Saints Coaches Make "Smart" Decisions. (1 Viewer)

[kfran]

There are many reasons to be pleased with the decisions made by this Saints coaching staff over the past 10 months. However, the one that is starting to stick out more and more is Coach Payton's ability to make "smart" game day adjustments.

For example, it was clear when the game started Sunday that Niners' coach, Mike Nolan, had more respect for our passing attack than he did for our running game.. And that's understandable, given our passing success this year.

His defensive game plan Sunday was to pressure Drew and play alot of Zone coverages, to take away our deep ball and intermediary passes. For the first quarter, it worked. SF held a 12 minute to 4 minute TOP margin on the saints after the first 16 minutes.

Realizing that our passing game wasn't as effective as usual (a few drops contributed to that), Coach Payton also knew that SF's defense was probably going to be a little more susceptible (soft) to the run and on the edges with quick screens.

What Sean does next is make a "smart" adjustment and begins giving Nolan more doses of Duece up the middle and screens to Reggie. It works, and continues to work, so Payton stays with it... ALL DAY.

Just to keep the Niners honest, Drew and Payton mix in enough passes to keep them off balance, and it works again... Pick your Poison with these Saints.

On the other side of the ball, Gibbs and Payton knew that stopping Gore was key. They do just that with 7 and 8 man fronts on first & 2nd down. The 2nd leading rusher in the NFL is held to 40 rushing all day by our Saints!

The Saints staff don't believe that Alex Smith can beat us with his arm, and they're right.. He couldn't. Nolan didn't have a counter move.

With so much Duece and Reggie, by the 4th quarter, the Niners D is exhausted, and it showed. What was once a 12 minute to 4 minute TOP margin in favor of the Niners, turned into a 37.5 to 22.5 TOP margin in favor of the Saints by game's end. Now that's just smart coaching and execution by these Saints, and that's why we're 8-4.

Perhaps now, it's a little easier to understand why these players believe in this staff.

If this team doesn't make you proud as a Saints fan, it's because you simply choose not to be.

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[BIGPOPPA]

Great post! I really believe Payton will be a great coach for the longrun. People compare him to Haslett his first year but, there's a ton of difference. You can feel it!

 

[kfran]

Great post! I really believe Payton will be a great coach for the longrun. People compare him to Haslett his first year but, there's a ton of difference. You can feel it!

Haslett was out coached on gameday many, many times - That speaks volumes.

 

[keepoursaints]

great post..... I couldn't be any happier with our coaches

 

[LSSpam]

Realizing that our passing game wasn't as effective as usual (a few drops contributed to that), Coach Payton also knew that SF's defense was probably going to be a little more susceptible (soft) to the run and on the edges with quick screens.

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Thought that was what was most impressive. With San Fran blitzing and pushing upfield so quickly, we ran reverses, screens, draws, a shovel pass, etc. That's what really cracked the game open.

 

[saintjay]

Kfran,

Very good insight. Thanks for the post.

 

[geauxboy]

It's one thing to recognize that your gameplan isn't working as well as planned. It's another thing to make adjustments and not stick to a hard headed failing scheme. It's also another thing that when you make the adjustments, you make the right adjustments.

 

[keepoursaints]

Our previous coach seen making his adjustments

 

[Shawn]

I agree with you, but I'd add something, something very fundamental about Paytong's coaching: he doesn't try to swim upstream on either side of the ball... which is another way of saying he takes what teams give him.

On offense, not only did he not try to pass when the 49ers were trying to stop the pass; he also seemed to realize after Joe Horn went down, and after Henderson dropped 68 passes, that he had a problem. So Payton starts feeding the ball to Bush.

And on defense, he usually tries to take away the things that will be most likely to kill you--in this case Frank Gore.

It's not rocket science, but it's amazing how many coaches (ahem, Haslett) don't do this.

 

[kfran]

Thought that was what was most impressive. With San Fran blitzing and pushing upfield so quickly, we ran reverses, screens, draws, a shovel pass, etc. That's what really cracked the game open.

Absolutely.. Just smart coaching and the ability to adapt, LSSpam.

 

[LSSpam]

I agree with you, but I'd add something, something very fundamental about Paytong's coaching: he doesn't try to swim upstream on either side of the ball... which is another way of saying he takes what teams give him.

On offense, not only did he not try to pass when the 49ers were trying to stop the pass; he also seemed to realize after Joe Horn went down, and after Henderson dropped 68 passes, that he had a problem. So Payton starts feeding the ball to Bush.

And on defense, he usually tries to take away the things that will be most likely to kill you--in this case Frank Gore.

It's not rocket science, but it's amazing how many coaches (ahem, Haslett) don't do this.

It's what makes us so hard to defend. Remember the 2nd Tampa game following the Baltimore game. Tampa decided to challange the short routes and blitz, so he goes deep. But cinncy sits on us deep (except the Joe Horn flea-flicker) and Brees throws 10 yard routes the entire game. He (Payton) has a done a great job building an incredibly versatile offense that can work with whatever it's given.

 

[CRESS_137]

peyton is great. never looks nervous like Haslett did.

 

[keepoursaints]

peyton is great. never looks nervous like Haslett did.

quick edit your post and change the E in peyton to an A.... I'll pretend like I didn't see it and hopefully noone else will :_rofl:

 

[kfran]

On offense, not only did he not try to pass when the 49ers were trying to stop the pass; he also seemed to realize after Joe Horn went down, and after Henderson dropped 68 passes, that he had a problem. So Payton starts feeding the ball to Bush.

I agree with you Shawn. Not having Joe or Colston, and our other receivers dropping a few early on, definitely contributed to Sean's decisions, but if you look at it, Drew didn't have a bad game - 17 for 28 with 1 TD. Sean simply made Reggie the "go-to" guy in the passing attack with 9 of Drew's 17 receptions.

With our D playing the way it did and a solid running game, those numbers are usually good enough to win with in this league. That's what well coached teams do. I think for us, as Saints fans, we've just become so accustomed this year to Drew lighting things up, that we forget we have a Duece and a Reggie to go to, plus a pretty good O line that CAN run block.

What I realy love about the way this team is playing now, and especially what we showed against an improving Niners' team, is that we have a very balanced offensive attack. You can't make us one dimensional, and that's huge!!!

With the way our D has come on lately (and at the right time, I might add), this team is getting better as the season goes on.

That's what you expect from a well coached, well conditioned team. When you start to really believe, as a team, that you can win every game, especially this time of the year, you become a very dangerous animal.

I don't think any of our last 4 opponents are really looking forward to playing us right now, including the Cowboys.




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[kfran]

Our previous coach seen making his adjustments

:_rofl: :_rofl: :_rofl: :_rofl: :_rofl:​

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