Can the Saints win three straight games and make a playoff push?

Nick and Brooke detail how the Saints will match up against the Los Angeles Rams, Can the offensive line contain Aaron Donald and the Rams pass rush, Is Juwan Johnson a viable fantasy option moving forward and can the Saints capture the NFC South crown?

For more Saints news, analysis and podcasts at https://neworleans.football/

Welcome in to PJ’s Coffee joining you live from Airline Drive I’m BR her offer alongside Nick Underhill joining you live on new worldland sou football breaking down this Thursday night matchup we kind of put together two shows we usually have a matchup Friday that’s going to be a little bit of

Today’s show as well as our usual recap we merged those two together for a jam-pack show today we’re going to to talk about everything in this game Aaron Donald Cooper cup Chris aive Ryan ramek all of it what we know after today’s walkthrough and both teams right now are

Sitting at s and seven could this be an opportunity for the Saints to get a win in Prime Time sure looks like it we’re going to get to all of that in today’s show sure looks like it we got optimism coming in here today coming to you from

The Airline Drive PJs make sure you check out this location all the locations in the city and if you have any medical needs Toro hospital they are our presenting sponsor if you need a new car check out my guy map hours he has dealerships all over the Golf Coast best

Car dealer in the whole universe United States whatever you want to call it he’s the best there is so make sure you go and check him out and if you need to get relaxed get a facial get a massage whatever it is day woodh house Day Spa great Christmas gift last minute

Shopping go grab somebody a coupon they’ll remember it forever and you can get in and out of there really quick just by you know getting the gift card so let’s hit these ODS the New Orleans do football show is proudly presented by PJ’s cof coffee PJ’s Coffee has some of

The best drinks that you can find they have locations all over the city they have pastries and everything else you need to get your day started so go check them out are you looking for the perfect engagement ring look no further than friend and& company find Jeweler’s new

Engagement salot this new area house is a wide selection of engagement rings to choose from in all Cuts sizes and colors their experienced staff offer five-star customer care to help you find the perfect ring to express your love visit their new engagement Salon today friend and Company fine jewelers the perfect

Ring for the perfect moment and also for the perfect person 7713 Maple Street between Adams and berett Street 504 866 5433 friend and& company fine jewelers check them out at friend and company.com Mo’s barbecue is located in met they have your game day needs taken care of whether you’re tailgating or watching

The black and gold or LSU at home with friends Mo has you covered order pulled pork Wings ribs sides and more coming with the family for lunch and dinner as our kids meals will please even the pickiest of eaters tailgating parties at home lunch and dinner moose barbecue

Will handle it all Mo’s Original Barbecue 111 North Causeway Boulevard between 48th and 49th Street in met call 50447 5333 for your catering order today 50447 5333 Mo’s Original Barbecue in mety the holidays are a time for giving and what better gift than the gift of relaxation with the gift card The

Woodhouse Day Spa your loved ones can choose from a wide range of services to help them de-stress and rejuvenate visit their New Orleans mety mandville Slidel and Baton Rouge locations today or visit their website to purchase a gift card and give the gift of relaxation this holiday season wood house Day Spa where

Relaxation is a gift hard hide punch tools strawberry whiskey is an 86 proof blend of aged wheat bourbon American light whiskey and fresh ponchatula strawberries Blended in New Orleans it is not for the thin skinned look for it in your favorite stores bars and restaurants New Orleans stop football is

Proud to be sponsored by Fire House Subs make sure you check out their location on Veterans Boulevard all right let’s get into the Show let’s get into our lead topic presented by friend and& company fine jewelers the official Jewelers of the New Orleans Saints front and Company fine jewelers is home to a new engagement Salon where they have a fine selection of engagement rings and while you’re there with it being the holiday

Season and still celebrating a Saints win ask them about their flirtily collection of earrings and necklace that you see here and that I have on now they are specially priced for our noff audience you still got time before Christmas Ken friend would love to help you

Out toic Nick had mentioned that yes I was showing some optimism at the beginning of the show but there is reason for it now it comes with some parameters our lead topic can the Saints beat the Rams if they replicate Sunday’s game if they replicate Sunday’s some Sunday’s game seems like a simple

Question but let’s break it all the way down starting with the Rams the RAM have won games in a lot of different ways this season as in in the passing game as well as in the Run game their defense though as of late has been pretty stingy

In the Run game in their last four wins theyve held teams to under 90 rushing yards in their last four wins they have held teams to under 90 rushing yards Matthew Stafford has thrown 13 touchdown passes in his last five games and only two interceptions Cooper cup and Demarcus Robertson have actually

Been the two guys that Stafford has been going to for scoring touchdowns as of late the defense they’ve got 11 sacks in the last five games with wins over the commanders Browns Cardinal Seahawks they did lose to the Ravens but they did take them to overtime with which is

Impressive given the way the Ravens are playing all right let’s flip things over to the Saints now the Saints have won games in a lot of different ways too they’ve been very inconsistent of we as we’ve seen this season but they have won the last two over the Giants and the

Panthers before that they lost to the Lions Falcons and Vikings now Derek Carr he’s going to have to earn every pass play against this defense but if Caesar Ruiz can win his battles or at least over 50% of his battles against Aaron Donald and chryst olavi is potentially back

Saints could have a shot the Saints are better defensively against a more traditional quarterback it’s a good thing they’re taking on Matthew Stafford this week and they’re coming off a monster performance defensively they are holding teams below 210 passing yards in the last four games it’s been hit or

Miss against the Run backups in the secondary though have stepped up and if they win those battles on Sunday because they are going to be tested could be another favorable matchup for the Saints now it’s a matter of can the Saints offense keep Pace offensively so can

They win if the defense continues to hold teams out of the end zone as we’ve seen in the last two games and if this Saints team is able to score and score early and often look both teams they have 30 sacks each which was kind of

