There are a lot of subplots for the Saints over the next few weeks, particularly as it comes to a string of banged-up quarterbacks starting with Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars.
But there's a simple message this Saints team has to embody, as WWL Radio's Deuce McAllister explained on SportsTalk this week.
Listen to full breakdown with Deuce McAllister in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"At the end of the day you have to be able to control what you can control," McAllister told Mike Detillier and Bobby Hebert on SportsTalk. "So the New Orleans Saints, control what you can control. If Trevor Lawrence isn’t out there, that’s not your problem. You’re not choosing to say, hey look, Trevor, you can go sit down. You don’t have to play today. … If it’s Gardner Minshew, so be it. I’ve got to go play Gardner Minshew. [Anthony Richardson] is having surgery, he’s not available. Justin Fields, he won’t be available. New Orleans Saints, control what you can control."
The Saints won't apologize for their schedule, but there's no denying it's a favorable one. Their three wins thus far have come against a trio of teams (Titans, Patriots, Panthers) that are a combined 3-15. As Deuce mentioned, they won't see Anthony Richardson and likely not Justin Fields the next few weeks.
But remember, there are no style points in the NFL. Win the games, then figure out the rest.
"If you win them by 30 points or you win them by 1," McAllister said. "I would like for you to win them by 30, and if it’s 1, it’s still a win. But at the end of the day, control what you can control.”
The Saints, losers of three of their past four, will hope to get on the right track on Thursday Night Football. Catch all the action on WWL Radio.
MORE FROM DEUCE
On penalty issues
“I understand being agressive. I understand wanting to play with a physical mentality and you want to be able to get away with — hey, if I can get away with pulling and holding, then so be it. Same thing for an offensive lineman. It’s only holding when the ref calls it. The problem becomes they’re calling it consistently, and so that makes you have to say, hey look, maybe I have to change a little bit what I’m doing, because apparently it’s working, but it’s not working enough, particularly when they’re consistently calling it on me or on your team.
"And so I’m all for aggressive, but at the same time it’s to the point where you’re starting to hurt yourself, and so that’s really where you have to refine your technique and trust what I’m doing. The hardest part, particularly when you talk about from a defensive back standpoint, I know the ball is in the air and instead of trusting my technique I go to panic, I panic panic, and so I grab … instead of just trusting my technique I’m going to have, when I see his hands go up, that’s when I’m going to put my hands up, I’m going to rake through and try to get my head around.”
On Saints' execution woes
“Here’s my fuss with the offense, whether it’s offensive line, running backs, quarterback, receivers, tight ends. You can ask for more as far as plays, alignment, more motion, more shifts, whatever it may be, we can ask for more personnel. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.
"Right now … you’ve got multiple people, not just one, and I watch the film, I see the film, too. I may not know exactly the play, but I know an MA. I know a missed assignment when I see it. I know when a quarterback goes to a receiver and he almost throws an interception, or I see a signal being given and you get a grounding call or you make a check at the line and you turn a 3-technique loose, that’s not bad play-calling, guys. You can go, oh, it’s a horrible call, no that’s not bad play-calling.”
