Latest / AFR Saints / James Hurst Breaks Down Saints’ Offensive Struggles vs. Lions

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James Hurst Breaks Down Saints’ Offensive Struggles vs. Lions · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I just say, we just kind of find the rhythm and, um,
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  Speaker 2: You know, we just got to find it. In the
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  Speaker 2: first half, we got to play better than we did
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  Speaker 2: in the first half. We all know that. You know,
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  Speaker 2: run game, action game, drop back game, all three components
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  Speaker 2: of that. And so, you know, we just got to
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  Speaker 2: play better there. I think once we did find some
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  Speaker 2: rhythm and earned some first downs, I think that allowed
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  Speaker 2: us to play a little bit more the way we're
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  Speaker 2: capable of playing.
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  Speaker 1: Kellen Moore, after the Saints dropped their week one contest
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  Speaker 1: in overtime at Detroit 31-30. Former Saints offensive lineman James Hurst,
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  Speaker 1: good enough to join us for a couple of minutes here.
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  Speaker 1: We appreciate the time as always. How are you?
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  Speaker 3: I'm doing great. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Doing awesome. The most perplexing thing I think everyone's asking is,
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  Speaker 1: how did they just seemingly flip a switch in the
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  Speaker 1: second half? What did you see?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I hate to harp on this too much,
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  Speaker 3: but I really didn't like the decision to keep the
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  Speaker 3: starters out of the preseason completely. I think when the
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  Speaker 3: bullets are really flying and you can get hit as
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  Speaker 3: a quarterback, you can get tackled, the blocking, the finishing
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  Speaker 3: from the defensive line, tackling from the defensive backfield, all
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  Speaker 3: that stuff takes real game experience, and I think we
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  Speaker 3: missed that opportunity. And I really think you saw 20
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  Speaker 3: or 30 plays in, which could be a couple preseason
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  Speaker 3: games for starters. You saw the team come alive, and
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  Speaker 3: I think you saw a little bit of what they
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  Speaker 3: can be. Unfortunately, it was just too late.
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  Speaker 1: Do you, let me sort of zero in a bit
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  Speaker 1: on your specialty offensive line. The Lions tallied five sacks
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  Speaker 1: in the ballgame. Now, one of them was a little unfair, right?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, Kendra Miller trying to block Aiden Hutchinson, which
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  Speaker 1: is just ridiculous. Actually, let me ask you, how does
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  Speaker 1: that happen, by the way, to where that gets schemed
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  Speaker 1: to where Miller's blocking Hutchinson?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so generally speaking, a quarterback's going to call that.
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  Speaker 3: He's seeing a blitz the opposite side, he's going to
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  Speaker 3: slide everyone over there. And that's a lot of trust
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  Speaker 3: involved because the running back is the only guy left remaining,
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  Speaker 3: and he ended up on Aiden Hutchinson. So I'm assuming
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  Speaker 3: Chuck was thinking Hutchinson was dropping, you know, big pressure
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  Speaker 3: to the right side. We needed everyone to get over there.
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  Speaker 3: But that's how it ends. If you're wrong, that's how
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  Speaker 3: it ends up, nine out of ten times.
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  Speaker 1: Got it. That makes a lot of sense. I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: very much the clarification. Okay, with the traditional schemes, what
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  Speaker 1: did you see from the offensive line?
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  Speaker 3: I think, generally speaking, the pocket was just pushed. It
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  Speaker 3: was tight. You saw, especially in the first half, Shuck
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  Speaker 3: was uncomfortable with that type of pressure. He was kind
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  Speaker 3: of backing up. He was taking his eyes off of
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  Speaker 3: his receivers downfield. And, you know, that was a serious issue.
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  Speaker 3: That's why the offense struggled as much as they did.
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  Speaker 3: And then in the second half, at times, the offensive
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  Speaker 3: line did a better job. But I think, more noticeably,
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  Speaker 3: Shuck was just a little more comfortable in the pocket position.
