My take on why our secondary struggled (1 Viewer)

picnicwithfish

Geaux SAINTS!!!!!!!!
Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
3,022
Reaction score
2,607
Age
40
Offline
There were so many passes that made it over the defense last night.... Why? Is it talent, coaching, execution, normal slow start? I don’t think so. I truly think our secondary is use to seeing balls take a little longer to reach the target. The balls leaving Watson’s hand were moving 3 times as fast as what they are use to seeing from Brees in practice. (That is not a knock on Brees). When your contact timing to the receiver is a second off, it equates to being burnt. Add the speed from Hopkins, Fuller, and Stills based to what they practice against (Not a knock on our receivers. They are two totally different styles of receiver groups), was on a different level. Their speed, with having to keep Watson in check makes man to man a hard task.

I say all that to say, they will be fine. They won’t face a mobile quarterback with that arm strength and receiver group again for a while. Happy for that hard fought win. It was pretty gutsy.
 
Well, he does’t throw 40 mph... If you want to be that literal, I don’t know what to say.

If you think that there wasn’t a difference between ball speed between Brees and Watkins, I don’t know how to help you.
 
You really had me in the first half...
 
There were so many passes that made it over the defense last night.... Why? Is it talent, coaching, execution, normal slow start? I don’t think so. I truly think our secondary is use to seeing balls take a little longer to reach the target. The balls leaving Watson’s hand were moving 3 times as fast as what they are use to seeing from Brees in practice. (That is not a knock on Brees). When your contact timing to the receiver is a second off, it equates to being burnt. Add the speed from Hopkins, Fuller, and Stills based to what they practice against (Not a knock on our receivers. They are two totally different styles of receiver groups), was on a different level. Their speed, with having to keep Watson in check makes man to man a hard task.

I say all that to say, they will be fine. They won’t face a mobile quarterback with that arm strength and receiver group again for a while. Happy for that hard fought win. It was pretty gutsy.
there is some logic to your thoughts on this and it could be very true, but i think its mostly the starters were seeing their first live action at full game speed and just werent on the same page as far as trusting the other guys and not making dumb mistakes

remember when mora was here, and he used to brag to the press about how great the offense was in practice against the defense and he just couldnt understand why they play so bad on game day? well when the worst defense practices against the worst offense , of course they look good, until you have to play against a real offense or defense lol.
 
This is kinda how I'm looking at it too. The Texans are a different kind of animal. A QB who can throw lasers a mile and one of the fastest WR corps in the league. They are going to make a lot of defenses look foolish. Thankfully the defense isn't going to face that combination of QB arm talent and WR speed again this season.

And DA didn't do his players any favors last night. He put them in position for epic fails over, and over, and over. That was a bad game plan. That was bad play calling. The players will settle in and hopefully DA is able to make adjustments like he always does in the first quarter of the season.
 
I think the issue with the secondary is overplayed. This the NFL, when you are playing against Watson and Hopkins 268 yards passing is just another day. How do you think the Texans feel having 370 yards put up on them by Brees?

I'm not thrilled with the secondary but I don't think they were the reason this was so close. The offense not finishing and the tackling are much more fixable issues. Fix that and this is a 2 score game.
 
Well, he does’t throw 40 mph... If you want to be that literal, I don’t know what to say.

If you think that there wasn’t a difference between ball speed between Brees and Watkins, I don’t know how to help you.

It's somewhere between 40 and low 50's, depending on the play called. Mahomes, arguably the fastest ball in the league at the moment, tops out around 60.
 
Well, he does’t throw 40 mph... If you want to be that literal, I don’t know what to say.

If you think that there wasn’t a difference between ball speed between Brees and Watkins, I don’t know how to help you.

Brees can throw a 40 mph football, yes there was a difference in arm strength from Watson to Brees, but 40 isn’t a tough number to hit for an nfl qb
 
So, say Brees throws in the range of 40 mph... Watson is flinging them at 120 mph? Lol

Correct. We won't face many QB's like Watson. I will actually say that we won't face another QB like him this season. He was throwing lasers...making good decisions..and most of his big passes were about as perfect as they could be into almost perfect coverage. I was very impressed with him.
 
Brees can throw a 40 mph football, yes there was a difference in arm strength from Watson to Brees, but 40 isn’t a tough number to hit for an nfl qb

Got you. I guess I’m arguing the visual difference between the ball speed based to the literal mph. Watson was throwing darts and they were very accurate darts to go with that. Brees throws pin point accurate passes with touch and placement. Two different types to defend. Kind of like why Belichik always wants a left footed punter. It is a different look, and spin, from what people are use to seeing.
 
The reasons the Saints secondary struggled -

1. They stayed in Man coverage even when common sense dictated zone. I understand Marshon Lattimore can be a shut down corner and Eli Apple can be a decent #2 Man corner but last night both CBs were getting torched by Hopkins, Fuller, and Stills. Zone coverage may have helped prevent the big plays Man coverage was giving up.

2. Marcus Williams. I really like Williams but last night his coverage absolutely baffled me. On the Texans last drive with Lattimore in Man coverage Hopkins beat Lattimore off the LOS severely. Williams was supposed to be Lattimore’s deep help. After seeing Lattimore being torched off the line instead sprinting over to help, Williams just kind of jogged toward Lattimore’s side.

3. Hopkins, Fuller, and Stills are very good receivers + Deshaun Watson is a very good QB.
 

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