Saints vs 49ers - Week Two Preview - The K.B. Radio Network

who that to the who that nation welcome to the who that say podcast your podcast for the new orleans saints right here on the kb radio network i am your fellow who that and host kevin reed and here we go week

two preview the new orleans saints who are currently zero and one will take on the San Francisco

49ers who are one.

and zero so we're gonna preview this upcoming matchup that takes place this sunday september the

14th in the caesar superdome at

12 noon this is a game that i didn't want to go this route honestly i just wanted to ride the wave this season you know just just soak up the fun if you will and enjoy the development of this

young team but I'm forced now

I feel I'm forced and I guess it's the who that in me that's taken over

I'm forced to make judgment calls here for those who are in leadership positions over there on airline

I I watched that game again the week one matchup versus the Arizona Cardinals and you know after viewing that game

I'm left even more confused than I was watching it live last Sunday.

I didn't understand why the Saints lost that game.

I really don't.

And this is coming from somebody who has zero expectations for the New Orleans Saints this season.

I know what it is.

I'm not crazy.

I'm not expecting the Saints to shock the world.

But when you play games like this,

when you play teams like this,

you're supposed to win and when you can't pinpoint one single thing your opposing team did to beat you that's a problem you i can't point out one thing the

arizona cardinals did to beat the new orleans saints last week in the season opener yeah you had a couple of flash plays you know the big play to marvin harrison jr you had a big run

That took place,

I think,

in the second half of that game.

But aside from that,

what else?

I'll wait.

What else did the Arizona Cardinals do?

You sacked Kyler Murray five times.

You forced him to field goals.

You got him off the field.

Defensively,

they did their job.

So,

what happened?

Well,

offensively.

Offensively,

the New Orleans Saints played.

safe football they played scared and i don't know i know the narrative this past week has been kellen moore not trusting his starting quarterback in spencer rattler at first at

first i didn't buy that i was like i don't believe that that you know it's hard for me to well it was hard for me to grasp that at the time because this is the guy you pick you know

this is the guy that you chose to be your starting quarterback and so um i'm kind of confused as to why you don't trust him or why people believe you don't trust him well like i said i watched the game again and upon

re rewatch yes he didn't trust him he didn't trust him that's why those three timeouts stayed in his pockets when he went into halftime that's why uh spencer rattler

Didn't attempt a ball over 20 yards,

maybe what,

one or two times?

You know,

no big plays,

no splash plays.

You didn't trust him to really conduct his offense.

And

I didn't see too many audibles.

Whatever was called was called.

Now,

to be fair,

some of that I put on Spencer Rattler.

Spencer Rattler should have took some chances.

He shouldn't have played scared because he's in a position.

to whereas he doesn't want to lose the game he doesn't want to make that big mistake because he know he's on borrowed time he know it's just a matter of time he's one play away from being yanked for the rookie because that's what everybody wants and

so he's trying to play perfect football there's no such thing tom brady wasn't perfect drew brees people was not perfect eli manning and Peyton Manning,

none of these quarterbacks

were perfect.

You were going to make mistakes,

but you

You have to take chances.

It's feast of fandom and

I know that comes with time.

I use the example of Drew Brees.

Drew Brees in San Diego,

average quarterback.

Maybe slightly above average in San Diego.

He comes to the Saints,

first ballot hall of famer.

You know it took time and the right situation,

right coach and all these other elements to take place.

Two different quarterbacks.

two completely different quarterbacks.

Now,

Spencer Rattler last season,

seven starts,

didn't look all that good,

didn't look great,

but he was hampered with a makeshift offensive line.

He didn't have starters at receivers.

They were bringing in people from the street to play.

It was just.

It was madness,

you know?

The team was just falling apart at the seams.

And so I didn't put much credit into that.

I really looked at the game against the Arizona Cardinals last week as his first official start in the league.

Because he had a complete and total training camp.

He had all week,

you know,

coming up with a game plan,

or two weeks,

however long it was,

to come up with a game plan.

for this game get prepared for this game this was his start this was it was time to rock and roll and did he play bad no was he horrible no that does he deserve to get yanked or even be in a conversation to get yanked no he didn't do anything to warrant

him being on ball time but the climate the climate with a just a

I'm not gonna say small contingent of who that nation but there is about a 50-50.

They want Tyler Shuck.

They ready for Tyler Shuck.

Tyler Shuck isn't ready.

