Week 4 AMA: Saints/Falcons Postgame (Ask Me Anything)

TCUDan said
I think it's a few things - one being that teams genuinely are running and operating out of play-action/max protect more, particularly on early downs, and defenses are kinda falling into that ebb and flow (not firing out of the blocks as hard on 1st/2nd down).

Third down bothers me more. I always appreciated the way DA schemed for pressure generation, but this year--so far--it seems to be far less pressure scheming and more coverage scheming. I think I saw 2, MAYBE 3, pressures in the first half (5 or more defenders rushing the QB). One was Tyrann Mathieu on a delayed blitz and the other was Pete Werner. There was very going on with the DL, pass rush game-wise, and in general guys just aren't challenging the opposing OLs schematically or technically.

This could be due to a change in philosophy. Focusing on limiting big plays vs. being aggressive and getting after the QB. The 3rd down stuff is by far the most frustrating.

As a follow up to the DA's play calling question, do you have a problem with the play calls he made in the last 2 minutes against Philly and in the last minute against Atlanta? Particularly on the long Goedert gain against Philly and the play with the PI on Adebo, some are arguing they were terrible calls because you should always play soft zone coverage in those situations.

While I get that those are the typical safe calls and it's risky to play man underneath or even Cover 3 match zone (which may have been the call against Atlanta), that given that the Saints defense is typically aggressive, I think it's okay to occasionally go man even in those situations and that the problem were more with executions (players running into each other against Philly and Adebo panicking and committing PI against Atlanta). It seems to me that asking a group of aggressive DBs to suddenly play soft zone is a recipe to give up a big play in zone. Especially with Tyrann Mathieu out of the game.

What are your thoughts? Is there no room to play man and is it insane to play man instead of soft zone in those end game situations?