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Video: How the Cowboys exposed the Saints' biggest weakness - predictability

Posted on 12/10/18 at 9:47 am
Posted by deSandman
Member since Mar 2007
969 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 9:47 am
YouTube Link

Long but very thorough and well researched video. The tl;dr summary is that if the Saints don't mix up their strategy on 3rd down (targeting Thomas or Kamara almost exclusively), good teams will be able to replicate the Cowboys' success against our offense.

Watch the highlights from yesterday's game, and you'll see that we again targeted Thomas or Kamara on nearly every third down play.

The bad news is that this third down formula (force Brees to check away from Thomas and spy a corner on Kamara to neutralize his speed) is easy to implement for playoff caliber teams. The good news is that the Saints have enough time to create some new wrinkles before the postseason.
Posted by stniaSxuaeG
Member since Apr 2014
1580 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 9:49 am to
Quick, somebody send this to Sean!
Posted by notiger1997
Metairie
Member since May 2009
58277 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 9:52 am to
Lame
Posted by Cosmo
glassman's guest house
Member since Oct 2003
120439 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 9:56 am to
All you have to do to beat them is shut down their 2 best players! Its that easy!

Dumb
Posted by DBG
vermont
Member since May 2004
72280 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 9:59 am to
quote:

targeting Thomas or Kamara almost exclusively


Not exactly groundbreaking info here
Posted by ninthward
Boston, MA
Member since May 2007
20453 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 10:02 am to
We make a few catches in Dallas that night and we win.
Posted by Rand AlThor
Member since Jan 2014
9478 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 10:15 am to
I think this problem is even a thing outside of third down really. Our offense runs through Thomas and Kamara and if you have what you need to cover both of them, we are in trouble because no one else on the team is threatening at all offensively.

The cowboys were able to do this like no one else has because their LBs are exceptional and they could cover Kamara in the short field. The Bucs were able to do this somewhat also IMO because of David.

It's a pretty big problem. I don't think it's something we can really solve this season, because we just need young guys to grow / we need to add more weapons. The best bet for us to is to face teams that don't have the ability to shut Kamara down. Need to try and avoid the Cowboys and Bears.
Posted by Alt26
Member since Mar 2010
28507 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 10:20 am to
Here's another summary -- bring pressure around the edge while ALSO collapsing the middle of the LOS, thus preventing Brees from being able to step up in the pocket.

The only criticism of Payton as a play caller is that he can get impatient. We saw it yesterday. Tampa took the early lead and was having decent success vs. the run. Sean basically spread everything out and started trying to get the lead back in a hurry by airing it out (including looking for deep shots). Once the blocked punt happened the Saints rediscovered their running game and the Bucs were helpless.

IMO, a big part of Payton's aggressive play calling comes from years of never being able to fully trust the defense. Hopefully, the defense's performance over the last two games will help Sean stay with the run a little longer...even if it sputters early on. The Defense has kept the Saints in the game despite the offense's struggles.
Posted by keakar
Member since Jan 2017
30133 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 10:24 am to
meh, ya they had a limited game plan but 3 games in such a short condensed time frame will do that to any team.

the video was interesting though
Posted by TallMan
Member since Jul 2014
360 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 10:59 am to
This is one of those things that's alot easier said than done, though. It probably is the right strategy to use against us, but if you don't have the perfect personnel to pull it off, you're going to get torched. The Cowboys didn't actually do anything novel against us, they used the same general strategy the Eagles used, and we absolutely abused them.

Most teams just don't have the defensive talent to pull it off. The only time this will end up being an issue the rest of the season will be in the divisional round when we host the Bears or Cowboys. Their pass rushers getting off a beat slower on the road and Armstead's return should help give our other targets a little more time to get separation, which should be enough for us to overcome those defenses. And if Ginn comes back healthy, that's not a strategy you can really even consider using.
Posted by Laaz2750
Los Angeles
Member since Aug 2008
8384 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 11:42 am to
So I listened to the local Los Angeles sports show this morning (Keyshawn and LZ Granderson) and they were saying the exact same things we were saying after the cowboys loss...

Bears D played the best game of their lives and we still almost won because their offense sucks. Rams ate the cheese and didn't show up prepared. Offensive line played its worst game of the year. We would crush them at home, etc etc.

Thing is, I think we were right to say that about the Cowboys loss last week and I think Rams fans are right to say it about the Bears this week.
Posted by WicKed WayZ
Louisiana Forever
Member since Sep 2011
31640 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 12:20 pm to
I think the Bears D is better than the Cowgirls.


Dallas needs refs to allow them to play physical in the secondary and they’ve been getting away with it. The Bears don’t need that. I also think the Saints can expose the Cowboys’ safeties who aren’t very good. But they also beat us up front with Peat, Warford and Bushrod having bad games. In the rematch we’d have the best LT in football and a pissed off Peat and Warford. Good OL play, much like anyone, makes our offense go. They had an off night so we had an off night


I think Sean will have something for them in the rematch and we’ll match their intensity come playoff time
Posted by Vacherie Saint
Member since Aug 2015
39575 posts
Posted on 12/10/18 at 12:40 pm to
The problem with Dallas was their fast as frick linebackers and that interior D line push.
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