He isn't ready.

You may be ready.

He isn't ready.

Let's calm down.

Let's pump the brakes.

As you can see,

Spencer Rattler isn't 100%

ready and he's been here a year longer.

It takes time,

people.

I know a lot of people look around the league,

you see Jaden Daniels doing what he do,

you see how

Jalen Hurst popped up his first start,

he took advantage of it,

but he didn't start immediately.

You know,

what's his name,

Patrick Mahomes didn't start immediately.

It takes time.

Just relax.

But,

Kelly Moore,

some of those decisions that were made last week...

They just did not fly right with me.

And going back to my opening statement,

whereas this is the week,

this is the week that I'm going to determine what type of coach

Kellen Moore is.

Will he change?

Will he adjust?

Will he do things differently?

I saw the defense adjust in that game.

At halftime,

that defense changed.

Now,

they were playing decent in the first half.

They gave up.

Yeah,

like I said,

a couple of big plays,

but for the most part,

they played decent.

They constantly putting pressure on Kyler Murray.

They were all over the field,

flying,

tackling,

got better as the game went on.

They made adjustments.

So the defense is good.

Defense gets a pass.

The offense,

man,

the offense was just boring to watch.

It was like watching paint dry last week when the Saints offense took.

field but that was last week this week the new orleans saints will seek to get their first win of the season when they continue their what is this i don't know who made this schedule but it's the strangest schedule i

have ever seen the new orleans saints play the saints will play uh the second of three nfc

West opponents in the first three weeks.

You know,

we played Arizona last week,

San Francisco this week,

and next week we play the Seattle Seahawks.

Unfortunately,

we got to travel all the way to Seattle for that game.

But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Sunday will mark the

79th regular season meeting between the Saints and the Niners.

This is the

79th meeting.

That's crazy.

Well,

it's not really crazy because if you remember,

if you're old enough,

if you have a little season on you,

you know that the Saints and the 49ers were once division rivals in the old

NFC West.

That was back in the day,

boy.

That was...

Joe Montana and Reggie,

not Reggie,

but Roger Craig's and yeah,

all that good stuff.

It was it was it was a time.

It was a rough one going through those years when the Saints had to play the

49ers twice a season,

when the 49ers were at their peak,

when it was a dynasty over there.

But the Saints were really competitive against them,

especially at that in the 80s when we had the Dawn Patrol.

But ultimately,

you know,

we were the Saints.

The overall record,

ironically,

the

49ers, of course,

is leading the series with a record of

49 victories.

27 losses and two ties.

The Saints,

on a good note,

if you want to put a little spin to this thing,

the Saints have won six of the last 10 meetings.

A regular season that is against the

49ers. So,

hey,

that's a good stat.

But the big story going into this game is injuries.

The injury report is not good for either team.

And it has been a deciding factor in a lot of things,

namely the point spread.

The point spread for this game.

coming out of sunday uh monday morning was seven and a half of course in favor of the

49ers after all of the injuries started piling up from week one where the

49ers lost george kiddo and we're going to go over the injury report but george kiddo and um brock purdy and all this here that dropped to one and a half at least at the time of this recording it could have dropped more or

probably gained a point or two who knows but even with the

49ers injury which is a laundry list their injury report they're still favored against the saint uh it is it's heartbreaking in some sense and downright disrespectful to be honest

i mean they still we're at home we're at all.

And it didn't matter.

That didn't sway

Vegas from having us the dogs going into this game.

But

I've been tiptoeing around,

and let's go over the injury report because,

yeah,

49ers has a lot of injuries,

and the Saints have their fair share as well.

Let's start with the

49ers.

Of course,

the big one,

Brock Purdy,

their quarterback.

he was listed as doubtful but he has a

officially been ruled out with a turf toe.

I think they said two to five weeks possibly for Brock Purdy to be out,

but he will definitely be out this week against the New Orleans Saints.

That will catapult

Matt Jones to the starting quarterback position for the

49ers, making that his first start as a Niner.

I don't know where to go with that.

I don't know if that's a good or bad thing for the New Orleans Saints.

So,

and

I don't know if we're going to get Alabama

Matt Jones or

New England Matt Jones.

I don't know which one we're going to get.

So,

we'll have to tune in and watch.

Jordan James,

their running back,

was listed as questionable.

Jordan Watkins,

their wide receiver,

is listed as questionable.

