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The Saints will open up the 2025 season at the Caesars Superdome against the Arizona Cardinals.

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  Who dat to the who dat nation welcome to the who dat say podcast your podcast for the New Orleans Saints here on the KB radio network I am your fellow who dat himself Kevin Reed and it is here it is here it is finally that time of the year as the new orleans saints are just a couple of days away from the season opener when they host the arizona cardinals in the caesar superdome sunday september the 7th 12 noon oh man i'm excited for this i did not want to get excited for this season god knows i did not want to get excited for this season of new orleans saints football but the black and gold in me would not let me just chill out and enjoy the ride it is it's i've seen too much promise in this team i've seen a explosion of youth i've seen some actual hope emerge over there on airline and it's scary It is super scary, but I am excited for it. And it's weird because, look, at the same time, I'm not delusional. I also know that the New Orleans Saints will not, I repeat, will not be making this Super Bowl this upcoming season. No matter how much I would love it to happen, how much you try to clear a path for them and justify why you think the Saints will win this game. uh squeak out the division squeak out a playoff win here and there and poof here we are in the super bowl i i just don't see that path happening not in 2025 26 not gonna happen but what i do see i do see a team that's on the uptick um compared to the last couple of seasons i do see a team that i i believe even though we haven't seen a real actual live bullets flying game with kellen moore as the head coach i see a different vibe from this team it just feels different now it doesn't feel like the first year with sean payton you knew there was something there it was something special there granted you had drew brees but even with him coming over here to new orleans It was some question marks behind Drew Brees, leaving San Diego at the time, the Chargers, and coming here with the bum shoulder, you know, and all this here. And nobody saw a Hall of Fame career, let alone a Super Bowl MVP, when he walked through those doors. But voila, there it is. I am. Not going to go as far to look at that 2006 season when the Saints, first year under head coach Sean Payton, went to the NFC Championship game. And I think you wanted to play differently, probably could have ended up in the Super Bowl that season. But I don't see that type of run from the New Orleans Saints. Number one, there's no Drew Brees. And Drew Brees is one of one, granted. but There's nobody on this roster, at least in that quarterback room, that I can look at and say, okay, he's going to take the lead by storm. As much as I like Spencer Rattler, as much as I have hope for Tyler Shuck, I don't think neither one of these guys are ready for that stage. Not yet. A couple of years down the line, maybe. That's why this year is more of a, I guess, work the cakes out time. type of year kick the tires uh see what we got as a franchise and so that's that's just me being hopeful that's just me looking at this team as not as bad as a lot of professional nfl analysts on espn and fox sports and whatnot not having us only winning like four games and stuff like that i don't see that but i do see a team that is going to be a struggle it's going to be some growing pains this season but i also see a team that's going to fight it looks like we're going to have a fight on our hands every single week win or lose and that's all you can ask for out of the new orleans saints but before we get through the entire season already had a season preview here on the who that said podcast a couple of weeks ago it wasn't last week uh you could go back and listen to that show today's episode will be on the season opener which takes place this sunday against the arizona cardinals wish the same the saints uh going by this line pretty much pokes a hole in everything that I just spoke. spewed out for five minutes this line have the saints six and a half point underdogs going into this game yes at home we are you might as well say seven points a touchdown underdog in our own house that if that ain't a slap in the face from vegas i don't know what is i don't see that I don't see that. Now, do I think the Saints can win this game? Yes, I think they can win this game. Do I think they will win this game? Don't know. I don't know. This is really a flip of the coin type game to me because I don't see nothing out the Cardinals. Just going by the last couple of seasons with these guys, I don't see nothing there that scares me. I have respect for Marvin Harrison Jr. because of his father. You know, if he's half as great as his dad was, we're in trouble. But he is a good wide receiver. But the problem is the guy giving him the ball. What Kyler Murray are we going to get? I mean, are we going to get the Kyler Murray that when he first got into the league, took the league by storm? Or are we going to get the Kyler Murray who... Just doesn't want to be there, rather be at home playing Call of Duty. You know, just, which one? Which one? So, I don't know until we see what Kyler Murray is going to show up Sunday in the Dome. But, with this defense that we currently have, with this kind of a revamped defense, switching over from a 4-3 to a 3-4. Getting some size up front, adding some pieces to the mix, you know, some new pieces, I should say, and some younger players in that secondary. I think that defense is going to shock a lot of people. I really do, man. I am super excited about the defense more than I am about the offense, surprisingly. You know, I guess that's why I'm not too worried about the quarterback play. I never cared who the quarterback was going to be out of Shuck or Rattler because I was more focused on the defense. I felt if the defense can keep us in games, either one of those quarterbacks can give us a touchdown or two. Either one of those quarterbacks have a simple job and since the job went to Rattler, here's his assignment. You don't have to go out there and win the game. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not asking you to go out there and win the game. All I'm asking you to do... Is not go out there and lose it. That's it. Just don't lose the game. Don't throw a crucial pick six. Don't orchestrate three straight three and outs and put the opposing team in good field position, you know, because you can't move the ball. Things like that, you know, ball security is key, you know, balance offense is key. Now the balance offense part. kind of falls more on the head coach of it all but he he he is the leader of that offense even though he's not a captain which i also completely understand too because i heard some gripes i heard some groveling about oh man they ain't make spencer right he's the quarterback he's not a captain No, he's not supposed to be the captain. He hasn't won a game. He has not won a game. I don't want him as the captain of my team. You can't tell me nothing. You know, if they would have made him the captain, they just would have did it just because. And quite frankly, that's more insulting than anything. I'd rather earn it. And I hope that he actually goes out there and earns it. that see on his jersey rather than them just give it to him but in any event the new orleans saints will open up the 2025 season at the caesar superdome against the arizona cardinals the saints have won their last six season openers dating back to 2019 when the saints beat the houston texans i think that was a monday night game if memory serves uh 30 to 24 or 30 to 28 i think we won with a last second field goal and it is the lone Longest active streak in the NFL. No other team has won as many season openers as the New Orleans Saints. That's the one thing we can hang our hat on over these last few years in the Who That Nation. Can we make it seven? Can we do it? We'll have to wait and see. The Cardinals lead the regular season series 16-15 out of 31 games that they have played. You know the last time this team played, I think it was a Thursday night game. If I'm not mistaken, that Thursday night game when the Red Rifle, Andy Dalton, threw like 50 interceptions in the first half. He was like, what? What was it? He threw three picks in the first half. Two of them were pick sixes. And Dennis Allen coming out at halftime, the sideline reporter asked him, Ask them, you know, what, what? Did you talk to Andy Dalton? You know, did you tell him anything about the pig? Oh, just keep doing what you're doing. What, throw more pigs? What are you talking about? Keep doing what you're doing. We're getting slaughtered on national TV, primetime nonetheless. Anyway, moving on from dinner. Moving on. We're moving on. The Saints do own a playoff victory. If y'all remember this, I'm pretty sure you do. and it came and In 2009, people, when the Saints were on their way to their first Super Bowl, that was when they had Kurt Warner as the quarterback. The Saints demolished, demolished the Arizona Cardinals in that playoff game. That's the game when Reggie Bush came out with the bat, and he played, I think that was the best Reggie Bush NFL game of his career. They should have gave him a bat. Every single game because he came out in that game and just single-handedly man Just destroyed the Cardinals in the dome well on our way to our first and up to this point only Super Bowl and 2009 Swinging around to the rest of the NFC South because this point yet to know what the rest of the division is doing on Sunday Along with the Saints, who played 12 noon against the Cardinals, you have the Carolina Panthers, who are taking on the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road. And then you have the Atlanta Falcons taking on their division rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to open up the season, the first NFC South matchup of the season. So this will be a big game if we are tracking our... Ugh. I don't know. It won't even come out right if I say it. I don't even think it's fair to do that to the Saints, put that pressure on them. But whatever. If you are out there and you are hoping, wishing, and praying that the Saints do shock the world, and I mean shock the world, and take this division, get to the playoffs, we'll just stop there. But, yeah, this is an important weekend because you want to win this game. Because Jacksonville is a really, really good team, and Carolina isn't. So you would assume that Jacksonville would beat Carolina. Unfortunately, somebody has to win the Atlanta-Tampa Bay game because they're playing each other. So you will want to take advantage of this time, especially this early in the season, being it's the first week, and get this victory over... the cardinals the way you can keep pace in the division at least have a shot at the end if anything else have a shot make things interesting and so because um not having the schedule in front of me i think most of our division games are at the latter half of the year You know around the by and ending out the season with some division games, so we want to take advantage of that this opportunity to Not only the car knows then next week you have 49ers coming to the dome and then it gets murky You know there 49 is gonna be a tough matchup, too But it gets very very murky because you go on the road after that you have to go all the way to Seattle play them and then go all the way to Buffalo and play them the next week. So it is that alone is rough. That's for any team, let alone the new