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  Speaker 3: knowing that he might feel the rush a little bit,
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  Speaker 3: but it's okay, and he can keep his eyes downfield
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  Speaker 3: and find those receivers. But I think generally speaking, the
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  Speaker 3: offensive line just has to give a little more time,
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  Speaker 3: give Shuck a little more space for him to be
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  Speaker 3: comfortable to step into his throws, to follow through, and
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  Speaker 3: you can see what he does. When he has the time,
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  Speaker 3: when he has the space, he can make it happen.
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  Speaker 1: James, when you watch a game, do you watch the
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  Speaker 1: line or do you watch the ball?
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  Speaker 3: It's actually a total curse. I watch the offensive line.
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  Speaker 3: I've had to learn how to watch the ball, but
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  Speaker 3: I can't help myself. It always starts up front for me.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad to ask the question, right? Because everyone watches
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  Speaker 1: the ball, but you've had your whole life trained to
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  Speaker 1: watch your position, watching film and everything. When you watched
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  Speaker 1: the game yesterday, what was your most glaring takeaway watching
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  Speaker 1: that unit, the offensive line?
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  Speaker 3: Man, the most glaring thing to me was that there
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  Speaker 3: was no run game. It was a huge problem last year,
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  Speaker 3: and it's only one game in, but it was a
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  Speaker 3: problem on Sunday. And I think it's a big reason.
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  Speaker 3: We've got a young quarterback. We've got skill position. There's
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  Speaker 3: a lot of potential there, but they're still young, and
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  Speaker 3: they're not elite-type playmakers quite yet outside of maybe Olave.
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  Speaker 3: And so to be balanced on offense, is a huge
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  Speaker 3: advantage because the defense, they can't pick and choose. I
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  Speaker 3: think a lot of times that I saw, we were
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  Speaker 3: running the ball into boxes with seven guys, which is
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  Speaker 3: not typically an advantage for the offense. And, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the running backs were rarely making it to that third level.
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  Speaker 3: As an offensive lineman, it was always our goal and
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  Speaker 3: our job. We have to get that running back to
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  Speaker 3: the third level, and it's his job to make the
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  Speaker 3: third level man miss. But most of the time, He
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  Speaker 3: was getting contacted at one or two yards and just
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  Speaker 3: a totally ineffective run game and Chuck throwing the ball
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  Speaker 3: 63 times or dropping back 63 times as he did.
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  Speaker 3: That's not going to be an effective strategy for winning
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  Speaker 3: moving forward. And the offensive line knows that, but that's
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  Speaker 3: something they've got to get fixed. A-Tran, he can make
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  Speaker 3: it happen, but you've got to let him get started,
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  Speaker 3: and they didn't do that in the game on Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: I wish you were sitting next to me so you
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  Speaker 1: could see my notes, because the next thing I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to ask you about was the run game and what
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  Speaker 1: you saw, so I'm glad you went there. So let
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  Speaker 1: me pivot and ask you specifically about Taliesin Fuaga playing
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  Speaker 1: that right tackle spot. He's been outstanding in his young career.
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  Speaker 1: My untrained eye looked like maybe he didn't have the
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  Speaker 1: best day. I know the pro football focus grade wasn't great.
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  Speaker 1: What did you see specifically from Fuaga?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he– to me, he really was the
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  Speaker 3: total picture of the problem with the unit as a whole.
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  Speaker 3: He wasn't– now, on occasion, he did get cleanly beat,
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  Speaker 3: and he was going against a good rusher. So, you know,
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  Speaker 3: let's say that as it is. But most of the time,
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  Speaker 3: he was just struggling. He was on half of a
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  Speaker 3: block at the end. His guy was bidding the corner
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  Speaker 3: a yard and a half too soon. Run game– it
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  Speaker 3: seemed like all day in the run game, he was
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  Speaker 3: a half a step behind. I don't know if that
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  Speaker 3: was crowd noise, if that was first reps of the year.