And George Kittle,

their star tight end,

He hasn't been listed anything on the one that I'm reading,

but

I think I read that he is ruled out for this Sunday's game with a calf injury.

Speaking of calf injuries,

let's move over to the Saints injury report,

and let's start with Chase Young,

who has been dealing with a calf injury since the first practice of the regular season.

While preparing for the Arizona Cardinals,

Chase Young injured his calf.

calf he didn't play last week he didn't practice none this week and he has been ruled out against the

49ers i don't know what's up with the calf you know they're real secretive and i don't understand why they're so secretive if he hurt he's hurt it's all right it happens it's football and just give us a timetable give us a time frame when he's going to return uh

but he he's definitely out sunday

Also out this Sunday is of course

Julian Blackman.

Not only this Sunday but every Sunday for the remainder of this season where he's on

IR with that torn labrum,

shoulder injury.

He's either had surgery this week or preparing for surgery in the coming days.

But he is definitely out for the season,

which stinks.

Which stinks.

I was super excited for Julian Blackman.

And he looked good before he went out hurt.

He was looking good,

man.

I am so upset by that,

you know.

But,

but,

there's a glimmer of hope.

Because our rookie,

Jonas.

sinker who what round did we get him in the fourth fifth round somewhere up in there from Virginia really impressed me in preseason he really was flying all over the field he was in on a lot of big tackles

I think he even got didn't he wasn't he the one that caught that pick in the first preseason game I can't remember but I know he was everywhere he was all over the field in during the preseason

I thought that was a winner

the real winner of a pick that we got him uh judging by those couple of games that we saw him uh but now it's it's it's scrap in time now it didn't got real and he is uh elevated to the starting

safety position with black men being out uh also out who was ruled out was trevor penning our offensive tackle haven't played this season with that

toe injury.

I'm guessing turf toe or something.

But he was ruled out as well.

Questionable.

Taliense Fuaga.

He is questionable with that knee injury.

And

Valdez Jones

Jr. out running back.

Also punt returner,

kick returner.

He was dealing with a knee injury.

He was limited all week,

but he is expected to play this Sunday.

So we're not as bad.

You know,

as the

49ers, but it's still bad enough because

I'm one of my most exciting things going into this season that I was super looking forward to was Chase Young in this defense.

I wanted to see him in this defense and judging by how the defense plays or had played last week,

man,

Chase Young would have been a big help in that game.

I'm not saying he would have been a deciding factor.

As far as wins and losses,

but I would have loved to have seen what type of impact he could have made.

And

I guess we're just going to have to wait another week to see what type of impact he can make for this defense.

But speaking of defense,

let's look at some key matchups defensively that we need to watch this Sunday versus the

49ers. The Saints and their blitz rate.

This is something that has not been seen in New Orleans for a while,

especially under Dennis Allen and his style of play,

blitzing.

Every now and then,

Dennis Allen would blitz.

Judging by last week,

and if last week was any indication,

under Brandon Staley,

our defensive coordinator,

there's any indications of how this defense will fly around.

They're going to do a lot of blitzing.

You know,

I think he plans to push the

49ers offensive line from different pressure looks.

Now,

let's not forget,

Brandon Staley knows this offense over there.

And Frisco,

he was the defensive coordinator for the Rams,

who are division rivals to the

San Francisco

49ers. So he knows this team,

and he knows what it takes to beat this team.

And so that's a great thing.

It's good to have that bit of knowledge.

The Saints on Sunday,

last Sunday,

they blitzed

45.1% of the time.

And they finished with a defensive EPA of negative 0.11.

That is

11th best in week one.

The blitzes,

the 45.1,

that was the 10th highest in week one.

So we're going to go by

Last week's indication.

Yeah,

I think they're going to get him.

And he did that against a running mobile quarterback.

Normally when you blitz a running mobile quarterback like that,

you get burnt.

And it was a couple of times Colin Murray got loose.

But for the most part,

they kept him in check.

Now you're going up against a Matt Jones,

who,

you know,

he's not a statue,

but he's not Colin Murray.

And so you you you got a chance to double that sack total that you racked up last week if if if last week.

was any indication another uh key and i think this is probably the biggest one uh even though i have more to go but this is probably the number one key is the san francisco's russia tank and

we know that kyle shanahan that is the bread and butter of this offense you know people think that is just high high powered

you know running gun offense that he runs is really based on the run uh for years you know his dad did it now he does it but he just does it in innovative ways and now arizona's rush attack was

it was poignant you know because you had kyle murray you had uh james connor you had trey benson who had that big run uh so it was kind of a three-headed monster you know it that

that burnt the Saints on the ground.