Orleans saints. That's a lot of traveling within a seven day period. So yeah, games like this moments like this, when you get two games at, home back to back you want to take advantage at least split this uh homestand that you have for these next two weeks now i know this is a new year new season pretty much new team for both sides you know arizona and the saints but just to do a comparisons on rankings from last season because we don't have anything to compare this season yet uh in 2024 regular season league rankings The New Orleans Saints were five and twelve the cardinals were eight and nine the scoring average for the saints they had a average of 19.9 they were ranked 24th in the lead whereas the cardinals had an average of 23.5 and they were ranked 12th in the lead opponent scoring saints were ranked 19th with 23.4 cardinals 15th With 22.3 total offense, Saints were ranked. 21st in total offense last season, averaging 320.1 yards per game. And the Cardinals were ranked 11th with 358.2 yards per game average. Defensively, the Saints were ranked 30th in total defense, giving up an average of 379.9 yards per game defensively. This was the worst defense the Saints had in a very long time. It was very bad last season. The Cardinals, on the other hand, they were ranked 21st, giving up an average of 342.5 yards per game. Saints had 37 touchdowns last season. Cardinals had 47 touchdowns last season. And so that's just a couple of stats you can kind of compare to, you know. going into this game if if if we kept that same team you know i can see us having a seven point uh uh underdog being seven point underdogs at home to uh this weekend if i can get it out but yeah but this is different team different team uh different set of circumstances we had two different coaches last season we had a a busload of injuries last season and It was just a mess. It was it was not looking good for the New Orleans Saints at all. So you really got to take those numbers and throw them out the window. Last season was a mulligan, man. You got to do that. It doesn't even count. It doesn't even exist in the actual record books of my brain because last season was enough. How do you describe that? Honestly, how do you describe last season? it was a dumpster fire it was just nothing went right it was murphy's law everything that could have went wrong went wrong and you know you had to play out the season unfortunately and that's what we got five and twelve but uh i'm not looking at that and saying yeah we're gonna get washed and i think a lot of analysts look are looking at these numbers but they don't understand that This isn't that team. Now, anything can happen. I mean, we had some injuries take place this week where a couple of players won't play this week. We're going to go over that in a couple of minutes. But, man, we are the worst luck team in the NFL, it feels like. Between us and Frisco. I think the 49ers have equally just as much bad luck as us. As far as injuries are concerned. But man, when the injury bug bites the Saints, it chomps down on us. It just, it takes chunks of flesh. It don't just nibble. It takes limbs. And so, the main goal going into this season is stay healthy. But we're not off to the best of starts. But in comparison to seasons past. We're off to a decent start, if that makes any sense. Let's go over the injury report for this Sunday's matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. And the reason I say it's not the worst thing in the world, because I've looked at this list seasons prior, and my God, man, it looked like half the team was on this list every single week. It's week two. Well, not week two, I'm sorry. But this is week one, and we only got five players on the list. So that's good, and only two have officially been ruled out. So that's not bad, even though the two that have been ruled out are kind of... Important, the two that I'm talking about is our tackle slash guard, Trevor Penning, who has been dealing with a toe injury. He didn't practice none this week, and he was officially ruled out for Sunday's matchup against the Cardinals. And not to be sitting at the end of the bench by himself, he will be joined with our defensive end, Chase Young. Chase Young has a calf injury. He was limited on Wednesday. He was trying to make it go. But Thursday and Friday, he just did not participate. Apparently, it's a little worse than he thought. But constantly saying that it won't put him out for long. But unfortunately, it will put him out for Sunday's matchup. When he was ruled out versus the Cardinals, we have one questionable, and that's defensive back. Jordan Howden, our safety. He has an oblique injury, but he did practice all week. Limited, but he did practice. He has been designated as questionable for Sunday's matchup. Also on the list, you have Christian Boyd, our defensive end, who really shined in the preseason, really, truly impressed me. He has a hand injury. He was eliminated on Wednesday, but was a full participant on Thursday and Friday. He will play. this Sunday when needed as well as Alante Taylor we hadn't seen him all preseason he was dealing with a groin injury uh he was limited Thursday and Friday well Wednesday and Thursday he was limited but Friday guess what full participant he will play this uh not Saturday Sunday in the dome so those are your players who were on the injury list now we all know Taysom Hill is still I think he's on injured reserve, him and Foster Monroe, but they're designated to return whenever. You have players like that, you know, Will Clapp and all that, but those players are out of sight, out of mind. But these are the players who are on the team, and, you know, it really stinks with the Chase Young thing. Because, like I said, the most... The moles? important thing I was looking at was the defense I was excited for