Surprising to look up at this point in the season I figured the Rams given they have Aaron donnald they’d have well over 30 sacks at this point in the season but when you truly look at these things I mean the Saints really do have opportunity it’s just a matter of what

Saints team are we going to get this Sunday is it going to be the game we just saw or is it going to be the Texans game or is it going to be the beginning of the Colts game that’s the the mystery I mean look like I said going into the

Game I don’t think seeing one game kind of puts you in a situation where you’re uh I don’t think it puts you in a situation where you’re you’re you’re believing in what you’re seeing you need to see it consistently so that needs to be something that we’re seeing um from

The Saints every week so we gota we got to see them put it together I don’t think one game gives you the belief I mean they’ve been way too inconsistent this was probably the best game that they’ve played the whole entire season but if they’re not coming out and doing

This week after week it’s hard to buy into it so it’s been too sporadic it’s been too inconsistent we got to see it again but I think there’s a nice and opportunity and it’s going to Define their season well if you look at just some of the stock comparisons it’s like

I said like it’s I was surprised when I was breaking down the last five games for both of these two teams because truly teams are not what they were in week one to week five at this point in the season and that’s why it was so surprising to me that wow the Saints

Actually do have an opportunity let’s look at some of the stats points per game the Saints have 22.1 Rams 23.4 defensive as far as how many points the defense is giving up per game the Saints are giving up 19.1 the Rams 22.1 passing offense Saints 231 Rams 235

It’s right there passing defense Saints are top six they are giving up 185 the Rams though that this is where I think if Derek Carr can figure it out and this offensive line holds up against Aaron Donald the Rams are 21st in the NFL in passing defense giving up

226 yards per game rushing offense the Rams they get that they they’re 121 to the Saints 103 rushing yards per game run defense Rams are better in that category than the Saints are but these are looking at the full season of of stats as we as I mentioned in the

Beginning look this there is a lot of wiggle room for the Saints to potentially win this win this game on Thursday night which we would not have said had we not saw them dominate the Giants at home on Sunday the only way they do it though is if they keep the

Pass rushia Bay and I think that’s that’s the whole entire thing like if Carr has everything perfect around him he can do his job he can execute he can throw the ball down the field he can make plays um but I mean that that’s the whole thing if they’re keeping that

Clean he has a chance to do that but if he’s not like I’m not again you can’t buy into it unless unless you see it again and he has not played good in messy situations the whole entire year he had a perfect situation it was like

Training camp like that was what we saw in training camp was when we were talking about how well he was playing it was because nobody was rushing the passer there wasn’t any real pressure he wasn’t trying to evade a blitz he was trying you know he’s you’re able to sit

There and pick your spots down the field and do all that stuff but if you don’t have that and there’s a pass coming at him that’s when things get bad for him so this was kind of almost like a simulation of of a practice in a game

They aren’t ever going to play that clean again so they got to figure out how to do what they did on Sunday on Thursday night when things are a little bit messy when Aaron Donald’s rushing you when he’s coming through the middle of the line when you actually have a

Boogeyman to be scared of and he’s going to be there knocking on the door every single time if you can do that then then you got something to believe in but it was a step in the right direction it was something to build on the defense is

Something that I think you hold on to the offensive performance is something that I need to see a little bit yeah we could see more of it look Derek Carr only threw for 218 passing yards but there was a lot of positive things we saw it was just the execution across the

Board we saw more of a Drew Brees s game as far as finding 10 to 11 different receivers in a game which is something I think the Saints have missed there were Derek Carr I felt like was forcing the ball a lot to guys that just weren’t

Open but you were throwing it to them because it was a chrys it was a Rashid Shahed it was all of that which we are going to get to chrys and our injury report but first let’s get to our moment of the day presented by New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company the Saints

Have addressed the things that they have not done well they’ve improved them at least for one week can they put it together for back-to-back weeks some of those areas the Red Zone has been great in the last three games maybe they can put together a fourth game where it’s

Well doing they’re doing well they finally got to the quarterback this week against the Giants and they stopped the run some of the things that Dennis Allen I want to point out that he said in his is Monday press conference he said we ran the ball better in the red area we

Took advantage of opportunities there the extra pract practices in the Red Zone he feel has helped Zack Bond being involved in the pass rush has helped out a lot Tano pasino working inside helped they change some things up with the with the looks um for a three-man rush and

They’re just taking what teams are giving to them to me that shows a lot about this team that in week 15 they’re willing to make changes this late in the season and not just say hey this is what we’re doing you know what I mean like a

Lot of these NFL teams are kind of this is who we are and they’re not willing to change it credit to the Saints they kind of figured out at least for one week all three of those things how to correct them I mean look I mean some of the

Injuries and stuff I think played to their benefit maybe losing jpp played to their benefit because they had to use Zack bon in some of those situations Cam Jordan being in a situation where he can’t R rush to pass on third down pushes you into Zack Bon so that helps

With some of that um having the injuries on the on the inside the effectum this look I think getting Tano in there is is kind of a big thing for them as well so yeah I mean out of necessity I think they found some things on offense though

Pete carmichel his greatest asset is his ability to just not be married to anything to have no ego to to be able to look at the situations and say like all right this is the stuff that we need to do and we’re going to do it and um yeah

I mean look he started to figure some stuff out late in the season that I think is help all right let’s get to the estimated injury report we got today it was a walkth through not a real practice we actually saw guys out there that didn’t even have Uniforms on they were

In their sweats Isaiah fosy would have been a dnp today Lonnie Johnson DMP Kendra Miller upgraded to limited Chris Salve upgraded to limited Ryan ramek was a dnp which real quickly just credit to Landon young he only allowed one pressure in the game I think no he he

