New Orleans Saints Coaches film analysis

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by GORO:
Jonydel I saw Dial play off the center more than the other two DL , is this proper technique for the Nose Guard position?

Playing off this, has anyone else notice both Ward and Cox coming up in press in the slot and then letting the WR go by on purpose and then trailing the WR underneath tight with their backs to the QB? Is this a technique we employ? Tactic? Jonnydel or thl408?

As far as Dial - I'm not sure if it was something particular to Dial - or we adjusted our front in the 2nd half. So, without knowing what the alignment call was, I can't be certain on if it was good technique or not.

But, as far as his technique. He needs to be able to improve his lateral movement while engaged with a blocker better. Our run defense wasn't as good after Williams went down.

As far as the Ward and Cox technique - Yes, that is something we have them do. When a receiver goes vertical, we'll fall - often times, into a trail technique from the inside to allow the safety help to bracket the receivers.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Not at all - IMO. He's much too heavy now to be playing an ILB in our scheme. His lateral movement is not where it needs to be to do the things that we require our ILB's to do.

The whole Willis toe injury thread thinks otherwise.

Webzone gonna webzone.

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by thl408:

Walk in TD.

Willis would have made that tackle.

Boone blocked two guys.

Originally posted by thl408:

This is the Bethea INT. He displays an understanding of what route combinations NO likes to run and does an excellent job cutting in front of the route.

1Q 3rd & 8
49ers come with 7 DBs on this play as NO looks to target Bethea with the strong side route combination. The Go route clears the area (Brock) for Colston's deep Out to work. The Go route also acts as a partial rub to Bethea. I can't tell what the 49ers are doing here. It's some exotic man/zone combo coverage. I'll call it cover 6 because Reid acts like a cover2 safety, but then starts to slide towards the middle of the field to bracket Graham (#80), instead of playing a traditional deep half zone. I've seen Fangio double team Graham many times dating back to last season. I want to call it Quarters on Bethea's side and Cover 2 Man on Reid's side. Cully and Reid will double Graham (over and under). Lynch and RayMac will stunt.


Ward lets Colston by, knowing Bethea is behind him to pick up the coverage. Lynch loops around RayMac.


Bethea starts his break on the route.


RayMac gets good push on the pocket, straight into Brees' face.


Ball is thrown.


Brees seems to put an extra high arc on the ball. Perhaps because of the pressure in his face.




The anticipation by Bethea is amazing. He saw this route combo coming.

Brooks was f**kin finally because he did push hard and forward.. he is damn finally time!! Make me feel better now..

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by thl408:

Walk in TD.

Willis would have made that tackle.

Boone blocked two guys.

Yep. Boone is very good and smart play it

Here's an example of something I said earlier - Borland needs to do better playing the receivers and not his landmarks.


Here, we're going to run a zone blitz version of a tampa -2 defense. The Saints should beat us on this play, but, the pressure affects the through.


At the snap you see Bethea come on the blitz, this was a great call and timing by Fangio as we came with a weakside blitz and were still able to generate pressure against a 7 man protection. Borland turns right away and gets on his horse to find his landmark.


Once he gets to his hash landmark though, he turns to watch Brees. The problem is, he doesn't pay attention to the route J Graham runs. I think - at least from what I see in the coverage drop and what I've seen in the past, he's supposed to carry the inside vertical route more to cut off the middle of the field more because you see how Graham has an open spot to run to on his deep post. The pressure by Bethea though, will save this play. Reid at the 2 deep safety, has to respect the outside vertical threat, so he's not able to cover the middle of the field.


Brees through the ball to the short post and Culliver makes a nice pass breakup on the play. However, if Brees had just half a second longer, he's gonna hit J Graham for a TD on the play.

In the end, it didn't matter a ton because NO scored 2 plays later. But, it's an example of what I've seen from Borland's pass drops. He'll run hard to his landmarks but doesn't show a great awareness of the receivers that threaten his zone. When he sees the routes develop in front of him - he'll attack those hard, but, hasn't gotten a full feel for route combinations yet - though, he is a rookie. But, if we're going to rely on him down the stretch - it's something that he's gonna have to improve upon.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by GORO:

Jonydel I saw Dial play off the center more than the other two DL , is this proper technique for the Nose Guard position?

Playing off this, has anyone else notice both Ward and Cox coming up in press in the slot and then letting the WR go by on purpose and then trailing the WR underneath tight with their backs to the QB? Is this a technique we employ? Tactic? Jonnydel or thl408?

