The New Orleans Saints are navigating their own injury challenges heading into Week 2, but they pale in comparison to what their opponent will be navigating.
After a Week 1 win over the Seahawks the 49ers have already placed star tight end George Kittle on IR, and Brock Purdy will reportedly miss multiple weeks with a turf toe issue. Backup QB Mac Jones will draw the start and his main weapon will be superstar RB Christian McCaffrey, and it's on the Saints to take him away as much as possible, and WWL color analyst Deuce McAllister broke down on SportsTalk.
"If I am the Saints, I am treating Christian McCaffrey like teams treat … Alvin Kamara, and basically by that I mean I’m putting eight in the box and whenever he goes out I have a man underneath, I have a safety over the top and you’re going to have to throw it to someone else, and it won’t be your tight end, your blanket for you," Deuce told Mike Detillier. "You’re going to either have to give it to one of two of the receivers that you’re either bringing back or is playing hurt. It’s going to be somebody else. No job is ever easy, but for this defense it has to be to key in on Christian McCaffrey and not allow him to just be able to be Superman and beat you."
Hear the full breakdown from Deuce McAllister in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
McCaffrey himself has been navigating a calf injury, but he looked explosive as ever in Week 1. The 49ers' receiving corps was already whittled down heading into the year due to a knee injury that will keep him out at least the first month of the season. They're now relying on underrated WR Jauan Jennings, who is dealing with some injury issues himself, former Saints WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and 2024 first-rounder Ricky Pearsall who was a standout player for San Francisco with 108 yards on 4 catches in Week 1.
"I’m putting Alontae Taylor on Pearsall. I am putting him onto follow him everywhere he goes on the field and basically from that standpoint on all eyes, they go to McCaffrey," Deuce continued. "Everybody else, your job is to stop McCaffrey. Any other player on that field we should be able to slow down, but Pearsall, Alontae Taylor, he goes left, you got him. He goes right, you got him. He’s in the slot, you got him. Everybody else, your job is to stop McCaffrey. After that, you know, you kind of let the chips fall where they may.”
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New Orleans has injury concerns of their own, with starting RT Taliese Fuaga (knee) and DE Chase Young (calf) both missing practice to start the week. The Saints will also have to replace safety Julian Blackmon, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 1. He's expected to be replaced by rookie Jonas Sanker, a third-round pick in the most recent draft.
“This game was already interesting, but I thought that it was going to be one where the Saints almost had to play perfect," Deuce said, "and not to say that they’re not going to have to play almost perfect, but this game may be a lot more winnable than previously thought when you looked at the schedule originally.”
The Saints are still underdogs on the betting line, but it's dropped significantly from the 7 points it opened at and is now down to 3 in most sportsbooks. The Saints opened the season as 6.5 underdogs to the Cardinals.
The game will kick off at noon Sunday in the Caesars Superdome. Catch all the action on WWL and Audacy.
MORE FROM DEUCE
On eliminating penalties
“You’ve got to be able to lock in and focus … but also when you don’t play a full game, and this is no knock on how they’re doing it, it’s just the rules, because the Saints are not alone. The Titans also had 13 penalties, but when guys don’t play a lot you kind of get lackadaisical on the nuances and the smallest of things, and those small things, guess what they do, they end up costing you and they cost you yards and potentially they led to, you know, 7 points in a way, 13 penalties, 89 yards, almost that’s right at 100. When you talk about hidden yardage it just adds up.”
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Dealing with Nick Bosa & Fred Warner
“I’m gonna be honest, defensively and for the Saints offense, I don’t have answers for you in that area. ... At times you’ll probably see [Bosa] inside and so, you know, new defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, he does an outstanding job and so they’re going to try to pressure you.
"They’re going to try to get you in 1-on-1 situations and they are going to pressure you and so I don’t have the answer yet for how the Saints have to be able to attack them, but 1. is not turning the ball over, no doubt about that, but you’ve got to be able to attack them, I don’t know if it’s just with the run and go 12 personnel or 13 personnel and try to get double teams up front and just say, hey, we’re gonna get movement and at some point one of these runs will pop, or spreading them out is risky because if I do spread them out I’d better be able to say I can get the ball out of my quarterback’s hand quickly or I can win and get separation from the receiver’s standpoint, so there’s a couple different ways that you will have to go, I just don’t know the complete answer yet on which is the best way to go.”