WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:02.730
AFR On Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
2
00:00:03.029 --> 00:00:06.910
Try Beaver Creek today. Just 20 minutes from downtown Baton
3
00:00:06.950 --> 00:00:10.199
Rouge in the Zachary area. They've got a PGA Tour
4
00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:14.220
driving range, a short game practice area, 30 to 40
5
00:00:14.220 --> 00:00:16.600
yard practice shots. It's a great place to chip and
6
00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:19.280
putt and practice if you don't have time for a
7
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:26.379
full round. Book your tee time today. Golf.breck.org. Golf.breck.org. So
8
00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:29.449
the New Orleans Saints won in New York on Sunday.
9
00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:36.810
New Jersey. In one of the more improbable games, as
10
00:00:36.829 --> 00:00:39.810
far as game flow, getting down 10, scoring 34 on answer,
11
00:00:39.829 --> 00:00:41.909
then having to hang on for dear life, literally a
12
00:00:41.950 --> 00:00:43.570
pass in the end zone with 12 seconds left that
13
00:00:43.609 --> 00:00:45.310
could have potentially tied or won the game if they'd
14
00:00:45.329 --> 00:00:47.030
gone for two. I think John Harbaugh would have gone
15
00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:49.450
for two, by the way. I think had they scored,
16
00:00:49.670 --> 00:00:51.090
I think the Giants were going for two in the win.
17
00:00:54.409 --> 00:00:58.159
May never know, but it worked out for the Saints.
18
00:00:58.710 --> 00:01:02.630
But one of the things that maybe the Saints were
19
00:01:02.649 --> 00:01:07.489
able to uncover is some semblance of a rushing offense. Now,
20
00:01:08.170 --> 00:01:11.659
I'm not going to go overboard here because they ran
21
00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:17.560
for 175 against the Giants. I mean, the Giants came
22
00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:27.939
into that game ranked 29th. There it is. Yeah, the
23
00:01:27.969 --> 00:01:30.180
Giants came into the game ranked 29th against the run.
24
00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:32.739
So it's one of those things where it's like, if
25
00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:38.560
you can't run the ball against that team, can you
26
00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:41.319
run the ball against anybody? I mean, a fair question
27
00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:45.780
to ask. Well, the Saints go and they committed to
28
00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:50.829
the run, and they ran 38 times for 175. Tyler
29
00:01:50.859 --> 00:01:53.989
Shuck had a couple of nice runs as well. Tyler
30
00:01:54.010 --> 00:01:55.709
Shuck had the long run of the day for 25 yards,
31
00:01:55.750 --> 00:01:58.269
but I would even say One of the positives about
32
00:01:58.290 --> 00:02:00.890
the rushing offense is it wasn't like you had one
33
00:02:01.010 --> 00:02:05.129
big chunk play that skewed the stats. Kamara's long was 15, C.J.
34
00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:08.189
Donaldson's long was 17, Kendra's long was 11, and he
35
00:02:08.210 --> 00:02:11.159
had 20 carries in the game. So I like the
36
00:02:11.189 --> 00:02:15.120
fact that you actually committed to balance and committed to
37
00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:18.680
running the football. But there are two things that happened,
38
00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:23.360
and neither of them were intentional by this coaching staff,
39
00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:28.280
but the circumstance necessitated it, which might have allowed you
40
00:02:28.289 --> 00:02:30.659
to inadvertently stumble upon the answer to your issues running
41
00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.719
the football. It's almost like how we discovered penicillin. You
42
00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:38.360
left a petri dish uncovered and then the mold killed
43
00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.800
the virus. And it's like, oh, did we just find
44
00:02:41.819 --> 00:02:42.400
something amazing?
45
00:02:42.979 --> 00:02:43.240
Maybe.
46
00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:46.750
Well, like Cesar Ruiz getting hurt. And I'm not that
47
00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:48.949
I'm celebrating a guy getting hurt. Please don't misunderstand me.
