giants

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No waiting, no fluff. Subscribe on Amazon Music and never miss a snap. I'm Darrion Gray of Who Dat Dish, and my take is Martin Emerson should be in the starting lineup. I'm former Saints wide receiver Lance Moore, and my take is even though we won the game, as ugly as it might have been, coaching still ain't right. John Hendrix in New Orleans.Football, and my take is the ground game came alive, and maybe it's time to look at Jeremiah Wright as a permanent option at right guard. I'm AP, Timeouts and Tangents, and my take is Paris isn't a vacation. It should be a last chance for Kellen Moore. It's the Saints Squad, everything New Orleans Saints, every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from down in the Big Easy, the way only Locked On Podcast Network can. Get ready and squad up. It's the Saints Squad Show, starting now. What's going on, Who Dat Nation? Welcome back to the Saints Squad Show. A win is a win technically, and that's what the Saints got in their win column. So we're going to break down a few things, talking about Martin Emerson, the start and line up, everything of that nature. But it kicks off with Lance, your take that the coaching simply isn't good enough. A win is not everything in this situation. Well, I mean, a win can sometimes overshadow the bad. But just the way that that game... Look, we should have never been in a situation where we had to get a stop on fourth down to end the game. That should have never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever happened. And it's not... To me, it's on both sides of the ball, clearly. I'm not going to blame special teams. I think overall they had their best performance all around. Thus far this season. Offensively, 34 to 10. In the fourth quarter, it seemed like they couldn't stop us. Then we got kind of stale. And then it was, well, we... They're stopping the run here. So let's keep throwing the ball. Incompletions. And to players who are not open, preserving more and more time for the Giants, then they keep getting the ball back in scoring. Now, defensively, I understand when you're up 24 points. I understand playing a prevent-style defense. But if you don't get any kind of pressure on the quarterback and you allow receivers to go down the field unchallenged, what do you think is going to happen? I don't care who the quarterback is in that situation. Of course, they're going to chunk the ball down the field and continue to get the ball to their... Who do they throw the ball to 37 times in this football game? Two guys. Likely and Malik neighbors. Who do you think they're going to throw the football to in those types of situations down the stretch of the game? Hold on, hold on. Let me rewind, let me rewind. Personnel-wise, what are we doing? Why do we have two slow-footed linebackers still in the game, like the Giants are going to choose to run the football down 24 points in the fourth quarter? Guys who are not paid to cover. What are we doing? I just, for the life of me, get in dime personnel, play cover two man, which basically means you've got two high safeties. Everything is played from the top down, meaning nobody gets behind you. And that man means every guy, receiver running back tight in, who's on offense is going to have somebody shadowing them everywhere they go and playing underneath. So those easy little balls that they throw underneath and go and get 15, 16, 17, 25 yards. You, maybe not eliminate, but you limit those. McCrack, he had one long run, which he probably could have done a couple of times against two men. I'd rather him be running the football, sliding or getting hit than throwing the ball 40 plus yards down the field. I do not, I really don't understand. Then we have a free safety who's having a really good game. Malik neighbors running right up to his toes, still hasn't started backpedaling or running yet. Oh shoot, he crosses his face with a, I mean it was a sweet route, but still get your butt out of there. Get out of there. You're you are supposed to be as deep as the deepest. And if anything, you should be playing that from the top down and making a play on the ball as opposed to the guy running by you. It just. Take us to church, Lance. I'm sorry. Lance Rance. Lance Rance. And look, here's another thing that kills me about Kellen Moore and his office. I know I keep flip flopping here, but let me let me cook. Take us to church, Lance. Let's go preaching. Hold on, let them cook. When we have a lead, they put Bryce Lance and Barry Brown and two tight ends in the game. You guys have never played the National Football League. What type of play do you think is coming? Come on now. It's the most easy-to-read situation. Your two best receivers aren't in? Oh, we're not going to miss. For the life of me, I do not. He's not a first-year play caller. What are we doing? It's zero. He does it more when we have the lead. Sure, when you have the lead, you're probably going to try to lean on the run more to kill the clock, but at least spread them out and run it. At least give the illusion that there might be some type of a pass play call. I don't know. I don't know. I could keep going, but I'm not going to because I know you guys have some things that you want to add. No, we got a whole hour. Trust me. We are here. I thought the collection played out. We make stuff so much harder than it needs to be. And I get it. There is no... Nothing is easy in the NFL at all. But still, you've got a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter. You've got to continue to put your foot on the gas and get your guys out of there comfortably and not, oh, my goodness, we're all on the edge of our seats. 