Latest / AFR Saints / Jon Stinchcomb on Saints’ Embarrassing Loss to Falcons: What Can New Orleans Fix?

Transcript

Jon Stinchcomb on Saints’ Embarrassing Loss to Falcons: What Can New Orleans Fix? · AFR Saints

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  Speaker 2: Our group has to come together and find those solutions together.
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  Speaker 2: And so, you know, I love this group. This group's
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  Speaker 2: going to rally together. It's a really disappointing night for
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  Speaker 2: everyone in that locker room. Everyone's disappointed, but these are
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  Speaker 2: opportunities for us to come together and find a solution
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  Speaker 2: and play better football and coach better football moving forward.
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  Speaker 2: We get an opportunity to take a certain path, and
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  Speaker 2: we can look back at this as a real growth opportunity,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what we've got to focus on. We've got
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  Speaker 2: to get better at it, though.
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  Speaker 1: Calling that a tough watch would be a massive understatement.
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  Speaker 1: John Stinchcomb, who was there for the Dome coming 20
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  Speaker 1: years ago, Good enough to join us here on the show.
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  Speaker 1: Always been a great friend of the show and very
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  Speaker 1: generous for this time. John, we appreciate it, man. Thanks
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  Speaker 1: for the time. How are you?
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  Speaker 3: Doing great. Could have been a little better today. The
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  Speaker 3: Saints had played a little better last night, but that's
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  Speaker 3: all right.
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  Speaker 1: What's your takeaway when you see something go just so
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  Speaker 1: one-sided like what happened last night?
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  Speaker 3: It hurts. It hurts because the organization is near and
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  Speaker 3: dear on a special night and you want the team
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  Speaker 3: to play. have had a better performance and kind of
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  Speaker 3: honor the moment. But you also recognize they can't control
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  Speaker 3: all of it, the scenario that was in play, and
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  Speaker 3: we can't control the fact that the team didn't live
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  Speaker 3: into that moment. And it's unfortunate all the way around,
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  Speaker 3: especially when it's your rival on a Monday night, for
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  Speaker 3: the whole world to watch and see that you're not
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  Speaker 3: where you want to be.
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  Speaker 1: Let me go back, John, 20 years if I can,
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  Speaker 1: and tie it into now. Because one question I have
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  Speaker 1: is if that moment can even resonate with the players
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  Speaker 1: who just, many of them, they're just not old enough, John,
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  Speaker 1: to even know and understand what that, what Dome coming
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  Speaker 1: in Katrina meant. And you've been in locker rooms. Like,
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  Speaker 1: is this, is it all just lost on the players?
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  Speaker 3: It certainly means more to old heads, folks that lived it,
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  Speaker 3: folks that experienced it in some way, fans especially. They
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  Speaker 3: weren't around for that experience. And I think it's an
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  Speaker 3: unrealistic expectation for them to have a full appreciation of
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  Speaker 3: what happened two decades ago when most of them were
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  Speaker 3: either in diapers or kindergarten. So a lot of those
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  Speaker 3: folks have zero recollection, but you know, you got guys
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  Speaker 3: like Justin Reed who came out on Twitter afterwards and
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  Speaker 3: you can tell it means something to him. So there
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  Speaker 3: are folks that are aware of what that dome coming meant. Um,
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  Speaker 3: but I, I don't think it's even close to thinking
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  Speaker 3: that it's realistic that that entire team understands what happened
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  Speaker 3: 20 years ago and why it's so important to those
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  Speaker 3: that experienced it in some way.
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask one more, and then I want
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  Speaker 1: to look at the game and the team because we're
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  Speaker 1: showing the video right now of the pregame Houdat chant,
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  Speaker 1: which obviously Steve Gleason was there. His son raised his
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  Speaker 1: hand for the Houdat chant. Your teammates were all there. John,
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  Speaker 1: I was watching that last night just with tears well
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  Speaker 1: into my eyes. It was an incredibly moving moment. What
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  Speaker 1: was that like for you watching this last night?
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  Speaker 3: Same. Very emotional. Grateful that Steve still represents the team,
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  Speaker 3: the organization, the city, the area as well as he does.
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  Speaker 3: The strength that he possesses and shares with all of
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  Speaker 3: Houdat Nation is remarkable, along with Drew and Fujita and
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  Speaker 3: Scott Shanley and Lance and Michael Lewis. There are so
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  Speaker 3: many great representatives of that era of Saints football and
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  Speaker 3: what they meant not only to the team, but to
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  Speaker 3: all of Louisiana and those that suffered through Katrina. I
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  Speaker 3: think it was a great representation, and I appreciate them
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  Speaker 3: giving the opportunity to Steve to get out there and
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  Speaker 3: lead that hood at chant. Obviously, there's some emotion attached
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  Speaker 3: for all of us with seeing what those 20 years
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  Speaker 3: have been done to the exterior, and recognize the strength
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  Speaker 3: that's still in the interior, Steve Cleason.
