What happened in the game last night? (3 Viewers)

[TCUDan]

they are referencing the sack on the first drive of the second half. I remember watching the replay and seeing McCoy and Ruiz engage the same guy, while Peat slid over to block the same player. I made a thread about it wondering whose responsibility it was to slide the protection over. I'm still not sure what Peat's responsibility was on that play?

That was the play where I pointed out that it was lock slide away. The blitzer used his alignment to stay out of the protection count. He was unaccounted for.

This could have been an error in identification or an error in communication. But people acting like that one play made Peat garbage are getting a little ahead of themselves.

Not to mention, on the 56 yard run by Hill he is who sprung him free. The absence of a perfect game--particularly one where the entire unit/team was struggling--does not make a player awful.

 

[Belfast Saint]

they are referencing the sack on the first drive of the second half. I remember watching the replay and seeing McCoy and Ruiz engage the same guy, while Peat slid over to block the same player. I made a thread about it wondering whose responsibility it was to slide the protection over. I'm still not sure what Peat's responsibility was on that play?

Yeah, that sack is almost definitely on Kamara. Just watched it again. Protection slid right, Peat took the 1 tech, McCoy gave a post on the 1 tech and blocked right. Nothing to do with Peat whatsoever.

 

[TCUDan]

Yeah, that sack is almost definitely on Kamara. Just watched it again. Protection slid right, Peat took the 1 tech, McCoy gave a post on the 1 tech and blocked right. Nothing to do with Peat whatsoever.

I haven't watched that play again yet. Was Kamara out on a route? If that were the case, it would be in Winston/the hot WR.

 

[Belfast Saint]

I haven't watched that play again yet. Was Kamara out on a route? If that were the case, it would be in Winston/the hot WR.

No, pretty sure he's at fault. He tries to slip out into the flat on the left, sees the blitzer, stops his route, tries to get back in to block and then looks extremely guilty afterwards.

10:43 left in 3rd quarter

 

[IceHot]

James Hurst is the worst starting left tackle we have had at the top of our depth chart* in the last 17 years...

We have to go back to the Wayne Gandy - Haslet days to be so barren on the offensive line, I would say maybe even 2004 since we were this mediocre as a whole unit.

* not including backups pressed into injury duty

 

[IceHot]

In terms of communication errors, it is nearly impossible to determine from the outside who was doing what. All i can tell you is that communication was definitely an issue. Both units struggled and were being outplayed by the units across from them.

Oline communication seemed really bad but situational awareness seemed really awful as well.

It is as though the Oline was only aware of their own responsibilities and had no idea what backfield protection they were getting. On one play Hurst gives up a sack because he leaves his man to pickup a late outside pressure that Kamara can easily chip and as Hurst kicks out he runs over Kamara. The guy he tried to hand off to Peat (who was already busy) got the easy sack.

 

[Mamba]

James Hurst is the worst starting left tackle we have had at the top of our depth chart* in the last 17 years...

We have to go back to the Wayne Gandy - Haslet days to be so barren on the offensive line, I would say maybe even 2004 since we were this mediocre as a whole unit.

* not including backups pressed into injury duty

That crown is Charles Brown's to lose.
But Hurst is a problem.

 

[Saint Spud]

Again, a lot people trying to point out that Peat was bad or Ruiz was bad or Jameis was bad... Guys, the entire offense was struggling. The defense was very effectively using the crowd noise, their own alignment, and just sound disciplined play to expose the offense and prevent them from doing what they wanted to do. Jameis did take some of those sacks and probably prevented turnovers in the process. As much as it was frustrating at times, it probably kept the game from getting away from the saints and gave them a chance to come back and win.

A lot for pontificating about Winston's past turnover issues without acknowledging that he is playing very, very smart and protecting the ball in situations where he would've previously tried to do too much.

In terms of communication errors, it is nearly impossible to determine from the outside who was doing what. All i can tell you is that communication was definitely an issue. Both units struggled and were being outplayed by the units across from them.

Great thread.

What are your thoughts on both lines seemingly getting manhandled up front? Is that a physical/technique issue that may be hard to fix? Or do you think it’s more of an outlier?

 

[Boy_of_wonder75]

I would caution anyone about reading too much into this performance.

1) Most hated division rival
2) On the road
3) First game of the season.

I think we'll see improvement on both sides of the ball b/w weeks one and two, though I expect the game to be another nail-biter.

 

[TCUDan]

Great thread.