However,

the styles of the run offense is completely different when you compare

Arizona and the San Francisco 49ers.

Primarily,

as a gap scheme run attack,

Arizona utilized this gap scheme,

I should say,

44%

against the

New Orleans Saints defense.

That number was good for the third highest in...

week one.

You know,

they did a pretty decent job there.

Now,

the Saints handled it well with a negative

0.17 EPA against Gapski running.

The Saints defense looked excellent,

man,

last week.

A lot of people ain't talking about that.

It is frustrating throughout the week.

Nobody's talking about how good the defense played.

Whatever.

This week,

on the other hand,

this week the Saints will have to contend against Christian McCaffrey.

And you can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that we're going to get a healthy dose of Christian McCaffrey this week with the absence of a Brock Purdy there.

Now,

no shade on Matt Jones,

but I think he's going to,

he being

Kyle Shanahan,

he's going to trust his running game.

To kind of hide the shortcomings of his backup quarterback,

to say the least.

But Christian McCaffrey and the

49ers have a 0%

gap scheme,

at least they did last week,

while the Saints face outside zone

8% of the time only.

You know,

Arizona didn't run an outside zone,

whereas

49ers does a lot.

of outside zone.

Now the Cardinals had the lowest percentage of outside runs in week one.

Kyle Shanahan and the

49ers offense will need the rush attack to stabilize in this week.

There's no ifs,

ands,

or buts about it.

The Saints were at bottom three defense in week one against the outside zone.

And so it's going to be a challenge there.

It's going to be a challenge There is always a challenge.

when you go up against the likes of a Christian McCaffrey.

Also,

also,

moving over to our offense,

we got to contend with Robert Sala's defense.

Robert Sala,

we all remember,

he was the defensive coordinator of the

49ers some years back,

left to be the head coach of the Jets,

was unceremoniously let go,

returned to the

49ers to be the defensive coordinator yet again.

at 66.7%

the 49ers were in a single high safety look at the ninth highest in seattle now seattle to their defense has a different style of offense than the new orleans saints now the defense finished with

the highest epa from the look of negative 0.84 on the flip side the saints were the most successful against the high.

or the single high looks last week.

As much as we want to rag on Mr.

Rattler,

he did find a way to be successful against that look.

Arizona showed a single safety at the lowest percentage.

That's 40.4%.

But the Saints had the

11th highest EPA against those looks at 0.17.

And so...

All the dinkin and dunkin yeah,

that's how you get them now another way You can get them which the Saints ran away from and I guess that's where the criticism come in at

Saints didn't attack it with the run.

They didn't attack it with the screen passes and,

you know,

things of that nature to kind of catch them off guard.

That's what I would have did.

But what I know,

I'm not a head coach.

That's why I'm sitting behind this microphone instead of on the sideline with a headset.

But solid defense may face a top 10 team out of 11 personnel in New Orleans.

The seven highest 11 personnel uses.

belongs to the new

Orleans Saints after week one with a percentage of

72.6. The 49ers faced 11 personnel only

49% of the time,

but posed the fourth highest EPA at negative 0.16 against Seattle last week.

The Saints will attack on the ground with gap schemes.

They did that last week with a percentage of 36.5.

four fifth highest in the league.

Fifth,

believe it or not.

And the

49ers are six highest or have the six highest EPA against Gap on Sunday with a negative 0.45.

Swinging back over to the defense of the New Orleans Saints,

they didn't face any motion against the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday,

but when they did,

they struggled.

They did struggle,

allowing the EPA of 0.13 while defending motion was closer to the bottom of the league at number 19.

The Saints allowed an explosive play

4.5% of the time on Sunday,

which is the fifth highest in week one.

Motion,

whether you know it or not,

you're about to learn today.

Motion is a staple.

in Kyle Shanahan's offense.

And so the chess match is,

the chess match is on between

Kyle Shanahan and Brandon Staley.

We struggled last week against Motion.

We're going to get nothing but Motion,

whether we want it or not.

After working on the same staff for a bit in 2024,

this matchup will be very,

very interesting.

Staley's philosophy of employing too high safety looks with the defense continued on Sunday.

