Saints Relying On Tyler Shough For To Turn The Tide Vs. Giants

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The Saints and Giants are in a race to see whose run game can get back on track, and why Tyler Shough will be the difference in Sunday's game is where we're kicking off. We got all that and a little bit of land for you on today's episode. So let's get into it. And today's show is brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel and their new reward club, which has something new for you every week in the FanDuel app. Head over to fanduel.com to get started. This game, I think, is going to come all the way down to number six. It's going to be all about Tyler Shough in this matchup. And I got a couple of different reasons why. Number one, I don't know if the Saints are going to be able to get their run game on track in this matchup on the road, kind of an uncomfortable situation. We'll take a look at why that could indeed happen, though, in the next segment. But my kind of expectations aren't up there yet for that area of the game. And because of that, I think the Saints are going to find themselves right back where they've been all season, which is having the throw in order to move the football and also likely to be in a shootout up against Jameis Winston and the New York Giants. Now, this is a little tricky because if the Saints end up in a shootout, the big glaring name right now is Chris Olave. Chris Olave has been out with illness for the Wednesday and Thursday practice. There has been some kind of illness that has run through this team with guys on the defensive line, running back room, wide receiver, all now dealing with this. And so this is going to be a big thing to watch. But look, even if Chris doesn't practice today, on Friday, I don't know that you necessarily rule them out. I think it's likely that he just kind of goes in questionable and then if he's feeling better by game time, he should be good to go. Chris knows the offense, he knows what it is he's doing, and he's the Saints' best option and best weapon across the offense. And so if they're without Chris Olave, this really becomes all about Tyler Shough. But even with Chris Olave in, I think that this game is really going to be about the quarterback and perhaps the battle between the two quarterbacks in Tyler Shough and Jameis Winston. Over the course of the past few weeks, Tyler Shough has been responsible for quite a few turnovers, something that he has talked about himself, ball security. He also talked about the first interception that he threw to Byron Murphy, threw two of them to Byron Murphy. But the first one in particular that wasn't just like a sail it down the field and see what happens kind of a thing. That was one where he effectively threw it right to the cornerback. The reason why is because he was trying to get it over Byron Murphy, but didn't get the lift that he needed. So it ended up going just straight to the corner, which Tyler Shough talked about in the postgame press conference after the game. So not something that you're looking at and going like, oh man, like this is really concerning or anything. But a lot of the turnovers, as is the case in the NFL, are coming from the quarterback position, whether from sack fumbles or from interceptions. And so there is going to be a ball security piece to this that you'll be watching all throughout this matchup and that Tyler Shough has been focused on all throughout the week as well. He's very well aware of this, I don't want to call it issue, but this issue as it exists right now. Now, in going up against the New York Giants offense, or excuse me, defense, there are going to be two things that the Giants are going to do a lot of that Tyler Shough has also seen a lot of. But the issue is that even though he's seen a lot of them, they are the things that typically have gotten the Saints offense as a whole a little bit off kilter, whether it be because of the quarterback position or elsewhere. First of all, expect the Giants to blitz. They are down, Brian Burns, they could potentially be down, Abdul Carter, that's another guy that hasn't practiced yet this week. We'll see if he practices today, but he's been managing a calf injury, did not practice Wednesday, did not practice Thursday. So if the Giants are without their two best pass rushers, then all of a sudden the game turns to Kayvon Thibodeau, as well as Arville Reese, the Rookie out of Ohio State, who of course we loved very much in the draft process all throughout the off season. That's going to mean a lot of blitzing. That's going to mean trying to simulate pressure or not simulate pressure, but create pressure with additional pass rushers. So that's going to be something to watch. Now, the Saints and Tyler Shuck have done okay against the blitz. More specifically, Tyler Shuck has done okay against the blitz. The issue, even up against the Minnesota Vikings, as we discussed in a previous episode, it wasn't necessarily that there was a lot of pressure, right? The Saints dealt with over 40% pressure up against Minnesota, but that was Minnesota's second lowest pressure percentage generated, even though it was the highest blitz rate that they generated all throughout the season. So the Saints actually did relatively a good job keeping the blitz at bay. The issue was that, as they found their receivers, the Minnesota defense did a very good job of rushing to the football and not allowing yards after catch. The lowest yards after catch total for the New Orleans Saints came last week up against the Minnesota Vikings with only 51 yards after reception. And so it's going to be a combination of managing the blitz, but then also being able to find players in position to be able to continue to pick up yards. That is what's going to keep you