15 seconds left or 12 seconds left in the game. And he throws a lob ball, which, I mean, Malik Nevers was wide open on the other side of the field. And why you would have Eric Reid guarding when Malik Nevers are not Eric Reid. Justin Reid, I can't even remember his name anymore. Justin Reid matched up on their best receiver in that type of situation and get cooked is beyond me. I, it's weird, like, we win the game and I'm happy about winning the game, but I'm still sick to my stomach. It just, it is poor. And I think that finish puts even more pressure on the game next week. I'm sure of it at that. A thousand percent. And I think you are right to say that. When you look at the situation, it is, that's why I put a question mark, a win is a win, because technically you won, but does it walk away feeling like we thought our first post game victory show in a month would feel? Not at all. No. Everybody's frustrated. I mean, you were up 34 to 10 with 12 minutes left in the game, and you went 34 to 27. This was supposed to be a, holy crap, the Isaiah Stahlberg play was the defining season-changing, altering moment because you were able to score 34 unanswered points, essentially, and you barely won the game. This is insanity to me. You got some growing up to do, some coaching needs to be changed. You still got to keep that intensity for 60 minutes of a game, and that's the thing that we talked about this on the show. They got to play a complete game, and I just don't feel like they played a complete game at all. It's just like, I've rarely been in a situation where I'm frustrated with a win, but man, here we are. That was crazy to me. It's a bad dog. I mean, Burr, in the middle of this game, think about this for a second. Coming out of the Detroit game, game one, we felt like, man, this team fought. They closed the gap, they made some mistakes, they had some things to clean up. Like, there's something there. Like, you can't start slow. Coming out of this game, it's, we choked this game away. The Giants deserved to win this game more than we deserved to have it. And we were dominating this team by 24 points in the fourth quarter. You know, in the middle of the game, I was talking with a group of my friends and I was letting them know, like, I don't trust this team. Like, I can't enjoy this game because this is a team that we should be. And for as much as we are up on them right now, that doesn't mean that this is a great win because we are still making obvious mistakes that they just don't have the personnel to take advantage of us. And then, holy hell, the fourth quarter came. And everything that we thought this team was, they are. Unorganized, undisciplined, and not properly led. What the hell are we supposed to expect? You are up 24 in the fourth quarter, and you can't expect to finish the game with four turnovers. You say, you know what? Now, I'm going to pull up. I'm going to put in our backup quarterback in the backup interior offensive line. And your starting offensive line isn't that great. Who did we think we were? You know, it's a good question. At what point do you put the backups in? Like right at 20, 24 point lead, you did it with, what was that? 10 minutes about? They had a 24 point lead with 11, 31 left in the game. Right. And I'm trying to think, do you wait till you have five minutes? You know, I'll defer to you, Lance. Like when was typically the time when people started talking about putting the backup quarterbacks in with that type of lead? It's not the wrong decision if they're able to get a couple of first downs a couple of times, right? But putting backups in being ultra, ultra stale in your play calling and then three and outs, I don't know, was it one or two drives that the backups were in? I think it was just one. I think it was the one where you fumbled, or was it the three and outs? It was the one with the fumble. They had to got the ball. That's another situation. 10-22 left. 10-22 left and they gave it back with 9-31 left. That's another situation. You have a running back who you've been wanting to get going for the last four years basically, but was Toten that rocked in this game. Toten. Why go away from him? I'm not, look, CJ. Donaldson has been great. He's been great on special teams. He's done some great things as far as conversions and whatnot. And I still feel like he was robbed of a touchdown in this game because he tripped over his own guy. And I don't think anybody touched him. I didn't, I said the same thing. His elbow's down. I was like, yeah, but he fell over his offensive lineman's leg. Yeah. Anyways, horrible fumble. We know what the defense is trying to do at that point. Their only recourse is to create a turnover or turnovers. And they got one there, a cheap one, when he probably shouldn't have been on the field. It probably should have been Kendre who was cooking. And like, I understand maybe you don't want to give Kendre 30 caries in the game, but like, I don't know. I don't know, man. My thing is this, like, this offense hasn't looked like a finishing offense. And at this point, finish a game together. Like, we're one and four, not four and one. At no point, if you're playing, injuries be damned. Finish the game. You need every bit of momentum to carry you forward right now. To say that you're a cohesive unit. There is not a single play that you need to take off. You took off those two plays, like John said, you gave them the ball back with 931 to go and gave up 17 points. Yeah. I mean, we're not a team that's good enough to put backups in. Yes, ever. Well, the only thing I was going to say, just bring this back to coaching, Lance, but I think the difference here is, is Kellen giving up a lead, but if Sean was in that position, he gave up that lead, I guarantee you that would not be a happy locker room. Like, yeah, he got the win, but he'd be pissed. I don't think Kellen's the same way. Yeah, I'm putting it nicely, but you would know better, obviously. To be honest with Sean, I don't think it would have got that far. Probably not. You're right. I don't think it would have. Sean would have went down to his DC and said, what is going on? And would have been nice about it, right? I think that's the thing is being intentional and say, hey, we got to put this crap to bed. What are we doing here? What are we doing here? What are we doing here? What are we doing? I think you mentioned to John, all of these things all roll back to coaching, right? The ability to close, the ability to play four quarters. Really, you play too. You didn't play, at least offensively, I'm speaking about, you didn't play good in the first 30, 25 minutes of this game. You didn't play good until Barry M. Brown put you in the 40 yard line, right? Like you didn't play well until you got good special teams play and then a fumble ended up giving you a chance to get seven that you nearly squandered. That first 30 minutes of offensive football was really rocky. And then you got things going from there and then it hit the wall in the fourth quarter. At what point do we see this team become a 60 minute team, not a 45 minute team, not a 50 minute team, but a 60 minute team? We got real close to that against the Raiders and you played arguably your worst 15 minutes to date. So this is something that is going to have to improve and the conversation around coaching isn't going to stop. It's only going to continue as we discuss Kellen Moore's hot seat. It was the big story going into the game and he didn't make it a non-story with the way that they closed this game. Let's dive into it a little bit deeper as we continue with the Saints squad show. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on FanDuel. How rewarding are we talking? I'm talking about a touchdown with time expiring. I'm talking about actually holding a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter. That tends to be pretty rewarding if you ask me. These are the type of moments that we get with FanDuel in this season. FanDuel is making the excitement go beyond what's happening on the field with the all-new FanDuel Rewards Club featuring exclusive offers, surprises and more. Every week, check the FanDuel app to see what's waiting for you. A touchdown with time expiring is tough to beat. You know what? I think that might be one of my favorite moments in football when the clock hit zero and you end up seeing a score at that moment. Nothing like it. So make this your most rewarding season ever with FanDuel. Visit fanduel.com to get started. As we continue rolling with the Saints squad show AP, this is a situation where Kellen Moore had a major opportunity on his hands. We all call for this to not just be a win, but a statement win. This is something that you need. I think it's safe to say that he did not get that statement win. And you believe the lack of it leads to his seat being even hotter than maybe it was before the Giants game. Absolutely. I mean, if we go by the words that Ms. Gayle Benson said earlier this week, that it's on Kellen Moore to have this team prepared, did this team look prepared to you guys? Negative. Okay. I mean, this team was not prepared at all. You went into this game and look, I get it, Assim Richards is just starting up tackle. We're making a conscious choice to leave him on an island by himself against one of the best pass rushers in the NFL in a dual car. Back to back holding penalties on Assim Richards on the first drive of the game. That's a coaching problem. That's a prepared problem. Are you not looking at the opponent's defense and trying to see where they're going to get the matchups at? I'm sitting in my house in New Orleans, a half a mile from the Superdome, and I could tell you if I was coaching the Giants, I'd say, hey, I'm going at a Seam Richards all day long. That's on Kellen. If you're going to go over to Paris with this team being two and four, and you feel comfortable about him as the head coach, leading you for the remainder of the 10 games after that one, brother, we're in a serious situation. Yeah, I put out there. I'm sorry, man. Go for it. No, go ahead. No, I said, I put out there as like, you got two holding penalties in back-to-back plays, and like the accountability needed to be there, like you should have pulled him there. I mean, most coaches would have, right? You know what I'm saying? And so that didn't happen. He stayed in the game. And you know, what kind of messages that's in is like, you're okay to mess up. And then that's just okay in New Orleans, I guess it's no big deal. You get the next one, champ. You score six points in the first quarter. Like another first quarter, wait, no, I'm sorry, you scored no points. We didn't score anything. We didn't score anything. Another quarter where we don't, another first quarter where we don't score. It's six points all year, excuse me. I'm sorry, six points all year in six games. We're averaging one point for every first quarter we've played. That's crazy. Which is pathetic. Seven out of 23 quarters, they've scored a point in the first quarter, 30.4%. And then their highest output they've ever had is seven points. And that was the most Giants in the last year. And the Bills. It's unacceptable how they start these games, man. Like I just don't, I don't get it. I don't. That is coaching, man. That is him. That is, that starts at the top. It starts at the top. And look, I know we've had our complaints with Dennis Allen and that administration. But one thing about it, and two things for sure, we as fans, people who cover this team, over the course of the last 20 years have not been acclimated or accustomed, shall I say, to seeing this team start this anemic as they've been for the last year and a half. This falls on to his plate, considering he's an offensive coordinator. Like this isn't a special teams coach we're talking about. This isn't a defensive savant that we're talking about. This is an offensive coordinator. He's also the offensive play caller for the team. AP., you might have said it right. He's an offensive coordinator. Not he used to be, he is, should be, future. I think like the conference, that may be where the limitations happen. And I don't want to jump ahead of you and what you're saying. But when you say he's an offensive coordinator, my first thought goes to maybe that's all he is. Maybe he's not meant for this situation when we talk about the hot seat. Maybe that is what's best suited for him. I couldn't have agreed more. I really couldn't have agreed more. Because I think honestly, all the responsibilities that come with that hit, with that job, with that role that he's in, might be limiting his ability to properly prepare, plan and execute a play calling system for this team. And we see it as the game start out. The offense gets better. It tends to get better as the rhythm of the game flows because all of the things that lead up to starting the game are no longer on his plate and it falls away and then he gets into more of what the game feels like. Now, it doesn't mean that the play calling is great because like Lance said, and since you've made this point, Lance, I've been watching for this. This may be one or two plays where he draws somebody wide open. Maybe one or two. You had one the day along the sideline with a bubble pump and go that Tyler overthrew to Bryce Lance, and then you had the second one where Bryce caught the touchdown in the back of the end zone where you caused confusion when the DBs dropped that coverage in a bunch formation in the end zone. That was it. For the most part, we don't draw people open. It's hard to get plays open for these guys. Right now, I just don't think that he's it, man. It's horrible. Well, the start to the games offensively, generally every team has a first 15. Some teams will do a first 10, some teams will do a first 20. And what does that mean? You're basically looking at the tendencies of how your opponent starts games. What are their main coverages? What type of blitzes and other things are they throwing out opponents early on in games? Right? Because usually if you do something really well, you're going to continue to do it. So how can we attack the things that we believe that they're going to do? It doesn't always work out that they do exactly what you saw on film. So within that, it's, okay, here's my first 15. If I need to come up. You mute yourself. You mute yourself, Lance. Lance was so