The biggest player our season hinges on (1 Viewer)

[David Robbins]

We all know that the o-line is the biggest question mark on our team. However, I’m not worried about Fuaga or Saldiveri. For me it’s easily Trevor Penning. The one thing that makes me feel a little bit more easy is that he did show some glimpses of improvement before getting benched. Watch the New England game and you’ll see a little improvement, though not enough to keep him on the field. The arrival of Benton and Dennison should help. Both coaches are huge improvements over last year’s O-line coach, and the system is also designed to make o-line play easier.

Still, Penning has been reported as still having some problems in OTA’s and mini camp in falling down and missing some blocks even without being in pads. He concerns me. I still think that the saints should bring in Bachtiari as insurance just in case.

 

[Saint Taysom]

The biggest player the season hinges on is the same player it is for every team in the league THE QB!

So for the Saints, it’s Derek Carr. The OL is sketchy, but sketchy OLs were overcome by great QB play (Brees and the quick passing game).

Even when the QB hasn’t been close to greatness, and teams have won the championship in spite of the QB (The Ravens and Trent Dilfer)… That championship Ravens’ team SB win hinged on Trent Dilfer making a few plays and NOT making the big mistakes to lose it.

 

[Plow]

I still think that the saints should bring in Bachtiari as insurance just in case.

Bakhtiari is not the answer: "Due to injuries, Bakhtiari has played in just 13 games in the last three years, 11 of which came in 2022. In 2023, Bakhtiari appeared in just one game for the Packers, as he simply hasn’t been able to stay on the field."

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[RJS]

Bakhtiari is not the answer: "Due to injuries, Bakhtiari has played in just 13 games in the last three years, 11 of which came in 2022. In 2023, Bakhtiari appeared in just one game for the Packers, as he simply hasn’t been able to stay on the field."

MSN

www.msn.com

I've also read that he has zero interest on playing on turf and I tend to believe it, or he would be a Jet.

 

[la. champ1]

The biggest player the season hinges on is the same player it is for every team in the league THE QB!

So for the Saints, it’s Derek Carr. The OL is sketchy, but sketchy OLs were overcome by great QB play (Brees and the quick passing game).

Even when the QB hasn’t been close to greatness, and teams have won the championship in spite of the QB (The Ravens and Trent Dilfer)… That championship Ravens’ team SB win hinged on Trent Dilfer making a few plays and NOT making the big mistakes to lose it.

I don’t think it’s Carr. I don’t even think it’s our rookie LT. that guy can clearly play. It’s whoever plays RT. That’s the weak spot on the line and offense. Besides that it’s our OC. I agree the truly great ones like Brees and Brady made the o line and WRs better than what they even were. But that’s not most QBs and not Carr. Carr is on the low side above average and on the high side great. Most of his career has been good which is in between. Carr is not in the mold of Brees or Brady. You must surround him with a solid o line, run game, and some talent at receiver, and solid pay calling to get the best out him. If you do that he can be a great QB but he won’t be in the realm of a Brees or Brady. Good thing is he doesn’t have to be for us to win and have a chance at a Super Bowl.

 

[St.Dan]

The answer is Derek Carr.

If he can make whatever conception of an offense Kubiak wants to field somehow work and produce wins, then he’ll have a much better-looking float dedicated to him next Mardi Gras

If it all flounders again on offense, then we’re easily looking at a top 10 spot in the first round of the draft next year.

 

[David Robbins]

I don’t think it’s Carr. I don’t even think it’s our rookie LT. that guy can clearly play. It’s whoever plays RT. That’s the weak spot on the line and offense. Besides that it’s our OC. I agree the truly great ones like Brees and Brady made the o line and WRs better than what they even were. But that’s not most QBs and not Carr. Carr is on the low side above average and on the high side great. Most of his career has been good which is in between. Carr is not in the mold of Brees or Brady. You must surround him with a solid o line, run game, and some talent at receiver, and solid pay calling to get the best out him. If you do that he can be a great QB but he won’t be in the realm of a Brees or Brady. Good thing is he doesn’t have to be for us to win and have a chance at a Super Bowl.

I watched a podcast yesterday about Carr and his play. They showed the numbers and he was actually ranked around number 5. Carr is better than most think. This was with a bad offense. I think we are fine with him at QB

 

[RadsRock]

Nope. The biggest player is actually Josiah Ezirim. 329 lbs.

 

[ndcc]

Penning.

With two solid anchor on each end of the OL, Brees could make a comeback on the team.

Hyperbole? Yes, but Penning is key in ‘23.

JMO

 

[solarbear88]

Probably RT. They want Penning to succeed and if we get solid OL play it will make a huge difference.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

We all know that the o-line is the biggest question mark on our team. However, I’m not worried about Fuaga or Saldiveri. For me it’s easily Trevor Penning. The one thing that makes me feel a little bit more easy is that he did show some glimpses of improvement before getting benched. Watch the New England game and you’ll see a little improvement, though not enough to keep him on the field. The arrival of Benton and Dennison should help. Both coaches are huge improvements over last year’s O-line coach, and the system is also designed to make o-line play easier.

Still, Penning has been reported as still having some problems in OTA’s and mini camp in falling down and missing some blocks even without being in pads. He concerns me. I still think that the saints should bring in Bachtiari as insurance just in case.

I disagree for one reason. In this scheme RT is a Jag. Go and look at all the teams that run this style of offense and check out who the RT is. Then go and look at what they are paying the LT.

 

[sammymvpknight]

I watched a podcast yesterday about Carr and his play. They showed the numbers and he was actually ranked around number 5. Carr is better than most think. This was with a bad offense. I think we are fine with him at QB

Whoever put those rankings together was an idiot. I actually watched Carr last year…he was much closer to 30 than 5. Even when Penning wasn’t sucking, Carr was holding the ball WAY too long. It’s like he had zero pocket presence. He had a few good moments but boy that was far and in between.

 

[livefromDC]

The answer is always the QB. This is true for every NFL team since the game is now centered around passing the ball. So that's the answer by default

To get to what I think the OP really wants to know, we need to exclude Carr. After Carr, the Saints season hinges on Fuaga, the new rookie starting left tackle. The drop off between him and whoever would replace him is huge compared to what would happen at any other position including, and especially, right tackle.

 

[David Robbins]

Whoever put those rankings together was an idiot. I actually watched Carr last year…he was much closer to 30 than 5. Even when Penning wasn’t sucking, Carr was holding the ball WAY too long. It’s like he had zero pocket presence. He had a few good moments but boy that was far and in between.

I believe it was an interview with Eric McCoy on nof where he said that coming to a new team was very hard because you don’t know anybody and you have to learn a new environment and the new personnel and the new scheme, and other challenges as well. It takes time to learn tendencies of new players too. You could see that in all the early communication deficiencies between Carr and his receivers. Later in the season those began to go away. He became top 5 in the league at the qb position at that point. Also early in the season the o-line was getting him killed. He then battled injuries. Yes, Carr must play better, but I am more worried about Penning than him

 

[kennydfresh]

I'm going to say this just to be the first. A fresh Micah Parsons will be lined up Penning week 2 (let that set in).....................ok.....the opportunity to break the NFL record for sacks in a game will be there for the taking that day. There I said it.