Austin Carr and Diving for Balls (1 Viewer)

[dutar76]

I would tell people to not under-estimate being able to run the correct routes. In the Saints offense, the "other" receivers run routes so that Thomas can't be triple-teamed. He can usually beat double coverage. If by some off chance, he gets single coverage because the other receivers pull at least one guy each, then that is perfection. Running the correct routes, at anything close to game speed, is all that it takes for the mad scientist to figure out a play to get Thomas a chance to be open......and all he needs is a chance.

After 3 years of head scratching, this is my best guess. Maybe he always makes the right read on the defense and runs the correct route the correct way. It's just that his route isn't designed to catch the ball, it's designed to combine with other WR's routes to get defenses to do certain things that SP wants them to do. We lay-fans trying to comprehend the depth SP's scheme is equivalent to trying to understand all that scribble scrabble Einstein did on the chalkboard.

Theoretically, defenses would see that he's no threat and therefore their DBs would shade away from him, leaving him open where he'd actually get the ball thrown to him giving him plenty of targets until the DBs started playing him tight again... But most of the time, the QB doesn't have to go past Thomas and Kamara in their reads. Their greatness could be the reason our team can't have a real bonafide #2 Wide Receiver. And this year, with Teddy being a QB that doesn't go through his reads anywhere near as fast as Drew... By the time he gets to Carr, he's either sacked or under duress. That would explain the "few" balls that get thrown Carr's way being "bad" throws every time.

Regardless, you are correct. SP values smart, consistent, reliable players at certain positions in his offense. He's taken those traits over playmaking potential many many times when building a roster. WR, OL, RB, and as Teddy proves... QB.

 

[Icon]

I really wish we could have kept Willie Snead longer than we did.

I'm aware that he got off to a rough start in 2017.....both off and then on the field........but it's amazing how many people seem to forget that if it wasn't for a clutch catch by him on 4th and 10 in the Minny playoff game......a Minneapolis Miracle wouldn't have even been needed to beat the Saints.....because the Saints would have never re-taken the lead. It would have been the Minneapolis Kneeldown with like 45 seconds left in the game and the Saints with 1 timeout left.