Speaker 1: Welcome in to the New Orleans Saints Podcast, presently by Seatcake.
Speaker 1: You'll hear from players, coaches, broadcasters and writers that cover
Speaker 1: the NFL on a daily basis. The New Orleans Saints
Speaker 1: Podcast starts right now. Here's your host, Aaron Summers.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the New Orleans Saints Podcast. Aaron Summers here,
Speaker 2: we have a lot to break down because it's been
Speaker 2: a week since we had a podcast and a lot
Speaker 2: has happened. The schedule got released Wednesday night. Now we're
Speaker 2: all booking trips, figuring out when we are available or
Speaker 2: not for the upcoming season. And there's been some news
Speaker 2: on the quarterback in the front as well. So we're
Speaker 2: bringing in the Voice of the Saints, my cost to
Speaker 2: talk to us about everything that we can think of
Speaker 2: that has happened in the past week. Mike, how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm well, I was like you, I mean, I'm very
Speaker 3: enamored with the schedule. I mean, right, it's fifteen people
Speaker 3: in a room a few months ago deciding our fate
Speaker 3: for the next six months. Right, And so I got
Speaker 3: two weddings I'm involved in. I'm like, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: trying to So it's just I find it interested I
Speaker 3: just love the schedule re lease. I for whatever reason,
Speaker 3: I'm a very symmetry guy, and I hate things with
Speaker 3: that are not symmetry because it feels unfair. And when
Speaker 3: I do that, I look at home in a way
Speaker 3: when you play the playoff teams, when you play your South,
Speaker 3: your division team. So I get way deep into it.
Speaker 3: But you're right, you know, I mean many mini camp
Speaker 3: was you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But so much has happened. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean the Derek Carr situation on April eleventh, that's Friday.
Speaker 3: I was like, what, you know, it was such a shock,
Speaker 3: and then within a month to May tenth, it was
Speaker 3: done retired like so and essentially it really kind of
Speaker 3: happened quick, but didn't feel like it did. They have
Speaker 3: the whole thing resolved and him retiring, which quite frankly,
Speaker 3: how do you feel about Derek Carr? It helped the Saints,
Speaker 3: I mean helped them financially. He could have gone to
Speaker 3: camp and did a sixty nine million dollar hit next
Speaker 3: year cap wise. So it's just been so sports talk
Speaker 3: shows are having a field day and they will continue to.
Speaker 2: No one saw that coming, and I think that's why
Speaker 2: even from the very beginning with the injury news that
Speaker 2: came out. The whole thing was kept under wraps, so
Speaker 2: we don't exactly know the timeline, what was said, who
Speaker 2: talked to who, But there is finality to it now,
Speaker 2: which I think is the big key in all this.
Speaker 2: We know now Derek Carr is not going to be here.
Speaker 2: New head coach Kellen Moore comes in and gets to
Speaker 2: move forward with a new slate, really a full new
Speaker 2: coaching staff, a ton of new players, and completely different
Speaker 2: looking quarterback rooms. So a lot to get into on
Speaker 2: that front. But you mentioned the schedule being your favorite thing,
Speaker 2: so what stood out to you the most.
Speaker 3: Well, obviously the primetime situation. I mean, first time in
Speaker 3: twenty five years. First off, I didn't realize until yesterday
Speaker 3: before the Skelul commement. I thought you had to have
Speaker 3: a game. I thought everybody got a game. I don't
Speaker 3: care what it was. I thought, you know, but Carolina
Speaker 3: didn't have one last year. So to go from twenty
Speaker 3: twenty one where you had five primetime games to zero,
Speaker 3: A lot of three o'clock games but no primetime games.
Speaker 3: I mean, it is what it is. I mean, you've
Speaker 3: got to earn the right to play in those games.
Speaker 3: The NFL is not an equal opportunity employer. They want
Speaker 3: what they want, and unfortunately for the Saints, they've not
Speaker 3: necessarily played well in primetime of recent and it hasn't
Speaker 3: even really been close. And I think that's been the problem.
Speaker 3: It's not that they were really in games. You know,
Speaker 3: they've in the last four years, so it's been a
Speaker 3: struggle for whatever reason. And so that obviously stood out.