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  Speaker 1: Well said. John, so for the team, just to watch
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  Speaker 1: everything unfold the way it did was so disappointing. You
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  Speaker 1: and I were able to visit most Mondays during the preseason,
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  Speaker 1: and I think we were pretty optimistic about what this
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  Speaker 1: team could be, and it feels at this point like
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  Speaker 1: we missed. What has been... the biggest surprise or maybe
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  Speaker 1: the biggest disappointment so far through four weeks?
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  Speaker 3: I think we were all hoping that we were further
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  Speaker 3: along in the progression. We were hopeful. We didn't get
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  Speaker 3: to see any of the starters, so it's hard to
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  Speaker 3: really compare what we saw in preseason. It's based on
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  Speaker 3: a lot of hope and projection, but when we signed
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  Speaker 3: HN and you bring in David Edwards and you feel
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  Speaker 3: like we've committed to the run game, you've added pieces
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  Speaker 3: and free agency and, and through the draft to help
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  Speaker 3: the defense. And this will be year two under Brandon Staley. Um,
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  Speaker 3: you just, you expect the organization to be a little
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  Speaker 3: bit further along than what we saw Monday night. Now
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  Speaker 3: it's a long season and there's still plenty of time
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  Speaker 3: to recover and everybody has bad days and all those things.
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  Speaker 3: But that said, um, you sit here at the end
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  Speaker 3: of the first quarter of the season going, we're nowhere
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  Speaker 3: close to where we want to be. I feel like
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  Speaker 3: we found a good answer in Tyler Schuch, but building
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  Speaker 3: those pieces around him, both offensively and on the defensive
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  Speaker 3: side of the ball, I don't think we're as far
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  Speaker 3: along as I was hoping we'd be, and most fans
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  Speaker 3: probably sit in that same boat.
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  Speaker 1: John Stinchcomb is with us. John, Tyler Schuch was pressured
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  Speaker 1: 27 times last night. That's almost unfathomable. Surely this line
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  Speaker 1: is not that bad, and Atlanta's not that good. What
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  Speaker 1: happened last night?
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  Speaker 3: Here's part of it. When you become as one-dimensional as
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  Speaker 3: the Saints were last night and you allow any team
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  Speaker 3: in the NFL to kind of pin their ears back
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  Speaker 3: and tee off on you, it's going to be a
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  Speaker 3: rough night. And so recognizing that that's not really the
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  Speaker 3: way this offensive line was built, and Awesome Richards has
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  Speaker 3: done a good job of stepping in, but you've got
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  Speaker 3: to help him out, and he's not Kelvin Banks. David
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  Speaker 3: Edwards is a great vet, but he's coming from a
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  Speaker 3: system that is at least balanced, probably a little more
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  Speaker 3: run heavy, and it opens up the opportunity in the
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  Speaker 3: pass game. not all plays are created equal and the
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  Speaker 3: ask of, of the offensive line to do drop back
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  Speaker 3: pass after drop back pass is going to be a
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  Speaker 3: bad recipe for the saints this year. And last night
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  Speaker 3: we were kind of in that situation where we weren't
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  Speaker 3: able to get that run game going like you'd want.
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  Speaker 3: And it puts more pressure on the past game and
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  Speaker 3: it allows Atlanta to become a little more aggressive in
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  Speaker 3: their pass rush and just react to the run game and,
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  Speaker 3: that spelled trouble for us last night.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to let the defense off the hook, John.
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  Speaker 1: And listen, if, if Caden Ellis and Carl Granderson are there,
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  Speaker 1: it's better. Uh, but I don't think it's 45 points better.
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  Speaker 1: So how do you improve defensively?
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  Speaker 3: Ah, that's the million dollar question, isn't it? Uh, that,
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  Speaker 3: I think it starts with that defensive front. I think
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  Speaker 3: Kristen Miller has got to step up and be a
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  Speaker 3: part of the equation. The fact that he missed most
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  Speaker 3: of off season and then training camp. And now this
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  Speaker 3: season from various injuries is no longer a good excuse.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you're drafted for a reason. You need to
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  Speaker 3: participate and we've got to be able to stop the
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  Speaker 3: run so that you can not rob Peter to pay
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  Speaker 3: Paul to, uh, dedicate more bodies into stopping the run
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  Speaker 3: and then making yourself vulnerable on the back end. So
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  Speaker 3: our defensive front has to be more productive. We have
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  Speaker 3: to be able to stop the run. If that's a
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  Speaker 3: personnel issue, then we've got bodies that probably need to
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  Speaker 3: rotate in more.