48
00:02:48.969 --> 00:02:52.580
But with Ruiz getting hurt, Jeremiah Wright went into and
49
00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:54.159
Wright was the fourth-round pick from Auburn, and he is
50
00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:58.979
more of the physical road-grading offensive lineman. And then, because
51
00:02:59.780 --> 00:03:03.030
Kelvin Banks is hurt, and Asim Richards is just incapable
52
00:03:03.050 --> 00:03:05.889
of playing left tackle in the NFL, and was getting
53
00:03:06.550 --> 00:03:10.330
annihilated in that game by Abdul Carter, back-to-back holding penalties,
54
00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:15.750
they went to a 12-personnel look in the second half.
55
00:03:16.349 --> 00:03:18.550
By the way, I'm not giving you my observation. Drew
56
00:03:18.590 --> 00:03:21.020
Brees was talking about it on the broadcast, where you
57
00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:23.180
saw Jawan Johnson and Oscar Tell playing the bulk of
58
00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:24.659
the snaps in the second half with him with 12
59
00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:27.400
personnel to give help. So that might have been a
60
00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:32.599
thing that sort of inadvertently helped them find a way
61
00:03:32.909 --> 00:03:41.289
to get going offensively. Now, Saints coach Kellen Moore had
62
00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:43.750
a Zoom with the media on Monday and was asked
63
00:03:43.990 --> 00:03:45.530
what got the run game going.
64
00:03:46.430 --> 00:03:48.169
Yeah, I think all 11 at the end of the
65
00:03:48.210 --> 00:03:51.770
day is all 11 physical up front. I thought our
66
00:03:51.789 --> 00:03:55.379
running backs ran really, really hard. You know, receivers get
67
00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:57.479
into the safeties and some of those things and tight
68
00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.520
ends battling. And I thought we had a good mix there.
69
00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:02.759
And so, you know, we got to continue that. We
70
00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:04.840
got to build on that. I thought some of our
71
00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:07.050
combination blocks when we were able to get those going,
72
00:04:08.050 --> 00:04:08.889
they were very effective.
73
00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:14.030
Rob might just put a moratorium on Ellen. Remember we
74
00:04:14.069 --> 00:04:14.990
did that with Alvin Gentry.
75
00:04:15.349 --> 00:04:15.750
Were you here?
76
00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:21.060
I was on OTB, but I remember the moratorium because
77
00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:23.199
I would have to fill in for brain every once
78
00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:25.100
in a while. When Alvin Gentry was the coach of
79
00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:27.110
the Pelicans, I put a moratorium on Alvin Gentry. So
80
00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:29.310
we're never playing another Alvin Gentry soundbite as long as
81
00:04:29.350 --> 00:04:31.949
he's the coach. It's just worthless. It's not worth your
82
00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:36.250
time or mine. And I'm getting there with Ellen. Ellen Moore.
83
00:04:36.269 --> 00:04:38.439
You're one of the worst running teams in the NFL.
84
00:04:38.449 --> 00:04:41.480
You actually get going. They ask you, hey, what happened?
85
00:04:42.310 --> 00:04:44.810
All 11. Let me give you the most ridiculous, cliched,
86
00:04:44.850 --> 00:04:49.430
nonsensical answer possible. Listening to him is worthless. It's just
87
00:04:49.449 --> 00:04:57.110
a waste of time. Anyway, in this game for the
88
00:04:57.149 --> 00:05:06.639
New Orleans Saints, I do think it's worth looking at
89
00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:12.949
what it was like with Ruiz and without Ruiz. Now,
90
00:05:13.310 --> 00:05:17.199
it's worth noting, Cesar Ruiz in this game played 29
91
00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:23.879
snaps and was your highest graded pass blocker. He graded
92
00:05:23.899 --> 00:05:28.829
an 86. C.J. Donaldson was next, then Eric McCoy at
93
00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:34.389
a 78. Tali Fuaga, 72.9. David Edwards, a 63. Jeremiah Wright,
94
00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:39.089
a 54. Asim Richards, a 43. So, from that perspective,
95
00:05:40.870 --> 00:05:44.240
it's not your answer. But I'm talking about the ability
96
00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:48.779
to run the ball. And Fulaga and McCoy were your
97
00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:55.120
top-rated run blockers. And then was Jeremiah Wright at a 61.9.
