Moving Forward - Week 6

[Mid Iowa]

I'm interested to see how opposing defenses respond to the Saint's week 5 performance against the Buccs.

Heretofore, the Saints/Bridgewater haven't tossed the ball downfield at all, literally. Week 5 was the first time Teddy threw a 20+ yard pass, and clearly, the Buccs were not prepared for that. Nor were they prepared for Michael Thomas, but really, who is?

Well, now what will defenses do? Now they have to contend with:

• a QB who's game opened up, and who's finding his groove.
• a backup QB to the backup QB (T.Hill) who's role has been changed due to the same thing, Payton's opened up the long game for Hill, too, so defenses can't just play the zone read for RPO plays
• a timing connection between the starting QB (Teddy) and the league's best receiver, Thomas.
• a new Tight End (Cook) who is finding his groove with this offense
• Kamara (I'll just leave this here)
• a backup RB (Murray) who is learning the timing, and finding his groove with this offense and O-line.
• And a O-line that is settling into "not Brees" behind them, and when challenged, they seem to come up big! They've all but shut down some of the league's best pass rushers.

And, oh yeah, our D-line is getting into their goove, too. This is allowing the secondary to get into their groove...... or do I have this backwords? Who knows....

Great things moving forward!

If our D-line/front 7 can keep up the solid play, especially with the coverage they're getting from the secondary, finally, this could be a long day for the Jags, in their home stadium.

Here's hoping for us entering the bye week with only 1 loss.

 

[sammymvpknight]

I still think that we are a little to reliant on our two superstars on offense and eventually it will bite us. Hopefully it's not this week...this is a game we need to win.

[Mid Iowa]

2 hours ago, sammymvpknight said:

I still think that we are a little to reliant on our two superstars on offense and eventually it will bite us. Hopefully it's not this week...this is a game we need to win.

Agreed, yet that has been the case for how many years? And it generally seems to work. The big key, in my opinion, is getting that defense back up to a top 10 level. If we do that, and continue this current path of getting better, I feel we're in the hotseat for the deepest playoff run since 2009, barring any f'ed up reffing errors.

[SWATcha]

3 hours ago, sammymvpknight said:

I still think that we are a little to reliant on our two superstars on offense and eventually it will bite us. Hopefully it's not this week...this is a game we need to win.

This still worries me as well. Still holding out hope of a late October trade to bring in another WR.

[Canadian Saint]

I think we'll see defenses force Teddy and Payton to rely on the secondary options. Ginn, Hill, Cook etc etc. MT will have his catches, but I think until Brees gets back, they'll blanket him. Kamara...well you do what you can but nothing is certain when it comes to covering him. Essentially I see DCs making Teddy beat us with our 2nd, 3rd, 4th options on offense and trying to take out MT and Kamara.

The problem with that is a few things. 1. Our O-line playing as well as it has means Teddy will have time to go through his progressions. The Bucs had one of the hottest players on D essentially invisible for the entire game. If Garrett Grayson had enough time, I'm sure he could an open man. 2. Payton. While we'd had a ton of important pieces in Brees' absence, I think Payton has been our most important piece. He's just outcoached the rest of the teams while easing Teddy in.

I think our limiting factor on how the offense does going forward is going to be 2 things. 1. The O-line. If they have bad games like pre-Bucs with bad penalties and busted protection, we're gonna have a bad time. 2. The other options. I said it before and I'll say it again, guys like Ginn, Smith (if he plays), Cook, and Hill are really in a position to feast. They really need to do 2 things. One is get open and two is catch the ball. We've had atleast 2-3 INTs this season that due to bobbling footballs. The guys listed above also don't get open consistently.

With that said, I think we're in a good position to go into the BYE with 1 or 2 losses. Luckily our D has really stepped up, and outside of garbage yards, have kept opposing QBs pretty quiet. A big part of that is our D-line (thank you Nielson), but I do think our secondary is getting better. It seems DA has moved from more zone to more man coverage, and I think that's a big part of why Lattimore is back to normal blanketing guys. Williams has stepped it up and Bell has taken the next step in development. Apple to is doing what is needed.

[Jlowe22]

6 hours ago, sammymvpknight said:

I still think that we are a little to reliant on our two superstars on offense and eventually it will bite us. Hopefully it's not this week...this is a game we need to win.

This has been true for a while now.  It, combined with injuries to the oline, is what essentially did us in last year.  I'd rather have the depth we used to, like in 2011, to be honest. It's nice to see one of your guys dominate a game, but it's easier for good teams to limit one superstar, no matter how good, then guard a whole squad of solid players.

[sammymvpknight]

3 hours ago, Mid Iowa said:

Agreed, yet that has been the case for how many years? And it generally seems to work. The big key, in my opinion, is getting that defense back up to a top 10 level. If we do that, and continue this current path of getting better, I feel we're in the hotseat for the deepest playoff run since 2009, barring any f'ed up reffing errors.

This is the most shallow skilled position group Brees has ever had. If Thomas or Kamara get hurt, god forbid, this offense will be in a really rough spot. Sure...you can gamble and say they will both stay healthy and that no team will be able to limit both of them at the same time. I don’t feel comfortable risking it. 

[Dome]

I'm a little concerned that when Brees gets back, he's going to be real gun-shy about pressure up the middle. He very likely won't follow through on his passes if he's got pressure in his face. Bet you those passes are WAY off for the first could games.

I'm sure Payton already has a script to get the ball out fast and frequent though, you can manufacture protection if you're good enough and Sean Payton is. Because you KNOW teams are gonna be hitting those a A and B gaps hard trying to rattle Brees when he gets back. 

Edited October 12, 2019 by Dome