As far as Dial - I'm not sure if it was something particular to Dial - or we adjusted our front in the 2nd half. So, without knowing what the alignment call was, I can't be certain on if it was good technique or not.

But, as far as his technique. He needs to be able to improve his lateral movement while engaged with a blocker better. Our run defense wasn't as good after Williams went down.

As far as the Ward and Cox technique - Yes, that is something we have them do. When a receiver goes vertical, we'll fall - often times, into a trail technique from the inside to allow the safety help to bracket the receivers.

great...just thought it was odd esp. b/c we like to keep everything in front if us usually and I've been notching it more. If you guys can can you show a gif if you get a chance so we can show what we're talking about here?

Here's something I talked about in the opening - if the plays not there and it's not going to be there -throw the ball away.


Here, we stack the set, showing a power run formation. We then motion VD out wide. We're trying to take a shot here, just doesn't work out.


We run a criss cross double streak. We use play action, the idea is, to get the LB to bite on the run fake and put 1 defender in a place where they have to defend 2 guys.


The problem is, the LB doesn't bite on the run fake.


Because the run fake didn't work. Both guys are covered with a safety in position. CK should realize right here, that the play is lost and throw the ball away. Instead, he just stands there, waiting for something to open -there's no chance anything will open.


I counted it off, this is just about 5 seconds after the snap, I said 5.5 in the pic - but it's closer to 5; I counted it off to the wrong spot when i took the pic. Still though, he shouldn't have held onto this ball past 3 seconds. The moment he turned aorund and saw the play was beat, he should've thrown it away.


Instead of throwing it away, he waits until the pressure is on him and tries to escape the pocket.


aaaaannd gets sacked for a 9 yard loss. You can't do this on 1st down. The play was obviously snuffed out - it happens from time to time, don't freak out and make matters worse, live to play another down. Instead of it being 2nd and 10 it was then 2nd and 19. The stats on drives that have negative plays on 1st down failing to score are astronomical.

Before anyone takes issue with the 3 receiver route - the Saints ran nearly the same play in the game too - it's not just Roman running this. But, Brees threw the ball away near his checkdown.

Here's the last offensive play of the 4th qtr for us. I believe, if the line protects CK we get a TD on this play and there's no OT.


The biggest thing is, we have S. Johnson running the old "dino" route - double in/out. This was the route that John Taylor made famous.


Expecting us to go to VD again, like we did years ago, the Saint double Vernon. The weakside safety immediately moves into a double position on VD at the snap.


The double of Vernon creates 1-1 for S. Johnson on the outside. As we've seen from CK, he's real good at putting the ball on his receiver right after their last break on this route. So, it's a ball that's not going to go too far to the inside.


This is where the ball would've hit Johnson. With the other 2 defenders so preoccupied with Davis, they weren't even looking at Ck for the throw. Johnson would've had a TD IMO.


CK wasn't able to look this way on the throw because there was immediate pressure from the right side. A. Davis got beat bad on a speed rush.


The speed rush forced CK up and to the right. That way, he wasn't able to loo towards Johnson's Dino route. This way, he ends up rolling out to the side with more coverage. Missed opportunity.

^^^another "Dino" route, this time from a gun look. It's ashame blocking didnt hold up because that would have been a great way to win this game. I know it was crabs running that route in St. Louis, but I love the thought of SJ running it. I love the thought of isolating SJ with this route in the backside of a 3x1 type set. Let SJ and his route running go to work on the backside and let the concept work the strong side.

Here's one of those things that I don't think I've pointed out enough - or clearly enough. That CK really has come a long way in his indentification of run alignments and fronts.


Here the Saints come out in a 4-3 under front with the "open" or "weak" side DE in a "wide 9" set. You've probably heard the term, "wide 9" talked about. It refers to the DE lining up, instead of the traditional "7" technique - outside shade of the TE, but widened out by an extra couple of feet into a "9" technique. But, since there's not double TE or, in the this case, TE, the wide set outside the EMLOS it's a "wide 9" set.

The numbers I've put on the pic refer to the "technique" or position each of the guys are aligned as.

A little football 101 - the 4-3 under is determined by the "3" technique moving to the weakside and the strong side DT in a 1 technique position with the "sam" or strong side OLB coming up over the TE. In this set, you'll also see the 2 LB's stacked over the Guards. The benefit of this formation is that it covers all the run gaps and prevents T/G combo blocks on a the strong side and makes it harder to pull a guard towards the strong side.