Speaker 3: Number one for me was primetime. Then I look at
Speaker 3: what I always called the imbalance, and I used to
Speaker 3: always think, and I believe this until last night, still
Speaker 3: kind of that the NFL is not fond of giving
Speaker 3: New Orleans a ton of home games in September, right
Speaker 3: in the early season, hurricane season October. I just maybe
Speaker 3: it's in the back of my mind, maybe it's not,
Speaker 3: maybe it's just me, but they've had three of their
Speaker 3: first five on the road in three of their last
Speaker 3: four years. But this year, boy, it's front loaded, right,
Speaker 3: four of your first six, five of your first eight
Speaker 3: games are at home. You better make your hey at
Speaker 3: that point. You don't play a division opponent until Week eight,
Speaker 3: so five of your first eight at home. But then
Speaker 3: the math of course flips because you play six of
Speaker 3: your last nine games, including the final two, on the road.
Speaker 3: This team has always been a pretty good road team.
Speaker 3: But you can't look at that situation and go, let's
Speaker 3: plan on that to you know, make back some of
Speaker 3: the losses be made at her You've got to win it.
Speaker 3: They're not good teams coming to the Supernowner's one that
Speaker 3: has a winning record, that's Tampa. Other than that, no
Speaker 3: one has a winning record. So you got must make
Speaker 3: your your your money at home this year, winning and early.
Speaker 2: With the no primetime games, I do think though, it's
Speaker 2: an opportunity to establish what this team is going to
Speaker 2: look like under Kellen Moore without a ton of people
Speaker 2: scrutinizing things. Kind of fly under the radar for a
Speaker 2: little while, build your brand. The last time the Saints
Speaker 2: didn't have a primetime game was in two thousand and
Speaker 2: they won the NFC West and they went on to
Speaker 2: win the franchise's first playoff game. So if we can
Speaker 2: do that again get back into the playoffs, I think
Speaker 2: everybody's gonna be happy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I'm fine with flying under the radar,
Speaker 3: and I'm fine with quite frankly, this team having a
Speaker 3: little chip on the shoulder that people that disrespect them
Speaker 3: so much that you're one of three teams that didn't
Speaker 3: have one. Now, Tennessee surprises me a little bit, just
Speaker 3: you got the number one pick, like you'd figure early
Speaker 3: in the season they throw that cat on there somewhere
Speaker 3: in Cleveland, you know who doesn't. But man, I totally
Speaker 3: agree it's and it's also let's say, let's say we
Speaker 3: are not the coach, but you're gonna go with a
Speaker 3: rookie quarterback, whether it's Spencer who's played in some games,
Speaker 3: or it's Jake, or it's Tyler. Quite frankly, this is
Speaker 3: not you don't want to have to play the first
Speaker 3: play schedule. You want to be against the teams that
Speaker 3: are struggling as well. And that's exactly what this season is.
Speaker 3: Of their seventeen opponents, their average record is seven and ten.
Speaker 3: So if you're gonna roll out some newness and some
Speaker 3: stand of the radar, you know, this is kind of
Speaker 3: the year to do it.
Speaker 2: If you look at the overall strength of schedule, the
Speaker 2: Saints have the second easiest one in the league. So
Speaker 2: again to your point, it set up very well for
Speaker 2: the Saints in the situation that they're in with a
Speaker 2: lot of new on this team, what teams and stretches
Speaker 2: do you feel like will be the biggest challenge.
Speaker 3: It's you know, it's tough because of what's are teams?
Speaker 3: How much better are our teams? You start off three,
Speaker 3: you start off a three NFC West right away, Arizona,
Speaker 3: San franc Seattle. You know, you have to me, you
Speaker 3: got Buffalo at Chicago in September and October. That's going
Speaker 3: to be lovely. Those games could have been you know,
Speaker 3: that would have changed a lot. Ye. I just feel
Speaker 3: like despite the fact that this team has won its
Speaker 3: first last six the NFL's longest active streak hombo just
Speaker 3: open season openers, and they've been to and zero their
Speaker 3: last two seasons. That they get they they're climbing up
Speaker 3: hill in that first eight nine games, right they're and
Speaker 3: you just continually climb up hill. So you look at
Speaker 3: those games and I kind of go out of those
Speaker 3: first four Arizona, San Francisatle Buffalo, you got to come
Speaker 3: out of that two and two. That next stretch Giants,
Speaker 3: New England at home at Chicago, then finally Tampa. But
Speaker 3: it's home those four games. If you are two and two,
Speaker 3: you know can be you know, five and three, six
Speaker 3: and two something like that. Now you've set yourself up
Speaker 3: for that for that back end, which is they're not
Speaker 3: necessarily you know, world beaters. I mean, your final four
Speaker 3: games are Carolina Jets, Tennessee, Atlanta, so you know they're
Speaker 3: not you know, like you can't win these games, but
Speaker 3: they're just so much on the road. When you know
Speaker 3: what's Miami going to be? Like, you face a lot
Speaker 3: of teams, what's Atlanta. It's about pressure, you know Atlanta.
