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Reasonable thoughts thru 2 games
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:05 am
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:05 am
Spencer Rattler is not playing bad. He has a nice presence about himself. I don't have enough film or access to their play calling or strategies to know if he's missing open receivers or failing to make plays that could have been there. But from what he does do, he throws a usually very accurate ball, has nice zip and has a very good knack to scramble and make things happen with his feet.
Its been slightly disappointing that Juwan has had some bad drops. Olave isn't asserting himself as WR1. Shaheed should be having a better downfield presence. We are missing the Taysom hammer on offense.
Hopefully Penning gets back soon and upgrades the run game which hasn't been that bad really. Fuaga needs to get healthy. McCoy and Ruiz need to step it the frick up being the tenured vets on the line making all the bank. Banks is doing fine for a rookie but we'll continue to see some highs and lows.
Kamara is Kamara. The problem is if we continue to lose if Kamara checks out or his body can't hold up to the volume over the season.
Defense, we've seen some very good and some not great stuff. Haven't had Chase Young yet. Seeing a lot of action from young guys, some young lbs and hybrid players making plays. CB is a high priority. Losing Blackmon was a big loss. Would be nice to see Breese step it up a notch.
Overall, i'm not particularly that unhappy with any singular phase of our game. There's some positions we are weaker at and will be a priority moving forward. In those spots, we need to find out what we have in guys like Vele and Tipton and then defense guys like Riley, Sanker, Rumph, Stallbird, Broughton, and Diggs.
I feel like the team is fighting and playing hard. We are making mistakes but still we were only a few key plays from winning either game. Losses are still a loss but people acting like this is a historically bad saints team are way off.
Its been slightly disappointing that Juwan has had some bad drops. Olave isn't asserting himself as WR1. Shaheed should be having a better downfield presence. We are missing the Taysom hammer on offense.
Hopefully Penning gets back soon and upgrades the run game which hasn't been that bad really. Fuaga needs to get healthy. McCoy and Ruiz need to step it the frick up being the tenured vets on the line making all the bank. Banks is doing fine for a rookie but we'll continue to see some highs and lows.
Kamara is Kamara. The problem is if we continue to lose if Kamara checks out or his body can't hold up to the volume over the season.
Defense, we've seen some very good and some not great stuff. Haven't had Chase Young yet. Seeing a lot of action from young guys, some young lbs and hybrid players making plays. CB is a high priority. Losing Blackmon was a big loss. Would be nice to see Breese step it up a notch.
Overall, i'm not particularly that unhappy with any singular phase of our game. There's some positions we are weaker at and will be a priority moving forward. In those spots, we need to find out what we have in guys like Vele and Tipton and then defense guys like Riley, Sanker, Rumph, Stallbird, Broughton, and Diggs.
I feel like the team is fighting and playing hard. We are making mistakes but still we were only a few key plays from winning either game. Losses are still a loss but people acting like this is a historically bad saints team are way off.
6
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:13 am to Chad504boy
The pass rush yesterday concerned me. They weren’t great against Arizona but they got home enough when it mattered. Yesterday it felt like we couldn’t do that. I also am pretty frustrated with the soft zone coverage we played yesterday, the DBs were just consistently not closing on SF WRs who caught balls in front of them all day
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:21 am to Chad504boy
Feel the same on Ratt. He is comfortable playing the position and that alone will get him a career in the league.
Olave and Juwan are just not dependable players at this point. Our oline and dlines have a long way to go. Yiadom had his worse game I've seen him have. Just about every player stepped up and had a crappy costly play lol.
These might have been the two most winnable games we face this year.
Olave and Juwan are just not dependable players at this point. Our oline and dlines have a long way to go. Yiadom had his worse game I've seen him have. Just about every player stepped up and had a crappy costly play lol.
These might have been the two most winnable games we face this year.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:24 am to Rand AlThor
They weren’t great against Arizona? They had 5 sacks.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:26 am to RawDog7984
quote:
They had 5 sacks.
How many of those were Murray sliding or running out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage?
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:28 am to RawDog7984
quote:
They weren’t great against Arizona? They had 5 sacks.
yea, i feel like our edge is doing well. Need our interior DL to step up. Hopefully Chase Young elevates the play on the field when he gets back.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:29 am to RawDog7984
quote:
They weren’t great against Arizona? They had 5 sacks
I didn’t say they were bad. I said they weren’t great. They created sacks when they needed them but their pressure rates were pretty bad overall, in the bottom half of teams for week 1.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:30 am to Chad504boy
Rattler just isn’t any good. With that being said i think he played his best game as a pro yesterday and it was still filled with a lot of mistakes. 2 bad balls took points off the board (throw to Olave and the awful throw to Kamara in the flat where he had to catch it and pin it to his head). Defenses can sit back in two high and make Rattler have 10-12 play drives down the field and to be honest he’s just not good enough to pick defenses apart.
