The Recap- Saints Vs Vikings

Jamie UK • November 13, 2023


Some second-half Jameis Winston dramatics brought some much-needed excitement for Saints fans but in the end all it did was make a dismal performance look slightly better than it was on the boxscore as the Saints lost again to the dreaded Minnesota Vikings 27-19.


There is plenty to unpack here, sadly a lot bad and a lot very familiar if you’ve followed the Dennis Allen Saints even remotely closely.


Team Stats 


(Saints/Vikings)


Final Score: 19-27

First downs: 16-23

3rd down efficiency: 4/14- 6/15

Total yards: 288-388

RedZone Efficiency:2 of 2- 2 of 3

Penalties: 9 for 74 yards- 5 for 35 yards

Turnovers- 2- 0

Time of possession- 26:54-33:06


Takeaways 


Offense


Another uninspiring showing from the Derek Carr offense only scoring 3 points before being knocked out of the game after taking a brutal and somehow legal hit in the third quarter. To me and many others, it looked like a hit that should have been flagged for roughing the passer after he was hit hard high and low (which is not legal).


 Carr was ruled out with a concussion and a right shoulder injury, per Nick Underhill it appears Carr managed to avoid any major injury to his shoulder and HC Dennis Allen made it clear to the media that Carr would still be the Saints starting QB going forward, health permitting.


Jameis Winston treated us to the full Winston experience, he entered the game and completed his 1st 3 passes, the 3rd of those being a perfect throw to the back of the endzone, whilst the throw was brilliant the catch from Olave was even better per Next Gen Stats the throw had a 10.5% completion probability, the lowest probability pass to be completed all season. He followed this up with a dropped INT, an absolutely ludicrous TD pass to rookie A.T Perry, were threw a bullet across the field to Perry in the back of the endzone, for Perry to treat us to his bets Randy Moss impression with a great contested, jump ball catch. 


The two TDs were followed by 2 Alvin Kamara 2-point conversation runs to make it a 1 score game, after being down 24 points when Winston entered the game. Unfortunately and probably predictably Winston then proceeded to throw 2 interceptions, the first was essentially an arm punt, he was immediately had pressure in his face from a Vikings blitz that was not picked up, Winston tried to throw the ball up to Olave. The 2nd I cannot excuse it was a poor throw to Shaheed in triple coverage.


Honestly, though, I’m not going to slander Winston too much here he gave the Saints a chance in a game where they looked to have no hope, he threw 2 outrageous TD passes and gave the offense some life. He also immediately got Chris Olave going in a way we haven't really seen since about week 2. So all credit to Winston for coming into the game and at least giving the Saints a chance.


Other Offensive notes:


  • Mike Thomas left the game early in the first offensive drive and did not return with a Knee injury, Nick Underhill has also reported that it appears that Thomas’ injury is not considered to be serious and that the Saints kept him out more as a precaution. 


  • Alvin Kamara looked much running the ball today (4.7 YPC), unfortunately, the Saints fell behind too much too quickly for the Saints to make the most of this.  Also with his 2 successful 2-point conversions, he now has 8 all-time which is tied for the most in NFL history with HOF RB Marshall Faulk (shoutout to John Sigler for this stat). 


  • A.T Perry finally caught his first NFL pass (regular season) followed by the insane catch I mentioned earlier, overall he looked pretty good playing Mike Thomas’ spot, he did have one drop on a pass over the middle but overall a good showing, hopefully the Saints keep him involved even when Thomas is back on the field.
  • 
  • Brutal penalties were back, after having only 1 last week, this week we saw a horrid false start on 4th and 1, which meant that the Saints had to punt. Then we saw dreadful offensive offsides that negated a 15+ yard play to Chris Olave.



Defense


This game felt almost exactly the same as the Bears game for the defense, except this week they were facing a more experienced/ competent NFL QB in Josh Dobbs who didn't commit the turnovers that helped the score not get away from them. This week without the turnovers coupled with another painfully slow start the Saints were in a big hole giving up 24 first-half points. 