Speaker 3: Atlanta has six prime time or standalone games, six five
Speaker 3: time and they play Indie in Berlin. You talk about
Speaker 3: pressure on a franchise. Tar Fontineau and those guys to perform.
Speaker 3: The NFL thinks you're you're you get more than Tampa
Speaker 3: uh prime time and standalone. So I feel like that's
Speaker 3: where they're You know, there's there's pressure out there. And
Speaker 3: I don't care what anybody says NFC South is open
Speaker 3: for business or care that Tampa's won the last four.
Speaker 3: I do not care. That's the team the Saints to
Speaker 3: play the best against, especially on the road. But you're
Speaker 3: gonna have to you can have to sweep some people
Speaker 3: in the South. You can't this. You can't get swept
Speaker 3: and you can't one on one. You're gonna have to
Speaker 3: play better in the South this year.
Speaker 2: I think when you start the season off, as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: Arizona at home, a team that you could definitely beat,
Speaker 2: and they haven't done well in season openers, and they
Speaker 2: haven't done well here in the Superdome. But the stretch
Speaker 2: between the San Francisco forty nine ers and then you
Speaker 2: go at Seattle, and then the next week you go
Speaker 2: all the way across the country to Buffalo. Playing in
Speaker 2: Seattle is going to be hard. And then go in
Speaker 2: and play against Buffalo, who is a team that was
Speaker 2: one of the most difficult teams to play last season,
Speaker 2: one of the teams it has a winning record on
Speaker 2: the schedule for the Saints from last year. That is
Speaker 2: is going to be a tough few games to get
Speaker 2: through early in the season, right.
Speaker 3: And it's and so, And you will have already traveled
Speaker 3: to the West Coast once for the first preseason game,
Speaker 3: which undoubtedly will be practice. Go out there early, go
Speaker 3: back to Calvine, spend some time, which I love. I
Speaker 3: think that's I couldn't have you couldn't have set it
Speaker 3: up better. And for me, how who cares for me?
Speaker 3: But I mean for this team because I feel like
Speaker 3: where it was last year, before that second game they had,
Speaker 3: they were you know, the Niners were beat up, but
Speaker 3: the Saints were just as beat up. You played a
Speaker 3: preseason game. This gives you the opportunity to practice here
Speaker 3: in Metali, go out there, spend some time, get back
Speaker 3: in so far where you've not played well, and you've
Speaker 3: got to come back to so far. But that's a
Speaker 3: West coast trip. And then week three you go back
Speaker 3: to the West coast. And the Saints have three West
Speaker 3: Coast trips in the season two, you know, in the
Speaker 3: first eight. If you want to consider Week five and seats,
Speaker 3: you're right, those those that at Seattle at Buffalo, I
Speaker 3: mean you come out of that one one that that's
Speaker 3: that's a that's a victory. Yeah sure. But to me,
Speaker 3: I think that the ability to go out there to
Speaker 3: so far and to get out of this heat, then
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be hugely.
Speaker 2: Beneficial if they can come away with the wind, Like
Speaker 2: you said, you build some confidence in that stadium where
Speaker 2: they haven't played so well. When then you know you're
Speaker 2: gonna have to go back there against the Rams where
Speaker 2: there's all this history, and yeah, that's later in the season.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't know why. It's just I don't
Speaker 3: like the building. I don't like it's funny. I don't
Speaker 3: like the building. They don't play well there. It's a
Speaker 3: crappy press booth for the radio five billion. I'm like, man,
Speaker 3: I could have done so much more with this money.
Speaker 3: But they need to. They need to get off that
Speaker 3: snide and play better at that building.
Speaker 2: Was it because you had to go through it was
Speaker 2: that hurriquake, a hurricane.
Speaker 3: An earthquake at one same game. That was a preseason game.
