New Orleans Saints Coaches film analysis

jonnydel · 2014-11-11T11:39:18-08:00

Got done watching the film - it was a fun game to watch. There was a lot of back and forth chess match stuff going on for both sides. There were great plays made by both sides and both sides missed some big opportunities. I think both teams look back on this game with a perspective that there were definite missed moments. I do want to say, my heart is saddened to hear about Willis' season being over - I hope it's not true, but, probably is. Chris Borland has played well, but, he's not Willis. Willis will almost surely end up with a bust in Canton - you can't just replace that. His leadership, his experience and not to mention his pure physical gifts. It sucks to see something like this to happen to, not only a great player, but, who seems to be a great person as well. Today, I'm pouring out a little bit of my coffee for him..... What always has to be remembered in a game like this are a couple things: 1. The Saints had the longest active home winning streak of anyone in the league. The Dome is a hard place to play and the Saints are a very talented football team. 2. We were playing against, statistically, the best QB in the game right now. With those two things considered, I thought we played a heck of a football game. It wasn't the cleanest, it wasn't dominant, it wasn't always pretty. But, we found a way to win. Above everything, I saw in this game, what we didn't see in the losses to Ari, Chi and St. Louis - a team that fought to the end. In the end, the Rams loss might be one of the best things that happened to our team - if having our backs against the wall now gets our guys to play with an edge again. I saw an edge to the way they played. Yes, there were drops, yes, there were missed blocks, yes, there were blown coverages, but, there was a fight and an edge to the way they played. As usual, I'll start with the positives on Offense and work to the negatives: Offense: Positives - We ran the ball with a determination and, for the most part, ran the ball well. I thought CK's pocket awareness was MUCH better this game than last game. I thought, for the diversity with which NO threw at us from their defense, we did a pretty good job of executing through that. There was a lot of back and forth chess match going on between Roman and Rob Ryan. The biggest positive from this game was, there's still a lot of food left on the table. We're doing better, from an execution standpoint, of a lot of things that plagued us earlier in the year, but, had some BIG drops in the game. I can't remember a game when we had that many drops from our receivers. Boone had a much better game than he'd been having. Did a good job on some pulling blocks and did MUCH better in pass pro - as well as Iupati. I thought Iupati played the best out of any our lineman. He was dominating in the run game and solid in pass pro. I think a lot of it had to do with a commitment to the run towards his side. If we can get that kind of thing going a lot - he'll keep playing at a pro-bowl level. Negatives: There's still a lot of "little things" to work on. When I look at an offense like the Saints compared to ours. What I see more than a lot of schematic difference, are "little" things in execution. Sometimes, it's how guys will "sit" in or "work" some zones. Sometimes, it's in throwing the ball away when a call doesn't work. Whatever the situation, they have an offense that is very good at all the little things. Sacks were still an issue in this game. Some of it was on the O-line, one was on Carlos Hyde, a couple were on CK himself. There needs to be an understanding - at all times, that sometimes, you're not going to win on a play, when that happens, get to your checkdown or throw the friggin ball away! We tried to dial up a couple homerun plays during the game and when they didn't work, CK ended up putting himself into a bad situation. The Saints had the same thing happen - they dialed up a homerun play - it wasn't there, so Brees got rid of the ball. CK has to do those things, you can't put the team into a 2nd and very long situation, the odds of making a first down go through the floor. Marcus Martin played better, but it still sucks that Kilgore's injured as Kilgore was playing better IMO. I think he still looks a little overmatched, especially against a NT alignment. Receivers have to catch the ball. Could some of them been a little better thrown? Yeah. But, you still gotta catch the ball. That's why you're in the NFL, because you can make catches others can't. Defense: Positives - Our secondary was a big positive in this game. We didn't get a lot of intense pressure on Brees, but our secondary played very solid in this game. Our 2 sacks at the end in OT came, really, as coverage sacks. They, at times, gave up some bonehead stuff, but, overall, they had some outstanding plays. The positives outweighed the negatives. If Aldon can be anything close to what he's been in the past, our secondary is going to look very good over the rest of the season. Chris Borland has been a bright spot. I'm still super bummed that Willis will be out, but, you can see the affect of having 2 very good, leaders at the position. Just like how the Ravens would seem to consistently "find" LB's when Ray Lewis was there, we have that as well. I don't think it's as much a matter of "finding" these guys, it's having great examples at the position playing ahead of these guys. They get coached at all times by not only their coach, but a guy who's playing the position as well. So, I'll give a quick scouting report on Borland to help out with the analysis: He's a very aggressive LB who plays with a downhill mentality. Plays without hesitation, when he sees it, he goes and gets it. High motor guy, will chase down plays from wherever he's at. Plays very low at the POA(point of attack) and slips blocks well. Can be violent in the hole against a lead blocker, but struggles against Guards in the hole. Has a nose for the football and will usually end up around the ball. Reads lineman well and flies around to his spots in pass coverage. Tends to be a little stiff in his coverage, plays coverage more like a college style looking for "landmarks" instead of receivers. Chases plays with good angles and doesn't overrun plays often. Can be a little too aggressive when coming from the backside on plays. Plays faster than he is - his high motor and ability to read what he's seeing allow him to play faster than he truly is. Going back to secondary, Bethea continues to impress. To me, I think he's playing the most solid football of anyone in the secondary. He hasn't been a culprit on many plays and has provided quite a few "splash" plays. You can see it on the field that he's really emerged as a leader in the secondary. Negatives - After Ian Williams went down, our run defense went down as well. Not all of NO effective runs came against our 3-4 front, but, Dial seemed timid at the POA. He also got little to no push in passing situations from our base defense. Our pass rush was inconsistent, but was helped by our coverage. As positive as the secondary was, they did have a few negatives. Eric Reid was beat deep several times. A couple of them, I'm not sure about. Some of the plays that look like he's the culprit, I'm not 100% sure about, the defense is really hard to figure out what we're trying to do on those plays, so, I can't be sure he really is at fault of not. We had a big blown coverage late in the game that allowed the Saints to convert a huge 4th down that led to the TD to take the lead. Overall though, the defense went up against one of the best offenses in the league in a situation where they have, historically, been even better - averaging over 35 points per game in the Dome and held them to 24 points without 3 All-Pro's. That's pretty good. As usual, breakdowns to follow

