Doug Nussmeier is Offensive Coordinator , Saints officially finalized hire per Underhill (15 Viewers)

[3ParStillDriver]

I agree playcalling played a role, I also agree Nuss has some talent and he did try to do too much.....but I think the main issue was the play of the offensive line....they got manhandled in the running game way too often, losing man on man.....it sucks because we also had a FR RB that was uber talented....

I think the issue was the blocking scheme. It was awful. They were extremely simple. But considering their zone right runs. I specifically remember complaining about it several times watching the games with my neighbor. Just an example, the play is a zone right and your center is taking on the NT right in front of him while the right guard is running to the 2nd level to block a LB. In truth, either the C or the RG should be swinging out behind the RT and the man next to them on the left should be picking up the lineman in front of the swinging C/G. This sounds small. But its bigger then most people think as it causes incorrect weight distribution on each foot for the Dlineman who's expecting to take on the Olineman in front of em.

But instead, they were super stupid vanilla where the scheme was just simply "block whoever is right in front of you". That doesn't work well against good defenses. If they do the same abysmal scheme they'll struggle again this year regardless of how talented that Oline is (well, unless its full of top 10 nfl draft talent).

 

[TalleyHo1]

Nuss has Mutiple issues going on. More so, I think it's correct to say LSU has multiple issues going on with its offense. For starters, the play calling was bad. Last season I got the feeling that the players had to significantly out play the play calling. Another issue is their WR corps were greatly overrated. Even Mason Taylor really struggled to get separation against man to man, and against zone he wasn't finding the soft spots. Throw in Nuss trying to "make things happen" and it's a recipe for exactly what happened all year. Nuss has to learn to often take what the defense gives him. That's the 1 thing I that really drove me nuts about him. He was always trying to force plays, some because of play calling, some because of lack of receiving talent and some because of "trying to hard".

On the flip side of that, he's also done some things you don't often see QB's in college do, like throw open receivers. He did that several times which unfortunately played into his daring role of forcing things.

If he can learn when to force and throw open receivers vs when to (and often) take what the defense gives him, I think we'll see big leaps this year. If he can get some better receiving talent around him also that would be extremely helpful for his progress in learning when to force things. But as of the end of the year, they didn't have any receiving talent that's worthy of a 1st or 2nd round pick in the draft. Which is insane considering every single draft the best 5 QB's typically have 1 guy going in the 1st round or high 2nd round.

A lot of what was wrong or went wrong with Nuss and the LSU offense was that big ole offensive line that was great at pass blocking but for whatever reason, could not run block for poo. Turns out it was a very overrated O line. The skill players were not all that bad. A couple came into their own. It was that way all season long. Joe Sloan was calling plays for the first time in the SEC. It was his first year. Once Brian Kelly got involved and started micro-managing Sloan, the offense and consistency along with Nuss got a whole lot better. Hopeful that Sloan will improve his play calling by leaps and bounds in 2025. When everyone knows you can't run, the started all out blitzing on put considerable pressure on Nuss. Yes...he still could have been better but the play calling was horrible and very predictable in those games. Sloan did not help him either.

With the recruits coming in and the transfer portal haul, LSU SHOULD take off but they will have an inexperienced offensive line in 2025. They did look good during their bowl game.

 

[sfidc3]

I think the issue was the blocking scheme. It was awful. They were extremely simple. But considering their zone right runs. I specifically remember complaining about it several times watching the games with my neighbor. Just an example, the play is a zone right and your center is taking on the NT right in front of him while the right guard is running to the 2nd level to block a LB. In truth, either the C or the RG should be swinging out behind the RT and the man next to them on the left should be picking up the lineman in front of the swinging C/G. This sounds small. But its bigger then most people think as it causes incorrect weight distribution on each foot for the Dlineman who's expecting to take on the Olineman in front of em.

But instead, they were super stupid vanilla where the scheme was just simply "block whoever is right in front of you". That doesn't work well against good defenses. If they do the same abysmal scheme they'll struggle again this year regardless of how talented that Oline is (well, unless its full of top 10 nfl draft talent).

I acknowledged that offensive gameplanning was a factor but I saw both Campbell and Jones get beat one on one in the running game numerous times, that shouldn't happen if they are anywhere near to as good as advertised.....and, I saw a mix of zone and man blocking schemes in the running game pretty much all year....nothing worked....

 

[St. Widge]

Is n

It's Joe Sloan's playcalling more than Kelly's offense. BK had to step in during those last few games to supervise what Sloan was calling and the offense along with Nuss got better. Remember...they had A&M beaten but the defense collapsed. It was Sloan's first year calling in the SEC. Nothing wrong with BKs offense when Denbrock was here calling.

I disagree about Kelly's offense. I think having Jayden Daniels masked the issue with the running attack in this offense and the combined talent of Daniels, Nabors, and Thomas, Jr. masked the issues with the passing attack. Any college offense is going to look good when you have Jayden Daniels on the field. He took over games by himself.

 

[St. Widge]

I acknowledged that offensive gameplanning was a factor but I saw both Campbell and Jones get beat one on one in the running game numerous times, that shouldn't happen if they are anywhere near to as good as advertised.....and, I saw a mix of zone and man blocking schemes in the running game pretty much all year....nothing worked....