Allowed zero Zer PR it was the offensive line yeah it was the offensive line that allowed one pressure really really talented uh performance I I mean from from Landon young now you’re getting the NFL’s best this week with Aaron Donald I mean him and Caesar Riz are going to

Have a tough battle but I feel better about Landing Young starting at right tackle based on what we saw against the Giants and against some pretty talented rushers too that the Giants have all right Cam Jordan was limited Carl Granderson limited Payton Turner limited what do we know about Chris this week oh

Chris is gonna play uh I was told that 100% he’s going to play this week so that’s going to be potentially good for them I mean if he’s if he’s ready to go but it was just kind of a little ankle sprain low ankle sprain not a big deal

Um he was close to playing last week actually didn’t quite get there but yeah the expectation as of today is 100% on the field on Sunday starting it’s huge they’ve got rased Shahed in the mix tesm Hill Alvin CRA Jamal Williams has kind of been shaping into form a little bit

Alvin CRA was kind of doing a lot of the Dirty Work we saw Jan Johnson finally get involved and take advantage of opportunities Jimmy Graham they’ve kind of figured out how they want to use him adding Chris alive to the mix I mean you saw what they were able to do without

Him against the Giants I think adding Chris this week puts them in a really favorable position with down the fields absolutely look he he’s our best he’s our best player so having him on the field I think helps a lot and I think they kind of got away with it a little

Bit last week but you’re playing a better team um you got you know I think some advantages though in this one if he’s out there and he’s fully ready to go but like him and Carr’s connection had actually been like one of the big things that have been working on the

Offense and it really clicked in and I think that that’s you know I think having him on the field is is just obviously um something that’s going to help a lot all right let’s get to our key matchups I mentioned that we were going to be doing kind of our Wednesday

And Friday show allinone today so we’ve got a few matchups that we need to get to starting with the Rams pass rush verse The Saints offensive line look La has a ton of guys who can get after the quarterback of course led by Aaron Donald the best interior pass rusher in

NFL history Donald has six sacks so far this season kind of surprising that he’s kind of low on the on that totem pole there uh defensive tackle Kobe Turner has five and a half sacks defensive end Michael you’re GNA have to help me with that pronouncing that last name oh

You’re you’re on there he has five and a half sacks as well and then Byron young has five but New Orleans offensive line as as we have mentioned you only allowed one pressure as a whole last week really really positive they’ve figured something out with Landon young now at

Right tackle I mean credit to the Saints staff for figuring this out because if it was week three and Ryan rimti went down I think the Saints would be in a much different position given the way the offensive line was playing at the beginning of the year they’ve definitely

Improved in a lot of categories but if they slow down Aaron Donald what does that mean for the game like what does this mean for the outcome of the game well this putot on Aaron Donald I like the the hopes overall because I mean look there’s a bunch of guys with five

Sacks but that’s that’s nobody that’s dominating individually so you have one guy that’s kind of the the monster of that group you know it’s interesting to me because they always played pretty good against Aaron Donald he’s uh he’s played five games against the Saints rado’s career and he has two sacks in

Those five games which is an incredible number I mean there’s there’s a decent amount of pressure overall but they’ve always done a good job against him the difference is those like a handful most of those games actually like Drew bre is a quarterback and he’s getting rid of

The ball really quick so yeah he’s helping protect himself a little bit which kind of kept Donald it at Bay and he’s able to still be effective when he was rushing that fast to throw the ball will will Derek Carr be able to do the same thing like that’s to be determined

Lon young did play great in that game the question is is now that like somebody has been able to study him for a week and maybe seeing oh like he moves his feet when someone sets him up like this and now you exploit that like are

There things to be exploited and is he going to be taken advantage of so the more exposure you get is like an unnown guy like the more your flaws typically come to light cuz people know what threads to pull so again let’s see it again for a second week but I liked how

He played in that game a lot so there’s a uh I don’t know like this is this is a tossup to me I could see it kind of going either way and um it’s it’s really it’s really about how Derek Carr handles it when those guys do get through it’s

This whole game it’s really up to what Saints team are we going to see get rid of the inconsistencies and show up and all 22 starters just play the way they did against the Giants and I think they have a chance you mentioned they’re beating anybody if they play like that

Every single week you mention Donald having a week to study Landon young they’re on a short week too so that’s a good point that’s a good point both teams are on a short week that’s a good point like the overexposure like if if Lon young starts the third game that’s

Probably where you start to see it because you’re right there isn’t a lot of time not a lot of tape on Landon young either at right tackle he had one snap one snap outside of this excellent point that a little bit because we got that in our question of the day we’ll

Wait for that one moving on to our next matchup Cooper cup puka against the saint secondary like it absolutely that’s got to be top priority is number one can this backup Isaac yadam handle it on his side Paulson adbo and elante Taylor consistency is a big one with

Elante Taylor in this game all right the Rams have an outstanding one-two punch at wide receiver with cup and puka cup plays a lot of snaps in the slot 360 inside vers 233 outs wide this year so we’ll see how elante Taylor handles it it’ll probably be his big te his biggest

Test puka is kind of the breakout start of the NFL season I I honestly this how many receiving yards he has this year I was shocked looking it up fifth round pick that has 1,163 yards so far this season I mean that that’s a huge huge number look both

Of the Saints outside corners have been playing well while Martian ladimore has out has been out but trying to think back to some of the wide receivers they’ve played this year this is probably going to be the toughest challenge with the three that are playing really really well well you

Talked to alante today just kind of about his matchup with with Cooper cop what some of the stuff that he was talking about he always sounds the same like especially too when he sounds like he’s getting doubted you and I kind of talked about it off to the side a little

Bit that when somebody is questioning his ability or saying like oh you’re going up against like big talented wide receiver this week and he kind of shuts down a little bit but he’s going to be ready for it the coaches are going to get him ready now it’s just a matter of