hard, he muted himself. That's what happened. That's all me. But anyway, that's all right. Passion. Passion, that's all I want. I'll start on 20. My first throw, I hit a button and my arm hit it as I'm flailing because I'm a little bit peeved at the way that this game went. But back to my point about the slow starts, who's creating the first 15? It's got to be put all the way. Yeah, exactly. I've never been around a coach that's like, oh, I'm just going to call these first 15 plays no matter what the situation, right? Like if there's a third and three and that next play is not a third and three play, okay, I'm going to go to my play sheet and find something that I like or the quarterback likes. But ultimately, the slow offensive starts fall on one person. Now, sure, the offense has to go out and execute. The guys have to win their matchups. The protection has to hold up. The backs have to hit the creases wherever they may be at the line of scrimmage. Guys have to make catches. The quarterback has to deliver or get the guys into the proper play based on what the defense is doing. All those things are important, but ultimately it falls on the guy that's running the offense. So, sure, the guys have not executed to a level that is good enough, clearly, for two-thirds at least, or maybe even three-quarters of the time that Kellen has been the head guy, but Kellen's the one that's pulling the strings. So, it's got to fall on him. And what is it about getting into a game and allowing the offense to get going? And, like, I don't know what it is. And that's surely something that's got to be studied, because I would imagine there's not another head coach in the National Football League that's got the same or offensive play caller in the National Football League that's got the same, I guess, record as far as not being able to score in the first quarter or not being able to start well in the first quarter. It's really quite the thing to keep watching over and over and over again. And for the life of me, I do not understand it. I don't, and I'll throw this in here. This was a problem for him in Philadelphia as well, right? Like it wasn't as pronounced, but this has been a Kellen Moore issue for three seasons at this point. So it is the one commonality, right? Like the one common denominator in this situation is Kellen. You change location, you change quarterbacks, you change supporting cast, you change it all, right? In Philadelphia, he had Hertz, Saquon, AJ Brown, Devontae Smith. Like he had a bunch of guys, Goddard. He had a bunch of talent there. You say, oh man, that's a really good guy. Then he has Spencer. He's like, oh, Spencer's not starting quarterback. You get Shuck. You say he is the starting quarterback. You add some talent around them. You get a running back. It's a lot of things, but there is a, I want to add on to it, but also reflect on something that AP said about Richards. I think sometimes we don't really emphasize enough how much of a coaching decision Richards struggles feel like. Yes, he is your back of left tackle. Understandably, there's going to be a drop-off from Kelvin Banks Jr. No one's asking him to be Kelvin Banks Jr., except for Kellen Moore. That's the issue. He's being used on an island at a rate top five in NFL, somewhere in that range. He is top five most used on an island. He's bottom five in success rate in those situations. Now, you tell me, Lance, you've been on the field more than I have, maybe I'm wrong. But if you're one of the worst at doing something, I'm probably not going to ask you to do it more than everybody else. I think that's a smart plan. That's just my conventional wisdom though. Yeah. Maybe it's something in Kellen's offense that doesn't allow him to send the running back over the chip or put a tight end over there to give him a little bit of help. I don't think it's a situation where he needs double team blocks every single play, right? Right. I do also think running the football helps him and everybody else up front. But, you know, asking him to hold up against Abdul Carter, who on the broadcast they mentioned leads the league in pressures, I think. Yeah, those pressures. Seems like a bad idea to me. Sure, the guy is going to be up for the challenge. He's starting left tackling the National Football League now. Yeah, I got you, bro. I'll do whatever I got to do. I'll handle my business. Okay. I appreciate your confidence, but this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to put this guy here. I'm going to bring this guy in motion. I'm going to bring a receiver down just to give him some presence. He doesn't even have to put his hands on. Something to disrupt the timing, the energy, the effort off the edge. Just, you can, I've seen Sean do it. I've seen Sean change full concepts just to account for any lead edge presence. Like, you can do it. You just have to be willing to swallow your pride as a play caller and say, you know what, I'm going to have to do this a little bit differently in order to achieve X, Y, and Z. Yeah, I saw at one point they had Delp and Phant on his side helping. It was laid later. And I'm going to just tell you this too, because this is my nerd in me, right? I was literally taking a stopwatch just to show people at home that I am not lying and saying, this is how much time Shuck had to throw before he had a defender in his face. And on back, back plays, one of them was 2.41 seconds. The other was two and a half seconds. Like, you don't have time to do anything, Raman, before somebody's in your face. And I get it. Sometimes it's not like it, but it's a liability and you got to figure out, like if you're going to identify the liability to at least help. And I'll give AK some props. Like there's one play where he came across at the last second and knocked the stuff out of a blitzer and picked it up like vintage AK. I know we're getting players in the game soon enough, but man, that was exciting. I just say that the whole coaching to bring it back again for coaching, you got to be able to identify help, do what you got to do because he should not be left on an island by himself. And the fact that you have the two holding penalties and back to back plays and seeing what's happening, accountability has to happen too for some of these players. You know, shout out to the people in the chat right now. Somebody said, man, AP is miserable. I am, I am so, so miserable. Y'all do not understand, man. How can you not be? For six seasons, we've watched what seems like to be this perpetual cycle of mid. And then we get to this year where we had an off season of hope. We knew there were going to be some pitfalls, some setbacks. We knew this was not a complete team, but