BillyCarpenter1

During the first 2 years under the Haslett regime, the Saints played in the same division with the St. Louis Rams. Jim Haslett and Mike McCarthy got to see first hand the most explosive and high scoring offense of all time twice per year.

There was very little any team could do to slow down, much less stop the potent Ram's offense. With imitation being the most sincere form of flattery, I think Haslett and McCarthy knew with the Rams being in the same division as the Saints, they needed to try to put an offense together that resembled the St. Louis Ram's offense, if they were to have any chance at defeating them.

When Mike McCarthy came to the Saints he brought with him a West Coast Offense that he learned under Mike Holmgren. This offense was a slight variation of the Bill Walsh west coast offense that used a controlled passing game.

The Saints offense does not resemble the offense that McCarthy learned under Holmgren, instead it most resembles the Rams offense under Mike Martz.

While the Rams did win one superbowl and appeared in another, the Rams were able to acheive something other teams had not been able to do. Win it all primarily because of a high scoring offense. Some like to point out that the Ram's defense was ranked in the upper part of the defensive standings when they were going to the Superbowl, but the Rams offense, because they were able to put points on the board so quickly and consistantly, completly took the opposing teams offense out of their game plan and forced them to thow quickly and often, therefore, the Rams offense had a dramatic influence on how the defense fared statistically.

Throughout history teams who tried to win with quick stricking offenses such as: The Huston Oilers and the Atlanta Falcons with their run a shoot offense, quickly learned that this was not effective when you ran into teams with good defenses and ball control offenses. A more recent team to look at would be the Minnesota Vikings, who put an incrediable amount of points up a few years back, but were quickly booted out of the playoffs.

The Saints might well be able to duplicate the Rams success when they won it all, but to me they would be better served using more of a true west coast offense that has proven over time that it has been successful at getting teams to the big dance.


[Edited on 26/7/2003 by BillyCarpenter1]