Payton: from pass happy to "balanced" (1 Viewer)

Craig Walker

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I was just thinking about the last two years, and all the criticism Payton got from me and others here about being "pass happy". Even the funny 'play chart' avatar that had 'short pass, med pass, long pass' on it :) .... I made jokes the runningbacks were "receiving-backs" to him...


So fastforward to this year and he is now gameplanning conservatively [somewhat]. He is running the ball more than passing the ball [I think I heard them say on WWL].


Is it:

1) He learned from his mistakes [adapted]
2) He now has a defense that he doesn't have to score 35 every game
3) He has players that allow him to run the ball
4) ??


It just shows me that he appears to be a really good coach to 'adapt' [see: Haslett] and not force a stubborn cookie-cutter approach. Pats teams have won in a few different styles...


Your thoughts?
 
Reason 2 plays a part but the answer is that Payton really hasn't changed at all.

You think perhaps having a real defense and double digit 4th quarter leads every game has anything to do with us suddenly being "balanced," especially when we are running at a 4-1 ratio in the last period?

Or do you think Payton just had some miraculous encounter in the night telling him to run the ball more? I think most want it to be this so they can say they were right. I've been saying this for years. Give the guy a lead and a defense that can hold the lead and he'll have no problems with running the ball.

We aren't balanced in the least as an offensive philosophy still. Look at our 1st half run-pass ratio vs 2nd half once we've built leads. We are pass first, build a lead, and run it later. Same as we've always been. Except this time we have a D that can hold the lead and we don't have to shoot it out.
 
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I believe it's a combination of all three, with heavy emphasis on #1. Payton has made mistakes, but one thing I have enjoyed most about him is that he rarely makes the same ones twice. He no longer looks as though he has anything to prove besides proving that he can take a team to the pinnacle--and he's doing everything he can to prove that this year.

I love that he's still aggressive and creative, but has learned to temper that with patience and experience. As good as he was in '06, I think he's many times better now. He wears his experience well.
 
Sean Payton is doing what he has always done which is try to win the games. Sounds simple right?

It's not a coincidence a running game has shown up just when a defense has ... we saw the same thing in 2006. The past 2 seasons Payton has seen what we've seen. We would give up big play after big and he subsequently opened up the offense because he knew we were in a shootout. We saw a similar offensive explosion the first two weeks but as the defense came together and Payton began to trust them we've seen the dialing down of it. Drew's not forcing passes (on pace for 8 INTs), we're running on 1st down, playcalling is less agressive, etc.
 
I really believe he has slowed the game down for the tough aggressive defenses, trying to slow them down in the fourth quarter. I expect things to pick back up after the Giants game when we get some softer defenses.
 
I believed the same night he sat around a campfire and threw down some brewskies and gave up $250,000 to get GW, he had an epiphany and decided to run the ball more XD.
 
He's maturing as a coach, we have better players, not only on D, and we now have the attitude of a champion. And GW.
 
In 2006 we rode Deuce to the NFCCG, but then he got hurt early in 07 and was never the same again. Between 2007 and 2008, we basically had Reggie, Stecker and an emerging (green) PT. Now, maybe Payton should have trusted PT more from the beginning but give him the credit for keeping him over Pittman and giving him more playing time as he proved he could play.

Now, entering 2009, we officially have PT and Bell as the traditional runners with Reggie doing what is best at (being in spacee etc). I don't think Payton ever wanted to fully abandon the run, he just couldn't get a running game going until late in 08.
 
I think Bonchie hit the nail on the head with his explanation. I would rather call this years team just all around solid.

1.) Having the #1 Offense in the league allows us to quickly put points on the board (or in the last two weeks situation, manage the ball and time of possesion without turning over the ball).
2.) Then our quickly rising Defense steps in and puts a stop to the opponents Offense.
3.) We score some more on O, we get some key turnovers on D, take advantage and score some more....
4.) Now we hold an advantage. We now can start eating up the clock and start pounding the ball on the ground and completely wear down the opponents D and force their O to turn to the pass and despiration sets in and more turnovers ensue...and at the end of the day we are victorious.

Sound familiar? Think last season. The Key to our success this year comes mainly from our off season pick ups. Big props to the Saints Coaching staff and Front office for getting the key Coaches/Players we desperately needed.
 
When i posted the thread, my thought was "it's a little bit of 1, 2, and 3"....

Just wanted to kinda say "props, Coach". I gave him heck here, so glad to see everything clicking now.

BRING ON THE GIANTS!!!
 
I don't think it's what he wants, I think given the opportunity, he will let Brees eat defenses alive with the passing game, the last two teams haven't allow Brees to do that, but I do agree that the difference from the last two seasons is now we can win with Defense & running the ball when defenses shut down the passing game.

I don't believe that Payton went into the last two games planing on not being able to through the ball or Drew not getting a touchdown, it's just the way it played out. So, it's not so much how Payton planned & more on how he handled how things turned out & still won.
 
This...
Reason 2 plays a part but the answer is that Payton really hasn't changed at all.

You think perhaps having a real defense and double digit 4th quarter leads every game has anything to do with us suddenly being "balanced," especially when we are running at a 4-1 ratio in the last period?

Or do you think Payton just had some miraculous encounter in the night telling him to run the ball more? I think most want it to be this so they can say they were right. I've been saying this for years. Give the guy a lead and a defense that can hold the lead and he'll have no problems with running the ball.

We aren't balanced in the least as an offensive philosophy still. Look at our 1st half run-pass ratio vs 2nd half once we've built leads. We are pass first, build a lead, and run it later. Same as we've always been. Except this time we have a D that can hold the lead and we don't have to shoot it out.
 
We aren't balanced in the least as an offensive philosophy still. Look at our 1st half run-pass ratio vs 2nd half once we've built leads. We are pass first, build a lead, and run it later. Same as we've always been. Except this time we have a D that can hold the lead and we don't have to shoot it out.
We didn't build any lead whatsoever in our past two games with our passing. So your saying our O now is the same as it's ever been (since Payton)? How do you figure? We are running the ball a lot more compared to the last three years. And more successfully at that. Our run O is better than our pass O as of now. I do think we will go back to the pass more throughout the season, but how can you say we're not more balanced?
 
There are 2 reasons the Saints are running the ball. One they have the lead in the 2nd half which makes it easier to run the ball.

The 2nd reason is defence is playing good enough, the Saints have never been behind this season, so they can run the ball more and not worry about playing catchup.
 

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