Walker: Saints Are A Playoff Team

Hey Rod, how are you? I'm doing well man, thanks for having me on.

Thank you for taking the time to join us. We saw what happened last week, knocking off the Panthers, 47 points. The Panthers just benched their QB. And we saw a big ol' surprise down in Dallas yesterday, 44-19. Are you surprised at the offense and what the Saints have been able to do so far this season?

Yeah, I am. And if you ask anybody in New Orleans and they told you that they weren't surprised, they're lying to you. I'm not surprised. I mean, the Carolina game was impressive. But you know, everybody was like, okay, it's Carolina, so what?

Like nobody really put a whole lot of stock into it. But what they did yesterday was pretty dang impressive. And just being able to score on your, I mean Derek Carter, I mean, I'm sure you've seen this stat, but with him in the lineup, I mean, they scored on 15 straight possessions to start the season.

I mean, he got, obviously took them out at the end of the game. Carolina game last week, but scored on nine straight possessions last week and then scored on six straight possessions yesterday. And yesterday they were all touchdowns. Last week there was some field goals mixed in it. But yeah, just a really crazy start. I mean, Kugiak is a guy about it in New Orleans right now. And yeah, it's just something, it's been something to see, man.

I just never seen anything like it. Rod Walker joining us from the Tons, Picayune. When you take a look at how the Saints finished last year, they won four out of their last five games. People started to go, okay, they look okay. No expectation that they would have continued this into this season. What are your thoughts as the year continues on? They do have the Eagles next Sunday.

Is that going to be kind of welcome back to reality? Or do you think they can compete for a playoff spot? I think before the season started, I had this team projected as well. I had them going eight and nine.

And we do a poll here with immediate numbers. It's probably about 30 of us that covered the team. And, you know, we had a six and 11 in there.

I think that the height was like nine and eight. It may have been a couple of 10 and sevens, but nobody expected the team to do anything better than 10 and seven. But I think those expectations have definitely been raised. After going to Dallas, I mean, the Cowboys had won 16 straight games. You know, regular season games at home. So for them to be able to do that against a team that, I mean, it's bad. I mean, they looked bad yesterday, but I think the Saints made them look bad. I think the Cowboys probably do have a really good team.

So what they did yesterday changed the, it raised the expectations around here. I think we all sort of see this as a playoff team now. I mean, before the season, I thought the Falcons were the favorite to win the division.

And now I think the Saints are right there in the mix. And I wouldn't have been able to say that two weeks ago. They had a lot of questions come into the season. The offensive line was the big question mark of replacing three starters up front.

And they've held their own. And that's kind of been the key to this offensive setting is they've been able to run the ball, which kept their card a third and long situation. Because I think some of the pass detection issues may hurt this team if they ever come to that. But they've been able to run the ball on first or second down and stand out third and long. And I think that's been the key to this offense, clicking like it has been. Rod, you talk about Alvin Kamara. He had four touchdowns yesterday. I've seen people write and say things like he's passed his prime. We all heard the boos last year at some point. Derek Carr getting booed by the fans.

What are your thoughts on these two as they have to pretty much be the stars to carry the ship? People are just finding out right now about Rashid Shaheed. Yeah, I mean, Rashid's the guy that can kind of take the top off of the defenses. But Kamara's been that rock solid guy, man. This is a guy who, I mean, he had contract issues and decided to go ahead and play through. He told us several times, like, look, man, I'm not worried about that.

We'll figure that out when the season's over. And he's just been out there balling, man. And that's a testament to him and just how much he loves his team. He always talks about how he wants to play.

He wants to finish his career here where he started, and he's been able to do that. As far as Derek Carr, I mean, yeah, he had a rough first season. But I think him and Clint Kubiak have really gelled. I think Kubiak has sort of found the things that Carr does well, and he's been able to, you know, install that into the offense, and it's just really worked. I mean, it's done a lot more play action, a lot of pre-snap motion that you weren't seeing last year. And I think it kind of just, a lot of it just window dressing, I guess, for the offense, but it kind of throws the defenses off a little bit. And yeah, Kubiak, he's in his bag, man. I mean, he's dialing up everything. Everything, everybody he's pushing so far has been the right button. I don't know how long he can keep that up, but I mean, you know, two games, he's been really good.

Rod Walker's joining us from the Times-Picayune down in New Orleans. When you look at the rest of this season, have your expectations changed? You talk about how fans have said, oh, we can go ahead and do this now.

You had them at eight and nine. What do you think they might do the rest of the way? Well, I think when you look at this schedule, I think everybody was concerned about the first five games because they, well, not really the first one, not Carolina, but you got this four-game stretch with Dallas yesterday, then you got Philadelphia, then you go to Atlanta, and then you go to Kansas City.