we had a ray of hope. And then even in the midst of this game, this, this game symbolized what the off season was, what this season has been, and what it feels like. Whereas we don't know, we got some hope and then it's, damn it, this is really where we are. Like this is it. Yes, it is. It's miserable to see a professional team come out and start the same way every time, have obvious deficiencies in the coaches, just like, you're unprepared. You know who kept bringing up preparation? Gayle Benson. To bring it all the way home. That was something she continuously brought up in the speech. It's one of the reasons I feel like the clock is speeding up for Kellen, because it's one thing to say we're going to give you three years, but it's another thing within those three years, in year two specifically now, to say you're not making any of the steps towards what the end goal is supposed to be. We talked about that a little bit on Thursday, but somebody said, intruise? Well, maybe so. The run game certainly picked up when Jeremiah Wright came into the game. We're going to dive into the right way. Oh, the right side. As we continue with the same squash. What's going on, everybody? My name is Ross Jackson, host of the Locked On Saints Podcast. And today's episode is brought to you by our friends over at Brooklyn Bedding. As a trusted reporter, in order for me to make sure that I'm on top of my game each and every day, I need to make sure I'm trusting the right mattress with my sleep each and every night. 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Dak Prescott, 278 and a half yards. Jordan Love, 274 and a half. If you think those eyes are going to go more or less, that's how easy that PrizeFix is. It's just that simple. I love getting in on Josh Allen's most total yards, right? Because I'm always going more. The guy is absolutely elite, and I'm always joining in on that. And PrizeFix has the injury protection policy, meaning if a player gets hurt in the first half and doesn't return, you can still hit on your line up. So PrizeFix injury protection policy help users win over $31 million in the 2026 season. Download the app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $150 instantly in line ups when you win your first $5 line up. PrizeFix run your game. As we continue rolling with the Saints squad show, we talked about Ruiz and I think his departure in Jeremiah Wright entering the game instantly became one of the biggest storylines to watch as the game was going on. And one of the things you saw was the ground game going. And John, you mentioned something I think really interesting. Today, looks like the Saints found some ground game for the first time. But also, maybe it's time for the Jeremiah Wright era to start. Yeah, so for starters, Ruiz left with a knee injury. He's gonna have an MRI on Monday to figure out what the extent of it is. So he might be out for a little bit of time. But you know, Saints had 175 rushing yards today on the crown. That's considerably the best performance of the year. They've only had 101 other time. That was week three against the Raiders when they had 148. That was when Travis A. Chen was still playing before his injury and such. They had week one, 91 total as a team, week two, 65, week three, 148, week four, 50, week five, 55, 175 yards. They were getting it done. CJ Donaldson was a part of that. Kendre Miller was a part of that. Alvin Kamara, Tyler Shuck, who I know a certain person named Lance Moore on this podcast was saying, run more. Yeah. Tyler Shuck. I think obviously that was big, but the boost that they got from Jeremiah Wright coming into this game, and again, from an injury, regardless, it doesn't matter. The run game started taking off that right side. You could see a lot more design runs to that side. It just worked. It's just like that interior solidified a lot more. And Wright also had to come in there and work on the silent count. So it's not like just a, oh, you just go in and just block and do your assignment. It's like he was responsible for that silent count. But man, he's somebody I think we've been fired up with a lot since they got him. And obviously, we've made the correlation that Wright could potentially be the guy next year. But now it looks like it might be a little bit more expedited. And you hate to see people go down with injuries. But man, for him to come in there and embrace the opportunity and not only do that, but play extremely well, that's even better for the Saints team. So it might be happening sooner rather than later. Yeah, it's funny when we drafted him, I told Ross, I said, this isn't the, Jeremiah Wright isn't the right guard right now. But it's going to come a point in the season where he's going to go down with an injury, Wright will be inserted and he probably won't ever come back out. And it's not ironic, but it is very frustrating to see that as soon as he comes in, we start running to the right side. If you knew it was there, why haven't we utilized this at any point? And shout out to the rookie road grader from Auburn University as LSU is preparing to take them on next Saturday. Because that's what he was at Auburn, a mauler. And it's what you kind of needed on the inside of his offensive line right now, was somebody to bring some physicality and move bodies out the way. And you saw it early and often in that first drive he came in. Those bodies literally hitting the ground because of him. Push. Give me more of 65. Run it the right way, please. That should be his campaign slogan. Well, look, this is the story as old as time in pro sports, right? One guy goes down, young guy gets opportunity, never relinquishes that position ever again, or at least doesn't relinquish it back to the guy that he was replacing. Yeah. I mean, it looks different. Yeah. You know what I mean? And it wasn't just the run game, guys. It was in past protection, too. It was both, right? And there is something to say about a young, hungry player who's been waiting for his opportunity to go out and show that not only he deserves to be out there, but he should be the guy long term and well into your future. He just plays different. He, I mean, this is the reason why they drafted him where they drafted him. Like, yes, he's a guy. Like he is a legit high upside starting offensive guard. And I think with time and reps, he's just going to continue to get better and better. But I think the eye test was passed immediately when he got into the game and both the run and the pass. And that, in a game when ultimately we had a sick taste in our mouth after, I think he was one of the shiny bright spots in the game that you can leave and say, hey, we might have something right