Can you handle it like in in the flow of a game are you going to let one big play let’s say he gives up one big play are you going to let that affect you the rest of the game or you going to shake it off and move on and that’s where I’ve

Really liked what I’ve seen from Isaac yadam he’s a physical player but not one that you’re going to be worried about penalties being in and out pulson adbo that’s always been a concern with him but he’s limited the penalties this year it it’s likely going to come down to

Elante Taylor and can he just handle the assignment and he’s gotten enough snaps it slot cornerback up to this point he should be ready for the test but it is a short week the guys are healing up I mean that’s the biggest thing with with 4 days of of really rest they’re going

To get one real practice in tomorrow and that will probably be a light day but really tough to get your head wrapped around for this three-headed monster that the Rams have yeah look I mean the thing with elante he wasn’t even being like it’s not like questioning his

Ability he was like you’re going up against Cooper cup how he VI it he’s viewing it as what are you trying to ask me like don’t ask me about this dude like he has he he voiced respect for Cooper cup and everything but I like it

I like the kind of response like it’s a little bit arrogant it’s cocky like you kind of got to be that way as a corner to win some of these matchups so yeah we’ll see though I mean this is this is going to be his biggest test of the

Season and it’s going to probably be the biggest test of the season for a lot of these quarters a lot of lot of people yeah like I was looking at the quarterbacks that that yadam has played against and it’s Jordan love the G the ones that he played significant snaps

Against like there were a couple games a couple snaps but like the ones where he was playing Jordan love Baker Mayfield Ritter uh Ry young and Tommy DeVito like yeah he’s he’s allowed 14 catches on 34 targets for 144 yards with a pick but like he hasn’t really like gof is going

To be the best quarterback that he’s seen the whole entire season and he’s going to be able to take advantage of things if yadam isn’t quite covering perfectly that maybe a Desmond Ritter wouldn’t be able to take advantage of because he’s a much better quarterback so I think there’s going to be some

Factor Fiction with these quarterbacks a little bit and we’re going to see if there’s anything to be worried about but that’s that’s across the board like Trevor Lawrence is really the only other like good test this team has had as a whole yam didn’t play against him so

It’s going to be fascinating to kind of see it um you know if you’re asking me to pick who has the advantage here I think the Rams probably have a little bit of an advantage I would TI the scales in their favor just because you’re down arguably one of the best

Quarterbacks in the NFL you’re better with him than you are without him now that’s no knock on Isaac yadam as I mentioned he’s handled it well but all world yeah yeah but he hasn’t played played this team yet all right moving on to our third thir and final matchup for

The show Saints Run game first the Rams front seven LA’s run defense ranks in the top half of the league but allow 110 yards per game we saw last week that the Saints are at their best when they are efficient on the ground and really they

Didn’t have to be too efficient it was just getting the the dirty yards to move down the field and things like that like I didn’t think the Run game was great but it was good enough for them to get some momentum and move the ball credit

To Derek Carr he was able to kind of just Dink and dunk his way down the field as well that that was why I think the Run game didn’t have to do too much um and if the Saints can run well it will help up open play action which I

Think you mentioned against the Giants they was it the most play action this season yeah the Rams have allowed a 860 yards against play action this season so it’s possible yeah I mean look you got to put it together if you can run the ball well you got a chance and the

Rams allowed 100 would would you say 110 yards per game I mean that’s that’s that’s a pretty decent number so I mean that there’s opportunity there and look the thing with running the ball though like it’s just going to be a symptom of playing with a lead if you’re able to

Run against them that means you’re leading the game you can kind of take advantage of that a little bit but they are a much better team when everything is working around Derek Carr he’s just that type of quarterback he’s not I think too often they’ve been in games

This year where he’s had to carry him where you’re asking him to bring them back where they’re just isn’t a lot of support there’s the offensive Line’s giving up some stuff like if you can protect them you can play with the lead your running game’s going and you put

Everything around him and he’s not the Savior and he’s just a guy kind of helping it it go you’re going to get a lot more out of him and he’s going to look a lot better and you probably aren’t going to be booing him but he’s a

Guy that needs a lot of help so if you can give him the help I I think that he’s good enough to do it he’s kind of like uh you know cousins like cousins is the same type of quarterback if you give him good support good help people look

At him be like wow this guy’s like one of the 10 best guys in the league if you if you can play like you did last week and again the offensive line is never going to protect like that again but if you can be something close to that and

You can run the ball like that I think you you have a good chance it’s funny it’s almost like we have cautious optimism which we did at the beginning of the Season like now that we’ve seen it and we’ve seen the ability the talent they put it all together and they had a

Really good game plan and it worked in all three phases of the game I’d love to see it Saints fans would love to see it again but it’s like can you put together this what did it take took till week 15 and when we were talking with some of

The players in the locker room I’m like is it frustrating in that it took till week 15 or are you guys almost happy that you finally saw it when all three phases are playing at their best and everybody on the field is is handling their assignment this is how good you

Can be most of them said no it’s not frustrating that it took this long it’s almost like a sigh of relief and okay we got this and it’s happening at a time when they really could make a playoff push if they continue to stack these performances but we’ll see if it happens

We’re going to take a real quick break and then we’ll be back with much more we’re going to hear from from you guys with our question of the day we’re still going to go around the NFC South like we usually would on a Wednesday show we’re

Bringing that back in and also we’ve got coach Nick back with the money segment we’ll be right back T the season for gumbo combos at New Orleans Hamburger and SE food company enjoy our hot gumbo fries and your choice of shrimp catfish soft shell crab or frog legs starting at $9.99

That’s right $9.99 at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company No loan payments for 90 days with local financing from Jefferson Financial Federal Credit Union on your next Auto Boat RV ATV or motorcycle that’s right no loan payments for 90 days when you close your loan by December 31st