I mean, that stretch, people were just not sure how they could come out of that. I mean, you know, you're thinking that can actually be a one-in-four stretch, but now all of a sudden, I mean, it's two or three at worst, but you kind of feel like this team can probably go on the road and beat Atlanta maybe. I mean, I know it's a rivalry game.

Kansas City at Arrowhead will be tough, obviously, but this game Sunday, I mean, if they can beat the Eagles, I mean, you're looking at a three and two start, and the schedule lightens up on the back end, so I think, I know I'm basing a lot of this on one game. It wasn't just that they won that one game. It was how they won that one game. I think it, you kind of think this offense may be a little better than, I think this offense may be better than any of us thought it would be going into the season.

Well, Rod. The defense is good. I mean, they've been solid for years, and that's Dennis Allen's strong sense of defense, and now he's sort of hired his guy to get the offense where it needs to be. So, yeah, I mean, I'd probably go up to 10 and 7 now. I think I'd probably add at least two more wins on that schedule because they've already got one win that I didn't think they had a chance to get it. At 10 and 7, does that mean you could see them going out here and winning the NFC South? In that division, probably so. 10 and 7 is probably, I think that's one of the NFC South the last three years maybe, but yeah, I just don't think that division is very strong. Even though the Bucks going up to Detroit yesterday was really impressive, and, you know, I think they, I've kind of written them off the last, you know, two years thinking they were going to drop off without Brady, and they've kind of been playing pretty well. So I don't know if 10 and 7 will win it, but I think it kind of puts you in there.

I think you have a really good shot at winning if you go 10 and 7. Ron, who are some other players on the Saints that don't get the nationwide or national attention that we should pay attention to? Is there anybody else that people are going to find out about more if they continue winning? I think, well this is a guy that people know about, but he just hadn't really, his career hadn't gone the path that he thought it would go, but Chase Young, just seeing him, I mean they signed him in free agency this offseason, but just watching him in training camp, I mean he was just dominating. He finally got in on a sack yesterday, so he only had, well he has a half a sack for the season, but he was so disruptive in training camp, and we kind of thought that he could be the guy that can make this defense a little bit better than it has been.

They struggled last year, kind of putting pressure on the quarterback to get in the sack, kind of struggled stopping the run, and Chase sort of added that element to the defense that they didn't have. I mean, he's a guy that, you know, he may be in one of those conversations, a defensive player of the year type conversation, I mean I think he could be that disruptive, and you look at some of the cornerbacks, and then possibly Adebo is a guy that sort of gets overshadowed because of Marshawna Lattimore, but Adebo had an interception yesterday, and he's a really solid number two quarterback, and could probably be a number one for some teams. I think he's that talented, so he's the guy that comes to mind, so I think those are these two guys, and I think Rashid Shaheed, who you mentioned earlier, I mean he's taken the top off the defense two weeks in a row.

I mean he's just such a speed guy, and they could be acting, and they're finding different ways to get the ball in his hands. I think people are going to start to hear more about him this season. Well Rod, you mentioned Chase Young, and we know his injury history. Is this more of an audition year for him with the Saints for the rest of the NFL, or is there a possibility that they can sign him to a long-term deal if he has a good year? I think they would definitely want to sign him to a long-term deal if he has a good year, and just kind of talking to Chase, you can tell that he knows that this is his chance to prove himself. I mean obviously he's aware about the injuries he's had, and he knows that that label sticks with you unless you stay healthy, and I think this season he's really trying to do that, and if he does, I think he's going to really open some eyes, and I think he's a guy that could really be a cornerstone for his defense in years to come. Wow, I know there's a lot of happy Saints fans watching him do that to the Cowboys yesterday, hearing what you had to say, and I think Derek Carr, he'll be happy because he can move towards Christmas without hearing boos. I think that'd be music to his ears as well. Yeah, I mean he had a rough first year here, and I mean even in the preseason this year, fans were like, oh they want to see Spencer Rather, they were just kind of done with Derek Carr, and to me, and I wrote about this, I mean, winning cures everything, and Derek Carr starts off 2-0, you can tell he's had a little bit more fun now, he did the Michael Jackson celebration after his touchdown run yesterday, which was like the most unknown. Yeah, I mean I think he's starting to win the fan base over, and Sunday will be a little difficult, I think he'll get some loud cheers when they introduce the offense in the pregame, I mean he'll get loud cheers, and I think he's kind of winning the fan base over now. Hey, well listen, you're going to have a lot of positive things to write about if they continue like this. Rod, where can people follow you and all of your work with the times picker you in and elsewhere? On Twitter or X or whatever it's called now, it's just Rod Walker Nola, and my stories are just on Nola.com, you can just go to the thanks tab or to the Rod Walker tab and you can find my writing on there. Hey Rod, I appreciate you, if they keep on playing like this, man, I may have to make my way from Atlanta to you, I'll check you out, I'll let you know. Okay, let me know, thanks man.