Speaker 3: That one didn't bother me too much. But they've just
Speaker 3: they just have not They have had Thursday night games
Speaker 3: out there. They just have not played their best in
Speaker 3: LA against either team. Really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, first game against the division is, as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: against the Bucks, not until week eight, so they do
Speaker 2: have some time to figure themselves out before they have
Speaker 2: to go against the division opponents. But what is the
Speaker 2: most intriguing game and why is it against the Bears?
Speaker 3: You know, I guess I don't I know why. Again,
Speaker 3: I think we'll know Chicago's better, right, And so I
Speaker 3: don't know if Dennis was the head coach, Yeah, I
Speaker 3: don't think. I don't I think the defensive coordinator going
Speaker 3: against his defense. I mean, we know what that defense
Speaker 3: is going to be. Like the quest, I think the
Speaker 3: bigger question is where are these teams through six games?
Speaker 3: Right that October nineteenth, Week seven at Chicago at noon.
Speaker 3: You know, last time they played was here in twenty
Speaker 3: three Saints one. You know, I look at the I look.
Speaker 3: I always go Division kind of first, and to me,
Speaker 3: your Tampa game Week eight, They've played terrible at home
Speaker 3: against Tampa of late, right, and I've played well in
Speaker 3: the road, but I haven't always won. So Week eight
Speaker 3: and Week fourteen at Tampa, I just you know, I don't.
Speaker 3: I just don't know. I can't. I can't get a
Speaker 3: feel for Atlanta. I got a pretty good idea about Tampa.
Speaker 3: They seem to get better. Baker Mayfield gets better. I
Speaker 3: don't care who's the offense coordinator. They get better in
Speaker 3: the draft, and so I feel like you've got to
Speaker 3: that's your first division game, Week eight, October twenty six.
Speaker 3: It's three o'clock, and then you don't play another one
Speaker 3: until November twenty third and after a bye week in Atlanta,
Speaker 3: and I just feel like that game can do a lot.
Speaker 3: That's a stretch of three or four games at home Giants,
Speaker 3: New England, Road, Chicago, then Tampa. So man, I just
Speaker 3: feel like that's an important one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Bucks have won their last three games here
Speaker 2: in the Superdome, and we don't need to talk about
Speaker 2: what happened last year. Hopefully it does leave a little
Speaker 2: bad taste in the Saints' mouths to come out here
Speaker 2: and dominate that game because of how poorly they played
Speaker 2: the last time they faced the Bucks here. But you
Speaker 2: never know how that's going to work out as a
Speaker 2: new coaching staffs. You don't know how much it matters
Speaker 2: to them how they played last year. Maybe play, but I.
Speaker 3: Think, like you said, I think they do. They don't
Speaker 3: do it. They certainly don't think about it as much.
Speaker 3: Maybe they about what happened and you know, hey, they
Speaker 3: came in and embarrass us in our building, but not
Speaker 3: like hey, the last time they played in twenty two
Speaker 3: at home, and you know that. I think a game
Speaker 3: that's important for another reason is that Arizona game, And
Speaker 3: you talked about it with Kyler Murray Saints struggle stopping
Speaker 3: running quarterbacks last year? Is that going to be a
Speaker 3: theme for the like are we going to they going
Speaker 3: in and he rushes for one hundred and five, you
Speaker 3: know on third and eighteen, picks up first downs. You know,
Speaker 3: we we know this chapter and you don't want to
Speaker 3: live it again because once you live it, you've got
Speaker 3: to keep living it until you stop it. And so
Speaker 3: I think that is a that's a statement game about
Speaker 3: how where this its first game, where this defense is
Speaker 3: with stopping kind of mobile quarterbacks block parties not nearly
Speaker 3: as mobile, but Ken Josh Allen week four, you know,
Speaker 3: and men, and it's not running quarterbacks like RPO runs.
Speaker 3: It's the escapability turning a third and fifteen into a
Speaker 3: first down that are just killed and you've got to
Speaker 3: got to stop that and you've got to be able
Speaker 3: to stop the run period or you know, just going
Speaker 3: to run it down, you know, up the middle of
Speaker 3: every play.
Speaker 2: Okay, which game are you looking forward to calling the most?
Speaker 3: Because I haven't been there a long long time. I'm
Speaker 3: looking forward to at Buffalo Orchard Park Stadium.
Speaker 1: Is not going to be last year?
