Article: Saints offense refuses to use play-action, motion like the rest of the NFL (1 Viewer)

[Rouxble]

Oof. I still think after watching a lot of film that he's already determined to check it down to Kamara before the ball is even snapped. He's missing too many intermediate and deep reads and doesn't seem interested in letting the routes developed. If he doesn't trust his receivers, then he either needs to work with them or he needs to quit. You're not going to win over teammates like that when we know for a fact that the other two QBs who are suiting up on gameday both trust the receivers, one guy maybe just a little too much.

It’s tough to watch, especially since he was supposedly ready to play in our system. We even brought in Gruden to help curate the best calls for what Carr does well.

The terrible OL play isn’t his fault, but Carr doesn’t consistently get it done when the protection is there, often checking down as a first option as you pointed out. He had his best game against the Colts because it was also the game where he faced the least pressure, lean on him just a little and our offense is done.

 

[jahsoul357]

I thought I remembered reading that Carr ran a lot of play action in LV? Does that mean he’s a play-action QB but the Saints can’t run a play action offense?

He didn't run a lot of play action under Gruden. The most play action that he ran in recent times was under McDaniels.

Dalton was one of the best play action QB’s last year, so I don’t think that’s it. I do vaguely recall us getting bashed in one of the preseason almanacs for not using enough play action because it actually worked last year, which is a fair criticism.

Play action is what let me know that this offense WAS NOT the same as it was in 2021, even though everyone kept wanting to insist that it was. Dalton ran play action around 16% and Jameis around 10% last season. In 2019 and 2020, Drew ran play-action around 14%. In 2021, Winston ran play-action like 23% of the time (which was a lot closer to the offense we used to run). For a point of reference, Tua has currently ran play action on 24% of his passes and Cousins was at 27%.

 

[Jesse Custer]

In 2021, Winston ran play-action like 23% of the time (which was a lot closer to the offense we used to run). For a point of reference, Tua has currently ran play action on 24% of his passes and Cousins was at 27%.

I think a lot of that had to do with Payton actually building his offense around Jameis and realizing that he's one of the league best at outside the pocket work. It allowed him to freelance a little while helping him out.

 

[Dallas_Saint73]

There were a couple games where we used it a good bit but it's like Carmichael forgot about it. Just like he forgot we could run the ball still with only being down a score and 8 or 11 minutes still left on the clock. Or forgets to use Taysom.

Carmichael panics and forgets half the playbook when things aren't going right. Textbook sign of being in over your head.

That is exactly what was mentioned. When we run it, it works. But for some reason we get away from it. Perhaps limited number of plays that can be run using motion.

 

[Boy_of_wonder75]

Looking back on some games during the Brees era, I notice that he uses play-action occasionally even when the back immediately starts running a route. This would happen with regularity, even during the games when some here would be complaining about not running the ball enough. Where has the perfunctory play action gone? Even if it freezes a safety or linebacker for a second, that's enough to get separation for some of our speedier wide receivers.