saintswhodi

Anybody read the rest of that thread after this initial Falcons' fan post? Brutal. I hate the Falclowns. If we don't win another game, I pray we beat them Monday Night.

hagan714

Great job kelly.
I would like to see us contain Vick and make him beat us from the pocket. If he does scamble it will have to be up the middle. this is the key. we have to remain in our lanes. play under control and do what the coaches want us to. remeber last year we played well enough to almost win. we are better as team and so are the Falcons.
As for the NFL and the Zebras making bad calls i do not think they will. This game has way to much hype to have a bad call determine the call. The NFL wants the feel good story to continue. Maybe for once the calls will go our way in the second half. I sware the refs get a call half time as to who is going to win the game. Maybe the phone lines should be cut at game time. Just in case.

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins

LKelley67

I'm reposting this stuff from Falcons boards... How THEY said we can beat them, similar to the How GB will Beat Us Thread here last week. I think the post got passed over in the tide. Some real good stuff IMO. Good to know so many of THEM see real ways for us to win to.

Stack the box and run various zone blitzes. Go after Vick immediately and force him to make quick reads. Dont let the Falcons offense dictate what the defense does. Blitz Blitz Blitz. The only thing that stopped the "option play" was a weakside blitz by Dbs. Mix that blitz in with zone coverage so that the people Vick thinks will be open wont be. Blitz the outside LBs straigyht up the field and float the DEs out into the flats for coverage and Vicks running to the outside. Oh yeah and lots of prayer.
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I think you must have a fast OLB on the right side who runs staight up the field every play to meet Vick in the case that he bootlegs. If he does not bootleg, and the play is a pass, the LB must play a short zone in the case that the play is a screen or the RB comes that way for a swing pass. Basically, the LB is useless on a run play but that is the gamble you must take to keep outside contain. The RCB plays man on his reciever and can run up the field without worrying about support on the bootleg. In order to not lose a defender in normal run support, you essentially must field a 4-4 defense.

Alternatively, you play a short zone on the right side, with the RCB releasing a reciever who runs more than 5 yards. Therefore, there must be a safety dedicated to the right side, starting very shallow off the line. This is kind of an augmented cover 2. The RCB releases the reciever and can come after Vick if Vick bootlegs his way.

The problem with either of these ideas is that you are suddenly a man down on defense. Defenses do that anyway with the "spy", but the MLB spy simply does not work this year because the MLB is frozen by the handoff/fake handoff to Dunn, and cannot constantly vacate the field to run to the sideline after Vick.

But we are executing the run with the RBs too well to afford losing a run support defender. Therefore, you are going to have to play man coverage on the left side to add another run defender to the box. We are executing so well that the run might still work, and deep passes to Lelie should also work or get interference calls like on Sunday.

Basically, as long as we execute well it cannot be totally shut down. But I do think you have to sell out to stop this run/bootleg combo or you are going to get totally steam-rolled.
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Definately would play man against the recievers and have eight in the box. Thats about all. I'd have to see how that worked first.
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The Saints are going to have to play in "lanes". They have to cover most of the field to prevent Vick from running on them. A single spy will not do the trick.
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one thing, when the falcons get into the gun formation, try to get vick to misread some of those zone read plays it looked like he was reading the outside backer last week.When the falcons get into gun have the outside backer to dunns side crash to the inside then bring the safety blitz outside of that and hope that the falcons don't have any gun action passes.
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While '8 in the box' is generally the immediate response to trying to stop a rushing attack, it is only useful against teams who are using max-protect formations most of the time, and who do not have a mobile quarterback who can make you pay for jumping on a play fake. The biggest issue with '8 in the box' defensive schemes is that, on passing plays, you will be suddenly looking at having a zero coverage scheme out there, with no deep help. Against the Falcons, who theoretically have 2 true deep threats in Lelie and White, would LOVE to see you do that.

Which leads me to how I think you need to defend the Falcons...1st off, you need a lot of team speed. Unlike the Falcons rush defense, which needed a big road grater to eat up space in the middle, teams trying to defend the Falcons will actually be hurt with bigger guys in the middle. The Alex Gibbs philosophy eliminates the natural advantage a bigger guy typically has, because size doesn't matter when you're rolling around on the ground. Since teams can't just go sign fast guys, instead you need to trot out a 1-down lineman front. I've seen Bill Belichick do this, so it does happen in the NFL. Depending on your roster, I would either be using a 1-5-5 or a 1-6-4, preferrably the latter.