here. No, no, no, not we might. We've got something right here. Yeah. And I think that's pretty cool to see. Five sacks on Jaden Daniels last week. Saints didn't allow a sack today, if you can believe that. And that is one of the better. I mean, they've got obviously Arville Reese and Thibodeau and Abdul Carter. Abdul Carter. I mean, they've got, it's not like it's just a team that's got one pass rusher and everybody else is just there. Like they've got some guys. And so that's a very impressive showing by not just Jeremiah, right, but our whole entire front. I mean, you know, we talked about some Richards and his holding penalties, but he didn't give up any sacks. That's right. So, you know, made it take the good with the bad, I guess. But I think it's it's a. It's a positive sign seeing Jeremiah right out there and performing at a high level. Yeah. And nobody in this game per PFF allowed more than one or excuse me, only one player, Richards, had more than one pressure. Right. So Wright had one. He allowed. Flonga had one. Edwards had one. McCoy had one. So overall, pretty consistent across the board, not a ton of pressure being let up and not one person just faltering to bring it back to right though, real quick. I think what you brought up is really the biggest point. Is him improving the run game as noticeable as it was, phenomenal. I loved it. But it's also what I expected him to excel at, maybe not at that rate, but I expected him to be good. The fact that he was still pretty solid in past blocking like Lance brought up, that's the thing that really gets you because you're going to need to be able to do both. We're going to need to be able to do both. I don't want to cut you off, but Ruiz has been horrible in past protection. You know what I mean? I hate breaking news. It's not like the bar over there was super duper high beforehand. You know what I mean? So yeah, he only gave up one pressure, but he was so much better that it almost was like, wow, this is incredible. But I think part of that is Ruiz has been so bad reaching, falling on his face, guys giving him one move and getting by him. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. No, no. I think as good as he was, I think we also need to remember the context of how bad the guy that he replaced has been. Let me spin off of that and say this. Yeah. Because I think you're right. I see what you're doing there. When you enter into the game for a player, especially one as disgust and maligned as Cesar Ruiz, that game, you're going to get the boost. We've been waiting for Jeremiah Wright to enter the game since he was drafted. Now that he comes into the game, now that he's here for Ruiz, just don't wet the bed. Success. Check number one. Now, if Ruiz has to miss time, Wright's going to start an entire game. In the don't be Cesar Ruiz love, that little honeymoon is going to go away and he's going to be judged solely based off of who Jeremiah Wright is, how he pass protects, how he run blocks. Because there's one thing to say we want Cesar Ruiz out. But if you don't play well, the statement isn't going to be we want you to play as well. Right? You're going to have to prove yourself or else you're going to be looking for a new right guard next year in the draft or free agency or somewhere along the lines. So I think you're right. The bar is not super high. He's clear at the bar now. Now the statement or the question rather is what do you do next? And I think that's what we're looking for. I don't honestly, I don't think he has to be dominant. I think he has to just continue to improve and show that he's got the stuff to be the guy long term. I think Ruiz is done. I think his contract is up after this year. I don't think there's any way that they're going to pay him a healthy amount of money to come back, especially when they just drafted a guy at his position. Now, you get an opportunity to get an extended look at a young player that you think is very promising and get him reps. That's the most important thing is he's going to improve based off of being able to be out there in real in-game situations. It's not a situation where, okay, Ruiz stays healthy, he plays the whole year, he was okay, but we still don't know what we have behind him. So maybe we bring Ruiz back at an okay number hoping that maybe this guy, like no, that situation is out the door. Like I think the only way Ruiz gets back on the field is if Jeremiah Wright, unfortunately gets injured or he's just awful. But I don't, I mean, again, I don't think the bar is super high over there. And I think you ride with the hot hand and this guy is going to be, I think he's going to be a really good player. He just plays the right way. And it's good that we have at least one segment in this game, in this show that's on the positive note, because Do really did his thing. And I'll just say this real quickly. If you're coaching for your job, don't you want the best players playing? I don't know. Okay, let me, let me, let me. It does seem to, it does, hey look, John, it does seem to me like Kellen is very, very slow to make changes. In the last two years, it's like, okay. I mean, even, even Tyler Shuck, like that decision should have happened weeks sooner. But like at some point as a head coach, you've got to be willing to hurt somebody's feelings to make a decision that's going to benefit your football team. Let me ask you guys this. I didn't mean to take you out. I hate my bad. Let me ask you guys this. I had to wave the white flag, throw in the towel, all of it. I'll ask you this. If Ruiz does not miss time, if Ruiz, let's say the MRI comes back, he's actually able to play next week, who is the starting right guard in Paris? I'll start with that. For us or for Kellen Moore? What do you think Kellen does? I know it. Other answer was probably Jeremiah Wright weeks ago. But if Ruiz doesn't miss any time, do you think he steps back into the starting lineup? I'll start with Lance and we'll just go around it and everybody answered it. Well, based on history, yes. Okay. I don't agree with it. Of course. But yeah, if it's always got a little bruise, but he'll be fine, give him a rest day on Wednesday or whatever it might be. But he's good enough to play. Yeah, I haven't seen him make any of these types of decisions. None of them. Right. The Chuck decision was a freaking no-brainer. How about you make a tough decision in the heat of what we've got going on? And I just, I haven't seen it. So I think there's a number of guys, and maybe that's for a different episode, but there's a number of guys that should be, maybe not getting replaced, but maybe weed it out here. Thursday, tune in Thursday. AP, no injury. Who's on the field next week? Ruiz, Jeremiah Wright, when you're me. