WhoDat!656

Saints quarterback Drew Brees led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns in 2012, so suggestions that he had a bad year would be hard to take seriously.

But the lowest completion percentage of his tenure with the Saints and 19 interceptions make it fair to say that it wasn’t as good as other years. While discussing any troubles Brees experienced last season, coach Sean Payton said that he didn’t see any mechanical differences in Brees last year that would explain why he was less successful. Payton instead pointed to the running game and the defense as the reasons why Brees was a bit more erratic than usual.

“When you tell me a team is last in the league in defense and last in the running game (25th in yards per game when all was said and done), I’m telling you the quarterback’s job description is entirely different,” Payton said, via Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. ”I’m telling you he’s having to play and press and try to do certain things that his counterpart may not have to do based on the way that team is running the ball or playing defense. That’s the first thing that I saw. You get one-dimensional, you find yourself in these games where you’re not controlling the game.”

Payton said there were times last season when he was shouting at the television while watching an offense that he didn’t think was running the ball enough in the early part of the season. It was something that changed once Joe Vitt returned from his suspension, but you’d expect to more balance from the get-go in 2013 now that Payton’s back in charge.

Sean Payton: Defense, run game led to Brees’ troubles in 2012 | ProFootballTalk

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Rugby Saint II

Payton wasn't the only one yelling at the TV!

QBREES9

I think we all now that.

Boutte

It still amazes me how many people turned on Brees last year. Some were downright vicious.

spkb25

Yep

alleycat_126

Brees got caught trying to be Shawn last season, no one else coach wise had the balls to reign him in. Not even Vitt. Sometimes even the best player needs to have someone get inside his facemask and say...... Hey, you F*&%ing up.... there weren't enough checks and balances.... Shawn does that. Im not saying Brees won't throw ints, Im saying you won't see him make as many horrible decisions to try and do it all.

Danno

Define turned on.

There were many who criticized his gawd awful play to start the season, and many criticized his (or his agents) contract demands and public negotiations. I'm OK with that. I don't consider that turning on a player.

If you're referring to the ones who were just screaming he sucks, bench his ass etc... then yeah, that was kinda out there.

pherein

Which begs the question of who even thought he played gawd awful to begin with? Desperate I would understand ,but anyone that thought he's was playing badly and didn't understand Bree's was compensating for a failing offense and defense didn't see it clearly in my mind. I don't put Bree's on a pedistal or even believe he's the best in the nfl either.

pinch

So I have to ask: if the running game was the problem, who is to blame and what are we doing to fix it?

If my memory serves me correctly, even when we tried to run the ball early in the season we were getting stuffed. I don't see any new RBs on the roster and we've lost a starting tackle. Outside of running the ball more, how will this phase improve in 2013?

Danno

My guess is a mixture of a full time O-Line coach, better play calling and an added emphasis to work at it during practice.

To me it seemed that most of our run plays were sniffed out and our RB's were frequently hit behind the LOS by more than just 1 defender.

I think that predictability hurt us as much or more than poor blocking or running.