Are We A True No. 1 Offense?

Originally Posted by jeanpierre

Not so fast my friends...

There's more to it than passing up and down the field...you've got to score...

Marques Colston, my favorite active Saints, has not been Colston for the past two years (I've opined age<arthritis); and then there's that other kid who's on Seattle milk cartons...

If you want to look at the statistics, then let's do that...

We're tied with Seattle at eighth in points per game; still among the top nine, but that also includes an anomaly with the Giants game in the dome, drop that game, we're barely middle of the pack...

Source: https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/points-per-game

Then there's time of possession, still good, but only seventh, and if we'd had 2:00 (two minutes) less in total possession, we'd fallen out of the top twelve in avg time of possession...

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/sta...sion-net-of-ot

Now we were first in 3rd down conversions, we were fortunate that there were many third and shorts; this is where sending Cooks downfield and Snead or Hill underneath worked in the passing game and Mark Ingram's improved play; but not in 3rd in long where Colston, a big x-receiver that can body up and convert is missed...

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/sta...conversion-pct

But now we get to the real problem, the red zone...

Despite moving up and down the field, we were only ninth (9th) in red zone TD scoring...

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/sta...ne-scoring-pct

And when teams held us to a field goal, even when we made 'em, we lost games...

And Drew was actually behind the team in the red zone; missing that big go-to receiver...

2015 Red Zone Passing Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com

So despite being no. 2 in total offense, which is tempered by a +2 turnover margin...We lacked that scoring threat...

That is why I make the case that Drew's better days were tied to a true threat at the x-receiver (Colston) and could be rejuvenated (Treadwell) and giving him pocket protection that he once had (All-Pro Evans and Nicks) by improving what he had at guard (Old, Broke-down Evans and Improving Lelito)...

By drafting these positions, you can score putting pressure on the opposition and making 'em one-dimensioal...

And the purpose of the safeties is to address the allowance of the big downfield plays that Byrd and Vaccaro have been incapable of snuffing out...

With regards to the pass rush, I've b*tched as much as anybody here about it being neglected; but there's new linebacking coaches, new linebackers and new defensive linemen; Hell, we had five rookie starters on defense at one point and we finally picked a defensive coordinator, let's let that begin to work and not paint it as dire as last offseason...