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. If Ruiz is not out because of injury, he's going to be the starting right guard because that's what Kellen Moore has shown us who he is. John. I mean, we're going to go for the trifecta here. Yeah. If he's healthy, that Ruiz is the guy. I mean, he's former first-round pick. There's too much pride going on. If they're not going to make a move, we'll just stop a bat. Yes, not happening right now. I agree all the way around. One person I don't agree with, this right here, however you say that name. First off, why are we doing astrology here? Secondly, no cancer slander will be accepted on this podcast. All right, I was going to throw that out there. We are not slandering cancers on this podcast. You got to go somewhere else with that. But we'll continue and you'll probably keep listening. Thank you, I appreciate you. But Martin Emerson, Martin Emerson to me is a starting corner on this team. It's just about who's got to move out the way, but he proved that today. Let's get into it as we continue with the same squad show. Pick one. Which one, which one, which one? It don't matter. Today's episode is brought to you by Odoo, running a business. Shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where Odoo comes in. Odoo is an all-in-one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform. From sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, everything works in one place like it's supposed to. I don't know why this isn't the case everywhere, but Odoo is special because that is the case here. The best organizations know that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone working towards the same goal. That's true in sports, the same way that it is in business. One thing that stands out is that now everything becomes easier. Instead of having to manage four different things, like you're managing one while managing all four. Great organizations win because operations matter and that's why you should get Odoo. Odoo is one platform to manage, grow, and scale your business. Try for free today at odoo.com/locked on. That's odoo.com/locked on. As we're wrapping up the Saints squad show, Martin Emerson to me is the player of the game. He's the first Saints cornerback this year, who I've seen really challenge receivers on a consistent basis. I'm going to say it and then I'm going to lob it up to Lance because Lance has been preaching this forever. I think, Lance, I think this might be the one thing that you and I have agreed on more than anything in this whole time doing this show. There is not enough challenging of receivers at the catch point, at the line of scrimmage. But what you saw with Martin Emerson is a guy who was not only not afraid to get active and mix it up, he was a guy who could make plays when he did. Nearly had the trifecta when it came to interceptions. I would have to go through all the past deflections, but it feels like his- Four past breakups. That has to be high. Seven solo tackles, TFL, two picks. That's his official target. He has to be the NFC player of the week, for sure. Really. And I think that if you're looking at Kool-Aid McKinstry, he's probably safe, right? I just think if we're just going based on how it typically goes, he's probably safe. I think so because I think Quincy Riley, I think Quincy Riley gets knocked down. And then McKinstry, even if you want to elevate Emerson above McKinstry, I think McKinstry still stays above Riley. So I think that's how that... I actually don't think Riley's done much. I think if there was ever moments where it felt like there was little flares, it was McKinstry more than Riley. I think that it's not a high bar once again. But if it's a mix up of those two going back and forth, I'm okay with that as well. But I think one of the things you talk about, people being slow to movement, that was your number one corner. He's probably made a slight number more of plays on the ball than you've seen Riley make, so I think he's probably earned the right to stay above him. But it will probably remain a rotation. But I think Emerson, regardless of how those other two mix out or play out, whatever that's gonna be, I think Emerson has played well enough to where he should be one of the two starting cornerbacks. No more he's coming into the game. If you're gonna rotate them, let somebody step in for him. That's me. Challenging receivers is necessary. I thought it back to Lance, because that's one of the things we're with. I mean, the way that he played today, let's ignore the interceptions for a second. We talk about the past breakups. We talk about being in the area of a ball being thrown in his direction. You talk about not playing 15 yards off and back pedaling and just surrendering everything up in front of you. This is what we expected from Kool-Aid McKinstry, honestly. Like, around draft pick, came in from Alabama. He's going to be our shutdown corner. He's going to shut down one whole side of the field. So that's a pipe dream. We ain't seen it. But this dude comes in and was balling, like, yeah, that is the type of just what's the best word I could use. I mean, I guess challenging is the word that you use, right? I think it's- I got it. It's challenging of not taking anything for granted or just... He put himself in the mix. And he was against Lance, and it was neighbors on some of those passes. Like, let's not throw that out there. Forget to throw that out there. I understand most of the time guys are going to play the defense that's called, right? Okay, we're playing cover three. The corner's probably going to start nine to ten yards off. And he's getting out of there because he's got the deep third. I get it. I get it. I'm not blaming these corners for not challenging receivers. But at some point, somebody's got to make a play. And in one game, he made more plays than the other two guys who have started every game this season, the whole season. Oh, yeah. So they're now a guy that's slow to make changes as far as the head coach Kellen Moore goes. I think watching this film, a couple of things stood out to me even outside of how great Emerson was. One, Emerson obviously was great. He should be a starter, regardless of whether you're going to have him as your number one guy or not, whatever. He's a starter. Number two, Justin Reed is slow and doesn't move laterally well very much anymore. I love him as a leader. I love him as a hometown boy, a guy that has some Louisiana to him. I don't see any way that you keep putting him out on the field. And number three, Jonas Saker is completely lost in this defense, playing that nickel position. Emerson is going to be a starter. Jonas