Same as last week there were pass catchers wide open regularly and another TE gashed the Saints defense at will, Vikings TE T.J Hockenson ended with 11 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown after he was limited all week in practice with a rib injury. The Vikings achieved this first-half success without their, QB1, WR1 and WR3. Add to this the QB that was playing and dicing up the Saints defense wasn't even on the team 2 weeks ago. I came away from this game very impressed this Kevin O’Connell, who is clearly a brilliant offensive mind and play-caller who should firmly be in the coach of the year conversation.


One positive thing I will say about the Saints defense is they did a much better job getting pressure on the opposing QB this week than last week but… it's not all positive as is often the case with mobile QBs they couldn't turn that pressure into sacks as Dobbs often escaped and used his legs for positive yards or found open players downfield.


The defense did stiffen again in the second half, Dobbs only had 48 passing and 4 rushing yards in the second half and they only gave up 3 points after giving up 24 in the first. This week though the second-half effort was too little too late and it does beg the question of why they haven't been able to show this high-level play earlier in games for 5 straight weeks now.


At this stage, it begs the question what are the redeeming factors to DA as a HC? Earlier in the season I could have made an argument that if you have a HC who can coach either side of the ball at an elite level that is a plus for any team. Well… with the defense now putting this team in a hole in the first half for 5 straight weeks you can't make that argument for DA anymore, my patience for the 2nd straight season has run out. He can't get this team to play at a high level on a consistent basis and generally, he can only get wins against teams with losing records. 


Other Defensive notes:


  • Marshon Lattimore left the game with an Ankle injury, Nick Underhill has reported that he has an ankle sprain and will get an MRI tomorrow to determine the severity.


  • This looked like a rough game for the starting safeties, especially Marcus Maye he got put in a blender by Hockenson on what looked like a couple of occasions.


  • Paulson Adebo wasn't as good today as the last 2 weeks, but continued his strong play overall and still looked like the Saints best CB.



Saints Stock Exchange (Sponsored By… Nobody)


Just a quick hit section each week to highlight which Saints players/staff have their stock value increasing and decreasing after each game, 3 up and 3 down:


Stock Up


  • A.T Perry
  • Chris Olave
  • Malcolm Roach


Perry looked solid in place of Thomas and caught his first NFL touchdown pass in emphatic fashion. 


Olave finally looked like the WR we expected had an insane TD catch of his own and made some great contested catches, not sure why it needed Winston at QB for this to happen but encouraging to see the 2nd year WR get back on track.


I’ll be honest I struggled with my final up, but I decided to go with unsung DT Malcolm Roach, he looked active in the run game and also registered a PBU. 



Stock Down


  • Marcus Maye
  • Pete Werner
  • Dennis Allen


Maye features in my down list for the 2nd week in a row, it looked like he really struggled today, especially in man coverage against Hockenson.


Pete Werner is a new name to this list, the usually dependable LB looked to be on the wrong side of plenty of plays today, especially in run defense ( an area in which he usually shines) He was flat-footed on a Dobbs scramble where it looked like he could have stopped Dobbs for a short gain, it was reported after the game that he was the player the Saints had as the QB spy, which wasn't particauly successful and he also had an illegal contact penalty that wiped out a Cam Jordan sack.   


Finally DA, I don't need to explain this one.


Conclusion 


The Saints have had the easiest schedule in the NFL, been given every break possible against those teams and for once have been one of the healthiest teams in the league (before today) and are still 5-5, there's no excuse for that, they are what they are. Which is an extremely talented team #onpaper with dreadful coaching. 


This team will probably still win 9 games because frankly the schedule is that easy and they may well win the putrid NFC South after the Falcons lost today to the previously 1-8 (now 2-8) Cardinals leaving the Saints still atop the decision entering the bye week. Hopefully, Mickey Loomis can see that still isn't good enough with the cards the Saints have been dealt and starts anew with the coaching staff, I'm not convinced but a man can hope.


After that game, I've never been more pleased that the Saints are on a bye week.


Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram @SaintsReportUK, for much more Saints content and discussion throughout the 2023 season and beyond. 


A quick share helps us a lot!