from having a sub 100 yard passing day here this week. Now, the New York Giants do have the number seven passing defense in the NFL. The thing is, they haven't faced a lot of passing attempts and they faced quarterbacks like Jacoby Brissette and the first game back for Jaden Daniels and others, in which it was just a little bit more of an advantageous matchup for that New York Giants defense. This will probably be the best passing offense that the Giants passing defense has faced so far this season. I think it's right now number 10 in the NFL when it comes to passing offense, while the Giants are currently number seven in the NFL in passing defense. So definitely something to watch when it comes to that. Now here's the second thing that you're going to be looking for, and that is how much cover three did the Giants run? The Giants run around 30%, just over 30% of their defense is in cover three. They are a very zone heavy team. Over two-thirds of their defense has been run out of zone coverage as opposed to out of man coverage. And so that really gives you a little bit of an advantage when you're talking about New Orleans, who have fared well up against zone coverage. Chris Olave, Devon Vale, and the tight ends in particular, consistently able to find holes in the zone and things like that. Tyler Shough, of his 1,299 passing yards, 430 have come against cover three, but these are also volume stats, right? That's just the, that's the, by virtue, that is the most frequent coverage that he has faced, and therefore it is the coverage that he has the most passing yards against. However, he has no passing touchdowns against cover three, and two of his interceptions have come against cover three. So this is going to be the other element that becomes very important in this game. Chris Olave has put together 12 of his receptions, 197 yards, against cover three, so he's been able to find the yardage. The biggest thing now is going to be, can they end up creating the big plays, the explosive plays, and then, or either that or chip away at this cover three defense, get them with their backs up against the wall, it's where you're in the red zone, then they got to go away from cover three, they get into manning up, and then you have the opportunity to take advantage of another place where you have been successful, and where you have found the touchdowns, the Saints six touchdowns in the red zone, tight ends alone number one in the NFL there. So, this really becomes about Tyler Shough being able to protect the football and move the football through the air because I'm not so confident yet in the Saints run defense, but if there was, or excuse me, rushing offense, but if there was going to be a game in which they proved me wrong about it, that would be this one. Let's get to that next as we continue on with today's episode of Locked On Saints, Put A Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. James Yarko here from Locked On Bucks. And look, we all have that person in our lives that's impossible to shop for. Maybe it's your girlfriend or wife. Maybe it's a sibling, or maybe you're the person it's impossible to shop for, but Fabletics is here to help you solve that dilemma. My wife fell in love with yoga pants that I got her from Fabletics, and she has not turned back. Now we're upgrading my closet as well with some of the incredible items for men like this Soft Touch Quarter Zip sweater that I am wearing. 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First time in a while that they've been favored on the road. You got to go back to last season for that one because the Saints so far have only faced the Lions and the Ravens on the road. Then they came home for three straight games. The Saints are looking to bounce back off of that three-game losing streak up against the Giants and they are favored to do so. You can get in on that and much more over at FanDuel today. And don't forget to check out their brand new Rewards Club as well. All you got to do is get signed up and then every week there will be new bonuses, surprises and more waiting there just for you as you return to the app so you can find more information over at fanduel.com on that. And of course this weekend's game again, the Saints favored one and a half over under in terms of point total is at 45 and a half. You can get in on that and much more over at fanduel.com today. All right, family, the New Orleans Saints desperately need to get their run game going. And this could be their best opportunity of the season so far to do exactly that. But the New York Giants run game is looking to do the same and might be thinking the same way about the Saints. So who wins the run game could be the team that wins the game in this matchup. Let's get to that here as we continue on with today's episode. We appreciate you very much as always for making it a short first listen and being it every day or here on the show, which is a proud part of the number one sports podcast network. One of 250 shows on the network, by the way, one of the ones you can go and check out next is Locked On Saints Hit. Our good friend Dylan Sanders getting you all together with two five-minute shows and a bunch of vertical videos as well on your team, the New Orleans Saints, who right now are ranked number 30 in the NFL when it comes to total rushing yards, some of that when you talk to the coaches about it, when you talk to players about it, things like that, they kind of harken back to game situation in the team, not necessarily being able to commit to the run. I have some numbers on that, but that is a fair assumption and that is a fair piece of context to add. It doesn't tell the entire story, but the Saints, number 30 in the NFL when it comes to their run defense, when it comes to their, excuse me, number 30 in