Jefferson Financial offers easy to use online applications fast decisions and local personalized service the financial products you want with the convenience you deserve we are Jefferson Financial Federal Credit Union apply online at jeffersonfinancial.org federally insured by ncua aturo we were born for moments like this from bringing new bundles of

Joy into the world to delivering what new mothers need to stay healthy born to keep hearts beating strong and to keep seniors active and healthy for years to come because of turo we deliver more than babies from Heart Care to Cancer Care and newborns to seniors at Cho we’re born to

Care hey Brad I got you something I think you’re really going to like for your gift this year what is this one of those Martin’s exclusive bourbon bottles picked it out just for you Maya this is awesome but I think you’re going to love the gift I got you a little bit more

Wow Mega wine generic brand vodka Brad you shouldn’t have to mention it no Brad you shouldn’t have look small batch smooth soft spice Mhm I’ll take a New Orleans Saint scratch [Applause] up play New Orleans Saints from the lottery just scratch fold and punch your way of winnings punt your ticket with New Orleans Saints win up to $100,000 inent our Second Chance DW giving you a season to smile welcome back to the Mobile turo

Hospital Studio join you live from PJ’s Coffee on airline all right it’s time for our money segment where Nick breaks down the best play of last week what do you got so I just went I went with a a pass rush here because I think that was

Kind of the theme of the last game is just kind of you know just their ability to do it they got seven sacks in the last game got up to 30 on the season which actually gives them the same exact number as the Rams um you would like to

See that to maybe come a little bit more evenly and not just all lopsided in one game having you know 33% of your sack production or whatever it is so 25% 25 Point whatever I’m bad at math and they always make fun of me whenever I do math

On the show and I just I know I messed that up again but we’re going with a a play here where they Blitz and they haven’t blitzed a lot this season and I just I really like this one because again it showcases this guy right here

De Mario Davis who I think has just been incredible at Rushing the passer throughout his career when they use him as a Blitzer they got away from it a little bit this year they got away from it a little bit in previous years after Kad and ell’s kind of emerged but

They’re back to it and he has been kind of key to the pass rush being so good the last couple of weeks but what we’re going to see here is you got him coming you got him coming you got him coming you got him coming and then you got Ado

Blitzing off the edge and then late in the play the Mario is going to go on a delayed Blitz and it’s just going to work to Perfection but we get to the next slide here and you can kind of see it there’s everybody going bang and then

You got the Mario just kind of chilling they’re on the play action they’re watching it him Warner kind of got their eyes to the Back Field and you got this right here is key we’re going to see it better I believe on the next slide let’s jump to the next one right

Here so you kind of got chaos right here Shephard breaks through Justin Pew is is looking at him he knows he’s in bad shape you got the play action happening back there and you got the Mario you can just see him just he’s he’s watching this happen right here and you see the

Break and he’s been underrated this year a little bit Nathan Shepard he’s made some plays happen isn’t necessarily always the guy finish him but if you go back and watch a lot of sacks there’s a lot of plays where he’s in there kind of causing the initial chaos and then somebody cleans

It up a little bit behind him so Pew turns his back to try to catch up here he knows he got smoked miss his assignment has his back to the action deyo sees his back turned and just off he goes you just see it like there’s nobody there he’s he’s got free pass

All the way into the back field because Shephard is kind of wrecking things a little bit so next slide de Mario gets the sack brings him down and and you know that’s really it but they did a good job in this game of of mixing up their Blitz

And just kind of using their fourman front and let me move back to the first slide again A lot of times on these third Downs like they’ve just had like this would be a safety or a linebacker or or somebody else and he’d be dropping

And you just kind of have these guys up here and you’d be showing like six like that’s kind of what they would do in a lot of these situations they just kind of have six guys bunched up at the line and the quarterback would have to kind

Of guess who’s dropping who’s going and they just send three but if you’re sending three you do the math you got three on five so like you’re running into a double you’re running in into a double and you’re like hoping somebody wins a one-on-one to get your pressure

And they were just kind of like really ineffective at it and every now and then they would bring a fourth guy off a blitz so you kind of get those numbers but when they’re rushing for straight up you’re kind of getting like a better rush lane and then you bring some extra

Heat and you get in there and that’s just really been something that that they used to do and they were really good at it for a long time and it’s hard to criticize their approach because like you look from like 2016 on the blitz numbers just dropped every single year

They dropped just a little bit every single year um last year I think they had 137 blitzes overall this year they’re I believe 138 so you’re already up a little bit whatever the number actually is they’re up one on last year’s total I think it’s

137 to 138 so they are blitzing a little bit more um and they are getting a little bit more effective at it and that’s been a key to the last two weeks it’s been impressive and just watching film back and seeing just how effective somebody like de Mario Davis was in that

Game and how he can really change a game I I feel like man you know what I just thought of how how often did we used to talk about the juice the defense would bring and that was like the Quan Alexander the I know and it showed he’s laughing but

It showed When de Mario Davis was playing at his best and was just like this verocious allar around the field type linebacker everybody on defense fed off of it say what you want it’s the NFL it’s not college football like no like even guys in the NFL level like when you

Have a couple of guys on the defense eating it it affects everybody around them and when absolutely I feel like the linebackers to be honest are like the power source of a defense and when Pete Warner Mario Davis are in unison and they’re all over when when Demario Davis

Is able to Blitz and gets press pressure on the quarterback that’s when you know this defense is playing at its best well I mean they should just be using them like that too cuz they don’t have good pressure players this year yeah he he’s your best pressure player Kim even told

Us he’s like I he was joking but he was like I really can’t even come up around the edge right now because of the ankle injury that’s why he’s on first and second down he goes that’s fine I’ll come off the field and let my guys eat on third and fourth down

But cam is limited in what he is able to do let these other guys I mean Tano passo it’s about time he broke through I mean the guy’s massive I’ve been waiting to see this guy use his size I think the other guys in the locker room have two