The team as a whole struggles, we make a lot of mistakes but yesterday it was much better. You can point to a few drops and it’s justifiable to call out Johnson but Rattler just isn’t good enough to overcome any adversity in a game. We’re talking about him having his best game where he threw 36 times for 200 yards.
This team needs turnovers for us to win games. I knew even without Purdy or kittle that Shanahan would dial up easy throws for jones to get him going and he lit us up.
I do love how they’re playing hard for Moore. Moore does seem to understand what defenses are trying to do and he also understand the limits we have at qb and he’s calling plays to get the ball out of Rattlees hands quickly. The truth is we aren’t any good and we are tanking. They’re doing a good job of it.
The team as a whole struggles, we make a lot of mistakes but yesterday it was much better. You can point to a few drops and it’s justifiable to call out Johnson but Rattler just isn’t good enough to overcome any adversity in a game. We’re talking about him having his best game where he threw 36 times for 200 yards.
This team needs turnovers for us to win games. I knew even without Purdy or kittle that Shanahan would dial up easy throws for jones to get him going and he lit us up.
I do love how they’re playing hard for Moore. Moore does seem to understand what defenses are trying to do and he also understand the limits we have at qb and he’s calling plays to get the ball out of Rattlees hands quickly. The truth is we aren’t any good and we are tanking. They’re doing a good job of it.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:40 am to Chad504boy
I’ll preface this by saying my expectations are extremely low this year.
The only thing concerning to me at this point is they’re still pretty sloppy. Drops, missed kicks, penalties, etc. I was hoping CKM would have that cleaned up. I know he’s limited with the roster but room to clean up simple mistakes.
That’s probably the biggest thing I’ll be watching to see if we improve as the year goes on. I realize we’re going to be bad, but I’d like to see more discipline.
The only thing concerning to me at this point is they’re still pretty sloppy. Drops, missed kicks, penalties, etc. I was hoping CKM would have that cleaned up. I know he’s limited with the roster but room to clean up simple mistakes.
That’s probably the biggest thing I’ll be watching to see if we improve as the year goes on. I realize we’re going to be bad, but I’d like to see more discipline.
This post was edited on 9/15/25 at 10:41 am
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:45 am to Chad504boy
quote:
Spencer Rattler is not playing bad. He has a nice presence about himself. I don't have enough film or access to their play calling or strategies to know if he's missing open receivers or failing to make plays that could have been there. But from what he does do, he throws a usually very accurate ball, has nice zip and has a very good knack to scramble and make things happen with his feet.
My biggest gripe is the inability to throw with anticipation, it severely limits his ability to move the chains consistently. He has improved, but that part of it will make the difference between a good QB and a backup.
quote:
Its been slightly disappointing that Juwan has had some bad drops. Olave isn't asserting himself as WR1. Shaheed should be having a better downfield presence. We are missing the Taysom hammer on offense.
Johnson, Shaheed, and Olave have all been vastly underwhelming. Inexcusable drops. Inability to create separation. They just seem to make EVERY catch harder than it should be.
quote:
Hopefully Penning gets back soon and upgrades the run game which hasn't been that bad really. Fuaga needs to get healthy. McCoy and Ruiz need to step it the frick up being the tenured vets on the line making all the bank. Banks is doing fine for a rookie but we'll continue to see some highs and lows.
Equally disappointing has been Fuaga. I get the knee injury is limiting him and playing next to Ruiz hurts, but Goddamn it looks bad. How is he a better LT than RT
quote:
Kamara is Kamara. The problem is if we continue to lose if Kamara checks out or his body can't hold up to the volume over the season.
I wanna see Kamara line up wide more, use him as a decoy and use Miller to alleviate those hits up the middle IMHO. I am very impressed with our run blocking (which has been absolute shite the past few years)
quote:
Defense, we've seen some very good and some not great stuff. Haven't had Chase Young yet. Seeing a lot of action from young guys, some young lbs and hybrid players making plays. CB is a high priority. Losing Blackmon was a big loss. Would be nice to see Breese step it up a notch.
I was thinking "man this DL worries me", but in reality I think its LBer play outside of Davis that is actually the most worrisome. Agreed CB - specifically Yiadom is worrisome. I was impressed with Sanker all in one game - he looked promising enough.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:49 am to htran90
quote:
Equally disappointing has been Fuaga. I get the knee injury is limiting him and playing next to Ruiz hurts, but Goddamn it looks bad. How is he a better LT than RT
i'll give Fuaga a pass. Ruiz is awful. Fuaga is playing hurt. Given those two factual points, I'm not worried about Fuaga.
Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.Posted on 9/15/25 at 10:50 am to Swagga
quote:
The only thing concerning to me at this point is they’re still pretty sloppy. Drops, missed kicks, penalties, etc. I was hoping CKM would have that cleaned up. I know he’s limited with the roster but room to clean up simple mistakes.
