Tag: Taliese Fuaga

Darren Rizzi highlights battle in the trenches for Saints vs. Giants

Darren Rizzi knows stopping Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns is imperative. Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning must rise to the occasion:

A lot of pressure rests on the New Orleans Saints’ young offensive tackles as they take on the New York Giants’ duo of Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns on the edges.

Interim head coach Darren Rizzi understands the importance of Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning protecting Derek Carr in Week 14. Rizzi told the media earlier this week, “We got to do a great job of protecting the edge this week. That’s going to be a big part of what we do.”

Rizzi continued: “They have two playmakers on the edges between Burns and Thibodeaux. We’ve known Burns in this division for a long, long time. He’s wrecked a lot of games for people. They just got Thib back on the other side. Those guys are a problem.”

For Fuaga, this continues a stretch of facing formidable pass rushers. He’s stood up to Myles Garrett, Jared Verse and now this duo in consecutive weeks, with a bye week in that span. Penning struggled against the Rams as Verse racked up a multitude of pressures. The offensive tackle is looking to bounce back.

As for the offensive interior? The Saints are hoping to get several starters back from injury, including Erik McCoy and Lucas Patrick, but that’s where the Giants may be weakest up front. A potentially season-ending injury to Dexter Lawrence puts the focus concretely on New York’s edge defenders. Fuaga and Penning must be on point this Sunday.

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Rookies on both sides proved their potential in Saints vs. Rams

Jared Verse registered six pressures and the game winning play, but Taliese Fuaga allowed 0 pressures all game. The future’s bright for both:

Jared Verse absolutely wrecked the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. It was the rookie edge rusher who hit Derek Carr’s arm as he was throwing to win the game for the Los Angeles Rams.

One person he didn’t run through was fellow rookie Taliese Fuaga. Ironically, on that game winning play Fuaga was right there, but Verse rushed against tight end Foster Moreau. Credit to Los Angeles for how they schemed that pressure.

The Fuaga versus Verse was the battle we wanted to see, and both rookies lived up to the billing. Verse registered six pressures on the day but Fuaga didn’t allow a pressure the entire game.

Fuaga continues to be the bright spot of the offensive line. Sometimes an unit gets beat so bad everyone shares the blame, but Fuaga handled himself great in pass protection.

On 41 pass blocking snaps, Fuaga allowed pressure zero percent of the time. There were snaps he lined up in front of Verse, but it wasn’t the main event we were hoping for.

Instead, Verse wrecked the game by rushing from different places and Fuaga walked away with another clean game. Both teams feel more than satisfied with their first-round pick.

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Week 3’s Saints-Rams game puts two rookies into a pivotal matchup

Not many could have predicted how immediately productive Taliese Fuaga and Jared Verse would be, and now the two rookies face off in Week 13:

Last time we saw Taliese Fuaga, he was busy keeping the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Myles Garrett, off the stat sheet. After the bye week, Fuaga gets to face fellow rookie Jared Verse. Verse isn’t anywhere near the household name Garrett is, but he’s played well

We previewed the matchup going into the season, but we couldn’t have predicted how well these players would have performed in their first season in NFL.

We circled the matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams rookies because it’s the only game Fuaga has against a first round edge rusher. Toss the rookie statuses out the window, and the game should still be anticipated.

Fuaga has the lowest pressure rate allowed by a rookie. In comparison, Verse has more pressures than any rookie. Let’s dive deeper. He is already warranting double teams. That hasn’t stopped Verse, however. His six pressures while being doubled are third highest among all pass rushers.

In this matchup, Fuaga will have to make sure his base is strong. Verse is a powerful rusher who does a good job converting speed to power in his pass rushes. Verse does a good job of knocking linemen backwards. A strong anchor and good hands will be imperative to Fuaga winning this powerful rookie showdown.

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Saints rookie’s performance gets more impressive even on bye week

Taliese Fuaga’s performance versus Myles Garrett gets more impressive after Garrett’s monster game on ‘Thursday Night Football’

Cleveland Browns edge rusher, Myles Garrett, has recorded six sacks in the past three weeks, three sacks in Week 12 and three sacks in Week 10. When the Browns came to New Orleans in Week 11, however, New Orleans Saints rookie left tackle, Taliese Fuaga, kept Garrett off the stat sheet completely.

