Tre Quan Smith? (1 Viewer)

[Le_fleur_fan_78]

From commentary earlier in the season/preseason via Mike Triplett, Smith was exclusively lining up in the "Z" position in the offense, which is typically where Ted Ginn lines up. I read somewhere else that they have begun installing the other WR positions/concepts to his playbook, but I would take it to mean that he's not up to speed anywhere other than "Z". So his opportunities are just very limited at the moment I think, especially considering Carr is often manning the slot and Meredith's ability to play both in the slot and in the "X".

Thats actually a really good problem to have. Let the rook grow, get some game experience, learn from the vets until hes up to speed.

 

[Infoman]

If Ginn keeps dropping passes / not being on the same page as Brees on deep routes... TQS will get his shot... He and Ginn play the same position if I remember right.... but as long as Ginn makes plays... TQS will have to wait his turn.

 

[bobad]

Let's not overlook Meredith. He's been a No 1 WR before, and appears to be getting fully healthy. If he earns Drew's confidence and starts getting targets, TQS may not get a lot this year. If Ginn gets nicked, we'll see a lot of TQS.

 

[UFCSaint]

Because one is #7 and the other is #89

Or...maybe because there was a rule change:

Uni Watch: Same names - ESPN Page 2

 

[Alaina]

Thing is, I don't think Drew is even going through progressions because he doesn't have to. He's seeing his #1 or #2 open and he just goes with it quickly. The guy is >80% off of nearly 130 attempts. That's just insane when you think about it. On top of that he's got the #1 and #3 in receptions for "receivers" in the NFL right now and our passing offense is #3 in ypg.

Consider this, if your play call has your 2 most effective pass catchers as #1 and #2 in progression, why would you go through to 3, 4, 5 if those first two are pretty much always in a good position to make a play? From the throws I've seen Brees making, very few are being required to fit in tight spaces. Sure, there's a few as there will always be, but the majority of them are going quickly to Thomas or Kamara where they are in positions to get some YAC. When you actually see how the Saints offense is playing and how clean the passing game is in terms of how open players are when they catch the ball, MT and Kamara especially, you'll notice how serious of playmakers they are this year, and how they really hurt defenses ability to cover them. Which explains Brees' ridiculous completion percentage yet fairly low YPA (which honestly isn't terrible as he's 7th in the league).

And of course there's always the factor of what defenses put on who. If a defense is gonna play zone, expect MT or Kamara to catch the ball quick because they're such very intelligent, excellent route runners. If Brees sees a mismatch in man vs Kamara or Thomas, there's almost no chance of the ball going to TQS or Meredith. You saw this yesterday when pretty much nobody was on Kamara and Brees fired an unscripted quick shot to Kamara that he unfortunately didn't expect.

Maybe the lack of trust that Payton and Brees may be hinting at aren't necessarily a lack of trust, but more an overabundance of success of our #1 and #2. Think about it, we've never had a 2 person passing threat under Brees that's as good as Thomas and Kamara. Add on that defenses need to respect Ginn and TQS running down field and dumping off to MT and Kamara is like a kid in a candy shop.

It's not that TQS and Meredith aren't doing well, it's that the Saints never had a duo like MT and Kamara that were able to just tear into an opponents secondary and LB corps so consistently.

Just wait til defenses need to account for the run with Ingram. God this offense will curb stomp anything when they're clicking ....

 

[football]

Tre'quan Smith will get his chances. I already knew it will take some time. Looking back, it took a few games for Thomas and Kamara to get going when they were rookies.

I am so surprise no one has mentioned Austin Carr. He has been pretty solid lately too.

 

[rsmith2783]

Preseason does mean something. Not the win-loss, but how the team play. Look at our defense in preseason, them look at them the last three weeks and you will see the exact same thing.

Lol you're going against the popular grain here

 

[rsmith2783]

I"m pretty shocked by his lack of production on the field. I have no explanation for it.

Sometimes there are plays by design and then there are other times when Drew will throw to who ever is open. My guess is that he's not getting open.

On another note, I'm curious on how effective Meridith is so far. Maybe I haven't seen enough, but I haven't seen him getting much separation from DBs. Maybe his benefit is to bring be a big body possession type receiver to the team.