Fair and something that definitely needs to be a coaching point of emphasis.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 11:47 am to Chad504boy
I know its early, but I think its clear going into next year these are the two major concerns for each side:
Offense:
Guards - one or two need to be replaced, TBD on Penning but Ruiz is definitely not it long term. I think we bite the bullet and keep him around, but come 2027 he's gone.
WR - I don't know if we can find a legitimate game changer, 2027 is where its at with Williams and Smith, but Vele or Polk needs to be a chain mover.
Defense:
DE vs Pass rushing OLB - prime Cam Jordan is no longer here and as it stands Chase Young and Carl Granderson are just solid guys.
ILB - Davis is doing something to cheat death, but Werner has substantially regressed these past 1.5 years that its time to find someone else.
Offense:
Guards - one or two need to be replaced, TBD on Penning but Ruiz is definitely not it long term. I think we bite the bullet and keep him around, but come 2027 he's gone.
WR - I don't know if we can find a legitimate game changer, 2027 is where its at with Williams and Smith, but Vele or Polk needs to be a chain mover.
Defense:
DE vs Pass rushing OLB - prime Cam Jordan is no longer here and as it stands Chase Young and Carl Granderson are just solid guys.
ILB - Davis is doing something to cheat death, but Werner has substantially regressed these past 1.5 years that its time to find someone else.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 12:02 pm to Chad504boy
quote:
Spencer Rattler is not playing bad
He's not playing bad. But he's not playing good either...which has kind of been the story of his career, college and pro. He's competitive. He doesn't panic in chaos (which is a good thing with his interior OL), but he's not a guy that is going to ever be able to carry a team with deficiencies elsewhere to a win.
quote:
he throws a usually very accurate ball
The inconsistency is the problem. Always has been at OU, USC, now New Orleans. He'll make two high-level throws in a row...then following it up by skipping a ball to an open WR or just flat miss a wide open WR (like he did to Olave in the endzone). Hell, his final to throws last week were a microcosm of that. Unbelievable throw on third down into virtually no window to give his receiver a chance...followed up by air-mailing a throw on 4th and the game out of the endzone that gave his WR no chance to try to catch the ball.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 12:32 pm to htran90
What is the evidence that Werner has regressed?
I see this talking point continually mentioned without much support
I see this talking point continually mentioned without much support
Posted on 9/15/25 at 2:40 pm to chalmationnation
quote:
What is the evidence that Werner has regressed?
I see this talking point continually mentioned without much support
His coverage (or lack thereof) has been glaring the past year.
Early on, he was actually above average and pff reflects that. Now you can wonder if an elite pass rush can help, but all in all. It's been bad.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 2:50 pm to jmcwhrter
Are they not sacks?
Posted on 9/15/25 at 3:05 pm to htran90
quote:
Ruiz is definitely not it long term. I think we bite the bullet and keep him around, but come 2027 he's gone
I think they have to keep him through 2026 because of his contract and the other big contracts coming off the books.
$62M in dead money in 2026 between Carr, Ram, Mathieu, Saunders, Gray, Foskey, Cedrick Wilson & Haener
$48M in future dead money due to void years if Taysom, Cam, Demario, & Moreau are not extended before the new league year
2026 cap is expected to be $308M, and we'll have $110M tied up in dead cap; 35.7%
I do not see them dropping Ruiz and having his cap hit jump up $2.7M
On the plus side, if all goes well and Mickey is able to hold it together one more offseason; 2027 cap is looking relatively clean.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 3:08 pm to Weekend Warrior79
quote:
I do not see them dropping Ruiz and having his cap hit jump up $2.7M
trade for a big mac or june 1st cut. or maybe he renegotiates his contract so that we can cut his arse. who knows with cap stuff.
Posted on 9/15/25 at 3:24 pm to htran90
quote:
Equally disappointing has been Fuaga.
He actually played better than Week 1 and was graded as such. I’m not really that worried. I think when healthy, we’re going to have a really good tackle duo.
quote:
Johnson, Shaheed, and Olave have all been vastly underwhelming. Inexcusable drops. Inability to create separation. They just seem to make EVERY catch harder than it should be
This, to me, is the bigger issue than pretty much everything else. Olave and Shaheed are supposed to be playmakers and we paid Juwan to be one too and they’ve all looked awful for the most part. Cooks is nowhere to be found. Vele has made plays but probably is never going to be anything other than the 4th or 5th best option on a good team. We need playmakers, no matter who the QB is. It’s actually a good thing Rattler has played ok because I think that will buy them enough time to worry about QB in 2027 because 2026 needs to be a talent acquisition draft.
I’m hoping we can get a top 3 pick and trade it down to the 7-8 range for a haul. We need talent. We have solid players but ZERO game changers at really any level on offense or defense. Thats my biggest takeaway. The team isn’t completely devoid of talent BUT they don’t have ANY elite players and I was hoping at least 1-2 would emerge to give us some kind of building blocks for the future. Maybe Banks could be that kind of player but it’s hard to place that expectation on a rookie OL.
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