98
00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:03.129
And hasn't that kind of been the issue? Now, Ruiz, again,
99
00:06:03.189 --> 00:06:05.910
it's just PFF, graded a 59.7. So it's not like.
100
00:06:08.750 --> 00:06:12.750
Jeremiah Wright had this dramatically better grade than Ruiz, but
101
00:06:12.769 --> 00:06:15.910
it was better and was thrust in there in the
102
00:06:15.970 --> 00:06:20.920
middle of the game. And against my better judgment, I
103
00:06:20.939 --> 00:06:25.100
will let you hear what New Orleans Saints head football
104
00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:28.410
coach Kellen Moore had to say about Jeremiah Wright in
105
00:06:28.449 --> 00:06:30.230
his postgame after the Saints win.
106
00:06:30.790 --> 00:06:35.110
Jeremiah, certainly he's a really good blocker. He's a physical player.
107
00:06:35.230 --> 00:06:38.009
We saw that, obviously, through camp and all those different things,
108
00:06:38.110 --> 00:06:40.649
and we feel great about him. We feel like he
109
00:06:40.670 --> 00:06:44.970
can go contribute and play. I thought those other guys, though, Dave, Seas,
110
00:06:45.569 --> 00:06:47.000
I thought those guys did some good stuff as well.
111
00:06:49.300 --> 00:06:54.379
Getting closer to the moratorium. But it'll be interesting if
112
00:06:54.899 --> 00:06:57.660
Ruiz is injured and Wright has to play if we
113
00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.500
can see a continuation of the running offense get going
114
00:07:01.290 --> 00:07:06.009
This was, against my better judgment, New Orleans Saints head coach,
115
00:07:06.050 --> 00:07:08.930
Kellen Moore, giving an update on Cesar Ruiz's knee injury
116
00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:10.230
and how serious it is or could be.
117
00:07:10.689 --> 00:07:13.310
We'll see. You know, he'll get the MRI, you know,
118
00:07:13.540 --> 00:07:16.120
the goofy logistics. So I think he'll try and get
119
00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:18.220
an MRI as quickly as possible before we get out
120
00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:20.899
to Paris and collect as much information as we can.
121
00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.800
But he was moving around okay in the locker room.
122
00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:23.420
So we'll just see.
123
00:07:24.139 --> 00:07:28.410
Listen, you don't ever want an injury to a starter.
124
00:07:29.029 --> 00:07:32.360
You're already down your left tackle. And I understand the
125
00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:35.379
feeling a lot of Saints fans... I'm not saying anybody
126
00:07:35.420 --> 00:07:38.870
wants Cesar Ruiz, the human, to be hurt. We have
127
00:07:38.899 --> 00:07:42.410
talked about Cesar Ruiz for a long time here with
128
00:07:42.449 --> 00:07:45.569
his struggles within this offense. He has been the weak
129
00:07:45.610 --> 00:07:49.209
link on the offensive line. So I'm not talking about
130
00:07:49.250 --> 00:07:51.589
anybody wanting him to be injured. I'm not saying that.
131
00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:57.139
What I think is notable is it will be interesting
132
00:07:57.160 --> 00:08:01.370
to see if he can't play And you give Jeremiah
133
00:08:01.389 --> 00:08:05.930
Wright a full week with the first team offense and
134
00:08:05.970 --> 00:08:09.550
he gets a game against Pittsburgh. Cam Hayward on that
135
00:08:09.709 --> 00:08:19.660
defensive front. How it looks. That's just, it's something that
136
00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:22.279
we'll keep an eye on and see how it goes.
137
00:08:22.779 --> 00:08:32.600
And remember, we're talking about defense and run defense in
138
00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:35.460
Pittsburgh is kind of smack dab in the middle of
139
00:08:35.500 --> 00:08:39.740
the league in run defense at 103 yards per game.
