Heath Evans... Saints seek balance with diverse, Adrian Peterson-led backfield (1 Viewer)

[dutar76]

By Heath Evans -- NFL Network

We've all heard the saying, History repeats itself. And this could be a very good thing for the New Orleans Saints, with head coach Sean Payton making a concerted effort to balance his offensive attack this offseason.

I was part of a dynamic, balanced Saints offense in 2009, the season in which the franchise won its first-ever Super Bowl title. Before suffering a season-ending knee injury in late October, I shared the backfield with Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush and Mike Bell. Oh, and someone named Drew Brees was under center.

An in-depth look at that championship season reveals that Payton led the most balanced offensive unit of his tenure in New Orleans, running the ball on 45 percent of snaps and passing 55 percent of the time. This was the best version of the Saints' offense, with the play calling of Payton, the execution of Brees and the diversity of the backfield. Some might argue the Saints were better statistically in 2011, but we could do anything at any time to any defense in '09. And winning the Lombardi Trophy proved it. Whereas the '11 team couldn't come from behind in the Divisional Round, ending its chances at the franchise's second title two years later.


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Saints seek balance with diverse, Adrian Peterson-led backfield - NFL.com

Heath makes some vanilla points here for the most part, nothing really new. But he's going a little far out on a limb saying that Peterson will be on the field 45-50 times and Ingram only 25-30. I just don't think so. I have all the respect in the world for Peterson, and I'm excited to see him in our offense, but 45-50 plays a game is a big load when it's completely unnecessary. I do think some games he may be the "hot hand" and out carry Ingram, but I think Ingram keeps his starting role... maybe just not as much of it as he's gotten used to.

 

[SweetT]

Well, if AP plays at 80-85% of his abilities, then that is better than MI. So, it's possible he could get more touches. I'm not saying that will happen, I'm just saying that there is a possibility

 

[dutar76]

Well, if AP plays at 80-85% of his abilities, then that is better than MI. So, it's possible he could get more touches. I'm not saying that will happen, I'm just saying that there is a possibility

It's not so much the touches, (I think him and Ingram could be close in carries) it's the # of plays Heath is calling for. Now I know that AD is pretty near a superhuman, but as a 32 year old RB, why would you have him on the field for 45-50 plays a game when there's no reason for it?

He even states that Peterson isn't the best pass blocker and we're a passing team. Yes Peterson as a decoy or using him for play action makes sense, but playing him that many snaps doesn't. IMO

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

WAs hoping this would be made a thread. Damn good article by Heath. Gives some insightful tidbits like the fact that Payton practically hand picked Kamara.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

It's not so much the touches, (I think him and Ingram could be close in carries) it's the # of plays Heath is calling for. Now I know that AD is pretty near a superhuman, but as a 32 year old RB, why would you have him on the field for 45-50 plays a game when there's no reason for it?

He even states that Peterson isn't the best pass blocker and we're a passing team. Yes Peterson as a decoy or using him for play action makes sense, but playing him that many snaps doesn't. IMO

If you read between the lines he's actually suggesting that we could have more run oriented packages. For everyone complaining about the WR corps and how dynamic it's isnt, you could say being less pass oriented now makes more sense. If you were looking to air it out you wouldn't move away from Cools and only replace him with Ginn and leave the wrest of the WR corps untouched.

Just read the tea leaves. Signed a RB, signed a big body run blocking guard, drafted a RB, drafted the #1 rated run blocking college lineman, and traded cooks. That kind of suggest a more balanced approach and yet Drew is still your QB so you will still inherently pass the ball more than you run...just hopefully that percentage is more balanced and not 63/37

 

[dutar76]

If you read between the lines he's actually suggesting that we could have more run oriented packages. For everyone complaining about the WR corps and how dynamic it's isnt, you could say being less pass oriented now makes more sense. If you were looking to air it out you wouldn't move away from Cooks and only replace him with Ginn and leave the rest of the WR corps untouched.

Just read the tea leaves. Signed a RB (replaced Hightower with an upgrade that has star power to boot), signed a big body run blocking guard (replaced an aging vetran big body run blocking guard with the best young, career right guard in FA that didn't cost as much as a star LT), drafted a RB (drafted a potential joker RB, a position the offense has been missing for a few years), drafted the #1 rated run blocking college lineman (drafted the player rated highest on our board by a ridiculous margin at #32, at a position that if not a need this year, will definitely be a need in the very near future. Also at one of the thinnest posistions on the roster), and traded cooks (traded the only player on your team who's production could be replaced and the only player with enough value to garner a 1st round pick that would allow your defense starved team to draft a QB with the #11 and still get a 1st round quality defensive player) . That kind of suggest a more balanced approach and yet Drew is still your QB so you will still inherently pass the ball more than you run...just hopefully that percentage is more balanced and not 63/37

Could see a lot of that 2 ways. I don't disagree with your points. I totally agree that our aim is to be more balanced. Hanging all our hopes on an aging QB's arm would be a mistake even if Drew has 5 years left in the tank. (for instance, I think we'll begin to see less of the deep vertical game).

