Defense affecting offensive playcalling "balance"

Pain_Link_Fence said
The Saints defense's inability to stop the big play seems to be a factor in the offensive playcalling.
Why? The answer is not simple.
The following information excludes Thanksgiving games.

1. The defense overall is doing a great job of getting opponents off the field.
They are 8th in the league in fewest 1st downs allowed and time of posession. They are 4th in the league in offensive plays allowed. There is even a decent number of sacks so far with 26, which is 11th league wide. "That painlinkfence guy is crazy! If anything, these numbers show the offense can rely on the defense.", some of you are already saying. If that were all there is, then that quote would be right.

2. The secondary is giving up big plays on a consistent basis. In fact, they are the worst in the league at it. They are last in completions of 40 yards or over. They are also last in allowing TD receptions. This has been happening to the Saints defense since their first play of the year. This also means that teams haven't needed time to score, and that's an important piece to the puzzle.

3. The run defense still needs help by putting 8 in the box. This leaves one FS and 2 corners in the Saints standard package. On obvious passing downs, the Saints drop into their pass coverage mode- deep cover 2 zones, nickle and dime options, .etc. The point is there would be more than 3 in the deep secondary playing pass first.

Ok, so we know teams are scoring quickly, and the run defense frequently pulls our SS out of coverage. What does this have to do with offense? Getting there...

If the Saints put the SS in coverage to help prevent the deep play, it opens the opponents running game. If the Saints put the SS in the box, it opens up the deep pass. Since neither the secondary, nor the run defense is very good without the SS this is a difficult problem. The Saints need a way to make teams do one or the other, not both, hence the term "one dimensional".

The obvious choice to make a team one dimensional would be the pass. If there is no threat of a run, you can put in a number of coverage packages and tee off, without putting your SS in the box at all. The pass also has a general tendancy to stop the clock. Having the extra DBs also makes the deep score less likely, which has been a problem all year.

So, how can you even make a team one dimensional?
The best answer is good defense. Remember, the Saints need the SS in the box to stop the run. If the secondary could stop the big play with 3 backs, the Saints defense could pull it off unaided. They can't, and sometimes they can't with 4.

That leaves the offense. If you can score quickly and put up a 14 point lead, most opposing teams will start running less if not abandon it. It also forces defenses to make decisions as to defend the pass or run, and nine times out of ten they will play run. They know at that point it's a ball control game for the Saints. This is when you will finally see more carries from the Saints running backs, but don't expect fantasy stats. Games that the Saints have had a two TD lead seem to reflect this too, even though the actual yardage may be abysmal. If the Saints could score as quick with the run, they would. That's just not the case.

Thanks for the time to read this.

Here's the problem the way I see it....believe it or not, but our D plays some kind of nickel or dime packages over 50% of the time......and by that definition our BASE D is either a nickel, or dime D!......OF COURSE THAT is the determining factor in creating OFFENSIVE OPORTUNITIES for our opponents.....today, you rarely see a base offense with either 1 TE and 2 WRs....as a standard package.....most of the time is either 3 WRs, or a 2 TE set is shown as a basic offensive formation..... so defenses have to adjust to that formation, hence the extra DB in most cases! That opens up the running game on the offensive side of the ball, when facing a 5 DB set....it is easier to run against a 2LB, and a 5 DB set than a 3LB and 4 DB set as a standard package! Our opponents are CREATING MISSMATCHES with different offensive formations, which CONFUSES THE HECK OUT OF OUR DBs! Just a reminder....both of Chad J's TDs were the result OF BUSTED COVERAGES!

So....knowing all this, how should the Saints defend against these mismatches?....the simple answer is... THEY CAN'T SCHEME AROUND IT, without opening up other areas of the D!.....so they are stuck with the players they have in those positions, especially when more and more offenses are using the "no huddle" O!.....and here lies the problem.....neither F Thomas, nor MMK is good enough to "hang" with the better receivers when the O is in passing situations.....and our opponents just won't run the ball when we have all our LBs in the game.....most of the time they throw, but when we have a nickel package they run and that in itself creates all kind of problems......our D is having all kind of problems when trying to defend the run with 2 LBs in the nickel.....

I don't expect our D to magically play better.......that to happen, we need better players on D! we need 2 CBs, 1 FS, and at least 2 LBs, and I'm talking the back 7 only!....Up front, another DT would be a great addition too!.....that means 6 new faces on D for next season!

The good news is, we're set on O.....other than a TE, we should be OK on offense!