With the bye week now here for the New Orleans Saints, now is a time to look back at the season and evaluate.
The Saints aren’t where they want to be in the standings. That much is obvious. New Orleans is 2-8 on the season, but is coming off a much-needed win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 10. With seven games left in the season, the Saints don’t have much of a shot at a playoff spot, but there will be things to watch for.
The progression of rookie quarterback Tyler Shough will be what’s talked about the most, but there are other positives as well. For example, Cam Jordan is having yet another solid season for New Orleans. Through 10 games, Jordan has 3 1/2 sacks on the season. Last year, he had four sacks in 17 games. In 2023, he had just two sacks. Realistically, this season could end up being his highest sack total since he had 8 1/2 in 2022.
Jordan quietly had a big day this past weekend against the Panthers. He had a sack and two total tackles. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it actually was the 125th sack of Jordan’s career. He currently has the 20th-most sacks in NFL history. There are only 20 players in league history who have been able to reach 125 sacks or more. Von Miller is the only player ahead of Jordan on the list who is currently playing.
Over the next few weeks, he has a chance to pass some more people in front of him as well. Right now, Dwight Freeney is at No. 19 with 125 1/2 sacks and Derrick Thomas is at No. 18 with 126 1/2. Rickey Jackson at No. 17 is the other guy who Jordan likely could reach this season as well at 128. After that, the next number to watch is 132 1/2.
Jordan is 36 years old, but he’s having his best season since 2022 and there are still seven games left. At the end of the day, the Saints keeping him past the trade deadline was the right call and we could see some history over the next few weeks.
The trip overseas to Stockholm, Sweden for the NHL Global Series presented the opportunity for the Pittsburgh Penguins to bring a third-string goaltender with them.
And they happened to choose a Swede who travelled right to his backyard.
Penguins’ goaltending prospect Filip Larsson, 27, is currently the starting goaltender for Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins. Larsson signed a two-year deal with the Penguins ahead of the 2024-25 season and owns a 3-0-1 record with a 2.92 goals-against average and an .891 save percentage in five appearances this season.
Larsson grew up in Stockholm, and – as he told Sportsnet Pittsburgh’s Hailey Hunter on Tuesday – he has – quite literally – returned home to a very familiar place at Avicii Arena.
“The arena we practiced at today is where I played for three years,” Larsson said. “So, yeah, it’s nice to be back, and it’s a lot of fun to step out on the ice.”
From 2014-17, Larsson suited up for Djurgardens Jr. of the Swedish Junior Hockey League, which led to him getting drafted in the sixth round (167th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings in 2016.
“It was nice. It was one of the best junior teams in Sweden, maybe the best, probably,” Larsson said. “Great program. Went to school, like, five, 10 minutes away from here and played here. So, yeah, it’s great.”
Larsson joins Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov as the available Penguins’ netminders for the two-game swing against the Nashville Predators. The Pens and Preds face off Friday at 2:00 p.m. EDT and Sunday at 9:00 a.m. EDT.