140
00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:46.320
So let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
141
00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:48.940
They're 15th. So they're 15th in the NFL, just smack
142
00:08:48.980 --> 00:08:50.950
dab in the middle. So you're not going to get, like,
143
00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:54.809
they're dramatically better than the Giants, who are 29th in
144
00:08:54.850 --> 00:08:59.950
run defense, but they're not a top five run defense
145
00:08:59.990 --> 00:09:01.970
or anything like that. So this will be an interesting
146
00:09:02.629 --> 00:09:06.379
opportunity for new Orleans against that defense to see if
147
00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:08.419
you can run the ball again, because you have been
148
00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:11.299
an abysmal running team through the first five games of
149
00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:14.360
the season until you ran for one 75 on Sunday
150
00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:19.100
against the giants. Maybe part of it is Jeremiah, right?
151
00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:23.649
Maybe too tight end look, Maybe it's committing to it
152
00:09:23.690 --> 00:09:27.009
with Kendra Miller getting 20 rushes and C.J. Donaldson being
153
00:09:27.049 --> 00:09:30.090
a physical between-the-tackles runner. Maybe it's a combination of all
154
00:09:30.129 --> 00:09:33.570
those things. It could be. And I don't have the answer.
155
00:09:33.590 --> 00:09:36.950
I'm not going to extrapolate a definitive answer from a
156
00:09:37.029 --> 00:09:41.909
small sample size of roughly a half of football. But
157
00:09:42.570 --> 00:09:45.200
it's certainly something that we all need to keep a
158
00:09:45.250 --> 00:09:47.960
closer eye on moving forward because if this offense is
159
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.700
going to get in gear, especially when Kelvin Banks comes
160
00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:53.490
back and Travis Aitken comes back they got to be
161
00:09:53.509 --> 00:09:55.320
able to run the football. And even when they had
162
00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:58.179
banks and Aitken, they were not running the football. They
163
00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:01.539
did on Sunday. Let's see what you do for an encore.
164
00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:04.200
We'll keep an eye on that right guard spot as well.
1
00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:02.730
AFR On Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
2
00:00:03.029 --> 00:00:06.910
Try Beaver Creek today. Just 20 minutes from downtown Baton
3
00:00:06.950 --> 00:00:10.199
Rouge in the Zachary area. They've got a PGA Tour
4
00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:14.220
driving range, a short game practice area, 30 to 40
5
00:00:14.220 --> 00:00:16.600
yard practice shots. It's a great place to chip and
6
00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:19.280
putt and practice if you don't have time for a
7
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:26.379
full round. Book your tee time today. Golf.breck.org. Golf.breck.org. So
8
00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:29.449
the New Orleans Saints won in New York on Sunday.
9
00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:36.810
New Jersey. In one of the more improbable games, as
10
00:00:36.829 --> 00:00:39.810
far as game flow, getting down 10, scoring 34 on answer,
11
00:00:39.829 --> 00:00:41.909
then having to hang on for dear life, literally a
12
00:00:41.950 --> 00:00:43.570
pass in the end zone with 12 seconds left that
13
00:00:43.609 --> 00:00:45.310
could have potentially tied or won the game if they'd
14
00:00:45.329 --> 00:00:47.030
gone for two. I think John Harbaugh would have gone
15
00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:49.450
for two, by the way. I think had they scored,
16
00:00:49.670 --> 00:00:51.090
I think the Giants were going for two in the win.
17
00:00:54.409 --> 00:00:58.159
May never know, but it worked out for the Saints.
18
00:00:58.710 --> 00:01:02.630
But one of the things that maybe the Saints were
19
00:01:02.649 --> 00:01:07.489
able to uncover is some semblance of a rushing offense. Now,
20
00:01:08.170 --> 00:01:11.659
I'm not going to go overboard here because they ran
21
00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:17.560
for 175 against the Giants. I mean, the Giants came
22
00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:27.939
into that game ranked 29th. There it is. Yeah, the
23
00:01:27.969 --> 00:01:30.180
Giants came into the game ranked 29th against the run.
