{"id":133067,"date":"2025-08-10T00:43:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T00:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133067\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T00:43:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T00:43:49","slug":"new-orleans-saints-vs-los-angeles-chargers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133067\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans Saints vs. Los Angeles Chargers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By this time Rattler should be out of the game and Tyler Shough<\/a> will get his first NFL action (he could be inserted in the second quarter). Shough has shown improvement the last week, and his ability to keep plays alive with his legs is really a strength of his game. Will that translate Sunday? The second team offensive line needs to be up to task as well, keeping the Chargers off of Shough and giving him a clean pocket. Also, there aren’t many spots for running back for the final 53-man roster. Rookie Devin Neal<\/a> is out with a hamstring injury. This is the time for Velus Jones Jr.<\/a> and Marcus Yarns<\/a> to get extended looks. Defensively, a lot of younger players should be in the game. Keep your eye on rookies Quincy Riley<\/a> and Jonas Sanker<\/a> in the defensive backfield who each have interceptions during camp. Defensive end Fadil Diggs<\/a> had three sacks in the scrimmage Friday. Danny Stutsman<\/a> has been running third team at linebacker, but now he should get extended playing time against the Chargers. He has shown flashes at camp, now the lights will be on and how will he respond. The battle for the Nos. 4, 5, and 6 receiver will fully be on. You know what you have with Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed and Brandin Cooks. All other spots (depending on how many Moore will keep) are up for grabs. Mason Tipton<\/a> was the star of camp last season, then he got hurt and we didn’t see him again till November. He has had another solid camp and now is healthy and will get his chance Sunday. Kevin Austin Jr. and Cedrick Wilson Jr. each had touchdowns in the Friday scrimmage, and need to keep pace to earn a spot on the final 53.<\/p>\n

In case you hadn’t noticed we have a punting battle on our hands, With the release of Matthew Hayball earlier in the week, the open competition for the job between rookies James Burnip<\/a> and Kai Kroeger<\/a> is officially on. There is also a crowd of kickoff and punt returners, something that special teams coordinator Phil Galiano needs to sort out. What combinations of returners will be back there for kickoffs, and who will return punts? Might be a time for Donovan Peoples-Jones, who has had a quiet camp at wide receiver but has fielded punts during practice. If given the opportunity can kicker Charlie Smyth<\/a> knock in a game-winner like he did in Arizona last year for the Saints’ only preseason win? Can Jake Haener<\/a> lead the third-team offense to points? Haener has had a good camp as well and if the third team offensive line can block for him he should be successful, throwing to the aforementioned wide receivers. Who will step up at tight end? Behind Juwan Johnson, there is another open competition, especially since we know Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau will miss the start of the regular season. Can Michael Jacobson<\/a> use his 6-foot-7 frame and be a target for Haener? Most important, when the scoreboard shows triple zeroes, did you leave SoFi Stadium healthy. It’s nice to win preseason games, and the Saints certainly will be going for victory, but health is the ultimate key as the regular season approaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By this time Rattler should be out of the game and Tyler Shough will get his first NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":133068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[55799,80578,1582,276,78274,2961,105,224,5337,80577,20026],"class_list":{"0":"post-133067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-2025-training-camp","9":"tag-2025-pre-week1","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-gameday","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-news-todd-graffagnini","18":"tag-training-camp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115001705310754146","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}