Tag: response

WATCH: Taliese Fuaga’s family learns he’ll be picked by the Saints

NFL Network cameras were on the scene in Hawaii when Taliese Fuaga’s family learned he had been picked by the New Orleans Saints:

This is always a fun moment in the NFL draft. Players gather with their families and close friends for a life-changing moment in which they’ll learn they’re being drafted and officially turning pro.

And we got to see Taliese Fuaga and his family experience that on Thursday night. The New Orleans Saints’ first-round pick was in Hawaii with family watching the television broadcast like everyone else, and cheers broke out when he found out where he’d be playing pro football.

Good for him. Fuaga is a perfect fit for the wide zone rushing offense that Klint Kubiak is installing in New Orleans, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t start from Day 1. We’ll see if starting right tackle Ryan Ramczyk is able to recover from offseason knee surgery in time to return to the lineup, and if so Fuaga could excel at guard. If not, the Saints just landed an ideal succession plan. Either way, Fuaga’s family will be cheering him on.

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Derek Carr had the perfect response to Mardi Gras float call-out

Derek Carr had the perfect response to a satirical call-out from the Knights of Chaos Mardi Gras parade, joining the laughter and pointing to his much-needed improvement:

Shouts out to Derek Carr for taking it on the chin: the New Orleans Saints quarterback was the subject of satire at the Knights of Chaos Mardi Gras parade during Carnival season, which featured a float depicting a reanimated Carr as a “Red Zone Zombie” to big reactions from the crowd.

“Can’t lie,” Carr wrote in response on social media, “this depicts exactly what I felt like the first half of the season so I understand.”

That’s exactly how Carr needed to approach this situation — joining the laughter, sharing with some self-deprecation, and pointing to the work he put in to improve. His arrival to New Orleans last year was a tough sell. With a big contract restructure in the works keeping him in town for at least the next two years, it’s vital that he win over the fanbase and build those connections with the community.

And Carr is right to point out that his struggles in the red zone were an early-season problem. The Saints doubled their practice reps in that phase and he ended the year as one of the league’s best quarterbacks in scoring position. Through their first 11 games, Carr went 21-of-47 (44.7%) inside the 20-yard line and scored 8 touchdown passes with an interception, posting a quarterback rating of 84. The Saints offense ended just 15 of their 40 drives with touchdowns (37.5%).

In their final six games Carr went 14-of-21 (66.7%) and threw 9 touchdown passes without turning the ball over, posting a passer rating at 114.1. The Saints scored 15 touchdowns on just 20 drives inside the red zone (75.0%). How’s that for a “Red Zone Zombie?” After seeing that reversal of fortune, Carr’s teammate Demario Davis called him the hottest red zone quarterback in the league.

It’s critical that Carr and the Saints carry that success over into 2024. With a new play caller and new coaching staff on the way, they can’t afford to start slow and make big changes at midseason again in the fall. If Carr can do that and continue doing a better job connecting with fans and teammates, maybe the city will warm up to him after all.

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Saints fans on social media let the team hear it after 20-13 loss to Texans

Fans and analysts alike had plenty to say on social media after the Saints’ 20-13 loss to the Texans on the road:

The New Orleans Saints (3-3) instilled some new hope in the fan base in last week’s dominant, 34-0 shutout of the New England Patriots.

The team performed well on all cylinders, seeming to show improvement in just about every area to be desired after inconsistency and failing to play complementary football plagued the Saints for the better part of the season.

The only question was as to whether or not that was a fluke and if the Saints could build upon that heading throughout the rest of the schedule that continued with the Houston Texans.

And for now, “no” seems to be the resounding response as the Saints failed to capitalize on almost too many opportunities to count with an abysmal performance in the red zone on a day in which the defense did not look like itself, making critical errors.

Here’s a look at what fans and analysts had to say following the loss:

10 takeaways from Saints’ 20-13 loss to the Texans

10 takeaways from the New Orleans Saints’ 20-13 loss to the Houston Texans

The New Orleans Saints (3-3) hit the road to face the Houston Texans on Sunday with a chance to build off of a huge amount of momentum after recording a 34-0 win over the New England Patriots in their fifth game of the season.

That was not the case, though, as some of the issues of previous weeks reared their heads again and the offense once again failed to capitalize on the chances it did have.