the NFL when it comes to their run defense. When it comes to their rushing offense, they also rank very low, but they're about to go up against, oh, you know what, they're ranked 30th in both their run defense and their rushing offense. How about that? So that's why I got those numbers confused because they're the same number. It's the same picture. So the number 30 rushing offense in the NFL, the New Orleans Saints, is set to take on the New York Giants defense which is ranked number 24 in the NFL when it comes to rushing defense. Now, they have allowed the Giants 5.2, 5.3 yards per carry throughout the season. So there's a real opportunity here for New Orleans who have averaged only 3.5 yards per carry here on the offensive side throughout the season. So going up against this Giants defense does offer them the opportunity to be able to get their run game going. But here's one of the biggest things. And I get that game situation has a lot to do with some stuff. But I went through, thanks to our friends over at TrueMedia, and I wanted to take a look at what the actual rush percentages were for the Saints. Right now, the run percentage for the Saints, so the percentage of offensive snaps in which they run the football or on which they run the football, they have run 34.7% of the time. That's really low. That's really, really low. Typically, you'd like to be in the 40s if you can be. Some teams even pushed closer to 50-50, but 34.7% is a little low. But when you look at the Saints, when they are tied or are trailing by a touchdown at most, so trailing by 7 points or less or are tied, easy to keep the run game going in those scenarios. They have only run the football 38% of the time. Now, that is closer to the 40% that we were talking about. But it's not as enormous a leap as you might expect when it comes to when they decide to run versus when they don't decide to run. It feels like this team has just simply had trouble committing to the run game, even in manageable game situations in which the run game should still be of access to your offense. But I think that a reason why they end up not running the football isn't just because they refused to stay committed to it, right? They're just willy-nilly making a decision not to be committed to it. It's not just because of the game situation. I think it's because of the inefficiency of the rushing offense. When it comes to that 38% of the time where the Saints are either trailing by a touchdown or less or are tied, they still only average 3.7 yards per carry. That's not good, right? That's below the four yard per carry threshold for a pretty average rushing offense. The Saints, 3.7 yards per rush in good game situations, in manageable situations, not when they're winning, but still manageable situations. Overall, they've run the ball only 3.5 yards per carry through the first five games, number 29 in the NFL when it comes to per rush average. Now, the Giants rushing offense is better. It's number 16 in the NFL. Their averages aren't blowing you out of the water or anything like that. Sam Scataboo is an absolute maniac running the football, and that is a hard-nosed run team. Brandon Staley likes his defense to be seen as a hard-nosed rushing defense. He talked about the bloody runs on Thursday during his media availability. This is where I think this game could potentially be decided because, hear me out, the Saints are ranked 30th on both offense and defense. The Giants are ranked 16th on offense and 24th on defense. In both cases, the Giants are the better team when it comes to the run game in terms of ranking, better ranked team. Beyond that, there's a larger gap of proficiency for the Giants' offense going up against the Saints' defense and the Saints' offense going up against the Giants' defense. 30th versus 24th for the Saints' rushing offense. But 16th versus 30th when it comes to the Saints' defense. You know what I'm saying? And so because of that, there's a good chance that the Giants also find their run game in this game. And that would be very bad news for New Orleans, because that is what's going to force this game to go back to Tyler Shough and have to play and be a hero in this game. And I think he clearly has a skill set to do it. He's done it a number of times for this team, but it's not the situation that you'd like to continue to put him in. You'd like to start to build a complimentary offense for your quarterback and a complimentary offense for your team. And right now, the Saints lack that. And I don't know if they're going to find it up against the Giants in a game in which, as of right now, the Giants have as good, if not a better chance of finding their rushing offense up against New Orleans. That would mean that they're controlling the clock. That would mean that they are keeping Jameis Winston from having to play hero ball himself, which would be most advantageous for the Saints passing defense potentially. At least you get the more opportunities to force him into a mistake. One of the reasons why he's been so efficient here as of late is that he hasn't had to throw the football at time. And so the Saints would like to make him throw the football at time, but they're not going to be able to do that if the run defense does not find its footing and hold its footing in this game. If the Giants begin to run effectively, that's going to push the Saints away from their run game, which they're already having trouble committing to. They're going to push to the team having to win through the air, which is going to make them one-dimensional, which is going to trigger that aggressive blitz the Giants have begun to deploy just in time to go up against New Orleans, who have proven to be susceptible against the blitz. And then it's also going to allow the Giants to wear down the New