NEW ORLEANS — Editor's Note: Ralph is a Saints fan who writes a column from a fan's perspective. He is a New Orleans native who has been watching his favorite team from afar for more than a dozen years now.
NFL head coaches post pandemic mostly don't even pretend starting players or even most players that matter to their teams success need to play in preseason games anymore. New Saints head coach Dennis Allen is no different. The Saints had so many of their star players in sweats watching the Saints lose 20-10 last Friday to the Green Bay Packers, it'd be easier to list the players who will see playing significant playing time in 2022 who played than the ones who watched.
Not that I blame Allen one bit. Why risk injury to critical players in a game that star players probably don't want to play in, and let's be honest, fans barely have any interest in watching.
The Saints may have lost to Packers on the scoreboard Friday, but as far as I'm concerned they already notched their first victory of 2022 when the Saints defense dominated Packers receivers so badly in joint practices last week that Green Bay called a meeting with coaches, receivers, and Aaron Rodgers. I like to think in the meeting Rodgers explained how he wasn't mad Packers receivers got owned by the Saints secondary, he was just 'disappointed'.
If the Saints secondary can frustrate the back-to-back reigning MVP so much he's having post practice meetings with his receivers, just imagine what this Saints defense is going to do to average and mediocre quarterbacks? The thought has me giggling like my 6-year-old son watching Bluey.
There wasn't very much that happened in Green Bay Friday night that will matter for the 2022 Saints. The most important thing is first round pick Trevor Penning improved in his second game. Penning struggled in pass protection against the Houston Texans, and while it wasn't as terrible as us fans might think, the thought of Penning protecting Jameis Winston's blind side, while Winston is coming off a serious knee injury, didn't exactly create warm and fuzzy feelings. The thing to remember about Penning is his athletic gifts aren't just elite, if you were to create the perfect physically-designed offensive tackle in a laboratory, that tackle would be Trevor Penning. His relative athletic score was a 9.96, which is higher than the tackle the Saints hope he replaces in Terron Armstead, who had a 9.6 RAS, and wowed scouts at the NFL Combine in 2013. Of course being an incredible athlete doesn't guarantee success in the NFL, but the simple question is if and when will Penning put it all together? Could be next week, could be next year. The game against the Packers showed Penning might be a very quick study.
Penning's run blocking is already dominant. As someone on the Saints staff told my Saints Happy Hour podcast co-host Andrew Juge, “It's the best run blocking I've ever seen.” Penning bouncing back after a rough first game was excellent news.
The Saints other first round pick Chris Olave caught a touchdown, which was also excellent news for me personally, as while in Las Vegas I placed a bet on Mr. Olave to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Don't let me down Chris, my son's college fund is riding on you! Watching Wil Lutz make a couple of field goals last week in Houston was nice, watching him bang in a 59-yard kick that would've been good from like 70 was like having dinner at your favorite New Orleans restaurant – a combination of exciting comforting and relaxing all rolled into the perfect moment. Wil Lutz isn't just healthy again, he's BAAAAACK to being the Wil Lutz who makes 58-yard game winners.
Shout out to Dennis Allen for calling timeout so Lutz could kick with the wind before the first quarter ended. It warmed my heart when Allen screamed at the refs after they tried to not let him call the time out and allow the quarter to expire. The right time to yell at an NFL official is – ANY TIME–, even a meaningless and barely watchable preseason game. It was the moment Dennis Allen truly became the Saints head coach in my mind. Oh and punter Blake Gillikin boomed an 81-yard punt like it was a ho-hum every day type activity. Saints are going run rings around teams on special teams in 2022 and it'll get them an extra 2-3 wins.
Cesar Ruiz tackled Saints running back Tony Jones Jr., which is a problem because Ruiz plays for the Saints. We had a lot of fun at Cesar's expense on Saints Twitter, but he's had a really good camp, and that one play aside, Cesar looks like he's going to be playing like the player the Saints thought he was when they drafted him in the first round in 2020.
The rest of whatever else happened for the Saints in Green Bay? Let's just ignore or forget it because it's probably irrelevant once the real games start. We are 21 days away from the Saints season opener in Atlanta and if I had my way we'd just skip right over the preseason finale Friday against the Los Angeles Chargers. In fact, that's what I'm going to do. See y'all Week 1 for Falcons Hate Week.
Ralph Malbrough is a contributing writer and Saints fan living in Houston. Email him at saintshappyhour@gmail.com, find him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter at @SaintsForecast or download the Saints Happy Hour Podcast.
He's doing a live version of his Saints Happy Hour Podcast September 16th at Port Orleans. RSVP to get a free 'Boys Are Back in Town' cup featuring the Honey Badger and Jarvis Landry and help support Team Gleason.