But man Demario Davis play like that the next three games this team’s in the this team like I would assume they’re in the playoffs if this defense plays like it did the last two games because if they played like they did the last two games nobody has scored on them just been fi

Just been field goals that’s the thing if they get back to playing like they did early in the season which we saw last and this is a consistent thing you can be kind of bad on offense and find ways to win games we saw week one and

Two like just when they were and then even the get few games after that they were giv him a chance and then something happened with the defense and it kind of broke a little bit and if they can put it back together and that was real and

You aren’t starting off game slow and you’re prepared and you have some pass rush going you can win games like that but yeah de Mario is someone that needs to be key to that and just kind of feature him within the scheme like find ways to get him going in the pass rush

Find ways to to get him making plays because he is probably your best player and especially with look I I don’t think camps had that type of season even before the injury but with him down like it’s even more important for for Demario to kind of be that guy so yeah just find

Ways to use him scheme up your pass rush use him in it because he is your best pass rusher probably and Zach Bon being used in the way he has the Saints have figured something out with that as well yeah it’s interesting like he and he hasn’t necessarily been the guy making

The play but he’s the guy starting a lot of plays and you know he there were a few plays last week a couple sacks I believe he was the first guy and kind of like squeeze the pocket a little bit got the quarterback stepping up and then

Somebody cleans it up so I like that I like the role he’s in you’re getting something out of him it’s a third round pick that was kind of you know just a Sam linebacker and a SAM linebacker in 2023 isn’t going to make a lot of impact

He’s not going to play a lot so you’re getting something out of him now which is good you’re getting value out of a player so find a way to make your scheme fit your players even if you don’t have the players who fit the scheme so like

You got to you got to figure out how to make the most of the talent and I think they’ve been doing that the last couple weeks they’re going to have to figure it out on a short week which gets to our Martin’s question of the day Martins is

Home to a wide selection of handpicked Barrel select Bourbon whiskies and more Martins so much more than just wine all right the question is what concerns you during this short week or are there any concerns for me let’s just do some housekeeping because we haven’t had a

Show since we learned that the practice window will open this week for Michael Thomas and Marshall aore but it is not opening like it could open this week if they were ready and Dennis Allen said that will not open at least this week because they are not ready to return he

Didn’t give a timeline on rehab or anything like that they could potentially return if they were able to and healthy but they are not yet and so they are not going to be practicing this week you will not see them on the injury report we do not have an update on when

They’ll return we also do not have an update on Marcus may as well we don’t have like we don’t have a definitive date I I have tenative dates and it’s all end of it’s last week of the season last I think if May get healthy on the

Show yeah the the the goal is end of season yeah if Mike gets healthy it would be the last week of the season marshan I don’t know I don’t know if we’ll see him again this year yeah we’ll see we’ll continue to be looking for them at practice we are kind of eyeing

Down practice every time we go out there to see if we see 13 six or 23 but haven’t seen them yet they are not going to see them this week not on the short week I don’t think we’re going to see pton Turner either in LA but what are

The concerns in a short week when you are taking on a team that is also seven and seven is also trying to get to the playoffs and on pton Turner I asked him again today if like there’s any updated timeline and he said if he’s able to

Come back it would probably be last week of the season so that’s kind of like when the calvary’s coming like and look I think a lot of it depends on on on team success but concerns this week I don’t know that I really have any it’s

Just kind of more of of the continuation of of what we’ve been seeing you know it was a before we heard that a is expected to play so assuming everything goes well tomorrow and in that continues into Thursday night I’m I’m feeling better about that situation it’s just my

Concern is is the fact or fiction but I think you brought up an excellent point like a few of the things that I was concerned about were like Landon young getting exposed Ike getting exposed short week There’s not as much time to prepare for that now they’ve been

Looking at Ike yam and there were probably people working ahead on this game for the Rams just like there were for the Saints so with Ike there’s enough tape that if you know maybe there’s a few things that that someone like uh you know Stafford can take advantage of

Lenny young there isn’t enough like you just kind of got this this short exposure so I’m sure if there’s a few things they can key in on them but it isn’t going to be like a whole dissection a week of it oh like he drops

His foot like this on when you you know start a swim move with your left hand and you can counter it like that like there’s just things you’re probably not going to be able to get to so I like that for him if ramch is unable to play

DMP two days in a row DMP and a walkthrough is not a good sign I kind of think we’re going to see Lon young again in this game yeah I haven’t seen Ryan Rams any in the building either too which is usually if we don’t see them

It’s usually it leans toward not seeing them on the playing field one last thing about Aaron Donald people are going to talk about you know preparing for him in the short week you could give you give the states 15 weeks to prepare for Aaron Donald and he’s still going to probably

Win 50% of the snaps he’s just he’s that he’s that that efficient he’s so quick we were talking with Cam Irving today and he gave us a little bit of insight on playing against him that because he is shorter it it your leverage point is even harder like you’ve got to get to

His point and you just think about that is an offensive lineman usually size would be your benefit no it’s hit for Aaron Donald his hands being at 5’10 and he runs a 4 640 that’s crazy I mean again people are going to say oh it’s a short week eron

No regardless Aaron Donald is going to do Aaron Donald things on Thursday night just like he would on Sunday well short week I think yeah I think it benefits him because it comes down to Talent versus talent and he’s most times he’s going to be the most talented guy and

Like you said low man wins I mean he’s he’s fast he’s explosive so really it’s just going to come down to can you block him and the Saints are going to try to double him and they’re going to try to do all this stuff yeah so you just have

To be effective in this game so yeah that’s that’s one thing obviously that’s a concern short week or long week though either way you got to block Aaron Donald’s I think I can’t remember exactly what he said but he said Slow Down the losing battle like you’re

