Film review: Breaking down the Saints' big day against the Panthers -- Underhill (1 Viewer)

Dan in Lafayette

Staff member
Administrator
Diamond VIP Contributor
Joined
Aug 1, 1997
Messages
69,484
Reaction score
55,311
Age
69
Location
Lafayette, LA
Offline
<img src="http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/theadvocate.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/06/706e3b47-1d86-57f6-b7f6-a39d93169dcb/580574ce04a88.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C955" width="650" /img>


Film review: Breaking down the Saints' big day against the Panthers

By Nick Underhill -- Advocate



The Saints knew how to take advantage of the Carolina Panthers.

It’s possible there were holes all over the field during New Orleans’ 41-38 win on Sunday, and perhaps the evidence is circumstantial, but it looked like it knew exactly how it wanted to attack Carolina’s defense. And then did so ruthlessly.

It was clear that that New Orleans could put its wide receivers in positions where linebackers would cover them, and find other weak spots in the Panthers’ zone coverage.

This started on the very first snap when Brandin Cooks lined up in the slot and was covered by Shaq Thompson on an out route, which he pulled in for a gain of 10 yards. And the vulnerability remained throughout the game, as Cooks later ran up the seam for a gain of 49 yards with Thompson in coverage on Drew Brees’ 39th attempt of the game.

Overall, Cooks lined up in the slot 24 times. While it isn’t atypical to see him there -- 12 of his 32 targets through the first four games came from the slot -- his usage in that area was high. And in a game where the defense was often playing deep zones with its defensive backs and allowing the linebackers to cover things underneath, it created a lot of good and easy looks for the offense.

“I think we just game-planned pretty well with that, and just knowing who I was going to get,” Cooks said. “You have to be patient and pick the right time to call stuff. I think coach did a great job with that. The scheme just worked well, and everything just seemed to fit together.”

MORE -- Advocate
 
Hard to believe, but this is one of his best articles to date. We have seen so many great articles from Underhill that we may be taking it for granted. This one kicks arse! :cool:

-- Speaking of havoc, Cam Jordan and Fairley both continue to play well. Fairley is a consistent presence in the pass rush, and the same was true for Jordan on Sunday. He batted a pass, had at least five pressures, and was often in the backfield. It feels like things are starting to come together for the pass rush. Darryl Tapp also had a couple of nice rushes. It seems that rotating players on the defensive line is paying off.

-- Another player who is doing well in the pass rush is Kenny Vaccaro. He had another strong game and showed up all over the field. He had at least three pressures and blitzed probably around 10 times. The safety is doing it all for this defense. He covered the slot, lined up like a linebacker, and also played strong safety. He’s a major key for this defense.

If you check out the entire article, you'll be very, VERY encouraged about the direction our defense is headed. And with key players coming back in the next few weeks, they will be even BETTER! :evilgrin:

In most cases, the phrase "great Underhill article"... is redundant.

:gosaints:
 
Hard to believe, but this is one of his best articles to date. We have seen so many great articles from Underhill that we may be taking it for granted. This one kicks arse! :cool:



If you check out the entire article, you'll be very, VERY encouraged about the direction our defense is headed. And with key players coming back in the next few weeks, they will be even BETTER! :evilgrin:

In most cases, the phrase "great Underhill article"... is redundant.

:gosaints:

We've allowed 39 points per game over the last 3 games. I'll wait to be encouraged about the direction of our defense.
 
We've allowed 39 points per game over the last 3 games. I'll wait to be encouraged about the direction of our defense.

There's no denying that we are still surrendering a ton of yards and points, but I'm in total agreement with Nick U on this:
The defensive tape is odd to watch. You see a solid pass rush and decent coverage throughout most of the plays. But the team gave up 38 points and surrendered 406 yards. Obviously, there are a lot of things to improve on. And yet, on a large majority of the plays, if you watch them individually, a lot of it doesn&#8217;t look terrible. The players are in position, and the way they&#8217;re getting beat is almost justifiable.

I feel there's hope for this defense, where as before it was only :covri:. Admittedly, my expectations are tempered this season, and that helps, but I think this defense has a bright future and will come around.

More than anything, I'm stunned at how far the Panthers' defense has dropped. Of course any defense will suffer with a depleted secondary (sound familiar?), but they're still strong at the line and linebacker, but they are struggling as much or more than us.
 