To combat this, CK could be heard on the broadcast make a call and motion Boldin in, what he does is, presumably, change the side the play is designed to go to.


Ck motions Boldin in to hold up the wide 9 technique. Boldin will end up blocking out on his man who followed him, but, he causes the EMLOS hold up just a bit to give Boone a great angle on the EMLOS.


Staley and Iupati get a devastating combo block on the "3" technique, and move the LOS.


You see the wall the O-line is creating and Boone is gonna get a good kickout block with McDonald leading up in the hole.

The lane opens up and McDonald has a good head of steam on a defender.


McDonald does good job of leading through and somehow Iupati blew his guy all the way upfield. Staley also did a good job of sealing off the interior defenders. We get a solid 11 yard gain on the play. That is run game beauty.

This is where Ck has made a lot of strides. It was one thing I noticed a lot when A. Smith was here, he did a great job of consistently getting us into good running looks and calls. Since CK has been here, haven't seen it as much called from the LOS. He's making good strides here to identify the alignment and adjusting the run call.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Here's the last offensive play of the 4th qtr for us. I believe, if the line protects CK we get a TD on this play and there's no OT.


The biggest thing is, we have S. Johnson running the old "dino" route - double in/out. This was the route that John Taylor made famous.


Expecting us to go to VD again, like we did years ago, the Saint double Vernon. The weakside safety immediately moves into a double position on VD at the snap.


The double of Vernon creates 1-1 for S. Johnson on the outside. As we've seen from CK, he's real good at putting the ball on his receiver right after their last break on this route. So, it's a ball that's not going to go too far to the inside.


This is where the ball would've hit Johnson. With the other 2 defenders so preoccupied with Davis, they weren't even looking at Ck for the throw. Johnson would've had a TD IMO.


CK wasn't able to look this way on the throw because there was immediate pressure from the right side. A. Davis got beat bad on a speed rush.


The speed rush forced CK up and to the right. That way, he wasn't able to loo towards Johnson's Dino route. This way, he ends up rolling out to the side with more coverage. Missed opportunity.

When I saw this play today I thought it was a huge missed opportunity. Then I saw ADavis got beat and understood why Kap wasn't able to spot SJ. Middle of the field was there for the taking. VD drawing attention even when slumping.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Here's something I talked about in the opening - if the plays not there and it's not going to be there -throw the ball away.


Here, we stack the set, showing a power run formation. We then motion VD out wide. We're trying to take a shot here, just doesn't work out.


We run a criss cross double streak. We use play action, the idea is, to get the LB to bite on the run fake and put 1 defender in a place where they have to defend 2 guys.


The problem is, the LB doesn't bite on the run fake.


Because the run fake didn't work. Both guys are covered with a safety in position. CK should realize right here, that the play is lost and throw the ball away. Instead, he just stands there, waiting for something to open -there's no chance anything will open.


I counted it off, this is just about 5 seconds after the snap, I said 5.5 in the pic - but it's closer to 5; I counted it off to the wrong spot when i took the pic. Still though, he shouldn't have held onto this ball past 3 seconds. The moment he turned aorund and saw the play was beat, he should've thrown it away.


Instead of throwing it away, he waits until the pressure is on him and tries to escape the pocket.


aaaaannd gets sacked for a 9 yard loss. You can't do this on 1st down. The play was obviously snuffed out - it happens from time to time, don't freak out and make matters worse, live to play another down. Instead of it being 2nd and 10 it was then 2nd and 19. The stats on drives that have negative plays on 1st down failing to score are astronomical.

Before anyone takes issue with the 3 receiver route - the Saints ran nearly the same play in the game too - it's not just Roman running this. But, Brees threw the ball away near his checkdown.

Did Kap use to take off and run in the past couple years when there wasn't anything and now is he being forced to sit in the pocket?

Originally posted by NCommand:

great...just thought it was odd esp. b/c we like to keep everything in front if us usually and I've been notching it more. If you guys can can you show a gif if you get a chance so we can show what we're talking about here?

On the Bethea INT, check out what Cully is doing with Reid as they cover Graham. Is that what you mean?

Originally posted by jeepzilla:

Did Kap use to take off and run in the past couple years when there wasn't anything and now is he being forced to sit in the pocket?

It's a valid question. I don't think the coaches mind that CK scrambles when in trouble and tries to extend the play even if sacked once or twice a game b/c the payoff is usually much bigger. We run an intermediate to deeper passing game anyhow so a sack here or there on CK alone isn't always a crushing defeat. I agree though that this is a case where clearly there was nothing there. Throw it away.