Late Rally Sparks Another Tiger Comeback Over Vols

By David Billiot Jr • April 4, 2026
Friday Evening Recap For the third consecutive game, the LSU Tigers decided to be the Cardiac Cats. That’s nothing new for an LSU baseball team, but considering the struggles of this team in 2026, the mid-game deficits have seemed scarier than normal. Tennessee’s new Friday night ace Landon Mack was phenomenal and he had the Tiger offense in a pretzel. Through 7 innings, he struck out 10 and was mowing LSU hitters down. They only mustered together 3 hits, one of which was a Jake Brown solo homerun, representing the only damage Mack allowed. He finished his outing by retiring 14 straight hitters, which makes Josh Elander’s decision to not send him back out in the 8th inning with 96 pitches that much more confusing. He was showing no signs of slowing down. Hindsight is 20/20, though, and the Tigers went full-on attack mode with the Volunteer bullpen. A 5-run 8th inning flipped the game on it’s head and LSU never looked back. Coming off of his strange outing vs Kentucky, Casan Evans was pretty good from the very beginning. It was two pitches and two swings that resulted in the only damage that he sustained. Both were mistake pitches that were left in hittable spots and Tennessee hitters deserve credit for taking advantage of them. Aside from that, Evans was very good, despite not making it through the 6th inning. There was some shakiness in the 7th from the bullpen, but Santiago Garcia ended up receiving the win to bring his record to 1-0. Deven Sheerin’s second save of the season closed out a massive victory on the road in Knoxville, as the Tigers took game 1 by a final score of 7-5. Pitching Casan Evans got off to a great start in the 1st. Despite a 2-out single to the open part of the field due to the shift, he struck out two for a pretty easy inning. A leadoff single in the 2nd was quickly erased by a 6-4-3 double play turned by Steven Milam and Seth Dardar. Another groundout to Milam would retire the side in order. Tennessee made their first dent in the 3rd when Levi Clark hit a belly-high fastball out to left-center to tie the game at 1-1. Evans would retire the next two hitters to end the inning. The 4th is where he would find the most trouble. After a flyout to start the inning, the Vols would get a bloop single, followed by a Reese Chapman bomb to right-center field to give them their first lead of the game. Another deep flyout and a strikeout would end the inning there. Evans walked the leadoff hitter in the 5th, but then struck out three in a row to prevent any further damage. The Friday night ace would see the end of his night in the 6th after a walk and single put two runners on with 1 out in the 6th. He hung in to get a lineout, but with 2 outs, Jay Johnson would walk out to make the change. Final line: 5.2 IP / 6 hits / 3 runs / 6 Ks / 2 BBs / 90 pitches (62 strikes, 69%) Danny Lachenmayer was called upon for the third time in the last four SEC games, showing the inflated level of trust that the coaching staff has found in him. He came in to face a lefty Tyler Myatt and struck him out on 4 pitches to do his job. Final line: 0.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 0 BBs / 4 pitches (3 strikes, 75%) Mavrick Rizy entered to start the 7th and was in the strike zone immediately, recording a 4-pitch strikeout, but then lost it and walked the next hitter on 5 pitches. A jam shot would roll right in to no man’s land with Dardar playing up the middle, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Omar Serna would get charged with an inexcusable passed ball to allow both runners to move up. Rizy came through with a massive strikeout with the infield drawn in, but then allowed another walk after a 2-2 count to load the bases. Final line: 0.2 IP / 1 hit / 1 run / 2 Ks / 2 BBs / 24 pitches (11 strikes, 46%) Jay would call upon Santiago Garcia with 2 outs and bases loaded and left-handed hitting Blake Grimmer coming to the plate. Four straight balls would walk in a run to extend Tennessee’s lead to 4-1. Garcia was able to find the zone against Chapman, striking him out to prevent further damage. Final line: 0.