24
00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:32.739
So it's one of those things where it's like, if
25
00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:38.560
you can't run the ball against that team, can you
26
00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:41.319
run the ball against anybody? I mean, a fair question
27
00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:45.780
to ask. Well, the Saints go and they committed to
28
00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:50.829
the run, and they ran 38 times for 175. Tyler
29
00:01:50.859 --> 00:01:53.989
Shuck had a couple of nice runs as well. Tyler
30
00:01:54.010 --> 00:01:55.709
Shuck had the long run of the day for 25 yards,
31
00:01:55.750 --> 00:01:58.269
but I would even say One of the positives about
32
00:01:58.290 --> 00:02:00.890
the rushing offense is it wasn't like you had one
33
00:02:01.010 --> 00:02:05.129
big chunk play that skewed the stats. Kamara's long was 15, C.J.
34
00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:08.189
Donaldson's long was 17, Kendra's long was 11, and he
35
00:02:08.210 --> 00:02:11.159
had 20 carries in the game. So I like the
36
00:02:11.189 --> 00:02:15.120
fact that you actually committed to balance and committed to
37
00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:18.680
running the football. But there are two things that happened,
38
00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:23.360
and neither of them were intentional by this coaching staff,
39
00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:28.280
but the circumstance necessitated it, which might have allowed you
40
00:02:28.289 --> 00:02:30.659
to inadvertently stumble upon the answer to your issues running
41
00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.719
the football. It's almost like how we discovered penicillin. You
42
00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:38.360
left a petri dish uncovered and then the mold killed
43
00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.800
the virus. And it's like, oh, did we just find
44
00:02:41.819 --> 00:02:42.400
something amazing?
45
00:02:42.979 --> 00:02:43.240
Maybe.
46
00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:46.750
Well, like Cesar Ruiz getting hurt. And I'm not that
47
00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:48.949
I'm celebrating a guy getting hurt. Please don't misunderstand me.
48
00:02:48.969 --> 00:02:52.580
But with Ruiz getting hurt, Jeremiah Wright went into and
49
00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:54.159
Wright was the fourth-round pick from Auburn, and he is
50
00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:58.979
more of the physical road-grading offensive lineman. And then, because
51
00:02:59.780 --> 00:03:03.030
Kelvin Banks is hurt, and Asim Richards is just incapable
52
00:03:03.050 --> 00:03:05.889
of playing left tackle in the NFL, and was getting
53
00:03:06.550 --> 00:03:10.330
annihilated in that game by Abdul Carter, back-to-back holding penalties,
54
00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:15.750
they went to a 12-personnel look in the second half.
55
00:03:16.349 --> 00:03:18.550
By the way, I'm not giving you my observation. Drew
56
00:03:18.590 --> 00:03:21.020
Brees was talking about it on the broadcast, where you
57
00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:23.180
saw Jawan Johnson and Oscar Tell playing the bulk of
58
00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:24.659
the snaps in the second half with him with 12
59
00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:27.400
personnel to give help. So that might have been a
60
00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:32.599
thing that sort of inadvertently helped them find a way
61
00:03:32.909 --> 00:03:41.289
to get going offensively. Now, Saints coach Kellen Moore had
62
00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:43.750
a Zoom with the media on Monday and was asked
63
00:03:43.990 --> 00:03:45.530
what got the run game going.
64
00:03:46.430 --> 00:03:48.169
Yeah, I think all 11 at the end of the
65
00:03:48.210 --> 00:03:51.770
day is all 11 physical up front. I thought our
66
00:03:51.789 --> 00:03:55.379
running backs ran really, really hard. You know, receivers get
67
00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:57.479
into the safeties and some of those things and tight
68
00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.520
ends battling. And I thought we had a good mix there.
69
00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:02.759
And so, you know, we got to continue that. We
70
00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:04.840
got to build on that. I thought some of our
71
00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:07.050
combination blocks when we were able to get those going,
72
00:04:08.050 --> 00:04:08.889
they were very effective.