that and I want to see Chase Young flourish Chase Young has all the potential in the world you know the story of the summer or the offseason in the NFL was Micah Parsons of course over there in Dallas and his contract negotiations and he should be this he should get paid this he's a generational player that and all this here. I always thought that Chase Young should have been that guy. He never showed it, but he showed flashes, and that's the problem with him. He shows flashes, you know, he takes plays off it looks like, and stuff like that. That's just so frustrating, because you look at the talent this dude possesses. You look how big he is. He is the biggest person on that line. He is bigger than the defensive tackles. That's how big he is. And I've seen him get bullied off the line. That's just a lack of effort, you know? So it's frustrating. So with this new offense, going into this 3-4, I thought he fit like a glove. I thought that this would be his coming out year. And it still may be, but I was hoping to see it begin this Sunday, but unfortunately it's not going to happen. I'm still a fan of his, you know, oddly enough, I never really had any ill will. Normally I get frustrated with injuries, you know, like, man, this dude injury pump. We need to move on from him and just that and a third. When the Saints re-signed him this offseason, I was happy. I was super happy. I don't know why. I just, I got a lot of faith in Chase Young. I think he can do something here if. If he just wakes up and realize that he is that guy. You know, he can be up there when they talk about Michael Parsons, when they talk about Miles Garrett, when they talk about players of that elk, they should be talking about Chase Young. That's how he was drafted. He was drafted first, so it wasn't first or second overall. It was a high first-round pick. I can't remember which one it was. Regardless, those people let him go. Washington said, we're good. We're good. He went to Frisco and went to the Super Bowl and he played awesome in that run in the Super Bowl up to the Super Bowl. Even in the Super Bowl game, they came up short, but it wasn't because of Chase Young. He played. great after that 49ers said we're good it's like what is wrong with this guy especially in the 49ers i thought he was he was clicking man he was clicking over there but he gets here and like i said he shows flashes and next thing you know he's coming to the line the little pity pat blocks or rushes to just pass make the passing grade that he's trying to rush the quarterback and stuff ah come on man get back there you can get back there i done seen you get back there with ease i just seen i just seen left tackles come off or right tackles come off the bench and just make you look like nothing like they're blocking me and i can't block a fire hydrant i couldn't rush past a fire hydrant but they would they would they would destroy me But anyways, hoping that all of these guys get healthy soon. It doesn't appear to be that serious. You know, Kelly Moore kind of brushed off the Chase Young injury, saying it's not that serious. Trevor Penning is kind of questionable because, remember, he got hurt in that first preseason game. I don't know if it's the same injury, but it's kind of concerning with him as well. Just like I was saying about Chase Young, same thing with Trevor Penning. Trevor Penning, to his defense, they bounced him around so much. He started at left tackle, went to right tackle. Now they put him in guard where I think he will be best suited. And before we get the opportunity to see that, he's hurt. You know, frustrating. Very frustrating. But it's good to see Elante Taylor back. Hadn't seen him all preseason, so that should be fun. Let's move on to the key players to watch, and then we're going to roll up out of here. Let's start with the Cardinals. Their number one player to watch as far as the Saints needs to focus on Marvin Harrison Jr. This is his second year in the league. You know, there's some... High expectations for this young man, rightfully so, especially when he came in last season in his rookie year, coming in at, I think he was drafted fourth last year in the draft. But he had 62 catches for 885 yards last season and eight touchdowns to go along with that. And he is a really good player. You know, it's too early to compare him to his dad, but you know, you can see that he's heading down that road. He's a nice size. He's 6'3", making him a matchup nightmare for our cornerbacks who are on the smaller size. But the one thing about him is that he's inconsistent with the 50-50 balls. You know, I hate doing this, but I don't know no other way to compare it. his dad if you threw when peyton manning threw that ball to his dad you knew marvin harrison was coming down with it i don't care who was on him he was coming down with that ball uh marvin harrison jr he hasn't quite developed that yet you know he he's a little iffy with the 50 50 balls but uh he hopes to change that this year he bulked up a lot too he got a little on top of the six 3. He got bulkier too. Which means he got stronger. So that frame is tailor-made for more leverage for those contested passes. So that's going to be a player to watch for the Arizona Cardinals. For the Saints, this was tough. But I guess this is more of a personal thing. The player to watch is Chris Olave. It says we're going to stay with the receiver route. Chris Olave is our best receiver, whether we like it or not. He's our best receiver, and he's great. He's great. Is he in that same ilk as the other receivers that came out around the time that the Saints drafted him, you know, like a Jarrett Wilson or a... Jamal Chase and the Justin Jeffersons of the world and all this no no no no he's not there because quite honestly He's been battling these concussions, you know the in his