Nov 11, 2014 at 11:52 AM

verb1der
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Nov 11, 2014 at 11:52 AM

Sanfran_chrisco
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My favorite thread on this website. Look forward to it EVERY WEEK.

Nov 11, 2014 at 11:56 AM

jonnydel
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Here's a huge breakdown from the secondary - this is what even allowed the game to go to OT - never should've happened.

It's 4th and 3 with about 3 minutes left in the game - if we get this 4th down stop, we have a great chance to just run the ball out. The Saint motion the top receiver into a stacked set. Culliver can be seen trying to communicate to Ward to alert him to the motion.

They're stacked and are supposed to play, "pattern match" defense to avoid any picks or rubs. I've highlighted how Ward is responsible for the inside release and Culliver for the outside release.

At the snap though, Ward sticks with his original receiver and follow him on an outside release, Culliver - doing his job, starts with the outside release as well, this leaves the inside release unguarded.

Culliver tries to redirect himself and cover the guy, but it's too late.

The receiver splits the defenders and picks up 20 yards or so after the catch.

Culliver made some sort of signal to Ward here about their defense.

Culliver is looking at Ward in a, "what were you thinking" way with his hands up. Same with Bethea....

This was a huge bust in coverage at a crucial point in the game.

Nov 11, 2014 at 11:57 AM

jonnydel
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double post

[ Edited by jonnydel on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:57 AM ]

Nov 11, 2014 at 11:59 AM

thl408
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I thought Kap played with great poise considering what happened versus STL. It shows he has a short memory which is very useful. He could have remembered how badly his Oline was beaten the previous week. He could have remembered how skittish it made him in the pocket. He did not, and it showed as several times he stood tall to deliver strikes to his WRs. He showed nice touch on several back shoulder fades. The Saints for the most part was not able to get pressure on Kap when rushing 4. Part of it was due to Kap getting rid of the ball on rhythm.

I second your thoughts on Boone. He was used as the pull guard more than I can remember. Usually, that is Iupati's job when the 49ers run their power O, as it is ran to the right side of the Oline the majority of the time. This game, they ran it to the left side of the formation behind Staley/Iupati with Boone pulling through. I don't know if that was some mismatch they saw versus the NO Dlineman on that side or what, but it worked. NO came with a healthy mix of zone and man coverage - mainly cover2 zone and cover1.

