New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr speaks after the first day of Saints Training Camp practice at Crawford Field at University of California, Irvine, Calif., Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune) Earlier this month, New Orleans Saints defensive end Cam Jordan opened his X account, saw a video of another NFL player disparaging his team on a podcast and decided it was time to “wake up and choose violence.
” As social media responses go, Jordan’s comment wasn’t all that ruthless. But the post sent a message nonetheless. There was no way he was going to let Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St.
Brown get away with saying that no one on the Saints believed they are going to win a Super Bowl next season. So, Jordan replied that he “wholeheartedly” believes the Saints are going to win it all. Simple as that.
Asked about the post weeks later, Jordan still is a little annoyed. “I’m like, ‘How can you say that we don’t have dogs that don’t know how to win?’” Jordan said. “We have animals everywhere.
...
For me, I take it all quite personally.” Jordan is well in his right to be bothered, and he may not be alone. Across the team this offseason, general manager Mickey Loomis says he has noticed this Saints team carry a “chip on their shoulder” -- a sentiment players and coaches appear to agree with.
That chip, they say, has been created for all sorts of reasons. The lack of results. The lack of respect.
The lack of ...
heck, pick a topic. “We’re a little pissed off,” quarterback Derek Carr said. There’s a strange dynamic at play here for the Saints.
They say they don’t care about outside opinions, and yet have no qualms about pushing back against those assertions. Loomis, for example, said the media wasn’t “qualified to be critical” after a reporter brought up that another outlet recently ranked the Saints as having the second-to-worst three-year outlook in the NFL. When the topic of St.
Brown’s comments came up Wednesday, coach Dennis Allen curtly said “no one outside our building knows what’s going on inside our building.” But the Saints’ own failures have also contributed to that angst. Jordan repeatedly emphasized Wednesday how only has time for “right now” and that nothing can be taken for granted.
He has felt that way, he said, since the Saints’ devastating playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings in 2018. New Orleans, too, hasn’t made the postseason in the last three seasons. “(There’s) a heightened sense of urgency,” Carr said.
“I thought it was good last year, but then you get through it and ...
you see that urgency taking place. Our practices are fast, are urgent. There’s a physicality to them.
You can feel that on Day 1.” For the defense, that intensity took shape in the form of 40 up-downs right after the opening stretch period of practice. The exercise has become a tradition under Allen – who borrowed the bit from former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams – to instill toughness in his players.
Allen, too, said the Saints needed to have a bit of “our chip on our shoulder” as a way for players to better demand accountability once the season begins. Under Allen, the Saints have squandered promising starts to the season by hitting a lull in the middle of the year. Last season, the Saints started 2-0 but eventually fell below .
500 by Week 7 (3-4) and then again in Week 12 (5-6). New Orleans finished 9-8, but the midseason drag played a big part in why the team missed the postseason. After the year, Allen and others said the Saints’ culture had to improve.
Externally, though, expectations couldn’t be lower for the Saints. Oddsmakers have pegged them around 7 1⁄2 wins and +9000 to the win the Super Bowl, the latter of which ranks 25th across the league. New Orleans has similarly ranked near the bottom of lists that have examined preseason power rankings, a team’s long-term outlook and teams’ under-25 talent.
But again, the Saints don’t care about that. ..
. Unless they secretly do. “I think we have a chip on our shoulder and that’s energizing,” Loomis said.
“I think we have a lot of young players that are trying to make their mark and a lot of veterans who are unsatisfied with the last few years.”.
