Tag: Tyrann Mathieu

Tyrann Mathieu not expected to miss time due to shoulder injury

Tyrann Mathieu left the Rams game with a shoulder injury, but the Saints expect him to return against the Giants next week:

After making a tackle on Kyren Williams, Tyrann Mathieu exited the New Orleans Saints Week 13 showdown against the Los Angeles Rams with a shoulder injury. The injury occurred in the third quarter and the safety never returned to the game.

Mathieu was seen on the sideline with a brace on his arm with his helmet on. That was a good sign, and there’s more good news on the way. Per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, the Saints do not view the shoulder injury as a serious injury. The expectation is for Mathieu to return to the lineup next week against the New York Giants.

Mathieu has had to deal with a litany of injuries this season. He’s maintained a frequent presence on the injury report, but he has yet to miss a game. That trend isn’t expected to change this week. Expect Mathieu to appear on the injury report during the practice week and hope for limited participation instead of DNP.

The secondary’s communication is led by Mathieu. If he isn’t able to go on Sunday, New Orleans will have to replace his play on the field and his leadership. Neither is an easy task.

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Tyrann Mathieu would rather win with the Saints than chase another Super Bowl ring

Tyrann Mathieu wants to finish his career with the Saints. He says the opportunity to win in New Orleans beats chasing a Super Bowl ring anywhere else:

Tyrann Mathieu is affectionately known as “Louisiana’s Son.” There’s not a better storybook ending than finishing his professional career with Louisiana’s team, and the New Orleans Saints safety doesn’t see it any other way.

The world learned of Mathieu at LSU. His nose for the football and dynamic playing style made him one of the faces for college football for an entire generation. He’s arguably one of the three to five most popular collegiate players from the highlight era and popularized a style of play at defensive and the jersey number seven nationwide.

The New Orleans Saints signed Mathieu in 2022. After nine years in the league, Mathieu finally made it home. He has no plans of leaving either. Mathieu recently said, “I wouldn’t want to play for any other team.”

That is typical things that players say, but his explanation displays a veracity in his words: “The opportunity to win for my hometown. It trumps me going anywhere else to try to win a ring. I’d rather do it for my people down here.”

Mathieu also has the luxury of already winning a Super Bowl, so that certainly helps him remain content. There’s not many people more synonymous with the state than Tyrann Mathieu. For him to finish his career with the Saints just feels right.

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Tyrann Mathieu has his eyes on coaching after playing career

Tyrann Mathieu is still playing good football, but he has had internal conversations on what he wants to do when he hangs it up:

Tyrann Mathieu has been the New Orleans Saints’ best veteran on defense this year. He is the leader in turnovers on the team. Despite playing at a high level, he’s still looking towards life after football.

This future is still some years away, but Mathieu admits he does think about coaching. Those internal conversations have gone as far as whether or not he would coach on the professional or collegiate level.

In the past, Mathieu has expressed the desire to coach at his alma mater, LSU. The safety’s leadership has been one of his most heralded attributes as a player, so a transition to coaching makes sense.

In his playing career, Mathieu feel he has “accomplished everything that I’ve individually set out to accomplish.” Now he’s taking it year by year and enjoying himself.

It feels like the ability to come in and play for the Saints is just the cherry on top of what has been a great career. He returned to his hometown in 2021, and that have been the last box for him to check.

Mathieu has relished in “coming back home, being able to be in the the community, being able to play high level football and be productive on the field.”

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Tyrann Mathieu on playing Atlanta: ‘The Falcons have been pretty good to me’

Tyrann Mathieu intercepted the Falcons in the last matchup, and he made it clear that’s nothing new when playing the divisional rivals

Tyrann Mathieu sat down with Kay Adams recently, and she asked him about his interception against the Atlanta Falcons, specifically how that kind of play can change the course of a season.

New Orleans Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi highlighted the importance of that play in his postgame press conference. The play helped clinch a victory, but that win was bigger than most wins. The New Orleans Saints were on a seven game losing streak. If Mathieu doesn’t make that play, the streak very well could have extended to eight.

Mathieu relishes in those moments. “Anytime you make those type of plays in those types of rivalry games. That’s the type of plays you dream of as a defender.” Those plays haven’t been a rarity against Atlanta.

“The Falcons have been pretty good to me,” Mathieu told Adams with a smirk. Mathieu had an interception in his first career game against the Falcons. Since joining the Saints, he’s recorded four interceptions and recovered a fumble. That’s five turnovers in six games. The Falcons have indeed been good to Mathieu.

Tyrann Mathieu nominated for Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award

Tyrann Mathieu has been nominated for a special award Drew Brees won in 2018. He’s the New Orleans Saints’ pick for the Art Mooney Sportsmanship Award:

New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu has been nominated as the Saints’ representative for the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award.

This is still a relatively new award, being created in 2014. There’s only been 10 award winners and two of them are former Saints players. Drew Brees received the award in 2018, while Teddy Bridgewater was the award’s recipient in 2020. At that time, however, Bridgewater had moved on to the Carolina Panthers.

This award is similar to the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in the sense that it is based on character, not statistics. The criteria for the award is on-field sportsmanship, fair play, respect for the game and opponents and integrity in competition.

Mathieu is one of the Saints biggest leaders and most respected players in the league, so his inclusion here is no surprise. The next step is to be selected by four former players as one of the NFC’s finalists. If he is able to get that far, his fate remains in the hands of active players.