so early in his career in his is oh man it's so scary bro because no matter how you feel about him you don't want nobody to have to deal with that you don't know when the next one is the last one you get what i'm saying and i don't want him to go through that i'm praying that he doesn't go through that have to go through that again because it was scary last year it really was that that one he got where he was just he was done i knew it the moment he hit the ground he was done But the reason he's the player to watch for me is this the year he's going to come alive and kind of force his name into the conversation. Once again, not to get to that point because those guys are the guys that I named. Those guys are so far ahead of him as far as advancing in this league. You know, it's going to be a tall task for him. to catch up to him but uh show that he's the number one guy show that he is the the go-to receiver for the saints as we moved on from michael thomas uh is he that next michael thomas is he the next marcus coast and is he the next is he that next go-to rod receiver for the new orleans saints this is the year to prove it and so the saints player to watch i gotta give it to chris olave key matchups today or sunday i should say is kyle murray in this saints defense as much as i'm raving about the defense and how we look so far and like i said we only got a sample size in the preseason but i saw enough to have some hope that this defense turned the corner And one of the corners that I'm hoping and praying they turn, one is the run game, you know, which was abysmal last season. The Saints were normally good against the run. No matter how bad we were, you couldn't run on the Saints. Last year, you really could do anything on the Saints. But running was very, very upsetting. The run game was upsetting, man. We couldn't stop a nosebleed. We gotta stop this run game. And along with that, we have to contain Kyler Murray because the Saints defense, Achilles' heel, for the past five to six years has been a mobile quarterback. And you can't get more mobile. Well, you can with Lamar Jackson. But in that same kind of atmosphere, you have a Kyler Murray. And he will move around. He'll screw it out of there because of his size. You know, he's small. He'll get lost in that pile or whatever behind the linemen or whatever. And he'll make you pay. And so we have to contain Kyler Murray. Make Kyler Murray beat you with his arm. Now, is Kyler Murray capable of beating you with his arm? Yeah, he is. But more often than not, he will give the game away. He will lose it for you, too. And so, yeah, that's the biggest matchup, I believe, in Sunday's matchup against the Cardinals. The Saints defense versus quarterback Kyler Murray. So, to end it all off, this preview for week one, the New Orleans Saints, I think, come out victorious in this game. And that's not to hoot at me talking. I'm really. believe that they are now will i be shocked upset or whatever if they lose no i wouldn't but i just gotta feel it i got a strange feeling that the saint because the saints have something to prove they they really do they had something to prove they shouldn't have to prove nothing to nobody but man they got pride too they they they read the papers or if that's still a thing they they watch the... ESPN first taking all that other good stuff and watch the news and look on the internet and see that Their own mama doesn't give them a chance to win over five games this season So they got pride and they want to go out there and show that we're not no no no Yeah, I got us messed up. Yeah, I'll pick the wrong ones today and I think that they will probably come out and try to send a message to the rest of the league the The concern that I have with that take, with that attitude is you lose focus on what's in front of you, you know? And that being the Arizona Cardinals, trying to prove to the world instead of trying to beat the Arizona Cardinals. Easy way to get beat. Easy way to lose a game. So they got to keep their emotions in check. If they can keep their emotions in check and come out there and play like I saw in the preseason, instead of two or three series or two or three drives for an entire game, I think the Saints. will come out victorious against the cardinals but that's one man's opinion that's just me and you know i've been called wrong crazy stupid and every other name other than a child of god here so that's fine too you all have your opinion and it may be valid opinions and i would love to hear them how can i hear them you can email the show for one kbradiopodcast at gmail.com You can also leave comments on my social media pages. Just search for the KB Radio Network on all social media pages, as well as commenting on our YouTube video. Subscribe to the KB Radio Network channel on YouTube, like this video, and comment if you don't mind. Also, don't forget about the five stars, the reviews, and sharing this show if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, wherever. You are currently listening to the Who That Say podcast here on the KB Radio Network. Everybody, thank you for joining me. Oh, man. For the week one preview, baby, of the brand new NFL season as the New Orleans Saints take on the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday. Don't forget, after the game, we will be back to recap and react to. a saint's victory we're going to extend this streak to seven we're going to do it people we're not going to break the streak we can't we can't do it uh we gotta we gotta hold on to something and that's the one thing that we can't hold on to as always everybody thank you for joining me i i can't express to you in words how happy i am to be back how happy i am for you to be back as we get ready for new Orleans saints foot. ball until this Sunday you gonna hear me screaming who that