Apparently they started off as a power run man blocking team and tried to switch to outside zone later on in the season but had issues due to lack of practice time in zone blocking. Just seems like a major issue with the scheme when you try to change your entire run scheme mid-season. Some have speculated that was part of the problem with the OL. They tried to turn them into an outside zone run OL but they didn't have the practice time to learn to do it right.

 

[TalleyHo1]

I disagree about Kelly's offense. I think having Jayden Daniels masked the issue with the running attack in this offense and the combined talent of Daniels, Nabors, and Thomas, Jr. masked the issues with the passing attack. Any college offense is going to look good when you have Jayden Daniels on the field. He took over games by himself.

You're right, he did take over games. There is no debate or arguing that. Daniels' skills and ability hid the lack of a run game. True. But I disagree with the rest of your take. It's Joe Sloan's offense. He designs and calls the plays. BK is an offensive minded coach though. There was clearly a drop off on offense but everyone knew that was going to happen especially when you lose Daniels, Nabors and Thomas. Even with that drop off, it was still one of the better offenses in college football. Nuss was one of the better Qbs even when he fell off. Denbrock left and went back to ND, Sloan was promoted to OC. His only play calling experience prior to last year was while he was at LaTech. Big difference jumping to the SEC. Once BK got involved with the offense, things got better. The stats and level of play prove that.

But I do hear ya and agree some with what you said.

 

[St. Widge]

You're right, he did take over games. There is no debate or arguing that. Daniels' skills and ability hid the lack of a run game. True. But I disagree with the rest of your take. It's Joe Sloan's offense. He designs and calls the plays. BK is an offensive minded coach though. There was clearly a drop off on offense but everyone knew that was going to happen especially when you lose Daniels, Nabors and Thomas. Even with that drop off, it was still one of the better offenses in college football. Nuss was one of the better Qbs even when he fell off. Denbrock left and went back to ND, Sloan was promoted to OC. His only play calling experience prior to last year was while he was at LaTech. Big difference jumping to the SEC. Once BK got involved with the offense, things got better. The stats and level of play prove that.

But I do hear ya and agree some with what you said.

I'm pretty sure that Sloan is running BK's offense and it's the same one he has had since his Cincy days. But I could be wrong. Regardless, I was pretty surprised to see Sloan back as the OC after the offense struggled so much last year. The talent was down a bit last year, but I don't think it was enough that we should have seen that level of play. It just didn't feel like they were using the weapons they had properly and they had no answers for the blitz. They just couldn't do much against any team that had a decent defense.

 

[TalleyHo1]

I'm pretty sure that Sloan is running BK's offense and it's the same one he has had since his Cincy days. But I could be wrong. Regardless, I was pretty surprised to see Sloan back as the OC after the offense struggled so much last year. The talent was down a bit last year, but I don't think it was enough that we should have seen that level of play. It just didn't feel like they were using the weapons they had properly and they had no answers for the blitz. They just couldn't do much against any team that had a decent defense.

I hear you! I too was surprised that Sloan was back. I just knew that he was going to be let go and replaced after the bowl game.

 

[lilvipa221]

It’s not the cap style itself; there’s gotta be a consequence to signing a player to a contract as large as Carr’s then coming to regret it, especially when you do so at a time we didn’t have “cap dollars.”

Teams are moving on from quarterbacks and other highly paid players and suffering the same fate…a large cap hit.

When we signed him, we didn’t have the money and had to borrow from the future…you can’t just get off scot free from that.

Anytime you sign a player to a huge 100+ million dollar deal and regret it, you pay a harsh consequence to rid yourself of it, regardless of how you manage the cap.

The acquisition of the wrong player at a super high cost is the problem, not the cap spreadsheet.

The system is the problem when you use it in perpetuity. To sign anyone we have to do that so obviously they had to do it to sign Carr. Even a year deal for Chase Young at 10 million results in a dead cap hit of 8 million this year. Its outrageous to use this style of financial engineering when your team isnt competitive.

The system works when it is used correctly by management in short spurts when you already have the team ready to compete in place first.

 

[MikeyF]

Waiting...Waiting...Waiting...Waiting...

 

[sfidc3]

Apparently they started off as a power run man blocking team and tried to switch to outside zone later on in the season but had issues due to lack of practice time in zone blocking.

Kind of supports my point, if the LSU offensive line was so individually good why would they need to go to a zone blocking scheme?

 

[sfidc3]

I disagree about Kelly's offense. I think having Jayden Daniels masked the issue with the running attack in this offense and the combined talent of Daniels, Nabors, and Thomas, Jr. masked the issues with the passing attack. Any college offense is going to look good when you have Jayden Daniels on the field. He took over games by himself.

I forgot to mention, this is a great point above, something I've been saying all year to my LSU alum friends.....this is LSU's offense without JD, they were so dependent on him to do everything the year before, he was basically superman in 2023....

 

[woohoosaint]

Fairly certain that this solidifies the notion that Nuss will be our OC...

 

[wnelson]

Saying it now, this coaching staff with a new infused youth movement will get us to the playoffs this year.

our division is ummm yeah we have a shot.

 

[wnelson]

I hope Garrett balls out at LSU this year so we can draft him.

you dont think former saints legend doug Nussmeier didnt dream of such a scenario when the job became a possibility? but then again we might mess around and win 11 games so i dont know.