In what could have been the fourth win of the season for the Saints at many different points in time, here’s a look into 10 things we took away from the 20-13 loss to the Texans:

Alvin Kamara expects ‘tough conversations’ after Saints’ humbling loss to Bucs

The Saints were humbled in a blowout loss to the Buccaneers, with their once-feared offense falling flat. Alvin Kamara says it’s time for “tough conversations” to address this problem:

It’s safe to say Alvin Kamara isn’t pleased with the state of the New Orleans Saints offense. He was watching them struggle to move the ball and put points on the board from home like the rest of us during his three-game suspension, but when he returned they posted their poorest performance yet: 9 points and just 197 total yards, of which he accounted for 84 (42.6%).

The former Pro Bowl running back fielded questions from reporters while packing his bag in the team locker room, and he didn’t have many positives to share about the offense when the topic came up. He said it’s time for “some tough conversations” after a humbling start to the season, in which the once-feared Saints offense averaged just 13.8 points per game going into October.

“It’s been two years since we had that offense that was rolling. Now we’re kind of in this rut of,” Kamara paused, considering his words carefully. “It is what it is right now. What you see. Like I said, we’ve got to have some conversations about something. Because I don’t like losing.”

This team hasn’t been the same since Drew Brees hung up his cleats. For something they knew was coming, they didn’t adequately prepare for life without No. 9: Jameis Winston wasn’t a poor fit in the offense and Sean Payton worked himself into semi-retirement just trying to end the 2021 season with a winning record. When Payton left town, they tried to maintain continuity with Dennis Allen taking his office and Pete Carmichael trying to run an offense with his playbook. The results speak for themselves.

The Saints went 7-10 last year, and they’re barely 2-2 now. If a couple of kicks go differently they would be 0-4 (or, conversely, 3-1). The point is that they haven’t dominated any opponent the way fans or Kamara are used to. Every game is a challenge. Every down is a labor of Hercules. Everything is difficult for this team offensively, which wasn’t the case when they had a Hall of Fame quarterback running things.

And another Hall of Famer isn’t going to walk into the facility and start taking reps under center. That’s not the reality this team is in. As Kamara said, it’s time they have some tough conversations — about who’s calling plays, drawing them up, and putting players in position. If that means job titles are lost and responsibilities change, so be it. What they’re doing right now is not working and they can’t afford to stay the course.

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Derek Carr owns up to ‘dumb’ decision on Week 1 interception

Derek Carr owned up to a ‘dumb’ decision on his Week 1 interception against the Titans. That’s one throw the Saints QB would like to have back:

Derek Carr knows he didn’t post a perfect passing line in Week 1’s win over the Tennessee Titans. And the New Orleans Saints quarterback knows exactly where he needs to improve. Exercising better judgment in scoring position is a great place to start after he threw an interception deep in Titans territory.

Carr was targeting Juwan Johnson near the Tennessee 10-yard line but placed the ball too far behind him, where the big tight end couldn’t work back to it — but in dangerous position for safety Amani Hooker to step in and take it away.

“I forced it, I was dumb,” Carr shrugged, “I was way too excited, I’ll just be honest with you. I’m making every throw now, I was pissed off, I walked off to the sideline like ‘What are you doing?'”

That blunt explanation led to some laughter in the media room, but Carr acknowledged the gravity of his mistake: “I know it’s funny right now, because we won, it wasn’t funny at the moment, and I took it very seriously. That was just me being stupid.”

Fortunately, the Saints have a defense that can hold its own. Carr threw that interception with 37 seconds left in the first half and the defense responded by sacking Ryan Tannehill to go into halftime. Rookie defensive tackle Bryan Bresee met blitzing linebacker Pete Werner at the quarterback for a stop, and ultimately Carr’s turnover didn’t matter much. But that isn’t something he can take for granted. He’s an experienced passer in this league and he’ll need to protect the ball more carefully moving forwards.

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NFL fans on social media react to Saints’ surprise Jimmy Graham reunion

NFL fans and analysts on social media had a range of reactions to the Saints’ surprise Jimmy Graham reunion

Wow: the New Orleans Saints shook their fanbase — and many outside observers on social media — by announcing a one-year deal with tight end Jimmy Graham on Tuesday, just before the start of training camp. Graham rose to prominence with the Saints early in his career but had a falling-out with head coach Sean Payton that led to him being traded away in 2015. After sitting out of football in 2022, he’s returned to compete for a spot on their roster.

Reactions were varied, but largely celebratory. Here’s what everyone is saying in the wake of this unexpected news:

Patrick Mahomes claps back at Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase

#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has responded to #Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase’s recent comments:

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Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has responded to recent comments made by Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase.