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  Speaker 2: And, you.
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  Speaker 3: Know, it does hurt. Injuries always hurt. So Caden Ellis
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  Speaker 3: and Carl Granderson are great players, and you want them
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  Speaker 3: out there. They're not available right now. So for the
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  Speaker 3: guys that are, they have to be able to step
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  Speaker 3: up and recognize what's needed from them and for this team.
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  Speaker 1: A couple more with John Stinchcomb, former St. Offensive lineman.
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  Speaker 1: From a player's perspective, John, I can tell you, fan media,
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  Speaker 1: there's times where I look at Kellen Moore and I go, man,
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  Speaker 1: can you just yell at somebody, please? Can you just
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  Speaker 1: please show me some emotion? And I get like, Tony
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  Speaker 1: Dungy won a Super Bowl and didn't yell at people.
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  Speaker 1: But sometimes, man, it feels like the parent has to
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  Speaker 1: yell at their kid. You played. You look at Kellen Moore.
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  Speaker 1: How do you... interpret his personality? And again, not being
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  Speaker 1: in the locker room every day, but what do you see?
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  Speaker 3: Uh, I see what you see. I understand. You have
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  Speaker 3: to understand who he is as a person. That's not him.
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  Speaker 3: And when you hired him, that was part of it.
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  Speaker 3: And when things go well, uh, I don't think anybody's
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  Speaker 3: going to have a, an issue with that approach of
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  Speaker 3: he's very even keel and probably not going to be
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  Speaker 3: the first guy to celebrate and draw some viral videos
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  Speaker 3: on the sidelines.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: And that holds true when things aren't going well as,
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  Speaker 3: as well. So I know this, there's not just one
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  Speaker 3: way to skin a cat. I've played for a lot
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  Speaker 3: of different coaches from a lot of different temperaments and,
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  Speaker 3: Some resonate more with others, but a lot can be
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  Speaker 3: productive and they don't have to be that same cookie
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  Speaker 3: cutter mold. So just because Kellen Moore isn't a fiery
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  Speaker 3: personality does not mean that he can't be successful. I
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  Speaker 3: think it's got more to do with, you know, how
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  Speaker 3: can we be successful? Our organization believed in him and
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  Speaker 3: you look at what he's done in the past and
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  Speaker 3: you understand why. with the productivity of the teams that
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  Speaker 3: he's participated in, specifically offensively. And your hope is during
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  Speaker 3: times like this, when you start off with a losing
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  Speaker 3: record and you just kind of get embarrassed by your
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  Speaker 3: rival on Monday night, that behind closed doors, there is
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  Speaker 3: actions being taken. This is a team effort, whether it's
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  Speaker 3: from players or the rest of the staff, all at
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  Speaker 3: the helm or under the helm of Kellen, there's ownership
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  Speaker 3: taken across the board and everyone fills that role that
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  Speaker 3: needs to be filled and you get better because we're
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  Speaker 3: just not where we need to be. And yes, the
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  Speaker 3: buck stops at the head coach, but everyone has some
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  Speaker 3: ownership in this deal.
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  Speaker 1: John, before you go, they got to play Minnesota in
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  Speaker 1: five days. The Vikings are undefeated. I know it's any
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  Speaker 1: given Sunday in the NFL. Realistically, what can they get
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  Speaker 1: fixed in five days?
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  Speaker 3: I think a lot. It's an emotional game, and you
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  Speaker 3: look statistically in Minnesota and lighting the world on fire,
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  Speaker 3: nor do they have B. John Robinson. So there is
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  Speaker 3: some opportunity there. Yeah, it is good.
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  Speaker 1: They do have Justin Jefferson.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's pretty good too now. But with that said,
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  Speaker 3: which team doesn't have somebody that, well, we've got to
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  Speaker 3: circle him and prepare. Now, I think for the Saints,
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  Speaker 3: what– what mainly needs to be fixed is in-house. And
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  Speaker 3: you look at that game last night and you have
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  Speaker 3: to learn from it. You have to be able to
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  Speaker 3: pull out of what we can get better at and
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  Speaker 3: where we need to improve that schematically and fundamentally. And
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  Speaker 3: so there's ownership in it, but there's also something to
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  Speaker 3: the NFL where you're just going, I got to flush
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  Speaker 3: the fact that that was a bad performance and go
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  Speaker 3: out and recognize it's a brand new opportunity come Sunday
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  Speaker 3: against Minnesota.
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  Speaker 1: John Stinchcomb, great stuff as always. Thank you for the conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for the time.
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  Speaker 3: Appreciate you having me on.