Tag: Rivals

All-Time Saints Villains: Which players had the most tackles for loss against New Orleans?

All-Time Saints Villains: Which players had the most tackles for loss against New Orleans? Lavonte David and Julius Peppers rank high among the TFL leaders

Opposing teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers haven’t always been very talented, but we can’t say they haven’t had some special defenders who gave the New Orleans Saints a serious challenge over the years. When looking at the all-time leaders in tackles for loss against the Saints, you’ll see many Buccaneers defenders ranked highly — as well as divisional rivals like former Carolina Panthers pass rusher Julius Peppers, who always seemed to create a disruptive play against New Orleans.

Here’s the list of leaders from StatMuse:

All-Time Saints Villains: Who has the most interceptions against New Orleans?

Who has intercepted the most passes from Saints quarterbacks? Hall of Famers like Ronde Barber, Rod Woodson, and Ronnie Lott have haunted them over the years:

We’re continuing our series on the New Orleans Saints’ all-time greatest opponents by shifting attention to defense, thanks to StatMuse. This time we’re looking at the best ballhawks to suit up against New Orleans — a list that includes Pro Football Hall of Famers like Ronde Barber, Ronnie Lott, and Rod Woodson, along with some other annoyingly effective defensive backs.

Let’s get to it, sorting by total interceptions and then return yards:

All-Time Saints Villains: Which pass rushers had the most sacks against New Orleans?

All-Time Saints Villains: Which pass rushers had the most sacks against New Orleans? Hall of Famer Kevin Greene is just one star that challenged them:

New Orleans Saints quarterbacks and offensive linemen have been terrorized by some pass rushers over the years; some more than others. The Saints have had the bad luck to share a division with a Hall of Fame talent like Kevin Greene, only to see him join a new team in another conference while they’re leaving to form a new rivalry with the expansion-era Carolina Panthers — only for Greene to return and bully them with Carolina for a few more years to close out his career.

And that’s just one story. We’re continuing to highlight the Saints’ most challenging opponents, rivals, and villains over the years, this time putting a focus on the many sack artists who have lined up against the black and gold:

All-Time Saints Villains: Who has the most career rushing yards against New Orleans?

Who has the most career rushing yards against the Saints? The Panthers’ duo of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart was challenging to say the least:

Some seriously talented runners have suited up against the New Orleans Saints over the years — but which rusher stands on top? Who challenged the Saints defense the most as a threat to make a big play on the ground?

We’ve already looked at the highest-scoring quarterbacks and most-accomplished wide receivers to oppose the black and gold. Now let’s look back on the Saints’ biggest rivals at running back, thanks to Statmuse:

All-Time Saints Villains: Which QBs have thrown most TD passes against New Orleans?

Which quarterbacks have thrown the most touchdown passes against the Saints? Matt Ryan and Cam Newton made the cut, but so did Joe Montana:

Who are the New Orleans Saints’ biggest all-time rivals? Which opposing players have plagued the black and gold in their lowest moments? When you look through the Saints’ franchise history, who stands out as villains on the opposing sideline?

That’s what we’re setting out to explore this week, thanks to the at records being kept over at StatMuse. We’re offering a rare hat tip to the best players from the other side and acknowledging some of the peak performers to ever suit up against New Orleans. To start out, here’s a look at the all-time leaders in touchdown passes thrown against the Saints defense:

All-Time Saints Villains: Who has put up the most receiving yards against New Orleans?

Who has put up the most receiving yards against the New Orleans Saints? All-time rivals include Jerry Rice, Julio Jones, and Steve Smith Sr.:

New Orleans Saints fans have had the misfortune of watching a lot of talented receivers play against their team over the years — including bona fide Pro Football Hall of Famers and many of the best pass-catchers to ever suit up for some franchises.

But which of those players did the most damage? Who would you say have been their biggest rivals? Thanks to StatMuse, here are the players with the highest all-time receiving yardage in games against the Saints:

Rutgers football recruiting: Kaj Sanders is now a four-star on Rivals

Bergen Catholic’s Kaj Sanders is now a four-star according to Rivals.

On Wednesday, New Jersey athlete Kaj Sanders was made a four-star.

A safety at Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.), Sanders is now the seventh-best player in New Jersey and the No. 30 overall safety according to Rivals. He had originally been ranked as a three-star.

On3 also has Sanders tabbed as a four-star recruit.

In early May, Sanders released a top 10 that included Notre Dame, Syracuse, Maryland, Rutgers, Penn State, Michigan State, North Carolina, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Miami.

He will be at Rutgers next week for an official visit.