That performance was impressive even if you isolate it to one game. A rookie tackle going against a star pass rusher and winning the battle is a positive sign for Fuaga’s ceiling. Then, when you expand your view to multiple games, what he did becomes more impressive.

Russell Wilson couldn’t get away from Garrett in the first half of the Browns and Steelers matchup on Thursday night. Garrett had three sacks and a forced fumble against the Steelers. After the game, he proclaimed himself the best edge rusher and best defensive player in the league.

With two monster performances in recent weeks, his bravado is earned. That just makes Taliese Fuaga’s Week 11 performance more impressive.

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Taliese Fuaga kept Browns’ star pass rusher off the stat sheet

Taliese Fuaga walked into the biggest challenge of his rookie season, and walked away with an impressive win against Myles Garrett:


Taliese Fuaga stepped into the biggest challenge of his career against Myles Garrett, and the rookie passed with flying colors. Garrett didn’t register a single snap against the New Orleans Saints. Not a sack, not a quarterback hit, not even a tackle.

It may make you wonder if Garrett is injured. He’s dealt with injuries, but Garrett said earlier last week he felt like he was at an 8, on a scale of 1 to 10. He’s also coming off of a 3-sack performance against the Chargers.

This is a huge win for Fuaga. He took one of the best pass rushers and made him a non-factor in the game. Garrett had just 2 pressures and a 8% pressure percentage, both are the lowest of the season for the defensive end.

Fuaga has been excellent in pass protection this year. He entered the week eighth in pressure rate allowed. His ranking may go up after a performance like this. It’s just further proof the Saints got a cornerstone piece in the first round this year.

This is the second time the Saints have erased a star pass rusher from the game. They did the same thing with Micah Parsons earlier this season. It isn’t over yet. The next standout rusher on the schedule is Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby.

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Taliese Fuaga is about to face the biggest challenge of his rookie season

Myles Garrett will line up in front of Taliese Fuaga the majority of this week’s game, making this the toughest challenge of Fuaga’s rookie season:

The main storyline when the New Orleans Saints take on the Cleveland Browns is the return of Jameis Winston to New Orleans. The biggest matchup, however, will be Taliese Fuaga versus Myles Garrett. Derek Carr will thank him if Fuaga is able to rise to the occasion.

This is the most difficult challenge Fuaga has had to face in his rookie season so far. Garrett is the reigning, defending Defensive Player of the Year and has made 1st team All-Pro three times. Simply put, Myles Garrett is in on the short list of best pass rushers in the NFL.

Fuaga faced another one of those players earlier this season, Micah Parsons. The difference between those games is the amount the rookie will see each player. Parsons plays on both sides of the defensive line. Against the Saints, his snaps were split almost evenly.

Garrett aligns primarily over the left tackle. He has played 82.5% of his snaps on that side of the defensive line. If the Browns stay consistent with his alignment, and they probably will, Fuaga will face him nearly every play. On obvious passing downs, you can almost guarantee Garrett is coming from that side.

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Saints rookie Taliese Fuaga dealing with thigh injury vs. Falcons

Rookie New Orleans Saints left tackle Taliese Fuaga was questionable to return against the Atlanta Falcons. He’s fighting through a new thigh injury:

New Orleans Saints rookie left tackle Taliese Fuaga was questionable to return against the Atlanta Falcons, going down with a thigh injury in the first half of the game. He headed to the injury tent shortly after the play.

Fuaga has since returned to the game and New Orleans will hope that the injury does not affect his level off play too much as the Saints are now on one of their most solid trajectories of the season.

The former Oregon State Beavers offensive lineman was selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft with the No. 14 overall pick. According to NFL.com, the rookie had a 6.48 overall prospect grade coming out of college, putting him the category of “will become a good starter within two years.” He’s since converted to left tackle from the right side and held down  his starting job through ten games.

The Saints currently lead the Falcons, 10-0 midway through the second quarter.

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Mickey Loomis clarifies Dennis Allen’s statement on young players

Mickey Loomis used Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis as examples of how good young players can develop into great talents, and stars, with time:

Dennis Allen recently said the New Orleans Saints don’t have any great young players, instead saying they have “young guys who are developing.” It was an odd comment for a head coach to make about his team, even when taken in context of the conversation.