Speaker 3: Right the very first game I ever did in New
Speaker 3: Orleans was a preseason game in Buffalo in August was
Speaker 3: a Saints preseason game. And so it's and you know,
Speaker 3: no one will give the Saints a chance. That'll be
Speaker 3: a tent way, you know, not knowing where they do
Speaker 3: it were one two three, they come out, you know,
Speaker 3: like last year, one two three. Who knows what the
Speaker 3: spread would be, but nobody expects you to win. And
Speaker 3: I just think that'll be It's a it's a great atmosphere.
Speaker 3: Buffalo fans are very much like New Orleans. It's small market.
Speaker 3: They live and die with their team. And so and
Speaker 3: thank gosh, it's gonna be September twenty eighth, It'll be autumn, right,
Speaker 3: and so I'm looking forward to to that again. They
Speaker 3: got to be a fun game to call.
Speaker 2: Well, coming into this season, for the first time since
Speaker 2: two thousand and six, we will have a new head
Speaker 2: coach and a new quarterback. It's been a minute that
Speaker 2: two thousand and six season was very successful. So what
Speaker 2: is your take on the quarterback room here and the
Speaker 2: departure Derek Carr and where that leaves this team?
Speaker 3: The Derek Carr situation kind of it didn't surprise me
Speaker 3: now that we know, if you'd told me in April
Speaker 3: he's got a torn labor you know, and some degenerative rotator.
Speaker 3: Come all right, Well it changes this conversation. But we
Speaker 3: didn't know that, so I'm surprised, but now that I know,
Speaker 3: not as much. Look, Derek Carr came in in the
Speaker 3: second year, the Dennis Allen, who not fans were not
Speaker 3: necessarily Again with the Dennis Allen, you were on one
Speaker 3: side of the fence of the other, very few people
Speaker 3: at all. I don't have an opinion. No, no, you
Speaker 3: had an depinion on Denis, and Derek come in there.
Speaker 3: So he's he's kind of that same lightning rod. And
Speaker 3: I look at that first season and he started every game,
Speaker 3: got hurt three times, came back and started the very
Speaker 3: next week. He showed you some of his kind of
Speaker 3: core toughness, but it didn't change anything. You were still
Speaker 3: he was a lightning rod and that wasn't gonna change.
Speaker 3: I kind of agree with you and the fact that
Speaker 3: he did retire in May. It's over done. He's not
Speaker 3: gonna get traded, He's not gonna end up somewhere else
Speaker 3: at the Saints. You're going to play in week two, right, Uh,
Speaker 3: it does give this room the ability to go forward,
Speaker 3: and so I think I think it's Tyler Shuck's job
Speaker 3: to lose. I just do you know, camp, we'll we'll
Speaker 3: learn them more. But at some point, you can't you know,
Speaker 3: at four right now with Heckers, I still kind of
Speaker 3: thought they'd get a veteran, and they still might at
Speaker 3: some point once they figure out who there three are
Speaker 3: and maybe who that fourth might be. But you can't
Speaker 3: spend all camp trying out three. You gotta you gotta
Speaker 3: at some point you gotta figure out pretty early on
Speaker 3: who's gonna be my guy, because that guy's got to
Speaker 3: get ready for three preseason games, which they'll all play
Speaker 3: some in the preseason. That's you know. Even Kellen said
Speaker 3: that the other day. You know, we're gonna learn a
Speaker 3: lot more once you get the camp and once you
Speaker 3: you know, they didn't talk about the practice with the Chargers.
Speaker 3: I'm saying that and the preseason games. But we talked
Speaker 3: about this last night on w W Wells. I'm not
Speaker 3: playing Tyler Shuck unless I got my first team line
Speaker 3: and are very close to my first team line. So then, now,
Speaker 3: how many STAPs do you want him to get He
Speaker 3: needs the reps, but I don't need everybody, everybody on
Speaker 3: the officer line getting reps. Now, that depends what are
Speaker 3: we doing with Banks. Are we moving for Waga? Are
Speaker 3: we moving Penny? You could have a situation where, you
Speaker 3: know what, my starting line could use some reps. Everybody's
Speaker 3: moved around, and you know we saw in the mini
Speaker 3: camp that Kelvin Bank played everywhere. Yeah, played played across
Speaker 3: the line. So I don't I don't know that, but
Speaker 3: I'm it's it's a new era, right, I mean, it's
Speaker 3: a new you know. It's funny you went back to six.
