Are the Saints passing too much on first down? (1 Viewer)

[Wombat]

It seemed to me that far too often last night an incomplete on 1st down resulted in 2nd and 3rd and long. Meanwhile, Deuce had only two runs go for less than 5 yds up until midway through the 4th quarter. Now I'm not looking for a return to the offensive stylings of Carl Smith, but is Payton becoming a bit too clever and out-thinking himself ? I think that Deuce was underutilized last night and should have had about six more attempts on first down. At one point late in the game he was averaging more than 8yds a carry.

 

[SuePrudhomme]

Nope, I don't think they are. Part of what has made the Saints so good this year is the creativity and unpredictability of their coaching; now, we all know it's possible to get too cute with that, but I like the gutsy decision to mix in a few passes on first down. Considering the quality of our quarterback and the wealth of receivers he has available, I think it's wise to force the opponent to respect Brees's arm as well as Deuce's/Reggie's legs.

 

[Speck Killer]

I actually think they are passing too much on 2nd down. There have been times throughout the season that we run on 1st down and don't pick up to much and I think we should maybe run it again on 2nd but we pass and it is incomplete which brings up 3rd and long. The run may come up short also bringing up 3rd and long anyway but I am a guy that believes 3 things can happen on a pass and 2 of them are bad. Try Deuce on second and 8 sometimes.

 

[Puddinhead]

No they're running on 1st and Deuce is getting 8-9 yards and then they throw twice instead of feeding it back to Deuce.

 

[alon504]

No...the offense is doing fine.

 

[Wombat]

I counted, hopefully correctly, and found 17 rushes and 17 passes on 1st down. Not as lopsided as I thought but with Deuce's hot hand, last night seemed to have been the time to ride him with low risk high reward runs. At times I've thought the same as you guys about 2nd down as well.

 

[mt15]

Man, you guys are fans of a team with the #1 offense in the NFL, and you want to second guess the playcalling?

Yes, Deuce was extremely effective, but the balance on playcalling was part of the reason for that. You can't become one-dimensional in today's NFL.

My vote goes to give Payton the benefit of the doubt. He's done pretty well for us so far.

 

[Bestdayz]

look at this way. deuce, as great as he looks is still only 1 yr removed from a catastrophic knee injury. while he can handle a game or 2 of 25+ carries this would only hurt him in the long run if he rushes his recovery (no pun intended). payton's playcalling takes this into account. there were a couple of times in the game where i wondered where deuce was but then realized payton was conserving the guy for the 4th quarter where he had 7 carries and 1 reception (td) and was involved in a lot of sets.

i'm not giving payton a free pass because he has made some bad calls but on the whole he's made many more great decisions than poor ones and has shown the ability to learn from mistakes..ie how to use reggie, colston, when to use quick drops and playactions..

also you can't give the guy enough credit for creating such an innovative offense that people like terrance copper, billy miller, mark campbell, john owens, and a certain 7th rounder are striking fear. i mean john owens for christs' sake..
imagine what we'll do in year 2 and 3 when we get some TE's and another receiver or 2.

 

[Domeination]

The only real problem I had with Payton last night is when he put Reggie in on our second to last offensive series and ran that pitch play to him that resulted in the fumble. That play hand't worked all night, and it's riskier than a straight handoff and so not the smartest play to run at that point, espcially when Deuce owned Philly last night. Other than that, he's done an amazing job. He's coach of the year for a reason, and I know I sure owe him a debt of gratitude.

 

[Longtimesaintfan]

Considering on how the season has gone, I'm not going to second guess Payton.

 

[srenner]

hoooooooooooly cow, are you seriously asking this?

McCarthy got raked over the coals for always running on first down, now we wonder about passing too much on first down?

bah!

WHO DAT!

 

[realitybias]

Whatever we're doing, we're doing well. We've got the best offense in the NFL. We've got who I see as the best QB in the NFL this year. Our passing attack is like no other.

So, if anything, we are passing just enough to keep defenses guessing.

 

[christina26]

you don't want to become to predictable, you wanna keep the opposing defense on their heels

 

[Pasquale]

We absolutely are not passing too much on first down. Sometimes we don't catch enough on first down however.