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  Speaker 3: But again, you know, if I want to make this
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  Speaker 3: a generalization, Puaga, Banks, Shuck, we've got some young guys,
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  Speaker 3: and yes, they're talented and they have potential, but I
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  Speaker 3: just think we missed an opportunity in the preseason for
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  Speaker 3: those guys to feel that stress and that pressure of, hey,
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  Speaker 3: it's real, we got to go. And while these guys
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  Speaker 3: have performed well, they need all the reps they can get.
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  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, Moving forward, they're going to
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  Speaker 3: be more comfortable. We're going to see better play out
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  Speaker 3: of them, more consistent play, because their feet are wet
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  Speaker 3: now this year, and we'll see what they can do.
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  Speaker 1: James, when did you feel comfortable if you were taking
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  Speaker 1: preseason reps? How long did that take?
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  Speaker 3: I like to think it took more than a quarter.
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  Speaker 3: If I had to put a number on it, I'd
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  Speaker 3: say probably 25 to 40 plays before I felt comfortable
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  Speaker 3: and you know, kind of getting some of those jitters out,
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  Speaker 3: specifically offensive line. It's about just keeping your techniques down,
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  Speaker 3: not trying to do too much, making sure your footwork
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  Speaker 3: is on key as it should be, and it has
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  Speaker 3: been in practice. It's just small details like that, that
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  Speaker 3: when you get excited, when you get that adrenaline, everything
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  Speaker 3: happens faster. You might take too big a step. You
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  Speaker 3: might be too aggressive in the run of the pass.
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  Speaker 3: And so, I think having those reps under your belt
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  Speaker 3: each year, no matter how many years you're in the league,
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  Speaker 3: I think it settles you down. It allows you to
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  Speaker 3: trust your technique and go out and play within yourself.
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  Speaker 1: So I don't want to put words in your mouth,
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  Speaker 1: but do you think it's plausible that they've gotten those
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  Speaker 1: jitters out, that's why they clicked in the second half,
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  Speaker 1: and you would expect progress here, not regression?
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  Speaker 3: I would certainly expect progress. With as well as they
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  Speaker 3: played offensively in that second half, I mean, that looked
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  Speaker 3: like a top-ten type of offense in the second half,
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  Speaker 3: and so... We've seen it, and I think Detroit's a
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  Speaker 3: good team. I think their secondary obviously was very banged up,
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  Speaker 3: and surely that helped us out. But they've got good
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  Speaker 3: players at every level on that defense. And our offense,
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  Speaker 3: the last six drives of the game, they either scored
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  Speaker 3: or had a scoring opportunity with that long field goal
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  Speaker 3: at the end. So to me, that's very impressive, and
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  Speaker 3: I would expect some progress, although against a very difficult
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  Speaker 3: opponent coming up against.
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  Speaker 1: All right, former Saints offensive lineman James Hurst with us
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  Speaker 1: for a couple more minutes. So let me flip it
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  Speaker 1: then and get the perspective. If you're watching the line
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  Speaker 1: of scrimmage, obviously, I would assume that's what you were
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  Speaker 1: watching when the Lions had the ball. So what did
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  Speaker 1: you think of the Saints defensive front with some veterans, right,
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  Speaker 1: but a couple of new guys there with Broughton and
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  Speaker 1: Miller and some young guys on the interior?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Broughton, to me, really flashed. You know,
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  Speaker 3: it is hard to see the offensive defensive line from
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  Speaker 3: the sideline view that we typically watch on TV, but
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  Speaker 3: I think Broughton flashed to me. He was disruptive. Obviously,
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  Speaker 3: the forced fumble, which I think was a total make-up call.
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  Speaker 3: But he showed some promise, and we're going to have
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  Speaker 3: to have someone step up in that group because before
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  Speaker 3: this game, the interior defensive line was a major concern
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  Speaker 3: I had. You lose Brazee, who's your best player, on
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  Speaker 3: what I think was an average or below-average group in there.