Tyrann Mathieu hints at how many years he plans on playing pro football

Tyrann Mathieu hinted at how many years he plans on playing pro football, at which point he’ll trade in his cleats and, hopefully, coach his LSU Tigers:

Tyrann Mathieu isn’t about to retire from pro football and hang up his cleats, but the New Orleans Saints does have a plan in mind for what’s next. He was as frustrated by his LSU Tigers’ loss to their longtime rival Florida Gators as any other fan on Saturday night, and that got Mathieu to drop some hints about his future.

In a couple of since-deleted tweets on Twitter, Mathieu said he “cannot wait to get to Baton Rouge & coach,” and that he’s eager to “trade in my cleats for turf shoes.” But he has some unfinished business with the Saints to deal with first. Mathieu added he wants to “play at least 2 more years” before making that transition.

Patience has worn thin with much-hyped LSU head coach Brian Kelly, who was seen arguing back and forth with players on the game’s broadcast. The proud program had lost four or more games in only seven seasons dating back to 2000, but Kelly has done that twice in his first three years on the job. He isn’t meeting high standards, and famous alumni (with ambitions of  coaching themselves) like Mathieu are taking notice.

Hopefully Mathieu’s retirement is still on schedule and a couple of years away. He’s been the most consistent playmaker in the Saints secondary since he came back to town, and they don’t have a long-term replacement lined up to take his spot. But when the time comes, Mathieu has clearly put in the work to continue on to the next stage in his football life.

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Tyrann Mathieu with caustic tweet about Brian Kelly after LSU loses to Florida

Tyrann Mathieu isn’t happy LSU football is 6-4

Brian Kelly isn’t thriving at LSU. The Tigers are 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the SEC after Saturday’s loss to Florida.

The troubles were noticed by a former LSU and current NFL player, Saints DB Tyrann Mathieu.

The tweet probably sums up the feelings of Tiger Nation because they expected far more success when Kelly came South.

Tyrann Mathieu knows what to expect from Jameis Winston

Familiarity plays a part in Saints vs. Browns, and Tyrann Mathieu knows what to expect from Jameis Winston in his return to New Orleans:

Tyrann Mathieu is ready to play his former teammate, Jameis Winston, on Sunday. Mathieu has one message for Winston, “I’m expecting a shot the first play of the game, Jameis, so throw it up there.”

Mathieu intercepted Kirk Cousins in the fourth quarter to help the New Orleans Saints break their losing streak. The safety would like to build a streak of his own, but he knows Winston: “Probably tells me he’s going to throw it at me before he actually does it.”

Familiarity plays a big part in this matchup. “He knows us, we know him,”  Mathieu said. Winston wasn’t in New Orleans long, but Mathieu still thinks this will be “somewhat of homecoming” because of how the city feels bout the former Saints quarterback. Mathieu said the team loves Winston the same way.

Mathieu joined the New Orleans Saints a year after Winston. Mathieu’s arrival coincided with Winston becoming the starter. Through this time, both were leaders on their side of the ball and they got to know each other well.

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Tyrann Mathieu and Drew Brees probably wouldn’t agree on his favorite INT

Tyrann Mathieu and Drew Brees probably wouldn’t agree on his favorite INT. Mathieu’s takeaway in his 2013 homecoming stands the test of time:

It’s no secret that Tyrann Mathieu is a special talent. The New Orleans Saints safety returned home to close out his illustrious NFL career, and while Mathieu’s 2024 season hast had more low moments than he’s comfortable with, the highlights stand up with the best plays throughout his career.

He’s still making history. Mathieu is tied with his old college teammate Patrick Peterson for the most interceptions among all active NFL players (36). So which one was his favorite?

“I hate to say it but it’d have to be my rookie season, playing against Drew Brees in the Superdome,” Mathieu grinned. “And we got beat bad that day  but I had a good game. And I got to walk l away with one of the most prized possessions of anybody’s life, and that’s a Drew Brees football. So I always remember that one.”

Mathieu played the Saints just three games into his pro career back in 2013, and while his Arizona Cardinals fell 31-7, he did finish the day with 10 tackles (9 solo), on top of that interception. That was a season-high for his rookie year, and clearly a memorable game in his NFL story.

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Darren Rizzi on late takeaway vs. Falcons: ‘Biggest play of the game’

Darren Rizzi called Tyrann Mathieu’s interception the biggest play of the game as it swung momentum in favor of the Saints late against the Falcons.

The Atlanta Falcons were down three points, but they had the New Orleans Saints on the ropes in the fourth quarter. It appeared the Saints were about to let another game slip through their grips, until Tyrann Mathieu intercepted Kirk Cousins on the Falcons’ second to last possession of the game.

In his post game press conference, Darren Rizzi said, “Honey Badger’s interception at the end of the game is maybe the biggest play of the game.”

It’s definitely on the short list and hard to find another play that felt like such a turn of events. That’s what makes the play special to Rizzi. The interception happened at a moment where “started to lose momentum a little bit.”

The interception didn’t put the game away, but it stonewalled the Falcons on their closest attempt to tying the game or taking the lead.

The Falcons were at the Saints’ 44-yard line when Cousins threw the interception. The drive prior Younghoe Koo missed his third field goal of the game. The Atlanta offense was figuring out how to move the football, while New Orleans had stagnated.

Mathieu’s interception stripped the way of points away from the rival, and they didn’t get close to scoring on their only other possession.

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