There's no denying that we are still surrendering a ton of yards and points, but I'm in total agreement with Nick U on this:


I feel there's hope for this defense, where as before it was only :covri:. Admittedly, my expectations are tempered this season, and that helps, but I think this defense has a bright future and will come around.

More than anything, I'm stunned at how far the Panthers' defense has dropped. Of course any defense will suffer with a depleted secondary (sound familiar), but they're still strong at the line and linebacker, but they are struggling as much or more than us.

Do the "yards given up" stat include PI penalty yards? A couple of those kept drives going. And we're also very questionable.
 
<
“I think we just game-planned pretty well with that, and just knowing who I was going to get,” Cooks said. “You have to be patient and pick the right time to call stuff. I think coach did a great job with that. The scheme just worked well, and everything just seemed to fit together.”

MORE -- Advocate


I take that to mean Sean called plays on Sunday. I wasn't sure, I hadn't read anything. But I remember texting my friend during the game saying "Sean or Pete, whoever is calling this game is going a great job".
 
I take that to mean Sean called plays on Sunday. I wasn't sure, I hadn't read anything. But I remember texting my friend during the game saying "Sean or Pete, whoever is calling this game is going a great job".

It's hard to tell. I'm sure they call Pete 'coach' as well.
 
-- The defensive tape is odd to watch. You see a solid pass rush and decent coverage throughout most of the plays. But the team gave up 38 points and surrendered 406 yards. Obviously, there are a lot of things to improve on. And yet, on a large majority of the plays, if you watch them individually, a lot of it doesn&#8217;t look terrible. The players are in position, and the way they&#8217;re getting beat is almost justifiable. There aren&#8217;t many deep passes and only the one big running play. You can&#8217;t continually surrender intermediate routes and expect to win, but the point here is that there have been worse performances from this defense.

Main thing I got from this quote is it begins to look like talent wise we've been outmatched at times. Getting 3 players back isn't going to help a lot but those 3 players are at key positions in the defense. CB, DT, WLB. With Breaux back you can do things coverage wise that should give the line some time, With Rankins back the push from the DT's should be consistent all game, finally with Ellerbe back maybe you get some plays made behind the LOS that put teams in predictable Down and distance more often in the game.

Along with this and certain players like Bell (was responsible for 6 points)continuing to grow and suddenly those point totals begin to come down a bit. 28pts a game with corrections here and there seems possible and the total could drop lower as the season goes on. If the offense can keep up its feverish pace of 30+ points a game we could see W's pile up.
 
Main thing I got from this quote is it begins to look like talent wise we've been outmatched at times. Getting 3 players back isn't going to help a lot but those 3 players are at key positions in the defense. CB, DT, WLB. With Breaux back you can do things coverage wise that should give the line some time, With Rankins back the push from the DT's should be consistent all game, finally with Ellerbe back maybe you get some plays made behind the LOS that put teams in predictable Down and distance more often in the game.

Along with this and certain players like Bell (was responsible for 6 points)continuing to grow and suddenly those point totals begin to come down a bit. 28pts a game with corrections here and there seems possible and the total could drop lower as the season goes on. If the offense can keep up its feverish pace of 30+ points a game we could see W's pile up.

I think about that touchdown catch by Benjamin over Crawley that ended up being out of bounds. Crawley had perfect position, and even had his hand in place to block the reception. Very similar to the first down catch by Victor Cruz in the Giant game.

A bit of technique or strength training is needed, but individual wins like that are literally right there for the taking, and will start to pay dividends for the team as a whole.
 
I think about that touchdown catch by Benjamin over Crawley that ended up being out of bounds. Crawley had perfect position, and even had his hand in place to block the reception. Very similar to the first down catch by Victor Cruz in the Giant game.

A bit of technique or strength training is needed, but individual wins like that are literally right there for the taking, and will start to pay dividends for the team as a whole.

Interesting you mentioned that as I was just searching google about Crawley. Wen't back to look at his scouting report/combine data and he finished top 10 of all DB's in the events he did partake in. They also talked about his thin Frame and how he can get out-muscled at times. A year of being in the strength/conditioning system will benefit him greatly.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom