There's no shame in New Orleans Saints fans admitting Asim Richards spoke for all on Sunday when starting left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. suffered a high ankle sprain with 2:02 remaining in the third quarter, and was carted off the field.
New Orleans trailed the Ravens 17-9 at M&T Bank Stadium, quarterback Tyler Shough had been sacked for the second time in three plays — Banks was penalized for a false start after the first sack — and a 40-yard punt by Ryan Wright went out of bounds and gave the Ravens first-and-10 at the Saints' 49-yard line.
"I was just hoping Kelvin was OK, first and foremost," Richards said.
Banks wasn't; the ankle injury knocked him out of the game and will require surgery. But the Saints' offense would be fine, with Richards stepping in at left tackle and holding his own.
New Orleans mounted two touchdown drives of 68 yards each, lasting 5:18 and 6:38 and requiring nine and 16 plays, respectively, and Shough completed 12 of 14 passes for 119 yards and accounted for two touchdowns — one passing and one rushing — as the Saints used a 15-0 fourth quarter to spring past the Ravens in a 24-17 victory.
"Honestly, though, they brought me in for a reason, so you've got to go in when your number is called," Richards said. "So, that's what I did."
"I thought he hopped in there and battled," Saints coach Kellen Moore said. "He was going against (Ravens rush linebacker) Trey (Hendrickson) on a couple of passing situations, I thought he held his own.
"He's a steady player; he doesn't get too high, he doesn't get too low. I think he does a good job of putting himself in good position from a pass protection standpoint. He's still a young player that's just continuing to grow and develop. Him having (left guard) David (Edwards) over there next to him I think will help. There'll be some stability, I think, because of that."
The Saints brought in Richards via trade with Dallas in 2025 — he was a fifth-round pick by the Cowboys in 2023 — and he started four games last season, then didn't start but played 82 percent of the offensive snaps in the season finale.
"Asim was asked to play a number of snaps last year and he'll be asked to play a number of snaps this year," Moore said. "I think he's gotten better through the offseason. We'll prepare with him getting as many reps as he possibly can, and he'll be ready to go."
The work from last season prepared Richards for Sunday.
"It helps a lot," he said. "You get more time with the system, you become way more comfortable with it. I just felt a lot more comfortable (Sunday). I was able to plug right in and keep the offense rolling.
"It's very exciting. It just goes to show everybody that if everybody does their job, we will win a lot of games if everybody just does their part. That's really what it amounts to, and that's what we did."
Richards didn't have extensive work with the starters in the offseason, but he said the totality of preparation put him in position to contribute.
"That's what training camp is for, that's what practice is for," he said. "You've got to lock in to the plays, you've got to lock in to what we're doing that week. You prepare like you're playing the game, you won't be unprepared for the moment."
BANKS UPDATE: Moore said Banks will have surgery in the coming days and that he possibly will return this season.
"We'll just kind of see what the timeline looks like after that," Moore said. "Unfortunate thing for Kelvin but we'll just take this thing step by step and then figure out the timeline after that."
JUWAN MAGIC: Tight end Juwan Johnson created one of the dynamic plays of the young season when, on third-and-8 from the Ravens' 30-yard line with 2:03 left — and the score tied at 17-17 — he took a short pass from Shough well short of the first down marker, juked a couple of defenders and raced down the right sideline before being wrestled down at the 5-yard line. That help set up the Saints' game-winning touchdown.
"It was a special play," Moore said. "It got a lot of juice and energy, it very much changed the entire game management moving forward after that. To not only earn the first down, but then put yourself in position to be on the goal line and have a chance to score a touchdown at that point, that was a huge play. Great effort by Juwan, gave us a chance to ultimately get that touchdown."
Also noted for extra credit on the play was Richards.
"They were coming after us, it was Cover Zero, so there was a time clock to it," Moore said. "Asim ended up kind of between two defenders and kind of hemmed up — essentially kind of buying us just a click, just a long enough time by accounting for both of those guys."