Orleans Saints defense and do what many teams have been doing over the course of the past few weeks, which is keep the Saints defense on the field and keep the Saints offense off the field. So in order for the Saints not to have to turn this thing into a hero situation, they're going to have to run the football effectively. But, but the Saints are also going to have to stop the run. And that's where things get pretty tricky for this New Orleans Saints team. The run game on both sides, the football are not things that I can project success for. It would be things that we need to see success from. And until that happens, it feels like as of right now, this game is going to come down to Tyler Shough and the New Orleans Saints passing offense. And that might not be the most advantageous situation when you're going up against an aggressive blitzing defense that's hoping that you get one dimensional. Big opportunity here for New Orleans to get their run game right. And if they do it, they'll win up against the Giants. If they can't, they're going to struggle to find a victory before heading to Paris. All right, coming up next, the New Orleans Saints are facing as much of a much win as you can get at this point in the season. Let's get to that next as we continue on with today's episode of Locked On Saints, part of Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. A big thank you to our friends over at Amazon for this limited break. The holidays just have a way of sneaking up on you, right? One minute you're settling down, you're loving some football, you're getting ready for football season, and all of a sudden you start thinking about gifts, decorations, hosting, all the things that come with the holidays. And if you're like me, the holidays are fun, but you got some people in your life that could be a little bit of a challenge to find the right gift for you. And Amazon makes sure that it's not just a thought that counts, but can help you turn into a winner. They've come in clutch for me when it comes to buying presents for family members like that, that I have, that just seem to have everything that they need, everything from their extensive gift selection and more have helped me be on point for the holiday season. So however it is that your holiday season gets started, remember that Amazon is here to make it easier for you to find something for everyone that you want to deliver a little joy to. Just head over and get your holiday gifting done with Amazon's low prices. Shop now at amazon.com/holiday. Let's get it Who Dat Nation. We have not seen a week six must win ever before like this one. We appreciate you very much as always making us your first listen and being it every day or here on the show. Don't forget to go and check out our good friend Jake Madison over at Locked On Pelicans as well. Big week coming up. We've got some Pelicans preseason action in the books. You can get the lowdown on that and much more from him every day. You can catch us every day as well over in the Golf Coast Sports Entertainment Network as well as right here on the Locked On Podcast Network as well. Look, I don't have any stats to drop for this. It's not an in-depth look. I hate telling you what it's not, so let me tell you what it is. It's just a vibe check. It's a vibe check with where the New Orleans Saints are right now, which at this moment is a little bit concerning, right? You have an owner that's gone out and made a public statement that's critical of where the team is right now, wants to see more from the team, wants to see the team find success, all that, talking about making the right decisions to ensure success and improve the team. Mentioned head coach Kellen Moore by name, mentioned general manager Mickey Loomis by name, and I get if the response to being named at the podium for Kellen Moore wasn't what everyone wanted it to be, but I also don't blame him for not going up there and being like, yeah, I'm scared that the owner called me out in a speech and in a prepared speech and all these other things. I also don't blame him for doing that or for not doing that. The fact of the matter is that nothing that he would have said at the podium would have satisfied 100 percent of people, right? There would have been some people that wouldn't have jived with no matter what it is that he said. I just used the word jive in 2026, separate now. But what I do believe and what I do think is no matter what he would have said at the podium, the only thing that matters is how this game goes against the Giants. Now, I'm going to be honest, right? Because the big question that everybody is kind of wondering is would the Saints ever make a decision to fire Kellen Moore if they lose this game against the Giants? I don't think so. You're getting on the plane, coming right out of New York, right out of that game, you're heading straight to the plane and you're going to Paris. Now, I don't think that Gail Benson wants to go to Paris, the first ever game in France that they fought really hard to get and wanted to make sure that they had worked really hard to get all that stuff done. Remember, for a little while, it was like, is it going to be 2026? Is it going to be 2027? There was some stadium stuff, all of that. They really worked to get this game. I don't think you want to go to that game as a 1-in-5 team. But I think more than that, you don't want to be leaving that game as a 1-in-6 team. I think that's where things get a little bit precarious. Let me use my vocabulary word for the day, precarious. I would keep that in mind going into this matchup, that this is not the decisive game, but it is a very consequential one, because it could set up the decisive game in Paris. Because if you lose this game, then you go to Paris, you lose that game in Paris, and it's a