So Saints general manager Mickey Loomis stepped in to expand on Allen’s comments by comparing young players to Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis. Those two players didn’t blossom into stars immediately.

Loomis pointed to the beginning of their careers, specifically the first four years where their tackles, sacks, and postseason honors were more pedestrian. It took some time but both Jordan and Davis developed into great players with the records and Pro Bowls to back it up. He then pointed to players such as Chris Olave, Bryan Bresee, Taliese Fuaga and Alontae Taylor as some of the players who could follow that same career arc.

While those players may not be stars yet, Loomis believes they could ascend and begin to get more accolades in the next four to five years similarly to Jordan and Davis.

Loomis ended up naming nearly every prominent young player on the team, but he understands they can’t all be stars. “Will they all do that? No. That’d be unrealistic. We don’t expect that. But certainly we have a lot of guys, and there’s others as well, who have that opportunity.”

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Updated Saints injury report adds yet another DNP on the offensive line

The updated Saints injury report added yet another DNP on the offensive line. They’re going to have a tough time against the Chiefs if these injuries persist:

The New Orleans Saints’ Friday injury report only made matters worse for the already banged up offensive line, as guard/center Lucas Patrick (groin) was added to the list of non-participants today. The potential loss of Patrick for Monday nights’ game in Kansas City, would likely mean that the entirety of the interior starters would be out next week. Already down Erik McCoy (hernia) and likely down Cesar Ruiz (knee) and Shane Lemieux (ankle), it could be an incredibly scary sight going up against All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones in this game. Klint Kubiak and the offensive staff will almost definitely have to pull some tricks out of the hat to cover these blows.

Some other notables were that kicker Blake Grupe (right hip) was back in the lineup after not practicing Thursday as well as tight end Juwan Johnson (forearm) and running back Kendre Miller (hamstring) who were back as full participants after being limited. Tackle Taliese Fuaga (back) added knee to his back injury but was still limited once again. The other notable was that receiver A.T. Perry disappeared from the list, who we found was waived earlier today by the team.

Other than that, it was more of the same with a handful of guys status in doubt. Willie Gay (hand), Taysom Hill (rib) and Payton Turner (knee) were the other non-participants on Friday. It doesn’t look like Willie Gay will be up this week after checking out his recent Instagram post but Hill and Turner could possibly make their way to active status with an extra rest day this week. Dennis Allen said earlier in the week that Taysom does in fact have broken ribs similar to what running back Alvin Kamara was dealing with last week. This could leave the potential for Hill possibly making an effort to get out there on Monday depending on the severity. Only difference is that Hill did sustain the same injury on the opposite side of his body just two weeks ago. Although there’s a chance it is probably safe for the team to be cautious on Hill as it seems they’re a bit of a different team with him available.

Here is the full list of injuries after Friday’s practice:

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Erik McCoy injury would be a ‘red button’ type of loss for Saints

Erik McCoy was injured against the Philadelphia Eagles. Concern for the offensive line is on red alert for any time that he misses:

Games early in the season always tend to result in some sort of overreaction, however, I don’t think it would be reactionary at all to say the New Orleans Saints offensive line would be in huge trouble if Erik McCoy had to miss some time.

Facing a player like Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter exacerbated the issue, but it went deeper than that. There was a point where Cesar Ruiz and Oli Udoh ran into each other in the backfield. Think Jordan Howden and Marshon Lattimore colliding on Dallas Goedert’s field-flipping catch, but as offensive linemen.

McCoy is the leader of the unit and you can’t help but think those plays don’t happen with him there. It’s a trickle down effect with his absence. Lucas Patrick moves to center, and now you’ve downgraded at center and left guard. Ruiz looked bad too, but that could reasonably change. Udoh performed too poorly to receive the benefit of the doubt.

So McCoy missing pretty much the entirety of the game showed he may be one of the five most important players on this team. He’s their best offensive linemen and the glue holding the rest of the unit together.

The interior of the offensive line is dramatically worse without him. It may not disrupt the offense as much as it did in Week 3, but it will have a huge impact on the effectiveness of the offense.

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