Editing Episode 618 (section)

== Saints Preview: Interview with Charles Starr ==

Arif conducted a recorded interview with Charles Starr of the CitySaintCountrySaint podcast — co-hosted with Erlon Mexico — and the No Homework podcast (described as "three guys screwing around" about shitty jobs and hardly working, with co-host Patrick Cosmos).

=== Saints Offence: Tyler Shough and the Running Game ===

Starr catalogued the Saints' injury losses across their first four weeks: Kelvin Banks (Week 2), Brian Briseé (preseason), Caden Ellis (between Weeks 3 and 4), Carl Granderson (Week 3), Travis H.N. (Week 3), and Pete Werner limited throughout. Beneath the injuries, he identified the running game as the core structural failure: two yards per carry against stacked boxes, zero explosive runs (10+ yards) in four weeks except a single draw play, tied for last in the league. He attributed this to Alvin Kamara's physical decline — describing him as having lost the "gumby joints" that let him absorb contact and re-stabilise, now falling at first contact and offering nothing in pass protection — and to the roster situation that left the Saints without functional blocking backs. Kamara and Kendra Miller were both characterised as useless in pass protection, forcing the staff to telegraph protection assignments by keeping undrafted free agent CJ Donaldson on the field.

The depth situation at running back was further complicated by an extraordinary sequence in which three players declined injury settlements to sign elsewhere: Audric Estime, Devon Neal, and Michael Heldman all said no to Saints IR offers, with Heldman landing on the Raiders. Arif noted he had never heard of three players simultaneously refusing injury settlements, and Starr framed it as the Saints being out-Belichicked when the Bears then cut their own long snapper and immediately reclaimed the Saints' pirated replacement off their own practice squad — the second in a sequence of three long snappers used in five weeks, one of whom drew an almost-unheard-of holding penalty that cost the Saints 30 yards of field position on a punt.

Starr pushed back on Arif's characterisation of Tyler Shough as a backup-quality ceiling, arguing the running game handicap and poor offensive line support were the primary statistical drag on what was otherwise competent quarterback play. He cited Devon Veley's emergence as a contested-catch threat at 6'5" and Kellen Moore's ability to design clean 8–15 yard completions through route combinations that exploit the space vacated by a Saints offence that operates effectively in 11 personnel despite not having a true vertical threat. The Saints rank 50th in third-down conversion rate (fifth-best in the league), which Starr attributed entirely to the running game never producing first downs, placing Shough in constant third-and-long situations where the passing offence's efficiency becomes the only relevant stat.

Arif noted that the Saints are 10th in points per drive despite historically bad field position and lead the league in drives ending in fumbles — strip sacks on Shough from a still-learning-to-hear-footsteps quarterback — suggesting both positive regression and a running-game explanation for the negative drive-ending rate.

=== Saints Defence and Matchup Assessment ===

Arif identified the Saints' defence as second-worst in the league by points per drive, EPA per play, touchdown rate allowed, and turnover rate acquired. Starr identified Kool-Aid McKinstry as a structural weakness at CB1 — oscillating between a large cushion (leading to completions underneath) and press coverage (leading to holding penalties), with two critical flagged plays in the Falcons game and a third where McKinstry fell down 20 yards from a completed pass interference. Alvin Sanker was noted as a strong blitzing safety who has been misused in the slot corner role. Chase Young was playing at a high level, and Christian Boyd — a sixth-round pick from Kentucky who Starr never expected to contribute — had been a positive surprise at defensive tackle.

The Caden Ellis question remained open: he had not practised all week, meaning Danny Stutzman would likely start if Ellis was out, which Starr described as adequate but below what you'd want starting.

Both Arif and Starr agreed the Vikings were likely to win. Starr noted the Vikings' number-one kickoff-return field position as a decisive structural advantage, and framed the matchup as "the immovable object meets the stoppable force" — a low-scoring, field-position game in which the Saints' best path was their demonstrated second-half adjustment pattern. Vegas agreed: Vikings favoured by two and a half points, 41-point over/under (down from 44.5 at season open). Starr's final prediction: Vikings win; Saints cover only if the score is something like 21–20.

The interview closed with Starr promoting his wife's zine, ''Apeshit: A Zine for Primates'', released by Orr Books, featuring a long-form piece on the bizarre and sordid history of the helper monkey, available at apesht.org.