Speaker 3: I'm like, we had the post Drew Brees new era
Speaker 3: after twenty then we had the post Sean Payton air
Speaker 3: after twenty one twenty one. By the way, we had
Speaker 3: four starting quarterbacks and four kickers, so we went right
Speaker 3: from Drew to Holy cow. This is what the rest
Speaker 3: of the league's been dealing with. This sucks, right, We've
Speaker 3: had eight quarterbacks in the last four years. So new
Speaker 3: era of Darren Razzie Dennis, new coach, Kellen and new quarterback.
Speaker 3: I'm fine with this being a new era, but after this,
Speaker 3: we don't get a new we're done new Eras for
Speaker 3: a while. I want some stability and some victories and
Speaker 3: some games that mean something. That's what I kind of want.
Speaker 3: On this schedule. You know, they fall behind two and four,
Speaker 3: two and five to you know, you fall behind early.
Speaker 3: You don't really have these meaningful games I'm talking And
Speaker 3: on this schedule you could have some meaningful games that
Speaker 3: begin it three o'clock in the afternoon, right four home
Speaker 3: three o'clock games. Three of them are three twenty five,
Speaker 3: so you can go to LSU the night before, wake up,
Speaker 3: no rush. And I want the atmosphere back, yeah, right,
Speaker 3: I mean noon games sometimes it's a it's a tough
Speaker 3: atmosphere for a team that is totally so I want
Speaker 3: games that matter and the atmosphere back in this In
Speaker 3: this I say that building. This building is where I'm
Speaker 3: sitting right now because it's been a while. It's been
Speaker 3: a while since we've had a game that mattered, I
Speaker 3: mean mattered in this building. I hope that's the situation
Speaker 3: this year, and I think it can be.
Speaker 2: Trying to put stress on me for the end of
Speaker 2: the season, coming down to whether we win or lose
Speaker 2: against the Falcons to go into the playoffs.
Speaker 3: I'll take that. I'll tike right now. Would you not
Speaker 3: take Week eighteen? It'll be in twenty six a game
Speaker 3: against at Atlanta. Winner goes to the playoffs. Maybe lets
Speaker 3: you know winner as it's been, it's the NFC South,
Speaker 3: for God's sake, the winner wins the division and no wildcard.
Speaker 3: We have seen a wild guard, you know, come out
Speaker 3: of this division. I think since since Tampa and twenty
Speaker 3: probably the last and they won it. They're the last
Speaker 3: wild guard. We won the division in twenty but they
Speaker 3: won the Super Bowl. So I'll take it because that
Speaker 3: puts you somewhere eight nine wins at that point, seven
Speaker 3: eight nine wins and we're going to week eighteen. I'll
Speaker 3: take it.
Speaker 2: Quarterback Derek Carr was only here for two years, which
Speaker 2: I think is surprising. It felt like a lot longer.
Speaker 2: It felt like we went through a lot of iterations
Speaker 2: with Carr. He ends up fourteen and thirteen three four
Speaker 2: over six thousand yards, forty touchdowns, thirteen interceptions. You know,
Speaker 2: he definitely had some issues with durability, the injuries. And
Speaker 2: you're looking at a quarterback and Tyler Schuck who's going
Speaker 2: to turn twenty six in September. He has also had
Speaker 2: some durability issue. But you look at his last season
Speaker 2: at Louisville when he was healthy and he put it
Speaker 2: all together. He threw for over three thousand yards, twenty
Speaker 2: three touchdowns and only six interceptions. He played under center,
Speaker 2: he did a lot of play action. He showed you
Speaker 2: that he can be an NFL quarterback in the way
Speaker 2: that he understands the game and he can play. How
Speaker 2: confident are you that, since he is the oldest one
Speaker 2: in the quarterback room, that he can he can come
Speaker 2: in and be maybe the more solidified quarterback.
Speaker 3: I think you make it. You make it a positive.
Speaker 3: Now I'm not looking at it right now, but I
Speaker 3: did this draft night. He will turn twenty six on
Speaker 3: September twenty eighth, Right, So, Spencer Rattler turns twenty five
Speaker 3: on September twenty eight the same day.
Speaker 2: That's crazy and airs up.
Speaker 3: Yet, does anybody out there talk about Spencer Ratler's age?