You’re going to lose just make sure it’s slow yeah lose don’t lose fast he goes because that’s just how good Aaron Donald is all right let’s go around the NFC South starting with the Panthers they are 2 and 12 they come off a win over the Falcons which helped the Saints

Out now the Saints are tied for first in the NFC South with the Tampa Bay Bucks and I loved this quote from Derek Brown on beating the Falcons he said the Falcons are going on vacation just like we are and with the Panthers taking on the Bucks still this season if the pan

Have that mindset against the Bucks and beat the Bucks I mean that does favors for the Saints in getting man that title potentially oh it puts him it puts him on the path yeah absolutely um yeah I mean look here’s the thing they can’t win a tiebreaker

With them so you got to win it outright so any favors they can get involving the buck like please and thank you yeah and we thought the Falcons at one point were in a better spot than the saints that is absolutely not the case they are still

Trying to figure out who their starting quarterback is the Falcons are six and8 right now again still haven’t decided who’s starting at quarterback it’s either Taylor hinei or Desmond Ritter and it’s they’re going into week 16 still haven’t figured it out one of the quotes that he said is we aren’t where

We Arthur Smith said we aren’t where we want to be we’ve lost some close games but it’s not over and we will die trying to make sure we get this right and go in this game and see what happens I don’t like when a coach ends a quote saying

Well we’ll see what happens that doesn’t sound like a confident answer well Arthur shouldn’t be confident he’s about to lose his job I mean there’s no way they keep him losing to the Panthers is kind of a death blow and I’m surprised I kind of thought we were going to wake up

Monday and it was going to happen I thought Terry font would fire him quickly to try to get ahead of it because I think Terry probably needs to think about his job security and safety so you kind of get rid of someone to buy yourself more time that kind of may be

Hints towards blank maybe not allowing it to happen so it could be a Duo move after the season we’ll see it a shock in that regard but here’s the thing for the Falcons they have no quarterbacks right now people in Louisiana might want to maybe take a deep breath and maybe think

About what it might feel like if the heis bone winner ends up in Atlanta because I think that’s probably a fit and that’s probably something that they’re going to try to need to do I’m like letting that soak in for a minute CU I haven’t thought about it wow

Look it’s not in anybody’s best interest to go there because we’ve seen what they’ve they just haven’t managed quarterbacks very well since Matt Ryan has been there and the end of his end Matt Ryan probably should have retired a falcon like that’s just how I felt it should have been and

All right moving on to the Bucks they are also seven and seven they just beat the Packers on the road 34 to 20 but it was an impressive win let’s get to some of Baker Mayfield stats he joins only Aaron roders as one of two quarterbacks including himself to ever record a perfect

158.3 passer rating at Lambo field that’s crazy crazy what he at 381 yeah no he play a great game so he became just the third player with at least 375 passing yards four touchdown passes and of course that passer rating in a road game in NFL history now Devon white

Did not play in that game we’re still kind of hearing both sides there’s been multiple reports of like him being a healthy scratch does he want more money contracts all that nothing’s definitive yet but if Devon white doesn’t play when the Bucks take on the Saints that’s

A win for the Saints right there because he has just been so disruptive against their run game and really has and I would just think back to the playoff game he took Alvin chra completely out of that game yeah no doubt um and they got the Jags this week right yeah so

That’s a big game if they drop it I mean that would set the Saints up in a much better situation because then they win next week and you probably got the division and that put you on the path to do it assuming you went Thursday night

So there there’s still a lot of work to get done but look Baker I think that’s best case scenario for kind of just trying to get the fill in quarterback he’s been great this year and he continues to be great and I was kind of waiting for it to kind of fade away

After a hot start it’s only gotten better yeah and and he’s he’s sustaining so I mean it’s it’s been a a a great outcome for that and the Saints need to now see that with their quarterback Derek Carr they need to they need to see him Ascend this week and to solidify too

That they made the right choice look if he strings together back a win like he did against the Giants if he’s able to do that against the Rams and then finish out the season continuing to ascend I mean I don’t want to say All Is Forgiven

But it’s going to be easier for Saints to forget some of the woses that they went through with Derek Carr at the beginning of the season oh no doubt I mean as long as you as long as you land that yeah it’s not how you start it’s

How you end you know so they December December football if they hit the landing yeah it’s great shape all right up next the Packers are with the Panthers the culture at the Falcons the Jags are at the Bucks before we get out of here let’s get to our fantasy segment

Presented by the Louisiana Lottery is Shan Johnson a viable fantasy option moving forward or will Saints tight end usage remain sporadic I think it better remain sporadic because I think that’s how they win this game if you use Foster Jimmy and Jawan in the way that you did against the Giants consistently sporadic

Though like you know I mean yeah yeah I mean like if they’re all doing connect passes like how they were how they did it last week if it looks like that that’s great that means Jaan probably isn’t a viable fantasy option because look I don’t I don’t know he’s going to

Get the endzone targets to be like a a fantasy option I think that’s probably going to be it should be Jimmy Graham so you should be using like Jawan from 0 to 20 and then Jimmy 20 to zero and that’s how it probably should look sprinkle in

Some Foster you got to lean on them guys a little bit though and I think they’re at their best if you’re getting everything out of that full compliment of tight ends yeah all right a game is Thursday we’re traveling tomorrow so we’re going to give our game predictions

Now oo I’m excited to hear yours I’m so just in the middle and such a tossup and I know people would rather a definitive answer but if the Saints remain consistent I could really see them coming down to the wire and beating the Rams I think it would be really really

Close but you have to see the performance you saw against the Giants and I think that’s it being a close game like I don’t think the Saints defeat the Rams in a spectacular way if they play like they did against the Giants I still think it’s going to be a tough matchup