Now that we've established a base formation, what methods do we use to slow down the Falcons' attack? First off, I would NOT use much man coverage. You simply cannot have a defender turning his back on the offense, and I don't recall Knapp running a lot of Floods and Overloads, so zone coverages should be safe. I would probably have each of my CBs up in press coverage, looking to disrupt timing and/or be in a position to help out with run support. Beyond that? I'd only be running a Cover 1, since the Falcons typically only send one route runner deep at a time. Even more, I would generally shade that Safety help to Vick's left, since he throws more deep routes to the left than to the right (at least, that's my impression). The strong-side OLB would have to man up with Crumpler on shorter routes, releasing to the safety on deeper routes. Beyond that? Pursuit, pursuit, pursuit. Backside safety/linebacker has to stay at home, and will have help from the DB on that side of the field. The rest of the defenders need to flow to the point of attack. The hope is that by keeping defenders off of the line, it disrupts the cutting style of blocking that is so effective in reducing back-side pursuit.

SaintFanInATLHELL

Whodi,

I've been listening to the Falcons homers on the radio all week. Quotes like "steamroll" the Saints and winning by 50 and like. Of course they really don't have a clue because they've only seen their team play. I DVRed the two Falcons games this season to scout the opposition. They are going to be in for a rude awakening come Monday.

One point that seems to be lost in all of this is the coaching change for the Saints. Falcons fans believe that it'll be the same ole Haslett/Venturi style Saints that'll roll over once they get a lead. The truth of the matter is that new coaches in this division have been very very successful very early in their tenures. Fox got to the SB in his second year, Gruden won the SB in his first. Mora got the NFC championship game in his first year. This is not to say that the Saints will go deep into the playoffs this season. But it does point to the fact that often new coaches and a new attitude makes for a completely different type ballgame. But Falcons homers still focus on the past with facts such as the Saints have never beaten a Vick led Falcons team.

New teams with new coaches tend to break trends and tendencies. I have a good feeling that's what we'll see evidence of on Monday.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

yasoon

Man, I hope you are right.

I'm getting butterflies reading this thread. And you're right, these tools in the Atl are some of the worst fans in the world. The sports radio channel i listen to were literally begging Falcons fans to call on Monday.

We deserve the freakin win. Especially after that crap last year.

LK, with regard to the blitzing, I just hope we don't get too far upfield and miss Vick. That's where he makes big plays. I think maintaining your lanes on D and not going upfield too fast is a big part of containing Vick. I think the coachspeak for it is "controlled aggression". If we can get a good hit on Ron, he may float one over the middle.

I can't remember being this pumped for a game. I am ready for the weekend to be over. If we somehow pull this off, this team may be in a position to play above their heads all year. You go 3-0 and it's hard not to say the P word.

gandhi1007

I can see it coming. I see Colston catching a 40 yard pass on Atlanta's 10, then stiff arming DeAngelo Hall like the b***h he is on his way to the endzone. I also believe that this is going to be the game that Reggie finally goes off. It's at home on a national stage & you know the young man shines in those circumstances!

saintswhodi

Is that before or after you wake up and wash up? :P :P

Does Colston have to be in EVERY thread chump? Although, as far as your fantasy goes, I hope it does happen. That would be phenomenal. Colston putting his stamp on DeAngelo early in his career. Priceless.

giveittodeuce

yall remember that play a few years back where deuce trucked the crap out of the falcons saftey and then dove into the endzone? I want him to do that again only this time let dhall be his victim. deuce is a beast and a half and I think he needs to be the staple of our offense.

SaintFanInATLHELL

I think the flexibility of our offense is going to be its hallmark. To be an effective NFL offense you have to have both balance and the ability to dominate in both running and passing the ball. With the pieces the Saints have in place they can do it all. Deuce can pound the ball. Brees has 4 really receivers to deliver the ball downfield (I haven't seen enough production from the TE position, except for Campbell's catch, to say 5 receivers yet), and we have an O-Line that held up well enough to give Brees the ability to distribute the ball.

The Falcons cannot stop everyone on our offense. We have run. We have pass. We have ball control, and we have big play.

The Falcons are one dimensional. If the Saints defense can slow the run down enough to get the Falcons into third down situations, then force Vick to throw the ball, I think they'll get successful in getting off the field.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

LKelley67

I'm not big on "professionals" picks but this guy was 14-2 last week and 24-7 for the season...

This is much more than an NFC South battle between two undefeated teams. For the people of New Orleans, it's the return of their native sons. The Saints play their first home game at the Superdome since the devastating events of Hurricane Katrina forced the team to become road warriors for over a year. While this should be an excellent contest, Monday night will more about how the folks of the Bayou are still trying to get their lives back from the destruction. Here's hoping that this game will be something to take their minds away from the tragedies for a few hours. As for the game, I'll go with the home team.

http://www.blackathlete.net/artman/p...le_02380.shtml