Speaker 3: They're a year apart, right, right? Nobody? I mean so,
Speaker 3: I mean Spencer went to two different schools. I think
Speaker 3: you're right about the Louisville year, and if you look
Speaker 3: kind of closer at the Tech years and I spent
Speaker 3: two years in love it working, you know, working there.
Speaker 3: I mean, you're in an island. If you look at
Speaker 3: those seasons a little closer he had, he was, you
Speaker 3: know until the you know, collar bone and the rankle
Speaker 3: got rolled up. He did some good things. But the
Speaker 3: positive is that guy's been in three different offenses. He's
Speaker 3: had three different head coaches, three different offensive coordinators. Nothing
Speaker 3: phases him. Bring him in. You use that experience to say, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know he hasn't you know, played in the NFL.
Speaker 3: You had, Yeah, well guess what. Neither Pencer Rattler last
Speaker 3: year until Derek Carr got hurt. So I think you
Speaker 3: turned what the age thing? You know, I'm not worried
Speaker 3: about that at all. I really, I really am. Not
Speaker 3: twenty six. When people go, what what if he gives
Speaker 3: you twelve years, will be thirty eight? I go, if
Speaker 3: he gives us twelve years, we are gold because that
Speaker 3: means that cat's been here twelve years. Uh So, not
Speaker 3: not worried about that. I think it's gonna be really healthy.
Speaker 3: I mean he's used to He played against Brock Party
Speaker 3: in high school. Right now, they're going to play in
Speaker 3: week two. Uh I won't it was not pretty for uh.
Speaker 3: Toddler's team, by the way, Brock's team handled him pretty
Speaker 3: pretty pretty well. I was high school. Uh, But I
Speaker 3: think you turned it into a positive. I think his
Speaker 3: experience and the ability and and Kellen said it Saturday,
Speaker 3: command of the huddle. You know, did he come in?
Speaker 3: He's he going to work hard. Know the plays. If
Speaker 3: you don't know the plays and throw to the right
Speaker 3: people off the start, then nothing else matters. And get
Speaker 3: him some weapons around him and run that football, baby,
Speaker 3: run that football. And offensive line certainly better. I don't
Speaker 3: know what it's gonna look like, but I feel like
Speaker 3: it's better across the board.
Speaker 2: Definitely stay healthy, Like how do you know?
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, take that. I always go back.
Speaker 3: You know, Spencer Ratler, go get him a star. You
Speaker 3: don't ever seed. You don't have a lave. I have Taysom,
Speaker 3: and I canna have Alvin most of the time, and
Speaker 3: I canna have hardly any of your offensive line. But
Speaker 3: go get them. I'm like, what, so you know? And
Speaker 3: you can't. You can't avoid it. But when it hit
Speaker 3: position groups like O line and wide receiver and dbs,
Speaker 3: it's a killer. You can handle thirteen injuries at a
Speaker 3: time if they're spread out, but not when they're bunched
Speaker 3: like they were last year. You can't have that. You
Speaker 3: can't avoid it, but you can't have it.
Speaker 2: It's honestly surprising that he only got sacked twenty two
Speaker 2: times if you look at it that way. Twenty two
Speaker 2: is a big number when you only played six games.
Speaker 2: But he was dealing with a lot of injuries on
Speaker 2: the line and then not having a lot of weapons
Speaker 2: to get the ball too. So it was it was
Speaker 2: a tough situation for him to walk into, and he
Speaker 2: held his head high and he attacked it the best
Speaker 2: that he could. I think we're looking at what's going
Speaker 2: to be a really, really fun quarterback competition throughout camp.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I agree, Oby.
Speaker 2: Knows who's gonna be, so there's an opportunity for you
Speaker 2: to go out and take it.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, Jake had that rough way outing
Speaker 3: with Washington, but if you look at Spencer, I look
Speaker 3: at Spencer Rattler at second half Washington, first half final
Speaker 3: game Tampa, second half Washington, it leads him back to
Speaker 3: what you know, should have been an overtime game at worst,
Speaker 3: but they lose on the two point conversion. That's all Spencer.
Speaker 3: First half against Tampa, he is dominant. He ran that
Speaker 3: offense like a fifteen year veteran. Now that's the only
Speaker 3: team that he'd ever played twice in the NFL. Right,
Speaker 3: he had film of him versus Tampa and then Week
Speaker 3: eighteen film with rom versus Tampa. I couldn't continue in
Speaker 3: the second half. But those two halves you see things
Speaker 3: that go okay, but unfortunately just didn't have enough consistency.
