Latest / AFR Saints / Saints-Lions Preview: Mike Triplett on Cam Jordan’s Absence & Key Week 1 Storylines

Transcript

Saints-Lions Preview: Mike Triplett on Cam Jordan’s Absence & Key Week 1 Storylines · AFR Saints

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: AFR On Demand is brought to you by Breck Golf.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Try Beaver Creek today. Just 20 minutes from downtown Baton
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Rouge in the Zachary area. They've got a PGA Tour
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: driving range, a short game practice area, 30 to 40
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: yard practice shots. It's a great place to chip and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: putt and practice if you don't have time for a
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: full round. Book your tee time today. Golf.breck.org. Golf.breck.org. Saints
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: at Lions. Mike Triplett, NewOrleans.football. Good enough to join us.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Yo, man, how are you? Does this mean I have
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: not been expelled from the show? You voted?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: You have not been expelled, and you are not suspended either,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: which is fantastic news. We didn't even have to take
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: a vote, which is great.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Oh, excellent. Excellent.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: It was a giant bluff. By the way, do they
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: know how to keep time in Iowa City?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: They sure do. We went easy on Northern Illinois this week,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: just 140 to nothing. We didn't need to, we didn't,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: you know, took the foot off the gas after that.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Just making sure, I mean, in Ann Arbor, parts of
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Big Ten, I know y'all pride yourselves on your academics
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff, but Ann Arbor, apparently
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: they don't know how to keep time. So just making
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: sure you all got that figured out there in Iowa City.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: No, we're good. We're definitely good. We'll be careful when
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: we go to Ann Arbor, though. Yeah, you should. Bring
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: your own clock.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, bring your own clock. Do that, you know, Just
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: be mindful at Kinnick that they know how to stop
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: and start a clock and keep time and all that stuff.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Make sure that that's good.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Hey, so the Saints will be on the road at
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Detroit week one here. They're not going to have Cam Jordan.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: He'll miss the third game of his career. How big
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: of a deal is that?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't want to shortchange Cam Jordan at all,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: but that is a position where I think they're equipped
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: to make up for his loss. Obviously, Chase Young and
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Carl Granderson being the starters. Tyree Wilson was a little
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: bit of a bigger deal when they acquired him on
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: draft day because he was the former number seven pick
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: in the draft. But I think veteran Anthony Jennings was
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: probably their quietest signing of the offseason that he's actually
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: a really good player. And he's a really good run-stopping
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: edge rusher, which is also Cam's forte. So they do...
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I'm not as worried about their ability to make up
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: for his loss as I would be some other injuries. Okay.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: What other injuries, when you look at the injury report
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: so far, might catch your eye?
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Well, nothing that's a big concern this week. And it
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: looks like Alvin Kamara has a chance to play. It
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: looks like Kendra Miller definitely will play. And that's one
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: that all of a sudden, it was like, wait a minute,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Devin Neal, Audrick Estimay, Kendrick Miller, and Alvin Kamara all
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: hurt at the same time. Can't they just have two
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: of them available on game day? And they will now.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: So if you give me Travis A. Chan and really
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: almost like any of the other two backups, you're good.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: But Kamara and Kendrick are the two you'd want most
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Do you anticipate Kamara will play on Sunday?
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I think there's a good chance, but I do not
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: have intel yet. I'm just basing it on the fact
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: that he's been out there practicing since the start of
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: the week, so that's a good sign. But he's been limited,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: and he's been out for a few weeks, so they
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: could obviously decide to give him another week. That's a
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: we-should-know-more-in-24-hours deal.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: All right, Mike Triplett, NewOrleans.football.com. What on Sunday, if I
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: said you could pick one thing that you were most
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: interested to see play out?
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Well, most interested is, you know, going to be the cheapos.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: It's going to be Tyler Shuck and Kellen Moore, and
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: where have they gone in year two together? And certainly
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: we could talk about that more, but matchup-wise, it's, you know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I think the area of this team that we're most
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: concerned about anyway is is the secondary and they're going
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to have to do it against one of their toughest tests.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: They're going to face all season with Amonra, Shane Brown
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: and Jamison Williams and, um, um, Jameer Gibbs and, and,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: you know, Jonas Sanker, welcome to the star position, Kuleba Kipstri,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: welcome to the, you know, cornerback one position, Quincy Riley,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: cornerback two, um, You know, you wonder how they'll match
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: up against anybody, but certainly this is a very explosive
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: team that will be the ultimate test for them. You
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: could wind up feeling a little worse about them, or
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: you could wind up feeling a whole lot better about
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: them if they pass this first test.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: How do you think they will match up in the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: second area against that Lions offense?
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Detroit's going to get their shots in.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: How can they not? I mean, Jameer Gibbs alone, Brandon
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Staley had a great answer today. that he's just like
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: a home run threat at all times in the run
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: game and the passing game. Like you just want to
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: make sure you, you know, tackle him eventually. Don't let him,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: don't let him get the big burst. Don't let him
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: get the one play touchdown drives. And, and that would
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: be a threat against any team, but the receivers are
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Amon Ross, St. Brown and Jamison Williams. So, I mean,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: there's just, you know, and Sam Laporte is a pretty,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: you know, a red zone threat at tight end. So,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, just every position group, has home run hitters
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: on this offense. And Jared Goff is a good quarterback. Now,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: he is much less effective when you pressure him. That's
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: going to be a big key for the Saints and
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: speed up his clock. But it's just, you know, don't
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: step on a landmine when you play the Lions. And
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: I think they will step on a couple. I think
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Kool-Aid will probably get beat once. I think Sanker will
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: probably get beat once. I think Quincy Riley will probably
