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Hey guys.
I'm working through the film and will provide a more thorough analysis in the next few days, but I just wanted to offer my coach's perspective on what happened last night.
For starters, it's important to understand the environment that the Saints walked into. This was a very hostile away game, where the crowd was insanely loud (to me, at least, it seemed louder than usual). When it comes to pressure (both the defense applying it and the offense mitigating it), that already heavily favors the home team. So any issues the away team is having will be compounded by this factor.
In terms of the pressure Winston was facing, the Falcons were bringing it from guys who were not in the count. A lot of times this comes from a safety or a corner, particularly if they're apexed (aligned outside the box) or a little deeper than the LBs. There were a couple of occasions where I saw the OL slide and get 4 on 3, but a 5th defender would show away from the slide (which means he was unaccounted for) and often on a delay. He'd get through untouched. Again, this is exacerbated by the crowd noise and nature of being the away team in a hostile environment, which makes communication very difficult.
It also comes down to gameplanning. When you prepare for teams, you don't have time to prepare for every single possibility. So you look at tendenceis and situationals. How do they usually match up vs. different formations and personnel? Where does the pressure come from? Which players are better at what? From what I could see--on BOTH SIDES of the ball--the Saints got something they didn't gameplan for.
This. Happens. Usually because a team is methodical when it comes to self-scouting. Part of gameplanning is trying to assess how your opponent will gameplan--what they will expect--and giving them something else.
I do have criticisms. I felt like the playcalling in the first half--really the first 3 quarters--wasn't intentional enough. There are a few ways to slow pressure. One is to run the ball well, and the other is the screen game. I would have liked to see a couple of screens mixed in (there was one but it was poorly executed). And in general, I just felt that what the Saints were doing out of their base, on both offense and defense, was a little flaky and not intentional enough.
Again, this happens. It doesn't mean that DA or Carmichael or anyone else is in over thier head.
But what I loved about the game was the grit the Saints showed at the end. I have been in games like this (I'll post a link to the highlights of one at the end), and this is 100% coaches preparing their teams for adversity. It comes from making practice hard, consistent messaging, and accountability. It comes from having players with the right character, who even when all is lost continue to play their butts off. No championship caliber team executes perfectly every game, but EVERY ONE OF THEM have this grit.
Personal anecdote: In 2017, my team had the #1 offense and #1 defense in the league. We went undefeated. In the semi-final game, a game we were expected to win handedly, we played 3.5 terrible quarters of football. Were shut out. It was raining, it was messy. We had too many penalties. Everything just seemed to go wrong for us while everything they did seemed to work out.
The whole time, we stayed calm on the sidelines, and I told my guys to be ready when the opportunity to win arrived. Down 2 scores, we came alive with less than 7 minutes left in the game and won.
Watching the Saints last night, I was reminded of that game. And when we won it, I knew there was no way we'd lose in the championship (and we didn't). Now this is just game 1 for the Saints and it is certainly unsustainable to dig yourself out of a hole, every week, and expect to win... so they will have to clean up their mistakes. But if nothing else, last night convinced me of the character of this team.
Here's the game, in case anyone was curious. It was the national semi-finals in Brazil.
I'm working through the film and will provide a more thorough analysis in the next few days, but I just wanted to offer my coach's perspective on what happened last night.
For starters, it's important to understand the environment that the Saints walked into. This was a very hostile away game, where the crowd was insanely loud (to me, at least, it seemed louder than usual). When it comes to pressure (both the defense applying it and the offense mitigating it), that already heavily favors the home team. So any issues the away team is having will be compounded by this factor.
In terms of the pressure Winston was facing, the Falcons were bringing it from guys who were not in the count. A lot of times this comes from a safety or a corner, particularly if they're apexed (aligned outside the box) or a little deeper than the LBs. There were a couple of occasions where I saw the OL slide and get 4 on 3, but a 5th defender would show away from the slide (which means he was unaccounted for) and often on a delay. He'd get through untouched. Again, this is exacerbated by the crowd noise and nature of being the away team in a hostile environment, which makes communication very difficult.
It also comes down to gameplanning. When you prepare for teams, you don't have time to prepare for every single possibility. So you look at tendenceis and situationals. How do they usually match up vs. different formations and personnel? Where does the pressure come from? Which players are better at what? From what I could see--on BOTH SIDES of the ball--the Saints got something they didn't gameplan for.
This. Happens. Usually because a team is methodical when it comes to self-scouting. Part of gameplanning is trying to assess how your opponent will gameplan--what they will expect--and giving them something else.
I do have criticisms. I felt like the playcalling in the first half--really the first 3 quarters--wasn't intentional enough. There are a few ways to slow pressure. One is to run the ball well, and the other is the screen game. I would have liked to see a couple of screens mixed in (there was one but it was poorly executed). And in general, I just felt that what the Saints were doing out of their base, on both offense and defense, was a little flaky and not intentional enough.
Again, this happens. It doesn't mean that DA or Carmichael or anyone else is in over thier head.
But what I loved about the game was the grit the Saints showed at the end. I have been in games like this (I'll post a link to the highlights of one at the end), and this is 100% coaches preparing their teams for adversity. It comes from making practice hard, consistent messaging, and accountability. It comes from having players with the right character, who even when all is lost continue to play their butts off. No championship caliber team executes perfectly every game, but EVERY ONE OF THEM have this grit.
Personal anecdote: In 2017, my team had the #1 offense and #1 defense in the league. We went undefeated. In the semi-final game, a game we were expected to win handedly, we played 3.5 terrible quarters of football. Were shut out. It was raining, it was messy. We had too many penalties. Everything just seemed to go wrong for us while everything they did seemed to work out.
The whole time, we stayed calm on the sidelines, and I told my guys to be ready when the opportunity to win arrived. Down 2 scores, we came alive with less than 7 minutes left in the game and won.
Watching the Saints last night, I was reminded of that game. And when we won it, I knew there was no way we'd lose in the championship (and we didn't). Now this is just game 1 for the Saints and it is certainly unsustainable to dig yourself out of a hole, every week, and expect to win... so they will have to clean up their mistakes. But if nothing else, last night convinced me of the character of this team.
Here's the game, in case anyone was curious. It was the national semi-finals in Brazil.
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