bit embarrassing. That is where things get from being on the national stage, under the national spotlight of the NFL, the Domecoming game, which is a very disappointing scenario, then you go to the world stage in Paris, and if that doesn't go well, then all of a sudden, everybody's eyes are on you. So what I mean to say in all of this is not, hey, look out, this might be it. It's not that. It's that the importance of this game as a consequential matchup for the future of what this New Orleans Saints franchise potentially looks like moving forward, is really, really important. Like this could be a turning point game one way or another, because it's easy to build the storyline to this off of, will they fire him, will they not fire him, is he okay, is he not okay? But there's also the other story that nobody seems to want to talk about, which is that the Saints can fix this still. They got 12 games ahead of them, all that. Like you go to New York and you show out, it is still a consequential game, it's just in a different situation. I'm not trying to cast rainbows, cotton candy, things like that, I do want to acknowledge that this isn't all predetermined in terms of being Dooming Loom. The Giants game becomes this prove it, must win match up that effectively could be a massive turning point for this franchise one way or another when it comes to its current iteration. I almost said vehemently, I don't know if that's really the vibe, but I very much believe that that can go one way or the other. This also could be the game where everything clicks because you kind of need it to. And so whether it's because the run game gets going, whether it's because special teams gets its stuff together, whether it's because the defense gets back to the standard that we're used to seeing, whether it's because Tyler Shough goes off, there is a massive opportunity in this game that the Saints can't, can't, can't let slip past. All right, families, get to a little bit of land. Yeah, for the real ones, I made it to this point in the episode. One of the most important players this weekend might end up being New Orleans Saints safety Julian Blackmon. Everyone's been talking about the Jameis Winston experience leading into this game. You heard Patricia Trena, host of Locked On Giants, talk about it earlier this week in our crossover Thursday episode. We talked about it a little bit last night with a couple with Doug Mouton and John Hendricks, as well as Darian Gray over on our Saints squad show, which was live last night. Everybody's talking about the Jameis Winston experience. The definition of the Jameis Winston experience, despite the definition that he gave, is that you never know which way things are going to go. High volatility, high variance when it comes to Jameis Winston. Three touchdowns per game over the course of the last two games, can quickly turn into three interceptions over the course of the next two games. This is where Julian Blackmon comes in. The only player with an interception so far this season has got to be a ballhawk in this game. And he knows, like he knows when he goes up against a quarterback, that's going to give him some opportunities. He's got to know that this is one of the weeks where those opportunities could potentially come in droves. And everything that we talked about when it came to Kirk Cousins, week three of the season, to where if you could make the first mistake happen, then all of a sudden you can start to get a cascade of them. That has never been more true for any quarterback that the Saints have faced this season and won't be more true for any quarterback that the Saints will face for the rest of the season than with Jameis Winston. And listen, I think Jameis is a good quarterback. I think Jameis got the raw end of the deal here in New Orleans. I also think that now that he's going up against New Orleans, they're familiar and know what it is that he can get done. Some of the players on defense at least that were around at that time, Cam Jordan, all that, and these guys have played against him in various stops, Brandon Staley included. And so Julian Blackmon and his ability to cover deep, Julian Blackmon and his ability to be a ballhawk and make plays on the football, he might end up being the most important player on defense in this game, especially if the Saints are able to limit the run game enough to force the Giants to have to pass and drop back on some big third downs. Cam Scadaboo, by the way, a player that's lost a lot of fumbles so far this season, the New York Giants, a team that's also lost a fair share amount of fumbles this season. That has been the Saints' bread and butter when it comes to taking the football away. They will continue to try to punch at the football and try to knock that ball loose. But the other way for them to get turnovers in this game is going to be through the air, could be a big time game for Julian Blackmon and as well as of course those corners in Kool-Aid McKinstry and Quincy Riley. But Julian Blackmon's ability to drop back, be a ball hawk and get to sideline a sideline and play the expanse of the field I think is going to be key in this matchup. All right, coming up in our next episode, we'll take one more look ahead to this matchup. And then of course, we'll be live with The Squad Show right after the game. We appreciate you very much as always, making us a part of your day, part of your routine. We're saying yes to me in the show. If you see me, please say hi. And if you need anything else around your New Orleans Saints in between these episodes, make sure you follow me on your favorite social media at Ross Jackson, N-O-L-A. Hit me up, let me know about families, let me know about how you're living. Let me know how you're moming them and trust you Dat Nation, I'll holla at you.