Speaker 3: But I agree, I think, you know, they're they're similar.
Speaker 3: They both you know, they're not in stature. I mean,
Speaker 3: nobody is with Tyler that came big. But I think
Speaker 3: it's gonna be fun. I think it's you know, it's
Speaker 3: it's the it's the unknown that I like, Right, It's
Speaker 3: the unknown that I think we have to gravitate to
Speaker 3: and hold on to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be a fun lead up to the
Speaker 2: first game against Arizona. Whoever the quarterback is, if it
Speaker 2: is Shuck or Rattler, they're gonna be playing against their
Speaker 2: hometown team. And that's another fun little facet of the
Speaker 2: scheduling and the makeup of this team. But it's nice
Speaker 2: and more said this, he called it a blank slate
Speaker 2: for everybody coming into this year. You don't know what's
Speaker 2: going to happen, and so it's going to be fun
Speaker 2: to sit back see it play out and not really
Speaker 2: have a ton of expectations. We may come out of
Speaker 2: it pleasantly surprised. I know that there's a lot of
Speaker 2: respect for more and his ability to adapt to what
Speaker 2: he has. He got to go out kind of pick him,
Speaker 2: choose a couple pieces to add. He's obviously put together
Speaker 2: his coaching staff. So I don't know. I'm a little
Speaker 2: excited right now look at the schedule getting ready for
Speaker 2: the season. It feels like now that the schedule's out,
Speaker 2: you can really start building up to something.
Speaker 3: I agree. I'm I'm as you know, Jeff Duncan's gonna
Speaker 3: come out with this article and we have to pick
Speaker 3: and I'm I'm just there are many things in life,
Speaker 3: many things where I am not a glass half full guy,
Speaker 3: and in fact a lot most things, But for whatever reason,
Speaker 3: with this football team, I am a glass half I do.
Speaker 3: I never think they're gonna have a losing season. I
Speaker 3: don't think they're gonna have a losing season this year.
Speaker 3: I just don't the teams they play are not that
Speaker 3: good yet They've gotten better, but so of the Saints.
Speaker 3: And I look at the roster now, and I look
Speaker 3: at the changes just made since mini rookie mid camp. Right,
Speaker 3: you signed a couple of wide receiver, quarterback, you you know, safety,
Speaker 3: a wide receiver. Like, I don't think the until we
Speaker 3: see that roster in late July. I think there's gonna
Speaker 3: be a lot of tinkering. Uh. And I'm I'm excited
Speaker 3: because you don't know, right, San Francisco is six and eleven,
Speaker 3: what do they? Where are they? I don't know. I
Speaker 3: don't know what that is. Right, it was weird. Arizona's
Speaker 3: eight and nine, Seattle's ten and seven then make the playoffs,
Speaker 3: so you know it's it's I'm like you, I'm excited
Speaker 3: of the unknown.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, we have the first set of OTAs starting
Speaker 2: next week, so we'll be able to get back out
Speaker 2: on the field see some of the players. What this
Speaker 2: team is going to start looking like. I'm going to
Speaker 2: move a little by little here as we get towards
Speaker 2: that first game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, there's nothing better than watching guys and
Speaker 3: shoulder pads and shorts in a running place, Right, and
Speaker 3: people go, how did X look? And I go, well,
Speaker 3: I don't know, it looked fine. You know, I don't
Speaker 3: know what the proute was, but I mean Spitzer Routler
Speaker 3: through one left handed rookie Meunichamp just going right. And
Speaker 3: I'm like, so it's hard to it's hard to tell,
Speaker 3: but you're right. It's it's steps step step step, steps
Speaker 3: step steps OTAs mini camp and then band training camp
Speaker 3: and then September seventh feels like a year away and
Speaker 3: a lot can happen. But I'm you know, hope. You know,
Speaker 3: it's not a strategy, but hope is the unknown right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, thank you so much for taking the time
Speaker 2: to break down the schedule, talk about the quarterbacks and
Speaker 2: kind of build up towards what we're going to be
Speaker 2: seeing this season.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. You heard me. I love the schedule
Speaker 3: release man, and I'm as nerdy as it gets, so
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon, all right.
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