Arizona Cardinals @ New Orleans Saints Pre Game Thread. 08/31/25-09/06/25

[Russ Smith]

Will we? I don’t know. We had the same number of sacks as the Eagles last year, but they were 1st in yardage and second in scoring defense. Why?

They had a better defense than us, much better, so they don't blitz very much. they had one of the lower blitz rates in the league last year we blitz a bunch more. 20% for the Eagles, 32% for us. I guess you can argue with more talent we'll blitz less but I get the impression Rallis is oneof those guys who likes to blitz, or scheme up pressure from all over where the Eagles just line up their guys and rush 4 and stop you

 

[kerouac9]

i would be fine if we have two guys around 8 and 4 more around 6...then a few ones and twos in the mix

That puts us where we were last season

 

[kerouac9]

They had a better defense than us, much better, so they don't blitz very much. they had one of the lower blitz rates in the league last year we blitz a bunch more. 20% for the Eagles, 32% for us. I guess you can argue with more talent we'll blitz less but I get the impression Rallis is oneof those guys who likes to blitz, or scheme up pressure from all over where the Eagles just line up their guys and rush 4 and stop you

So Sweat will rush more? Be in the field less? What’s your idea here? How does he increase his sack total by 50% with less talent around him?

 

[WisconsinCard]

Already booked the Indy Hotel so will be going.

Sweet I'll start looking for tickets. Trying to talk the wife into going but I think she's going to stay home for that one.

Wouldn't be the same with you.

 

[Russ Smith]

So Sweat will rush more? Be in the field less? What’s your idea here? How does he increase his sack total by 50% with less talent around him?

I think he will get more snaps and he'll also get more situations where he's got a mismatch because of scheme.

I mean Zaven got 5 sacks last year and he's famous for overrunning the QB and not getting a sack when he should. Sweat is a much better closer. We really didn't have a guy last year who could just line up and beat his man Sweat's much better than anybody we had last year.

 

[kerouac9]

We really didn't have a guy last year who could just line up and beat his man Sweat's much better than anybody we had last year.

Yeah but Sweat isn’t this guy either really. Third-tier edge player.

Like, congrats that he should get more pressure than Zaven Collins but that’s not going to get us to the unless he gets 3x more pressure than Zaven Collins.

 

[oaken1]

That puts us where we were last season

In overall sacks that ain't so bad...third down stops and getting turnovers are where we need to focus.
40 sacks.....
But 453 pressures?
Yeah, I'm good.

 

[oaken1]

So Sweat will rush more? Be in the field less? What’s your idea here? How does he increase his sack total by 50% with less talent around him?

Oh that's simple.
He gonna get there first. He is way quicker than those no talent guys.

 

[JosiahLee]

I was checking out the saints forums and they have a 4 page thread already... they think they are going to win.

Someone needs to remind them Rattler is 0-6 as a starter

It's true he hasn't won a game, but honestly I don't think he's terrible. I would be much more comfortable if they were starting Shough.

 

[Jetstream Green]

This team needs to have a young guy come through ultimately for this pass rush to be legit. May a guy like Jordan Burch not be a typical preseason apparition and the Cards find they caught lightning in a bottle

 

[Shane]

It's true he hasn't won a game, but honestly I don't think he's terrible. I would be much more comfortable if they were starting Shough.

Yeah, well you also think Bill Belichick was a crappy overrated coach soooo

 

[kerouac9]

It's true he hasn't won a game, but honestly I don't think he's terrible. I would be much more comfortable if they were starting Shough.

Terrible like what? He had a passer rating of 70 and a QBR of 40 in those six games. Sacked on 9% of his drop backs. 35% success rate.

Some of those stats were barely above Josh Rosen (who started 13 games!? How is that even real?).

 

[BritCard]

I mean he's not LT in his prime of course but I think it's sort of hard to judge sacks from a guy who played for the Eagles because they play so many guys in their pass rush rotation? Last year he led the Eagles in sacks with 8, year before second with 6.5, year before 3 way tie for 2nd with 11. So he's been the 2nd best pass rusher on one of the best defenses for the last 3 years behind only Reddick.

I guess we'll see I assume we will rotate our front guys quite a bit but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Sweat gets double digit sacks?


We had basically the same number of sacks the Eagles did last year but Collins led us with only 5 sacks. I think if Rallis is as creative this year as he was last year, with much better talent, we're going to see more sacks

This is actually what concerns me most about Sweat. He's performed well as a 50-60% of snaps guy. Can he handle being an 80% snaps guy?

 

[ajcardfan]

This is actually what concerns me most about Sweat. He's performed well as a 50-60% of snaps guy. Can he handle being an 80% snaps guy?

I bet he won't be playing that much. Unless our depth gets hit with injuries. No one on the Dline will play more than 50-60% IMO

 

[Russ Smith]

Yeah but Sweat isn’t this guy either really. Third-tier edge player.

Like, congrats that he should get more pressure than Zaven Collins but that’s not going to get us to the unless he gets 3x more pressure than Zaven Collins.

Again I'm not saying he's the best pass rusher in the league. I am saying that in the Super Bowl last year he was arguably the best player on the field. 2.5 sacks, a hit that caused an INT(drove his man into Mahomes in the endzone).

There's a good question Britcard brought up can he handle more snaps, but I think he's a massive improvement over what we had and I think Rallis' schemes will get him more chances.

If you watch for example the highlight package from him last year his old Eagles teammates are all talking about how "Sweaty" gets doubled all the time, and if they don't double him he's going to get to the QB. I know it's a highlight package but we haven't had a guy that's been able to do that.

 

[Adrian]

Arizona Cardinals Week 1 depth chart vs. New Orleans Saints

The Cardinals have set their depth chart for their season opener against the Saints.

cardswire.usatoday.com

 

[Russ Smith]

This is going to be an interesting test case on how much better our front seven is because as mentioned Rattler has a tendency to hold the ball and get sacked, at least he did last year and in college.

 

[Adrian]

Our offense vs their defense: Arizona Cardinals

Previewing the Saints’ offensive matchup for the season opener.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[Zeem_Freeze]

Our offense vs their defense: Arizona Cardinals

Previewing the Saints’ offensive matchup for the season opener.

sports.yahoo.com

What a terrible write up by that Saints reporter.

 

[slanidrac16]

Let’s not lose sight of the most important job of this front seven…STOP THE RUN!
Sacks will come the more we force obvious pass situations.

 

[oaken1]

Our offense vs their defense: Arizona Cardinals

Previewing the Saints’ offensive matchup for the season opener.

sports.yahoo.com

Wow.
That Homer displayed exactly zero knowledge of our defense and still thinks our defense is better than their offense

 

[MadCardDisease]

What a terrible write up by that Saints reporter.

That is not a reporter. That is a Saints fan just making a long post.

 

[Zeem_Freeze]

That is not a reporter. That is a Saints fan just making a long post.

That makes much more sense LOL

 

[MadCardDisease]

That makes much more sense LOL

SBNATION and Sports Illustrated are pretty much all blog posts by fans.

 

[phillycard]

Whew be careful bourbon street has a way of sneaking up on ya lol

For sure!