New Orleans Saints: Where has the offense gone under Drew Brees and Sean Payton?
In the two games following an offensive explosion against the Los Angeles Rams, the once high flying New Orleans Saints offense has gone AWOL.
In an uninspiring loss to the Lions Drew Brees had no touchdown passes and threw three interceptions. Last Sunday against the Buccaneers Brees duplicated the feat: no TDs, 3 INTs. In those two games the Black and Gold signal caller and future Hall of Famer has looked very average and, some might say, even bad.
The throws haven’t been crisp, they’ve been all over the place, over the heads of, behind, at the feet of his intended targets. He’s been throwing into coverages a rookie quarterback knows to avoid. Against the Buccaneers there were times where it seemed Brees was throwing like a baseball pitcher, winding up and letting it go.
Brees injured?
TAMPA, FL – DECEMBER 11: Drew Brees
There haven’t been hints of an injury to the long-time Saints starter, at least none released to the media, but one has to wonder if something of that nature is going on here. We may never know the answer to that question. Teams notoriously keep tight lips about injury issues with someone of Brees’ stature.
But beyond the play of Brees the play-calling of Head Coach Sean Payton has been abysmal over the past two weeks. Payton had tasked Offensive Coordinator Pete Carmichael with play-calling duties for much of the season, and he did an admirable job.
But against the Rams Sean Payton took back the reins, not due to anything with Carmichael’s play-calling, but to exact revenge on Rams Defensive Coordinator Greg Williams.
Williams was the reason for the year-long suspension Payton endured during the Bountygate scandal in 2012. That revenge was sweet and Payton decided to stay in the driver’s seat after that.
This past Sunday the Atlanta Falcons showed that the offensive output displayed by the Saints against the Rams may not have been so special torching them 42-14 and leading the LA franchise to finally put an end to the Jeff Fisher regime. Apparently, playing in an offensively challenged division like the NFC West makes a defense look much better than they are.
Payton as play-caller
Dec 11, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton looks down during the second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the New Orleans Saints 16-11. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
As a play-caller Sean Payton has always been a chest thumping ego maniac, frequently challenging opposing defenses by going against their strengths in the equivalent of a schoolyard fight. By example, he likes to show run on first down and then do just that, challenging defenses to stop the Saints.
That worked in the past when the Saints had an offensive line not plagued by injury and not starting a former first-round pick, Andrus Peat, who’s starting to look less and less like an NFL starter.
NFL offenses, and offenses in general in all levels of football, work best when they force opposing defenses are as to what’s coming. That’s not a problem for defenses facing the Saints right now. It literally seems as if they have copies of the Saints playbook and are ready for whatever’s coming.
Even the one relatively long completion (38 yards) Brees threw to Brandin Cooks in the Tampa Bay game was to a receiver in a crowd of Buccaneers defenders. They knew it was coming but the pass was good enough to beat the coverage.
The yards Brees has gained passing in the past two weeks have come primarily when opposing teams are playing a little more loosely in an almost prevent mode.
This unit is nearly unrecognizable from what Who Dat fans are used to seeing.
Excuses and responsibilities
Sean Payton has found plenty of excuses. Against the Buccaneers he put a lot of blame on penalties. The Saints, as a team, did have 13 accepted in the game. But penalties are the result of either poor coaching, poor preparation or poor talent. Sean Payton is responsible for all of those things in New Orleans.
Preparation, play-calling, available talent, all of these things are the responsibility of the head coach of a team. This reporter has called for the firing of Sean Payton in the past and that hasn’t changed. But if the Saints want to finish the season with another win, much less getting to an 8-8 finish by winning out, Payton needs to relinquish play-calling duties and hand them back over to Pete Carmichael.
Whatever he’s doing isn’t working.
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