As of late May, Sanders said that his other official visits were scheduled to be:

 

The 2024 recruiting class for Rutgers currently includes 15 commits.  It includes three players from New Jersey, all three-star recruits:

  • Kenny Jones (offensive lineman; Delran, N.J.)
  • Judah Pruitt (defensive lineman; Newark, N.J.)
  • A.J. Surace (quarterback; Lawrenceville, N.J.)

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Oklahoma offers four-star WR and Texas Tech commit Ivan Carreon

Oklahoma offered Ivan Carreon, a four-star receiver from Odessa, Texas. Carreon was previously recruited by Emmett Jones at Texas Tech.

Oklahoma has already secured commitments from two 2024 wide receivers, four-star [autotag]Zion Kearney[/autotag] and three-star [autotag]K.J. Daniels[/autotag]. Both players are talented and have tantalizing traits that the Sooners should be excited about.

Oklahoma remains in an intense battle for five-star receiver [autotag]Bryant Wesco[/autotag], and while the Sooners have done a lot of heavy lifting, the battle is far from over.

While that recruitment rages on, Oklahoma will continue to recruit other receivers.

Their latest offer goes to another 2024 receiver, Ivan Carreon, a 6-foot-6 playmaker from Odessa High School. Carreon is currently a Texas Tech commit and was recruited at Texas Tech by none other than current Oklahoma wide receivers coach Emmett Jones. There’s quite a relationship between the two, and after coming to compete at an Oklahoma last week, Carreon received an offer.

It remains to be seen how Jones’ new location may affect his relationship with Carreon. Still, if anything, the familiarity between the two is noteworthy and could play a significant part if this is to move just past the offer phase.

Carreon finished his junior season with 51 catches for 1,168 yards and 14 receiving touchdowns on a 22.9-yard average per catch. He plays basketball and runs track, in which he was a Texas 5A regional qualifier as a sophomore in the 110-meter hurdles.

Ivan Carreon’s Recruiting Profile

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How the NFL could expand to an 18-game regular season

The NFL will eventually introduce an 18-game regular season. Permanent non-conference rivals, another bye week, and other changes could help make it worthwhile:

Sports are entertainment, so the product should be entertaining, right? It’s unfortunate that so many small things that made the NFL special have fallen by the wayside — particularly rivalry games. It’s something currently being eroded at the college level as super-conferences and realignment sprint towards an event horizon, a point of no return.

Let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room: at some point in the future the NFL is going to roll out an 18-game regular season, just like it expanded to 17 from 16, and from 14 before that. League ownership has profited wildly from the expanded regular season and the lucrative media rights contracts that come with it, and they’ll go back to that well sooner or later.

Players and coaches have already talked about the workload that adding just one more game to the established 16-game slate caused. Adding a second one without any other changes will only make it worse. So how could it be done in a way that doesn’t diminish the product? Here’s our proposal, and for the sake of illustrating each point, how each change could impact the New Orleans Saints:

Sooners QB commit Michael Hawkins wins QB MVP at Rivals Camp for second straight year

Oklahoma’s 2024 QB commit Michael Hawkins wins the QB MVP award at Rivals Camp in DFW.

Jeff Lebby landed the quarterback in the [autotag]2024 recruiting class[/autotag] he wanted from the beginning, and he may be a genius for it.

Michael Hawkins committed to the Sooners on April 8 in front of his friends and family. He picked Oklahoma over TCU. Hawkins is an Oklahoma legacy; his father, Mike, was a former defensive back.

The stars aligned, and Hawkins is on the camp circuit preparing for his final high school season this fall at Frisco Emerson.

With his college recruitment seemingly over, Hawkins will spend the rest of the spring and summer grinding to become a better quarterback. He made the short trip to Dallas this weekend to participate in the Rivals Camp Series and had a great showing. With his performance, he was named the quarterback MVP for the session.

The award marks the second straight year he walked away as the best QB at the camp.

Hawkins’s accuracy stands out as his best trait, and it is well-documented how easy it is for him to routinely place the ball in the best spots for his playmakers to make plays. Earlier this year, he won the accuracy award at the UA Next showcase in Dallas. Rivals recruiting analysts Adam Gorney and Cole Patterson had this to say about Hawkins’ performance:

Hawkins defended his QB MVP crown on Sunday, displaying pinpoint accuracy and ball placement through the camp. The Oklahoma pledge hit a variety of receivers to all levels of the field and had the most consistent day of all the signal callers in attendance. The Rivals250 passer has risen to the occasion in multiple game and camp settings in front of Rivals, and that was more of the same this weekend.  – Gorney and Patterson, Rivals

Hawkins isn’t ranked among the top 20 players in Texas by the four major recruiting sites. Despite that, the 2024 QB commit will rise in the rankings if these offseason performances translate to his final high school season.

Hawkins is also leading the charge on the recruiting trail, using his connections with notable targets like Davon Mitchell to draw them to Norman.

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