73
00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:14.030
Rob might just put a moratorium on Ellen. Remember we
74
00:04:14.069 --> 00:04:14.990
did that with Alvin Gentry.
75
00:04:15.349 --> 00:04:15.750
Were you here?
76
00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:21.060
I was on OTB, but I remember the moratorium because
77
00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:23.199
I would have to fill in for brain every once
78
00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:25.100
in a while. When Alvin Gentry was the coach of
79
00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:27.110
the Pelicans, I put a moratorium on Alvin Gentry. So
80
00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:29.310
we're never playing another Alvin Gentry soundbite as long as
81
00:04:29.350 --> 00:04:31.949
he's the coach. It's just worthless. It's not worth your
82
00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:36.250
time or mine. And I'm getting there with Ellen. Ellen Moore.
83
00:04:36.269 --> 00:04:38.439
You're one of the worst running teams in the NFL.
84
00:04:38.449 --> 00:04:41.480
You actually get going. They ask you, hey, what happened?
85
00:04:42.310 --> 00:04:44.810
All 11. Let me give you the most ridiculous, cliched,
86
00:04:44.850 --> 00:04:49.430
nonsensical answer possible. Listening to him is worthless. It's just
87
00:04:49.449 --> 00:04:57.110
a waste of time. Anyway, in this game for the
88
00:04:57.149 --> 00:05:06.639
New Orleans Saints, I do think it's worth looking at
89
00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:12.949
what it was like with Ruiz and without Ruiz. Now,
90
00:05:13.310 --> 00:05:17.199
it's worth noting, Cesar Ruiz in this game played 29
91
00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:23.879
snaps and was your highest graded pass blocker. He graded
92
00:05:23.899 --> 00:05:28.829
an 86. C.J. Donaldson was next, then Eric McCoy at
93
00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:34.389
a 78. Tali Fuaga, 72.9. David Edwards, a 63. Jeremiah Wright,
94
00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:39.089
a 54. Asim Richards, a 43. So, from that perspective,
95
00:05:40.870 --> 00:05:44.240
it's not your answer. But I'm talking about the ability
96
00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:48.779
to run the ball. And Fulaga and McCoy were your
97
00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:55.120
top-rated run blockers. And then was Jeremiah Wright at a 61.9.
98
00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:03.129
And hasn't that kind of been the issue? Now, Ruiz, again,
99
00:06:03.189 --> 00:06:05.910
it's just PFF, graded a 59.7. So it's not like.
100
00:06:08.750 --> 00:06:12.750
Jeremiah Wright had this dramatically better grade than Ruiz, but
101
00:06:12.769 --> 00:06:15.910
it was better and was thrust in there in the
102
00:06:15.970 --> 00:06:20.920
middle of the game. And against my better judgment, I
103
00:06:20.939 --> 00:06:25.100
will let you hear what New Orleans Saints head football
104
00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:28.410
coach Kellen Moore had to say about Jeremiah Wright in
105
00:06:28.449 --> 00:06:30.230
his postgame after the Saints win.
106
00:06:30.790 --> 00:06:35.110
Jeremiah, certainly he's a really good blocker. He's a physical player.
107
00:06:35.230 --> 00:06:38.009
We saw that, obviously, through camp and all those different things,
108
00:06:38.110 --> 00:06:40.649
and we feel great about him. We feel like he
109
00:06:40.670 --> 00:06:44.970
can go contribute and play. I thought those other guys, though, Dave, Seas,
110
00:06:45.569 --> 00:06:47.000
I thought those guys did some good stuff as well.
111
00:06:49.300 --> 00:06:54.379
Getting closer to the moratorium. But it'll be interesting if
112
00:06:54.899 --> 00:06:57.660
Ruiz is injured and Wright has to play if we
113
00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.500
can see a continuation of the running offense get going
114
00:07:01.290 --> 00:07:06.009
This was, against my better judgment, New Orleans Saints head coach,
115
00:07:06.050 --> 00:07:08.930
Kellen Moore, giving an update on Cesar Ruiz's knee injury
116
00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:10.230
and how serious it is or could be.
