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The Saints defense was fairly vanilla in their first two games, choosing to operate out of their base 4-3 front most of the time while operating with the luxury of big early leads.
Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune
New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith intercepts a pass intended for Buffalo Bills receiver Terrell Owens on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Owens finished without a catch.
But defensive coordinator Gregg Williams opened up the playbook on his old team, the Buffalo Bills, in Week 3. This was the defense we'd seen in minicamps and OTS throughout the offseason.
The Saints played exclusively in a three-man front against Buffalo. They opened in a 3-3-5 package featuring ends Will Smith and Charles Grant flanking Sedrick Ellis on the nose and their nickel package of five defensive backs. They went to this package in passing situations and third downs. In all, they played their package on 34 of the Bills' 61 snaps.
The Saints played a hybrid 3-4 package with end Bobby McCray as an elephant backer on 17 downs and were in a straight 3-4, with Marvin Mitchell playing inside linebacker alongside Jon Vilma, on 10 downs. They blitzed out of all three alignments.
The Saints blitzed at least one extra defender on 37 downs. They sent defensive backs on 21 downs. Their favorite blitz was a package that sent safety Roman Harper and the nickel back from the slot, most often Randall Gay, from the quarterback's back side. They sent this tandem at the QB 12 times. They also employed a cornerback fire, sending both cornerbacks into the backfield six times. They also sent outside linebackers Scott Shanle and Scott Fujita on blitzes eight times. They blitzed three linebackers on three snaps.
KNOCKING THE NICKEL: The Bills tried to counter the Saints' high-powered passing game with nickel personnel. Even when the Saints were in a base offense - two receivers, one tight end, one halfback, one fullback - they still kept five defensive backs in. The Saints countered with the running game. Pierre Thomas' big 19-yard run on second-and-9 came after the Saints ran right at the Bills' extra defensive back, safety Donte Whitner, was lined up as a third linebacker. Carl Nicks mauled defensive tackle Kyle Williams at the point of attack and Heath Evans kicked out Whitner for the big gain. On the ensuing play, Nicks and Evans had a nice pair of blocks on Bills linebackers Keith Ellison and Kawika Mitchell to spring Thomas for a 13-yard gain on first-and-10.
PLAYING THE FIELD: Rookie punter Thomas Morstead played a key role in the field-position game for the first three quarters. He had an excellent pooch punt in the third quarter pinned the Bills at their own 3. The Bills started five of their 12 drives at their 20 or worse. They only started one drive outside their 30, beginning at their own 38 on their series of the game. Their average starting field position was their own 22.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Sedrick Ellis was. He also forced an intentional grounding penalty late in the first half that resulted in a 13-yard loss for the Bills and short-circuited a promising two-minute drill. That's every bit as good as a sack. Ellis was all over the field, running down screens and draws from behind. He was credited with five tacklesThe Saints defensive staff awarded a game ball to Ellis for his performance.
ZEBRA REPORT: Anthony Hargrove was whistled for a pair of personal foul penalties, both of which were questionable at best. The first helped the Bills avoid a third-and-10, when Hagrove barely grazed the helmet and shoulder pads of Edwards while being blocked. The second helped the Bills convert another difficult down-and-distance scenario. The Bills would have faced thirdn-and-9 at their own 49 but instead received a gift first down when officials called Hargrove for unnecessary roughness while tackling Edwards, who scrambled for a 2-yard gain and did not attempt to slide at the end of the play.
NIX NICKS: FOX sideline mics picked up Jon Goodwin admonishing Carl Nicks for celebrating and yelling at the Buffalo crowD at the end of Thomas' 34-yard touchdown run. Goodwin can be heard screaming at Nicks as he exhorted to the crowd, "Hey, what did I tell you?! (Inaudible) in front of these cameras. What are you doing? Where's your head?!"
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS: Excellent blocking by fullback Heath Evans and tight ends Zach Strief, David Thomas cleared a path for Lynell Hamilton to score his first NFL touchdown on the opening drive. Strief has the key block, clearing out defensive end Aaron Schobel. ... Hit of the day: Linebacker Jon Vilma absolutely tattooed Fred Jackson at the end of a screen play to stop the Bills short of a first down on third-and-10. ... The timing on the failed fourth-and-2 screen pass to Bush was thrown off when Brees tripped over the feet of Evans as he crossed behind Brees to chip-block Schobel. ... The Bills' fake field goal took advantage of how hard Tracy Porter and Chris Reis crash the ends on block attempts. Vilma left Ryan Denney in coverage and rushed Brian Moorman, who lofted an easy pass to Denney for the TD. ... Excellent recognition by Jeff Charleston to catch the pooch kickoff by Rian Lindell on the ensuing kick after the fake field goal and give the Saints good field position at the 41. ... Marvin Mitchell played well against the run in the Saints' 3-4 package. He had four tackles and drew a holding call on Eric Wood that helped stall a Bills drive in the second quarter. ... Jermon Bushrod injured his ankle while being bull-rushed by Schobel into Brees on a long incompletion late in the second quarter. ... Long snapper Jason Kyle injured his lower right leg or foot on the punt late in the second quarter in which Malcolm Jenkins forced and recovered the fumble by Roscoe Parrish. ... Jeremy Shockey failed to pick up a slot blitz by cornerback Reggie Corner, leading Brees to scramble into a sack by Ryan Denney late in the first half. That one was on Shockey, who was lined up in the backfield and stayed home to take linebacker Keith Ellison but failed to see the blitzing corner on his side. The line picked up Ellison and Corner came free off the edge. ... Jenkins replaced Gay in the regular nickel coverage late in the first half. ... Bush was fortunate to avoid muffing a punt in the third quarter when he ill-advisedly tried to block John Wendling and almost fell into the ball inside the 10-yard line. The ball was downed at the Saints' 3. ... Nice kick-out block by Jeremy Shockey on Donte Whitner to help spring Thomas for his 34-yard TD run. Nicks also had a nice block at the second level.
PERSONNEL PACKAGES: The Saints were limited in their multi-receiver sets because of the hamstring injury to Lance Moore, which rendered him inactive. That left them with just three regular receivers on the active roster. To compensate, they used a lot of two-tight end, two-receiver formations to limit the number of reps their receivers had to run. They played only 16 downs with all three receivers on the field at the same time. That's well below par. In the second half, as they began to wear down the Bills defense with the running game, they played almost exclusively in base formations and two-tight end alignments. The Saints closed the game by running three snaps out of their victory formation, with a safety playing deep back.
Here's a look at the Saints' personnel packages on their 69 offensive snaps:
2WR/1TE/1RB/1FB - 21 out of 69 plays
2WR/2TE/1RB - 14 out of 69
3WR/1TE/1RB - 13 out of 69
1WR/2TE/1RB/1FB - 9 out of 69
1WR/1TE/2RB/1FB - 3 out of 69
3WR/1RB/1FB - 3 out of 69
3TE/1RB/1FB - 3 out of 69
2TE/1RB/1FB/1S - 3 out of 69

Tuesday Film Study: New Orleans Saints defense had Bills seeing triple | New Orleans Saints Central - - NOLA.com

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neugey

Good read, especially since I listened on Sirius didn't see the game. I like the 3-3-5 and 3-4, good Wildcat stoppers.