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 1 BB / 10 pitches (4 strikes, 40%) A 5-run 8th inning for LSU took them from down by 3 runs to up by 2, Jay turned to Deven Sheerin to try and get the final 6 outs of game. He recorded back to back flyouts to Chris Stanfield to start the inning, but even those were nerve=racking as he temporarily lost both in the sunsetting sky. A single and a walk put the tying run on base with 2 outs, but the junior got his first strikeout and let out a primal yell afterwards. After Stanfield added an insurance run in the top of the 9th, Sheerin returned in the 9th to close out the game. Despite a 2-out solo homerun to make it 7-5, he struck out the side with two of them looking to slam the door and record his second save of the season. Final line: 2.0 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 4 Ks / 1 BB / 41 pitches (28 strikes, 68%) Hitting Derek Curiel’s 8th inning grand slam was, to no one’s surprise, was the Magic Moment of the game. Just when it looked as if LSU was going to waste a huge opportunity, the star sophomore did what stars do and changed the game with his one swing. He also singled earlier in the game and was the only Tiger to record multiple hits tonight. Curiel finished 2-4 with the 4 RBI and scored that one time. Chris Stanfield hit his second homerun of the game to add insurance in the 9th, but that was not his biggest at bat of the night. He was up second in the 8th and after Mason Braun drew a walk to lead off the inning, the senior outfielder laid off a few good breaking balls to draw the second walk of the inning, which eventually led the bases. Not many players could have held back from chasing all of those pitches and that game would have been completely different if he struck out in that moment. Stanfield finished 1-3 with the homerun, walk, RBI on the homerun, and also scored twice. Jake Brown and Seth Dardar both finished with identical lines. They went 1-4 with solo homeruns. Brown hit his in the 3rd inning to start the scoring for either team. Dardar’s came immediately following Curiel’s grand slam for back to back blasts. His actually ended up being the difference in the game, as it made the score 6-4, because Tennessee hit the solo homerun in the 9th for their fifth run. Although he went hitless, Mason Braun deserves to be noted for 2 walks. He finished 0-2 and also struck out twice, but one of the walks was the only one that Landon Mack allowed and the other was to lead off the big game-changing 8th inning. Up Next LSU and Tennessee will return tomorrow evening for game 2. First pitch is for 5 pm central, as the Tigers look to follow up their first SEC series win with their first road SEC series win of 2026. With today’s win, LSU is now 21-10 overall and back to .500 with a 5-5 conference record. Tennessee drops to 19-11 overall with a disappointing SEC record of 3-7. William Schmidt (4-1) will take the mound for the Tigers to make his second consecutive game 2 start. He is coming off of the win vs Kentucky in which he threw 5.1 scoreless innings. The Volunteers will answer with Tegan Kuhns, who had been their Friday night ace up until last weekend. The potential 1st round pick in this July’s draft has not had the season he expected, but is still very talented. He’s off to a 1-3 start in 2026 with his 4.08 ERA. Although he’s struck out 46 hitters in 35.1 innings pitched, he’s allowed 34 hits. LSU would love to strike first, as the trajectory of Tennessee’s early conference season is in a tailspin at this current moment. If the Tigers can come out hot, they will put a lot of pressure on the Volunteers. Follow me on X for much more @DCBilliotJr
An LSU Tigers baseball player in a yellow jersey yells and pumps his fist in celebration while wearing a purple helmet.

Massive Comeback Gives LSU First SEC Series

By David Billiot Jr • March 30, 2026
Sunday Afternoon Recap LSU had to have it. They had to have this series, which meant they had to have this game. Putting themselves directly behind the 8-ball with a loss on Friday night set up an uphill battle. An uphill battle that appeared to be too tall to climb after a disastrous start to the game on Sunday. Since the postgame on Friday night, we had been saying that the importance of Casan Evans battling through 6 innings in game 1 would truly have. In their first weekend without Cooper Moore, the Tiger pitching staff was going to be challenged. The performances of William Schmidt and Zac Cowan in game 2 put them in about as good of a position as they could have hoped for, which allowed Jay Johnson to call upon Gavin Guidry to start on Sunday. There is no one on the roster that is trusted more by Jay, so it was no surprise to see his name listed as starting pitcher about 90 minutes before first pitch. It was surprising just how much Guidry struggled, though. Control was an issue from the very first pitch. It wasn’t much better for a few guys that came after him, either, putting LSU in a deep hole. The pitching rapidly improved with Deven Sheerin and the stabilization on the mound allowed the offense to get to work and complete the comeback. Following a horrid game on Friday night, the Tiger lineup showed signs of life yesterday in game 2. Despite only scoring in 3 innings, they put up crooked numbers in each of them and that was a step in the right direction. Well, today was a gigantic leap in the right direction, because the offense went crazy. Jay described the performance of his team after the game as “zero quit”. After just one hit in the first time through the order, they picked things up in a hurry during the second trip through. Once they got going, there was no slowing them down. LSU scored in 5 of their final 6 at bats, with three of those times being 4+ runs. It was big swing after big swing, something we have rarely seen this year. Time will tell if this was truly the breakout game that they had been looking for or just an anomaly, but either way, they showed up when they were needed the most. Pitching It could not have been a worse start for Gavin Guidry. Needing as much length as you can possibly get from every pitcher that stepped on the mound today, a 39 pitch 1st inning was less than ideal. After an infield single to start the game, followed by a stolen base, he recorded a flyout for the first out. Guidry then issued three straight free passes to give Kentucky their first run since Friday night. A strikeout and an 0-2 pitch count would get him just one pitch away from escaping with minimal damage, but he’d lose him to give up his 3rd walk and bring in another run. A wild pitch would make it 3-0 before Guidry recorded a strikeout to finally get out of the 1st. Jay sent him back out for the 2nd, but it wasn’t much better. He recorded a flyout to start the inning, but then the hit barrage from the Wildcat bats got started. Guidry gave up a single, double, and then a walk, and was out of the game with the score 4-0. Final line: 1.1 IP / 3 hits / 6 runs / 2 Ks / 4 BBs / 48 pitches (24 strikes, 50%) Santiago Garcia took over after Guidry and immediately gave up a base-clearing double that made the score 6-0. He fought back for a flyout and a groundout, but the Tigers were already in deep trouble. Back for the 3rd, Garcia would walk the leadoff hitter and then LSU nearly turned a rare double play that doesn’t involve Steven Milam, but Zach Yorke was unable to scoop Seth Dardar’s low throw. A 4-pitch walk would be the end of the junior LHP’s day. Final line: 1.0 IP / 1 hit / 1 run / 0 Ks / 1 BB / 20 pitches (7 strikes, 35%) Connor Benge entered with runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out, coming off of a good outing on Tuesday where he put out a fire. His job got even tougher after a passed ball on Omar Serna allowed both runners to move up, which set up a sacrifice flyout to centerfield to make it 7-0 and that would be all for Benge. Final line: 0.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 0 Ks / 0 BBs / 5 pitches (2 strikes, 40%) Cooper Williams took over and was able to end the inning with a lineout. He returned in the 4th for another good inning. Despite a 1-out walk, the lefty struck out Kentucky’s 3 and 5-hole hitters, along with a nice defensive play by John Pearson on a slow roller. Final line: 1.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 2 Ks / 1 BB / 23 pitches (13 strikes, 57%) After a fantastic outing by Mavrick Rizy on Friday where he threw 80% strikes, it was the opposite story today. He struggled from the very beginning and walked two of Kentucky’s worst hitters in their lineup, as per batting average. Their 7-hole hitter Will Marcy came in with a .200 average, while 9-hole hitter Carson Hansen was at .227 and Rizy walked them both with a strikeout between them. Following the second walk, his day was over. Final line: 0.1 IP / 0 hits / 2 runs / 1 K / 2 BBs / 18 pitches (8 strikes, 44%) Jay had to call upon Deven Sheerin far earlier he would have liked, especially considering that was the last of his “top” arms that was completely fresh for the weekend. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and only 1 out, Sheerin was being asked to come through in a huge spot with the Tigers having closed their deficit to 7-6. With the infield drawn in, Steven Milam took a ground ball and fired home to nab a potential run for out number to. Sheerin then had the next hitter down 0-2, but was struggling to finish him off with four straight foul-offs. Luke Lawrence eventually slapped a ball the other way off of the left field wall to drive in both runs. Bell followed with an RBI single and just like that, LSU was back down 10-6. From that point on, the big righty was nails. Sheerin struck out three in a row going in to the 6th, which ended up being the first 1-2-3 inning of the day for the Wildcats. After recording two outs to start the 7th, which made for 6 retired in a row, he hit a batter and that would be the end of the day. His ability to battle past the early hiccups played a massive role in bridging the gap to the end of the game for the bullpen. Sheerin earned the win to extend his record to 3-0. Final line: 2.1 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 3 Ks / 1 BB / 1 HBP / 50 pitches (35 strikes, 70%) Danny Lachenmayer entered with two outs in the 7th for what was his second appearance of the weekend. This one was the biggest spot he has been in as a Tiger, though, and he delivered. He recorded a flyout to end the threat and preserve the 11-10 lead that LSU had just taken. He returned for the 8th, but gave up a base hit with to the open part of the field with the infield shifted. Final line: 0.1 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 0 Ks / 0 BBs / 5 pitches (3 strikes, 60%) Grant Fontenot entered and despite his shaky performance on Tuesday, he has been pretty good for the past month. After recording a flyout, he initiated a 4-6-3 double play that was beautifully turned between Dardar and Milam. Back in the 9th and now pitching with a 7-run lead, Fontenot cruised. Despite a 1-out single, he struck out two, including the final hitter of the game to clinch the game and LSU’s first SEC series win of the season. Final line: 2.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 2 Ks / 0 BBs / 22 pitches (15 strikes, 68%) Hitting Set h Dardar was not only the offensive MVP of the day, but he was the best player at the plate for LSU all weekend. Today, his 6th inning 3-run homerun on to the roof of the Marucci hitting facility gave the Tigers their first lead after they fell behind 7-0 after the top of the 3rd. That wasn’t all for Dardar, as he also doubled and finished 3-5 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored. His defense was impeccable all weekend. Jay has been searching for someone to take over the second base position and, as of now, the local kid has done just that. The other giant swing of the day belonged to John Pearson. A 2-out grand slam in the 3rd brought the Tiger back to within just 2 runs and brought both LSU and Alex Box Stadium back to life. Speaking of players taking control of positions, the sophomore has done just that at 3rd base. He has also shown big strides of improvement defensively, garnering praise from Jay after the game. Pearson finished 1-4 with the 4 RBI and a run scored, while also walking once. Derek Curiel had himself a huge day and was a part of every single big inning. He scored 3 runs and those came in the 3rd when LSU closed the deficit, in the 6th when they took the lead, and then in the 8th when they extended it way out of reach. He hit his second homerun of the year, a beautifully struck backside blast on a pitch that was on the outer half of the plate. Curiel finished 3-5 with 3 RBI, the 3 runs scored, and a walk. It wasn’t his first time leading off this season, but Chris Stanfield has not been in that position very much. Today, he may have shown why he should stay there. The senior went 4-5 and also drew a walk. He doubled and had two opposite field singles. One of those was immediately following when he fouled a ball right off of his knee and went down to the ground in major pain. Jay told us after the game that when he went out to check on his leader, Stanfield looked at him and said that he was ok and was going to come through. He did just that, lining a base hit to right field and driving in a run. He also walked and scored twice. Jake Brown didn’t drive in a single one of LSU’s 17 runs and the importance of that can not be overstated. I have mentioned multiple times in the past week that it is imperative that other players step up, because opposing teams are not going to allow Brown to beat them. Why would they? Pitchers have not given him much to hit and he’s had to work with what he’s given in many of these games. Despite the “quiet” day by his standards, Brown finished 2-5 with a couple of singles and scored 3 runs. Zach Yorke may not have driven in a ton of runs, either, but he was very active by getting on base four times. He finished 1-3, but he drew 3 walks and scored twice. Up Next LSU will stay home and welcome Southern for a midweek matchup on Tuesday. First pitch is for 6:30 pm central. The Tigers improved to 19-10 (4-5 SEC) with the win today. The Jaguars will come to Alex Box with a record of 10-16. They took 2 of 3 in a series with Prairie View A&M at home this weekend. Their common opponents with LSU include both Grambling, who Southern beat, and two games with McNeese, in which they split. Follow me on X for much more @DCBilliotJr
Show More