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  Speaker 3: So you're going to have to have someone step up.
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  Speaker 3: I'm glad to see these young guys. They're getting reps.
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  Speaker 3: they're getting opportunities. And I think we're going to know
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  Speaker 3: midway through the season, or maybe three fourths of the
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  Speaker 3: way through the season. We're going to know if we
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  Speaker 3: got some players in there, but they had to play better.
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  Speaker 3: And certainly they got tired. I think that was very evident. Um,
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  Speaker 3: they were getting pushed back a lot early in the game.
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  Speaker 3: They did a great job defending the run between the tackles,
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  Speaker 3: but late in the game, you know, Gibbs was, was
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  Speaker 3: getting four or five yards before even any traffic and,
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  Speaker 3: and a guy that good, um, you just can't let
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  Speaker 3: that happen so they'll get better the offense will take
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  Speaker 3: a little bit of a load off I think moving
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  Speaker 3: forward and that'll work together and make out for a
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  Speaker 3: better performance.
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  Speaker 1: I got two more things for you one did you
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  Speaker 1: like the decision to go for two at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the game.
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  Speaker 3: I loved it I think I typically am a go
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  Speaker 3: for two in that type of situation. On the road,
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  Speaker 3: you're the team that's made the comeback. You have all
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  Speaker 3: the momentum. But then I think you look at two things. One,
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  Speaker 3: your defense is gassed. Their offense just drove straight down,
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  Speaker 3: scored a touchdown on you. They've got timeouts. They've got
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  Speaker 3: a minute and a half left. It's likely they're going
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  Speaker 3: to get a field goal. And then two, your offense
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  Speaker 3: is on fire. They've been playing lights out most of
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  Speaker 3: the second half. Take the momentum. Give your guys a
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  Speaker 3: chance to go on the road and win that game.
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  Speaker 1: Last, I'm so glad you said that. I could not
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  Speaker 1: agree more. The last thing, it's what everybody has been
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  Speaker 1: talking about, the fumble that wasn't and everything. You just
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  Speaker 1: said the make-up call. I'd love a reaction, but also,
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  Speaker 1: what are the players saying? Like, everyone's going to say
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  Speaker 1: the right thing public-facing, right? But what do the players
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  Speaker 1: in the locker room say after a play like that?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think you're all just, you're so mad.
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  Speaker 3: You really can't believe it. But even feelings like that,
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  Speaker 3: plays like that, truly, they really disappear from your mind
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  Speaker 3: before you ever hit the practice field on Wednesday. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: you're mad about it. You're frustrated. You might be more
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  Speaker 3: frustrated if that play happens later in the game, but
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  Speaker 3: hindsight is 20-20. That play wins you the game and
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  Speaker 3: probably gets you some momentum, and you have the potential
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  Speaker 3: to run away with that game. But to me, it's
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  Speaker 3: a terrible call. They spoke about the intent of the quarterback. Well,
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  Speaker 3: The intent's always to throw the ball forward, and it's
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  Speaker 3: always to throw a touchdown, and the defense's intent is
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  Speaker 3: to always tackle the ball carrier. So I don't really
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  Speaker 3: understand where they're getting at. To me, if the ball
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  Speaker 3: ever goes backwards, it's a fumble, it's a lateral, it's
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  Speaker 3: a live ball. So I don't know. I don't understand it.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think it was the right call. I think
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  Speaker 3: Dan Campbell even knew in his press conference. He sort
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  Speaker 3: of admitted that they might have got one there. So
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  Speaker 3: I think people that have watched, that have played, It
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  Speaker 3: doesn't make a lot of sense, and unfortunately, there's absolutely
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  Speaker 3: nothing we can do about it.
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  Speaker 1: Hopefully, the league rectifies what is, at best, a poorly
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  Speaker 1: written rule. James Hurst, great stuff, man. Thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for the time.
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  Speaker 3: This was fun.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate you.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Thanks so much.
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  Speaker 1: It's our pleasure.