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: get beat once. You just have to minimize it.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Mike triplets with us at Mike triplet, new Orleans dot football.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: So I agree with you, the giant question mark with
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the saints secondary, but similarly with the lions, Kirby, Joseph,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Brian branch, their starting safeties are missing. And then of
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: course they let Terry and Arnold goes former first round
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: picket corner. So there's a giant question mark for the
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: lions secondary as well. So to your point about looking
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: at Chuck more year two together, like, What do you
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: think we see from this passing offense against a Lions
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: secondary that's without three key players?
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Ben, I'm really curious, more than anything with the Saints offense,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: is the planned approach, right? So the most success that
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Tyler Shuck had and that Kellen Moore had was sort
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: of their resilience last year, certainly. surviving the one and
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: eight starts of the season and finishing strong, but, but
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: in games, you know, they, they were doing their magic
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter. They were coming from behind. They
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: were thrown for a hundred yards a game in the
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: fourth quarter, you know, third and long magic, all that
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: kind of stuff. The biggest question marks that remain to
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: be answered with Kellen Moore are how about first quarters?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Can he get better in the first quarter? How about
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: the run game? How about the plan stuff? How about,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: you know, clean at the line of scrimmage and not
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: turning third and ones into third and sixes. So, you know,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: he's had a whole off season of game plan. Certainly
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: in week one, you have weeks to game plan. I
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: want to see what he has planned for Tyler shock
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: that can lead to maybe first half points and first
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: quarter points and maybe playing with a lead. And is
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: that something this team is capable of? That's the big,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: that's a big question mark. They still have to answer.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: You think they can run the ball?
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: It's still a question mark for me. It's an open
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: question for me. But I do like that they fully
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: acknowledged how bad they were at it last year and
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: talked about it. I remember sitting down with Kellen Moore
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: at the Combine, and it was the first thing he
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: listed after their team review as the biggest problem they
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: had to address. And then the first day of free agency,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: they signed left guard David Edwards, running back Travis Achan.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: There are a lot of bright minds in that building,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: from Kellen Moore to Doug Nussmeier to T.J. Paganetti and
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Joel Thomas and Brendan Nugent, and they've known this is
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: their biggest problem, and they've added players to address it.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: I like that all five of their offensive linemen stayed
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: healthy the entire offseason. So they've got a fighting chance,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: but we need to see it first.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: This is Mike Triplett, NewOrleans.Football. Saints at Lions Week 1.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Saints are about a touchdown underdog. I don't know how
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: much you deal with spreads and all. Man, it's just
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: so rare to see.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: That surprised me. We've been talking about that this week.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: I understand the Saints being a touchdown underdog on the
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: road against a good team. If it was at Baltimore,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: which they're going to face in week two, I wouldn't
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: have been surprised by that. I'm surprised Detroit has that
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: much respect. They missed the playoffs last year and looked
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: like they were not the same team without Ben Johnson.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: They have those injuries in the secondary you talked about.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised Detroit is a seven-point favorite at home against
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: almost anybody, much less a team that I think is
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: widely expected to be a 500-ish playoff contender.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Early line next week, by the way, is 7.5 at Baltimore.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: So the Saints are going to be a touchdown dog
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: back-to-back weeks here to start the season.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: That's a tough way to start the season.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: No doubt. But it eases up with the three home
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: games that follow, where hopefully you come out of that
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: 3-2 if you don't have success on the road. The
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: other thing I wanted to ask you, Mike, is about
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Kellen Moore and observing him. Have you noticed any.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Substantive differences with Kellen Moore year one to now?
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Not substantive, substance. Yeah, there it is. Tough word. I'm
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: not using that in Mad Libs. Nope.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: You're not.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Substantive. No, not differences. But what I would say is
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: the thing that has impressed me most about Kellen Moore
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: is that he never did change in the face of,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: you know, he could have panicked and tried to be
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: different last year when they were one and eight. And,
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: And he stayed the course. And he believed in his
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: approach to the job and his patience and his playing
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: young players and his... you know, days off and his, his,
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: you know, joint practices over playing guys in the preseason. And,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: you know, just like every, everything he believed in last year, he,
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: he didn't doubt even when he didn't get instant results. And, um,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: and he seemed to stay confident and the team seemed
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: to stay confident in him. And that bore fruit in, uh,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: in December last year with five straight wins. And then, um,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: you know, so this year, obviously he should have even
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: more conviction, you know, in what he's doing and, and,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: and fixing the things that didn't work. But, the self-confidence
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: and the belief. And I think he's carried himself that way.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't say all of a sudden he's walking around
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: with a new strut. But I think he had more
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: strut than people probably would have expected as a first-time
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: head coach. So he's only emboldened to keep being who
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: he is. He's definitely a who-he-is coach. He doesn't put
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: on a front. I think he'd be terrible at it
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: if he tried. But he doesn't put on a front.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Well said. He is Mike Triplett, NewOrleans.football, week one, Saints-Lions,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: year two of the Kellen Moore era. Tyler Shuck's team.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: It's time to take off the shrink wrap, man. Let's
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: see how this thing looks Sunday up in Detroit. You
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: can follow along there at NewOrleans.football, NewOrleans.football. He is Mike
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Triplett with us Thursdays throughout the year. Thanks, man. We
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: appreciate you.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you. All right. Be well.