 

[PayOrPlay]

That's a nice and informative article, and this is a little off the subject, but Heath says:

Whereas the '11 team couldn't come from behind in the Divisional Round, ending its chances at the franchise's second title two years later.

Is it necessary to point out what everyone here already knows, that the Saints' Best Offense Ever came from behind twice in the last 4 minutes, despite the early loss of their best running back?

Well, maybe his unarticulated point is that the more balanced running attack of the 2009 team might have been able to take more time off the clock before scoring the winning points, thus taking some stress off the offense, but still unclear why Heath thought it useful to neg the great 2011 offense in the course of celebrating the very very fine 2009 model. (I'd take either one, thanks.)

 

[CitySaint]

A huge portion of the 09 balance was maintaining leads through running the ball. A lot of 4th quarter clock eating sessions.

 

[dutar76]

That's a nice and informative article, and this is a little off the subject, but Heath says:



Is it necessary to point out what everyone here already knows, that the Saints' Best Offense Ever came from behind twice in the last 4 minutes, despite the early loss of their best running back?

Well, maybe his unarticulated point is that the more balanced running attack of the 2009 team might have been able to take more time off the clock before scoring the winning points, thus taking some stress off the offense, but still unclear why Heath thought it useful to neg the great 2011 offense in the course of celebrating the very very fine 2009 model. (I'd take either one, thanks.)

He probably has a little attention envy of the team everyone calls the greatest offense in team history. I got the impression reading the article that he was doing a little chest beating a couple times. I get that he's trying to preach loud about balance being the key (I agree), but I think he put a few contriversial tid-bits in there just to give the ho-hum story a little more "what'd he say? did he say that?" He was and will always be a Saint, but he's a member of the evil media now...

 

[Cougar 1]

A huge portion of the 09 balance was maintaining leads through running the ball. A lot of 4th quarter clock eating sessions.

The 09 team also had a ball hawking D that had 26 ints and 30+ takeaways overall. That D also scored 5 TDs, including the SB winning Tracy Porter TD. Meanwhile, the 2011 defense produced only 9 ints.

It's often said the best defense is a good offense. As good as it was, the 09 offense had a lil help from dat D!

 

[meily]

I think Peterson will have a few games where he is hot and will be fed the ball especially if we have built up a good lead heading into the 4th quarter but I still see Ingram leading the team is rushing yards.

 

[jayhawk66]

I think Peterson will have a few games where he is hot and will be fed the ball especially if we have built up a good lead heading into the 4th quarter but I still see Ingram leading the team is rushing yards.

I agree, this is the most likely scenario.

The only caveat is if Peterson is back to his old self: you literally can't NOT put him on the field, even if it's just for play-action. Either way, it's a good thing.

 

[Bob's your uncle]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;Mark Ingram, I believe, is one of the best running backs in the league - certainly all-purpose&quot; <br>Brees talks <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saints?src=hash">#Saints</a> running game on <a href="https://twitter.com/gmfb">@gmfb</a>! <a href="https://t.co/0DuYcVKuui">pic.twitter.com/0DuYcVKuui</a></p>&mdash; New Orleans Saints (@Saints) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saints/status/865211953244905472">May 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This is Drew's take.

 

[AARPSaint]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;Mark Ingram, I believe, is one of the best running backs in the league - certainly all-purpose&quot; <br>Brees talks <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saints?src=hash">#Saints</a> running game on <a href="https://twitter.com/gmfb">@gmfb</a>! <a href="https://t.co/0DuYcVKuui">pic.twitter.com/0DuYcVKuui</a></p>&mdash; New Orleans Saints (@Saints) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saints/status/865211953244905472">May 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This is Drew's take.

He is all purpose. I never could understand the reluctance to throw him the ball at least occasionally earlier in his career. He caught the ball in college.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;Mark Ingram, I believe, is one of the best running backs in the league - certainly all-purpose&quot; <br>Brees talks <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saints?src=hash">#Saints</a> running game on <a href="https://twitter.com/gmfb">@gmfb</a>! <a href="https://t.co/0DuYcVKuui">pic.twitter.com/0DuYcVKuui</a></p>&mdash; New Orleans Saints (@Saints) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saints/status/865211953244905472">May 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This is Drew's take.

I understand that and agree that Ingram doesn't get his due, HOWEVER... Peterson is one of the best pure RB's in NFL history.