I think it's likely that losing Payton will have a bigger effect on our offense than people realize.

qweasdzxcxz · 07-10-2012, 08:09 AM

People are saying that Brees and Carmichael will be fine, and Carmichael did a great job when he was shouldering the offense last year, but Carmichael never really shouldered the offense. Offense is not just gametime decisions and executing on the field. A huge part of it is gameplanning the week before, and I think it's likely that this is where the majority of Payton's brilliance comes into play, and how he's managed keeping this offense so cutting edge for 6 years. And Payton was still gameplanning when he was injured.

Our talent still puts us as one of the top offenses, but I think it our production drop a little bit without Payton's ability to look at an opponent's defense and exploit it's weaknesses. Perhaps Brees and Carmichael can handle it, but it's unlikely that they'll be able to do it as well as they could with Payton's help.

Hopefully our new defense can pick up the slack, if there is any.

rail · 07-10-2012, 08:20 AM

It's a Captain Obvious sighting!

picnicwithfish · 07-10-2012, 08:20 AM

it could be but think of how many teams would love to have carmichael on their sideline working their offense on game day. there are just too many unknowns. the only know is that we don't have payton and that we are going to have to rely on carmichael to run the offense. time will tell.

guidomerkinsrules · 07-10-2012, 08:31 AM

So in the past few years how many times do you think SP rolled out a new wrinkle and drew and pete were like, "huh. Never thought of that"

Its possible that the O takes a step back, but there's also every possibility that pete has been sitting innthe wings creating his own wrinkles - we don't know

If you want to worry you can - but you don't have to

Dome50 · 07-10-2012, 08:48 AM

I think the offense definitely takes a step back. How can they not? BUT, that's a step back from a record setting season, so, they'll still be pretty darn good. On the other hand, I expect the defense to take a big step forward and hope/think they can actually win us a game or two this season. It'll all balance out.

BigSlick · 07-10-2012, 08:53 AM

I think that PC and Brees will be fine from a nuts and bolts perspective of which play to call in given situations, but I think that SP brings an attitude and energy that the entire sideline feeds off of. Can't you just imagine how hyped up everyone gets when SP leaves the offense on the field for a successful 4th down conversion?

Payton also seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the rule book and I can recall at least 2-3 instances when SP has lobbied for flags to be thrown on procedural type infractions by the other team. Who knows, maybe a flag here or there could make the difference between HFA or a road playoff game.

stevend · 07-10-2012, 08:55 AM

I think your probably right, but we will see.

Out of the 4 games where Payton was not on the sideline last year (counting the TB game when he didn't come out for the second 1/2), were the three worse offensive games we had last year.

But then the other game was the Colts, and the team could do no wrong.

albionmoonlight · 07-10-2012, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rail

It's a Captain Obvious sighting!

Well, we do have people here posting about 16-0 seasons. I don't think that the OP was so much trying to make an original point as reminding us about just how tough of a penalty the team got with SP's suspension.

Tim C · 07-10-2012, 09:04 AM

If anything, I believe the Saints may see a bit more balance. I'm not saying Brees will throw the ball only 50% of the time or something crazy like that. They will just be closer to the 09 offense than the 11 offense. Don't forget that Brees has a hand in calling those go aheads on 4th down.

Born_A_Saint · 07-10-2012, 09:13 AM

Our running game will have to step up big time. That little pitch to Sproles will have to be quite effective.

SaintsMan209 · 07-10-2012, 09:15 AM

I'm interested to see what kind of running attack we'll have with the likes of Mark Ingram in the backfield.

thefifthwall · 07-10-2012, 09:22 AM

If it ain't broke don't mess with it. May have a more conservative approach but they still must stop us. There were quite a few times where we went downfield with ease. Then Payton tried something new. I'm thinking more offense than last year.

Elija Nevett · 07-10-2012, 09:27 AM

losing SP will hurt, and that is exactly why RD suspended him for a year.

we have a mountain to climb, but many skilled climbers.

98greenGT · 07-10-2012, 09:36 AM

Agreed

jmoll · 07-10-2012, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rail

It's a Captain Obvious sighting!

i know you may think that but there are a lot of naive Saints fans that don’t realize what its going to be like for Carmichael to Game plan without SP. its not going to be the exact same we are going to rely on our run game and defense a lot more this year.
don’t get me wrong we still beat people but more like 24-14 versus 40-31.