No matter what these are both two teams that are fighting for a playoff spot and fighting to keep their season alive and you look at some of the Rams Talent you’re just like when you’ve seen what the Saints have done this year if you take away this Giants game if you take

Away this Giants game I would say the Saints lose to the Rams but the Saints have now given me hope it’s cautious optimism but I’m if the Saints play like they did against the Giants I think the Saints have a good opportunity to win all right I’m going to stare it down

Because they call me negative Nick in the comments all the time and I am I am not negative I am scared I am scared of the optimism because every time I’ve believed in them the last 2 years they have just made me look incredibly stupid the next week so I’m not being negative

I just I’m I’m gunshy31 not investing it is not for me I’m out no but for real though like yeah I mean I’m just scared like it’s it’s I’ve been pulled by it too many times and I bought in too many times and I’ve looked I’ve been made look stupid for

Buying into it like I’m picking the Rams but I think I definitely think that it’s a winnable game I think I’ve I’ve believed in the talent kind of all year long I think I overhyped the talent a little bit at some point but like I still think there’s too much talent for

Them to be bad I think they can beat I think they can beat the Rams I think they can beat the Bucks I think they can beat the Falcons and I think they should win two out of the three I think if you win two out of the three you make the

Playoffs if you don’t win two out of the three you should get rid of everybody so I still believe in all that they kind of got me back a little bit with the Giants yeah if we were talking privately I’d probably be like I think they could win

This game but like while we’re sitting here I’m not going to do it look whether you’re watching this live or on the replay I want to hear I want to get a temperature heat check on the fan base throw it in here who do you think’s

Winning this game I really want to see the comments well I will address them in the pregame show I’m going to watch them now as we have just one final topic can the Saints be consistent and the reason why I asked that question I’m just going

To go back up to the top where I know I kind of word vomited at the beginning of the show but there really are was fire wor I mean but there is an argument to be made that the Saints have an opportunity to win this game based on

How if you’re just looking at the last five games the Rams have played and the Saints have played it’s out there it’s you go watch the film look at the stats there is an opportunity for the Saints to win this game I’m not saying win it outright but to compete against the Rams

You are going on the road look and it’s not like it’s some hostile environment La hasn’t taken over as far as uh it’s not Seattle right so it’s not it’s not the Dome so you’re not going to get this crazy fan base that you’re going to have

To listen to but you’ve got Matthew Stafford traditional quarterback that’s the big one the Saints have struggled against mobile quarterbacks Matthew Stafford is somebody who is not just going to tear off a 40 yard run at least I don’t think so now if he has one in

This game don’t hold it against me that’s aning point they’re stopping the run in the last four games that’s a concern for the Saints the two guys you have to be concerned with I know puka is a problem but it’s been Cooper cup and Demarcus Robertson that have been the

Guys that uh Matthew Stafford has looked for for touchdowns and there’s been 11 sacks in the last five games they do have impressive wins the one loss was to a good Ravens team but the Saints I mean you figured out right tackle which is the big to me that’s like the biggest

Hurdle of all time is that they figured out something in Landon young and he’s playing well enough that that’s a fix right now like that’s a good strong Band-Aid at the right side of the offensive line Caesar Ruiz can he overcome this battle of Aaron Donald

Which it’s going to be every single snap how are they going to look um Derek Carr I’d like to see more than 218 passing yard yards but with him being so efficient 89% of his passes it’s great three touchdowns no interceptions Chris is back so you’re adding another deep threat I’d like to

See them use rashed Shahed a little bit more so there was some of things too that I feel like they Pete carmichel can maybe get into his bag a little bit if he’s willing to if he’s willing to continue to be creative with the play calling the Saints could have an

Opportunity to really put something together no that’s excellent analysis it really is um oh man we got people all over the place as far as I was waiting to let the the chat load up to see how everybody felt all right somebody said Saints and Bucks lose this week uh oh

Saints bought in I think saints Saints are about to get boat raced okay I’m not sure 5050 kind of where we sit Saints win if they stand on business like the Giants he must have been listening to me in the Press Box said that at some point

During the first quarter they St on business Rams Rams in a close one um yeah Matthew Stafford can’t handle that pressure I don’t know Matthew Stafford’s a vet and that arm strength as Joe wood said today is still very much there as it was back when he used

To work with Matthew not work with Matthew Stafford but they were in the same building but yeah no I I think your analysis what was excellent and like honestly the thing is is like yeah you’d like to see more than 218 from car but I

Think Les car is better like if you if you can win a game where he’s throwing for 220 like you look at Denver they’ve kind of reeled in Russ all the way he’s averaging about 200 yards per game when they’re at their best like Russ is able

To throw for 200 and everything kind of supports him and that’s that was the idea for car that that’s why they went out and they drafted kendre and yeah and they went out and got Jamal Williams because it was supposed to be a situation where those guys kind of

Handled everything and then car was would be able to sit back and kind of be a complimentary piece to everything else and not necessarily like the main ingredient and the spice like it’s you got to have like you know a little bit of everything with him so yeah I agree

And you know I think just across the board you hit all the points so I mean you you covered it for real like it’s I think they have a chance but they have a chance and we’re going to end the show with this we’ll believe it when we see

It absolutely consistency is key P Carmichael don’t regress keep ascending with the play calling keep fig out D car keep ascending I’m scared it’s bad it’s real bad yeah I’m scared to see what Happ bad it’s real bad I don’t think it’s like going to be if it’s bad it’s

Real bad that’s that is all I will say so it’s either black or it’s white yeah I’m on that and we will be live in LA for our pregame show we will be on the field of course giving you guys as much analysis as we can as players roll out

We’re going to be giving you guys the inactives things like that for the first 10 to 15 minutes of course we will be public on our YouTube chat and then of course we will move over to our members only where you guys start throwing in your questions Nick is going to post

Something to the website soon and we will see you guys in LA