117
00:07:10.689 --> 00:07:13.310
We'll see. You know, he'll get the MRI, you know,
118
00:07:13.540 --> 00:07:16.120
the goofy logistics. So I think he'll try and get
119
00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:18.220
an MRI as quickly as possible before we get out
120
00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:20.899
to Paris and collect as much information as we can.
121
00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.800
But he was moving around okay in the locker room.
122
00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:23.420
So we'll just see.
123
00:07:24.139 --> 00:07:28.410
Listen, you don't ever want an injury to a starter.
124
00:07:29.029 --> 00:07:32.360
You're already down your left tackle. And I understand the
125
00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:35.379
feeling a lot of Saints fans... I'm not saying anybody
126
00:07:35.420 --> 00:07:38.870
wants Cesar Ruiz, the human, to be hurt. We have
127
00:07:38.899 --> 00:07:42.410
talked about Cesar Ruiz for a long time here with
128
00:07:42.449 --> 00:07:45.569
his struggles within this offense. He has been the weak
129
00:07:45.610 --> 00:07:49.209
link on the offensive line. So I'm not talking about
130
00:07:49.250 --> 00:07:51.589
anybody wanting him to be injured. I'm not saying that.
131
00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:57.139
What I think is notable is it will be interesting
132
00:07:57.160 --> 00:08:01.370
to see if he can't play And you give Jeremiah
133
00:08:01.389 --> 00:08:05.930
Wright a full week with the first team offense and
134
00:08:05.970 --> 00:08:09.550
he gets a game against Pittsburgh. Cam Hayward on that
135
00:08:09.709 --> 00:08:19.660
defensive front. How it looks. That's just, it's something that
136
00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:22.279
we'll keep an eye on and see how it goes.
137
00:08:22.779 --> 00:08:32.600
And remember, we're talking about defense and run defense in
138
00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:35.460
Pittsburgh is kind of smack dab in the middle of
139
00:08:35.500 --> 00:08:39.740
the league in run defense at 103 yards per game.
140
00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:46.320
So let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
141
00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:48.940
They're 15th. So they're 15th in the NFL, just smack
142
00:08:48.980 --> 00:08:50.950
dab in the middle. So you're not going to get, like,
143
00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:54.809
they're dramatically better than the Giants, who are 29th in
144
00:08:54.850 --> 00:08:59.950
run defense, but they're not a top five run defense
145
00:08:59.990 --> 00:09:01.970
or anything like that. So this will be an interesting
146
00:09:02.629 --> 00:09:06.379
opportunity for new Orleans against that defense to see if
147
00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:08.419
you can run the ball again, because you have been
148
00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:11.299
an abysmal running team through the first five games of
149
00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:14.360
the season until you ran for one 75 on Sunday
150
00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:19.100
against the giants. Maybe part of it is Jeremiah, right?
151
00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:23.649
Maybe too tight end look, Maybe it's committing to it
152
00:09:23.690 --> 00:09:27.009
with Kendra Miller getting 20 rushes and C.J. Donaldson being
153
00:09:27.049 --> 00:09:30.090
a physical between-the-tackles runner. Maybe it's a combination of all
154
00:09:30.129 --> 00:09:33.570
those things. It could be. And I don't have the answer.
155
00:09:33.590 --> 00:09:36.950
I'm not going to extrapolate a definitive answer from a
156
00:09:37.029 --> 00:09:41.909
small sample size of roughly a half of football. But
157
00:09:42.570 --> 00:09:45.200
it's certainly something that we all need to keep a
158
00:09:45.250 --> 00:09:47.960
closer eye on moving forward because if this offense is
159
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.700
going to get in gear, especially when Kelvin Banks comes
160
00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:53.490
back and Travis Aitken comes back they got to be
161
00:09:53.509 --> 00:09:55.320
able to run the football. And even when they had
162
00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:58.179
banks and Aitken, they were not running the football. They
163
00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:01.539
did on Sunday. Let's see what you do for an encore.
164
00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:04.200
We'll keep an eye on that right guard spot as well.
