2018 vs 2011 Saints (1 Viewer)

[Usmfan84]

The 2011 team had a specific way they wanted to play play ball and tried to force teams into our game plan. We were a little more finesse. Great team but easier to game plan for.

2018 team is a chameleon. We have no identity. We are almost impossible to game plan for. We can plan to pass for 400. Rush for 200. Attack deep or middle. We will hold the ball for 40 mins and slowly bleed you to death. We can survive a defensive battle or shootout. A team can force us out of our game plan and then we will beat them with theirs.

I think the only true similarity is both our offenses could score.

 

[hookedsaint]

The 2011 team had a specific way they wanted to play play ball and tried to force teams into our game plan. We were a little more finesse. Great team but easier to game plan for.

2018 team is a chameleon. We have no identity. We are almost impossible to game plan for. We can plan to pass for 400. Rush for 200. Attack deep or middle. We will hold the ball for 40 mins and slowly bleed you to death. We can survive a defensive battle or shootout. A team can force us out of our game plan and then we will beat them with theirs.

I think the only true similarity is both our offenses could score.

Very well said

 

[hookedsaint]

Don't have time to compile ATM, but a side by side offensive and defensive stats comparison through 9 games would be cool, including SOS.

Ok being I'm home alone on a Louisiana Saturday night ? I compared the numbers for the offenses through the first 9 games of the 2011/2018 seasons. (I was also interested between the two squads. Good question Herc).

Ok so if my numbers are correct, it took a lot of back and forth between pages, so I may have messed up, here is how we compare:

2011
Points scored per game- 31.8
2018. PSPG - 36.6

2011
Opposing team points per -22.7
2018
Opp PSPG. -25.7

2011
Total yards per game. -445
2018 TYPG. -413.8

2011
Pass attempts per game. - 42
2018
PAPG. - 34.3

2011
Completions per game. -29.8
2018
CPG. -26.3

2011
Passing yards per game. - 319
2018
PYPG. - 287

2011
Rushing yards per game. - 126
2018
RYPG. - 126.7

2011
Rushing attempts per game - 26.8
2018
RAPG. -30.6

 

[jmalon3]

The 2011 team had a specific way they wanted to play play ball and tried to force teams into our game plan. We were a little more finesse. Great team but easier to game plan for.

2018 team is a chameleon. We have no identity. We are almost impossible to game plan for. We can plan to pass for 400. Rush for 200. Attack deep or middle. We will hold the ball for 40 mins and slowly bleed you to death. We can survive a defensive battle or shootout. A team can force us out of our game plan and then we will beat them with theirs.

I think the only true similarity is both our offenses could score.

Perfect summation sir. I have been much more impressed with this team’s ability to beat their opponents at their own game.

 

[GeauxSainz]

We. Have. A. Taysom. Hahaha

 

[Pocket Hercules]

Ok being I'm home alone on a Louisiana Saturday night ? I compared the numbers for the offenses through the first 9 games of the 2011/2018 seasons. (I was also interested between the two squads. Good question Herc).

Ok so if my numbers are correct, it took a lot of back and forth between pages, so I may have messed up, here is how we compare:

2011
Points scored per game- 31.8
2018. PSPG - 36.6

2011
Opposing team points per -22.7
2018
Opp PSPG. -25.7

2011
Total yards per game. -445
2018 TYPG. -413.8

2011
Pass attempts per game. - 42
2018
PAPG. - 34.3

2011
Completions per game. -29.8
2018
CPG. -26.3

2011
Passing yards per game. - 319
2018
PYPG. - 287

2011
Rushing yards per game. - 126
2018
RYPG. - 126.7

2011
Rushing attempts per game - 26.8
2018
RAPG. -30.6

Thanks for putting in the work, hooked, that's awesome. Though I do believe our schedule has been tougher this year and we are a more efficient and complementary team overall in 2018, it's not as though we're night and day better at this point (if at all) and that 2011 team finished very strong after a somewhat uneven first half of the year.

This team has it's work cut out for itself to match the 2011 team.

 

[ChaChingBaby]

A better comparison IMO is the 2009 Saints.

The 2009 Saints came out of nowhere and were destroying teams left and right.

The defense was questionable and bad through stretches in the season, but tons of turnovers, pick sixes and the presence of Darren Sharper made wonders work for a D that would finish ranked 25th overall in yards and 21st in points (one of the statistical worst to ever win a SB)

The 2018 team has already accumulated a respectable win streak, similar to the 2009 team.

I think this season is going like 2009 as well. The AFC is pretty bad. It wasn't all that great in 2009 either; the Patriots finished 10-6 and there is lots of evidence that the Colts despite starting 14-0, had some serious issues (their rushing offense ranked dead last in the league all year long).

The best team in the AFC for 2009 was the Chargers. They were 13-3 and it was truly the last hurrah of that great Marty Schottenheimer built team. They went one and done, cause the highest paid kicker in the league missed 4 field goals.

So far, the best team in the AFC this year just might be the Chiefs....whom have no defense and could easily go one and done too.

The Colts reaching the SB in 2009 was largely thanks to avoiding San Diego, whom I have no doubt would've beat them at home, as they had previously done the last two years in a row. The Chargers were built similar to us and they could exploit Indy's weaknesses, no different from how our offense did in the SB.

All through 2009, we were trying to win out because of the Vikings. This is similar so far this year with the Rams; only difference being that Minnesota was an average team being carried by a legend QB who seemed to have discovered the fountain of youth and looked like his old MVP self at 40 years old.

At one point, Minnesota could've sealed home field advantage for the playoffs in 2009, but thankfully they had 3 ugly losses near the end of the year; two of them were blow outs (Carolina and Arizona) and another was a tough divisional loss on the road (Chicago).

Also worth mentioning some other teams in 2009; Dallas finished 11-5 and they really were not all that good. 2009 was their first playoff win since the 1995 SB. They played a division rival, whom they had previously shut out in the regular season. Their defense looked legit, but they got stomped in the playoffs.

Green Bay was also massively overrated in 2009. Look no further than the playoff game where they gave up 50+ points. It's almost ironic cause the story in 2009 was that their defense was legit, then they gave up 50 points in the playoffs and made Kurt Warner look like it was 1999 again.

So far this year, outside of the Saints and Rams, there really isn't any other solid NFC teams who could go the distance. Carolina looks like how the Packers looked in 2009. They've also had that one game where their defense broke and gave up a 50 burger.

2011 was a far different season, as I noted in a previous post. There were no great teams that year that had true balance on offense and defense. Every contender was very one dimensional and it ended up costing not just the Saints, but all of those teams in the post season. I don't care how much the game favors offense now, I will always believe that defense wins championships. Even a BAD defense can win you a championship, if it comes down to a turnover or "that one play" that just swings the entire game (Tracy Porter's pick six).

You don't have to be the 1985 Bears or 2015 Broncos on defense. Last year's SB was an epic display of poor defense, yet it was still won by the team who gave up 600+ yards on defense, cause it had "that one play" being Brady's fumble.

 

[All The Way]

On offense we are 90% on fourth down conversions this year and already attempted more 4th down conversion after 9 games than all of 2011 (when we were 30%). Taysom is a big part of this.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/downs/year/2011