When Bengals QB Joe Burrow was asked who the best QB in the world is right now, he responded by saying that it was Mahomes. Burrow was clearly showing respect for a rival, who got the best of him in the playoffs this past season. Chase seemingly took exception to Burrow making that comment when asked about it by media members on Tuesday.

“Pat who?” Chase asked reporters.

Well, it didn’t take long for Mahomes to clap back at the Bengals wideout.

During the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVII ring ceremony, Mahomes posed for the camera showing off his two rings, and sent out a tweet that’s an instant classic.

“That’s Who,” Mahomes wrote, followed by two ring emojis.

Chase, of course, doesn’t have a single Super Bowl ring, let alone two. The Bengals are also one of the twelve NFL teams to have never won a Super Bowl title.

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Darren Rizzi thinks new kickoff rule will make the play more dangerous

Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi believes NFL’s new kickoff rule will make the play more dangerous, via @southexclusives:

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The kickoff is one of the most exciting plays in football. The NFL has added rules to try to make that play safer over the years. As exciting as it is, it can also be one of the most violent plays as well, including some of the most frequent high speed collisions in the sport. There have been changes to blocking schemes, and weā€™ve seen spring football leagues try their own variations to make the play safe while keeping kickoffs exciting. The newest rule change might be detrimental to the excitement and the safety.

This latest rule change is the ball is spotted at the 25-yard line on fair catches in kickoffs. The hope is to see more fair catches as a result. More fair catches means less returns which obviously takes the excitement away from the play. Thatā€™s an easy reason to see why fans might not like the new rule. New Orleans Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi also stands against the rule, but for a much different reason. He’s worked on an advisory committee with other special teams coaches around the league since 2018, aiming to make the game’s third phase safer.

But not only does Rizzi not expect teams to actually fair catch kickoffs more often, he objects to this rule because he thinks it will only lead to more chaos and danger. He directly called out the notion of number of returns impacting the reaction to the rule. Rizzi is solely focused on the health of players, telling NewOrleans.Football’s Mike Triplett: ā€œThere was this false narrative being thrown around that the coaches didnā€™t want it because it was gonna be less returns. … The last thing any coach wants is to lose a player to injury.”

He foresees teams attempting to cancel out fair catches with squib kicks. This would lead to even more high speed collisions, clearly counter productive to what the league is trying to accomplish. Rizzi doesnā€™t believe the league considered the other side of the coin.

Rizzi even went as far to say, ā€œI donā€™t think thereā€™s a special teams coach in the league ā€“ in fact, I know thereā€™s not a special teams coach in the league right now that likes the rule.ā€ He sees other, more effective, ways to make the game safer, such as more penalties for lowering the head. This would put the power in coaches and officials to make the game safer. The extra 15 yards would definitely make keeping your head a point of emphasis. Coaches can teach that part out of the game with an extra motivation of penalties being called.

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Former Raiders exec Amy Trask shares perceptive take on Saints-Jon Gruden visit

Former Raiders executive Amy Trask shared a perceptive take to news of the Saints hosting Jon Gruden for a consultant visit at their facility:

Well that’s interesting. Former Oakland Raiders chief executive officer Amy Trask had a low opinion of the New Orleans Saints’ decision to hire her old coworker Dennis Allen as head coach last year, and she doesn’t appear to be reconsidering her stance in the wake of Allen’s decision to bring in disgraced ex-Raiders coach Jon Gruden to visit the facility.

“Res Ipsa Loquitor (learned that in law school),” Trask wrote from her official Twitter account, “and before anyone replies ‘but, but, but,’ remember this: I worked with both men.”

It’s safe to say that Trask knows both Allen and Gruden well from their time together in the Raiders organization, or she at least believes she knows the content of their character. The Latin phrase she’s referencing means “the thing speaks for itself” and is a legal principle that says negligence may be inferred from the very nature of an accident in the absence of direct evidence.

So what did she mean by this? Trask disagreed with the Saints’ decision to promote Allen to head coach, and it appears she isn’t a fan of Allen’s decision to fly Gruden in for a consultation visit. But she wasn’t necessarily surprised Allen thought it would be a good idea: the act speaks for itself.

Allen has already defended his decision by saying he believed Gruden’s input could be valuable to the team, given his experience coaching Derek Carr before, and he isn’t worried about the pall that might be cast by linking the team to such a controversial figure. Gruden resigned after emails surfaced displaying flagrantly bigoted behavior. But if Gruden’s input can help the Saints win games, it’s a price Allen is willing to pay.

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