I haven't watched all the defensive snaps yet, but that was indeed a blown coverage on one of NO's 4th down conversion. It was a perfect example of what happens when pattern matching goes wrong. NO did a nice job creating the confusion when they put one of the WRs in motion just before the snap. It forces pattern matching defenders to communicate and communicate correctly. The 49ers failed to do so there. Other than that there were many times the 49ers forced Brees to go away from his first read, and eventually checkdown. Fangio has a good grasp for what NO likes to do and it showed. Borland continues to beast while Cully also had a good game. I am getting used to Bethea doing his thing. He reads patterns so well it's as if he is inside the WR's head. He

The drops were absolute drive killers this game and had the 49ers not pulled out a win, that would have been the big story.

Nov 11, 2014 at 12:05 PM

thl408
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Posts: 33,298

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Here's a huge breakdown from the secondary - this is what even allowed the game to go to OT - never should've happened.

It's 4th and 3 with about 3 minutes left in the game - if we get this 4th down stop, we have a great chance to just run the ball out. The Saint motion the top receiver into a stacked set. Culliver can be seen trying to communicate to Ward to alert him to the motion.

They're stacked and are supposed to play, "pattern match" defense to avoid any picks or rubs. I've highlighted how Ward is responsible for the inside release and Culliver for the outside release.

At the snap though, Ward sticks with his original receiver and follow him on an outside release, Culliver - doing his job, starts with the outside release as well, this leaves the inside release unguarded.

Culliver tries to redirect himself and cover the guy, but it's too late.

The receiver splits the defenders and picks up 20 yards or so after the catch.

Culliver made some sort of signal to Ward here about their defense.

Culliver is looking at Ward in a, "what were you thinking" way with his hands up. Same with Bethea....

This was a huge bust in coverage at a crucial point in the game.

Nice breakdown. It's nearly impossible to know who blew the coverage as we would need to know what was called just as the WR went into motion. The best we can do is read the player's reactions after the play. Usually, whichever player throws their hands up, it's not their fault. Although that's not always the case.

The 49ers were pattern matching and their communication was not up to snuff on this play. As that WR is sent into motion, it rearranges the assignments of the defenders and how they number the WRs. (Which WR is #1, which is #2). From the screenshots you showed, Cully had outside leverage so he most likely had whichever WR is going to release to the outside. Again, very hard to tell.

Nov 11, 2014 at 12:09 PM

Giedi
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JonnyDell

Nov 11, 2014 at 12:10 PM

Jcool
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"2. We were playing against, statistically, the best QB in the game right now."

He is? I wouldn't even put Brees in the top 5 statistically this year. He is 3rd in yards per game, 10th in passer rating, tied for 7th in touchdowns, tied for 2nd in INTs and 4th in yards

Nov 11, 2014 at 12:14 PM

Niners816
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Originally posted by Jcool:
"2. We were playing against, statistically, the best QB in the game right now."

He is? I wouldn't even put Brees in the top 5 statistically this year. He is 3rd in yards per game, 10th in passer rating, tied for 7th in touchdowns, tied for 2nd in INTs and 4th in yards

Check out his stats with sean Payton in that dome....they are rediculous. Last year for example he had 27/3 td/int ratio and a 126 qb rating.

[ Edited by Niners816 on Nov 11, 2014 at 12:18 PM ]

Nov 11, 2014 at 12:14 PM

#10

znk916
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Thoughts on Gore? I know there was a brief discussion about him in the PFF grade thread. I have to admit I was disappointed when I saw him sub back in for Hyde in OT, because I thought Roman would try (and fail) to run him between the tackles. Would be curious to know what happened with that play.

I feel like we don't do a good enough job of getting Gore off tackle (like the Hyde's two big OT runs). Seems like every yard he gained the past couple years is hard mode...his long run over the last 4 games is for 11 yards.

Nov 11, 2014 at 12:14 PM

#11

Sanfran_chrisco
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Originally posted by Jcool:
"2. We were playing against, statistically, the best QB in the game right now."

He is? I wouldn't even put Brees in the top 5 statistically this year. He is 3rd in yards per game, 10th in passer rating, tied for 7th in touchdowns, tied for 2nd in INTs and 4th in yards

Maybe he meant overall?

Nov 11, 2014 at 12:16 PM

#12

thl408
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Posts: 33,298

After getting the ball on the 19 yard line via Bethea's INT. The 49ers showed what their intentions were going to be for this game - run to the left side of the Oline. After two Gore runs to the left, this is the third.

1Q 2nd & 4

49ers: Counter left as they pull Boone with VD following.