What are your thoughts on both lines seemingly getting manhandled up front? Is that a physical/technique issue that may be hard to fix? Or do you think it’s more of an outlier?

Could be a little of both, though I'm gonna go back to crowd noise. So on the offensive side, the silent count means that the OL is not getting the jump on the DL that they usually get. Like the DL, the OL is now keying ball movement, whereas in a less noisy environment, the OL knows the snap count and the defense doesn't.

Which is exatly what the Saints defense was dealing with on the other side. If they're at home, they're able to tee off the way the Falcons defense was.

That said, the Falcons were definitely more gap sound on both sides of the ball. They looked like they had really repped the zone run game heavily and targeted the Saints fronts, focusing for instance on "this is how we're gonna combo the 3-tech up to the backer" vs. the 2i vs. the 1-tech, etc. I think having that snap count jump, coming hard off the ball, and the Saints being on the smaller side inside really worked in their favor. Also, as I said before, they were just running zone all game with some fomrational and backfield window dressing. Narrowly focusing a gameplan like that also works in an offense's favor... so long as the point of focus is executed effectively, which it was (if it's not, then you haven't repped the other stuff so you may not be as sound if the opponent throw some different looks at you).

If your zone reps during the week aren't being shaved away by reps of power or counter or whatever else during the run periods, then you have more time to perfect it and cover more situations. It worked really well for the Falcons. But I do think it will be a much different game in New Orleans, where the Falcons won't have those same structural advantages.

 

[Mojomajik9]

Great stuff as usual. Thanks for your insights, Dan

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

I'll also add that the 1st 2pt play was brilliant. The 2nd was very questionable.

No need to be too nice here, that 2nd one was horrendous!!! At least run an option play, that was a straight off tackle run.

 

[DSnfla]

He was awful. He let a free rusher through because he decided to block a guy who was already getting double teamed…

Watch the game winning kick highlight. We’re lucky it wasn’t blocked the guy blew right through Peat.

Even Deuce said it was AK's fault on that

 

[Lazarus]

Hey guys, without replying to every post I'll just jot down some things that are often overlooked in these post mortems.

- focusing on formations, play calling, and "this players fault" at a macro level usually misses the issues. Putting Olave in motion doesn't really bring that much to his play, and having him do it even 50% of the time (or 25%) is going to gas him. He is great off the line and runs terrific routes. He's not a Harty who you are using on specific plays and want to keep him clean off the line. All overusing motion does is slow down tempo, and especially in a hostile environment, when you're going on a silent count, it is not the advantage it seems like (very hard to time that up when you're on a silent count).

- we think of scheme as this overt, visible thing, but a lot of times, on defense especially, it's just gaps. So when blitz pressure comes, it's less about "this guy comes from this direction and wins this battle" and more about gap alignment. OL rules are typically based on box count and gaps. Personnel can play in, but the thing the falcons did was attack the saints gap rules. Throw in a loud situation and communication issues, + a defense being very disciplined and sound in their pressures, and it becomes very difficult to pick it all up.

Overarching point is the "Jameis needs to work on his slants" / "Kamara needs to run fewer option routes" etc. generally miss the point. Kamara has busted big plays on option routes for years bc they work. One team gameplanning for them, or the situation/matchups dictating that they weren't working on a select number of plays, doesn't change that

Dan Thanks again I understand the Falcons Defense self scouting and attacking in a way we weren't ready for our pass pro and our play calls on offense were woefully inadequate until we went up tempo.

The Defense bothers me I didn't see anything in the Falcons game plan I wouldn't expect from an Arthur Smith team Heavy on the run utilizing some RPO and attacking with play action. We're we on a bad scheme or did the players fail to execute?

Thanks

 

[Lazarus]

Again, a lot people trying to point out that Peat was bad or Ruiz was bad or Jameis was bad... Guys, the entire offense was struggling. The defense was very effectively using the crowd noise, their own alignment, and just sound disciplined play to expose the offense and prevent them from doing what they wanted to do. Jameis did take some of those sacks and probably prevented turnovers in the process. As much as it was frustrating at times, it probably kept the game from getting away from the saints and gave them a chance to come back and win.

A lot for pontificating about Winston's past turnover issues without acknowledging that he is playing very, very smart and protecting the ball in situations where he would've previously tried to do too much.

In terms of communication errors, it is nearly impossible to determine from the outside who was doing what. All i can tell you is that communication was definitely an issue. Both units struggled and were being outplayed by the units across from them.

Can't Help Dan the haters gonna hate people here got it in for some of the players and there's no reasoning with them