Saker is now playing Justin Reed's safety spot. You could put Reilly, you could put Kool-Aid, and in situations like this game where you know the team is throwing the football, when you go to a dime personnel group, which any other defense probably would, you wouldn't have two thick-ankled linebackers out there. You know they're not running the ball. Then maybe Justin Reed comes in and plays the dime linebacker. That makes more sense to me than what we did in this football game. Yeah. I know we're supposed to be singing. No, it's fine. But I just, it's like... Cook, sir. For the life of me, I just don't understand. And obviously, this is a Brandon Staley thing. This isn't Kellen Moore. Ultimately, it falls on Kellen Moore because he's the head coach. But I think this defense could be a lot better by switching a few people around. And it's not like, I saw somebody earlier say, I don't know why this team is playing a 3-4 defense. We don't have to change our defense. We just need to change some personnel, in my opinion. Right. Can I add something? I also think Isaiah Stahlberg should get some run on defense. Please. Yeah, I do too. You mean you don't want to see Cam and Carl back in coverage some more? No. That's my favorite defense. That was elite defensive matchups. What are we doing? You often say the reshaping. Lance, what do you... I want you to dive a little bit deeper in Jonas Sanker, the safety versus Jonas Sanker, the star, and why you think he's better equipped for... First of all, we talked about this early on in the offseason when our training camp announced that Jonas Sanker is going to play that star position. And to me, I don't even know what the heck star means, right? He's playing nickel. He's a nickel. Not the star I thought he was going to be, by the way, when he said that. Sorry. By position, he's listed as a safety. And so me, who played receiver and a lot of slot receiver, if there's a safety playing in the nickel, I'm licking my chops, knowing like, bro, I just have to beat a safety all day. This is going to be easy. I'm not saying he can't play in coverage. I'm saying he gets lost in the shuffle playing over there, where he's not in the mix the way that he would be if he was playing a down safety in this defense. A guy that can kind of freely move around and make plays. It's more natural for him playing that safety position as opposed to, I just feel like we're wasting him playing in the slot where it's basically coverage 90% of the time and we're also not blitzing him, which I don't understand. Like you have a safety that's playing there. You would think that you want him to be involved in the run game and getting after the quarterback some, but that just doesn't seem to be the case. We're gonna keep him in coverage and it's harder for us to see him make plays, but he's such a good player and impact play making guy. We just have not seen it from him playing the star position. And if we're seeing it, they're seeing it. And it's not like he would have to go back to playing a position he's never played before, right? Like, so, I don't know. It's very, very confusing. You know, going back to Martin Emerson real quick, both of my daughters are cheerleaders and they have this cheer that they always used to cheer at football games. It was, be aggressive, be aggressive. And it was so good to see Martin Emerson go out and play cornerback, aggressive, being a hammer and not a nail on the outside. It's something that we preach to our defense all the time. I met Kennedy, shout out to our Kennedy Cougars, you know what I'm saying? Shout out to them. But he was a hammer on the outside and he made everything for every receiver that lined up across from him a challenge. And that helped the defense. And going back to what you were saying about Yonah Sanker really quickly, he was an eraser for this defense last season. A lot of the issues that they had, especially in coverage, he was able to make up for that because he was able to move freely. You're taking his best ability and putting him in a phone booth. And that's limiting him as a playmaker, which is why you're not seeing the defense make a lot of plays. We're too cute. John, take us home. Yeah, man. Look, I just say there's so many good performances that get overshadowed. But Emerson Jr., man, he's somebody that, again, has been around the league for a few years and stint with Cleveland. But the fact of making the most of his opportunities, and he was somebody in training camp and in the preseason. I think what I admired most is the fact that he wasn't scared to take chances. Some of that weak contact and all that stuff, I'm okay with some of those penalties for the aggressiveness. But it's just like that was refreshing to see him where he's literally a few yards off the receiver to start the play, and then he's coming up and he's pushing on them to begin to play. Instead of playing his seven, five yards off coverage, we've seen some of the other corners and stuff. I'm okay with it because he has the skill set to be able to recover from it. You know what I mean? I think that's the difference in some of the good corners versus the elite corners and stuff. I'm okay with you taking chances, but you want to trust your corner and have safety help over the top, all that good stuff. Look, I think he's definitely earned way more playing time if he's not going to start. But at the same time, I just don't know if they're going to make the moves necessary to do it. I think that's our biggest sticking point from this episode is, we see a lot of the good, we see a lot of what's been happening and what could be. Is it going to change or is it going to stay the same? That's the big question. I think some of us have our answer. That's the big question. I think he may be the easiest of the bunch. My fingers are crossed. I think he made such a standout, but hope ain't never got us nowhere. I hope that Blake Groupie was out of New Orleans for weeks. And then I hope anyway, we're not going to go down the line. Could that be another hour worth of content of things we hoped happened that didn't? One thing I hope happened and does is you'll be back with us on Thursday as we break down the game that will be happening in Paris, a big time moment for the Saints, big time moment for Kellen Moore, a big time moment for the franchise in general. So we'll be back here with a big time moment for the Saints squad show. In the meantime, in between time, until the next time that we hear each other, family, take care, stay blessed. Peace. We made it through. All right. Put down the third cup of coffee. More coffee is not fixing your testosterone. 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