The highest percentage of safety looks against Arizona was too high at 37.8%.

Brandon Staley tried to limit explosive pass plays with too high safeties.

But running successfully against those looks will open up.

play action and uh pass opportunities for the uh 49ers if we're not careful i know it's only one week but hey we're still gonna do it uh the uh season leaders of each team let's

begin with passing of course spencer rattler is our leading passer he went

27 of 46 for 240

14 yards,

no touchdowns,

no interceptions.

Brock Purdy is the league leader for the 49ers.

Last week he was 26 of 35,

two touchdowns and two interceptions for 277 yards.

For the New Orleans Saints rushing attack,

our leading rusher was Alvin Kamara.

11 carries for 45 yards and a touchdown,

which was his thousandth touchdown.

of his career congratulations to ak-41 for the san francisco

49ers their leading rusher is of course christian mccaffrey who are look those two are i don't know man they they always compare this but you know when christian mccaffrey was in uh carolina they they always compared these two and they rightfully so they both are dynamic running backs christian mccaffrey last week

22 carries,

69 yards.

A leading receiver before the

49ers last week was Parcells.

or Purcells or however you pronounce it.

They four catches for 108 yards.

For the New Orleans Saints,

our leading receiver,

it was

Jawan Johnson.

He had eight catches,

should have been nine,

for

76 yards.

Sack leader for each team,

Nick Bosa for the

49ers with one sack.

For the New Orleans Saints,

Cam Jordan.

People with one and a half sacks last week against the Arizona Cardinals.

Our leading tackler is

Demario Davis with nine tackles for the 49ers.

Fred Warner with eight tackles.

In case you wanted to know the rankings after one week of football,

the New Orleans Saints offense,

let's begin with passing.

The Saints ranked

14th in the lead in passing yards per game with 208 yards,

16th in the lead rushing.

per game rushing yards per game i should say with 107 yards and

17th in the league with yards per game total uh with 315 yards that basically puts saints middle of the pack uh amongst the league and you know smoke them if you got them you know it

is what it is we'll see uh moving forward how much the saints numbers dip

or rise throughout the year.

My prediction for Sunday's game against the

49ers, once again,

I don't know.

It's a question mark,

bruh.

It's so many injuries on the

49ers' side.

You know,

logically,

you would love to say,

oh,

the Saints should win that game.

But

Saints should have won last week,

too.

But

I'm not prepared.

I'm not ready.

to put myself out there yet i'm not ready to say the station would they should win i'll just leave it at that they should win um it's just a matter of execution man the saint everything's there for the new orleans saints to win the saints aren't a bottom of the barrel team as

a lot of these nfl analysts have them they're not i seen it i seen it you look at sunday's game last sunday's game.

The Saints.

are a talented team,

good team.

They just got to put the pieces together.

And I don't want to rush them into doing it.

I just want them to do it.

You know,

seize the opportunities when they're there.

I don't care if you lose.

The loss didn't bother me.

It was more or less how they lost.

The fact that they could have won.

You know,

if you put up a good effort and it's a superior team that you're across the field from,

hey.

Dap off,

give a bro hug,

and move on.

But if it's against a team that has no business coming into your house and winning the game,

a la the Arizona Cardinals,

yeah,

that's where you kind of like,

oh,

come on,

man.

We got to do better.

But the

49ers are a good team,

well-coached team.

Even with the injuries,

they're still well-coached,

you know.

Now,

if Carl,

oh,

Carl,

if,

uh...

Kyle Shanahan was on the injured reserve list,

then I'll feel better.

But

I'm not confident enough to go out there and say,

yeah,

we're going to squash him,

we're going to beat him.

Yeah,

I'm not ready for that.

But

St. should win.

But I would love to know,

what do you think of this week's matchup against the

49ers? Do you think those injuries on the

49ers side is just insurmountable?

Is it just too much to overcome from them?

to go on a road and play this team that is desperate for a win?

And do you think the Saints will take this opportunity to build from last week,

neutralize their mistakes,

build upon that,

and come out better and less skittish than we did last week?

I would love to know your thoughts.

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Network.

Everybody,

thank you for joining me for this preview of the week two matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco

49ers this Sunday,

September

14th, 12 noon on

Fox.

Until then,

I'm going to be screaming to the top of my lungs.

Who dat?

Saints vs 49ers - Week Two Preview

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