SaintFanInATLHELL

I think I have to phrase this carefully in order not to be misunderstood. Let\'s start with this: Deuce is so good that he creates a dependency for our offense. McCarthy seems compelled to try to shove Deuce down the opposing defense\'s throat when he\'s in the game. It makes so little sense to run against 8 and 9 man fronts, but because Deuce has that rare ability to make that first defender miss, there seems to be a compulsion to try to force it in there.

Now when Deuce is out, the offense knows that they will have to mix it up simply because they don\'t have that ultra dominant back in there. It\'s one of the reasons why Stecker/Carter were able to muster up well over 100 yards rushing when Deuce has seemed to be ineffective in this early part of the season.

I\'m a fan of Ron Jawarski when it comes to offensive gameplanning. He pleads every week for offenses to be balanced and to keep the defense on its heels with indecision. But the Saints become very predictable when Deuce is in the game because a you pointed out, he is the focal point of the offense.

We need to scheme like a good tennis player, who tries to move the opponent from side to side in an effort to get them to overcommit, then WHAM! put the ball somewhere completely unexpected. The Saints offense needs to anti trend. They need effectively the pro option every play from their base set. They need to pass the ball in obvious run situations until those safeties are thinking that 1st and 10 is a passing down for the Saints. Then WHAM! you give Deuce the ball and let him run free.

So while we can all agree that Deuce is clearly the best ball player on the field when healthy, his dominance creates a predicitability that often hampers the offense IMHO.

That\'s what I saw in the Rams game, much more balance that lead to a bunch of points and a virtually unstoppable offense. I expect the same this week.

But I\'m just not sure that McCarthy is smart enough to figure out that you play the same scheme with Deuce in the game.

One final point: I see now that the offense and Deuce especially needs the 2 back set. I\'d throw Boo and Conwell back into a TE competition and keep Karney on the field full time. The FB has proven that he can block, catch, run, pick up the blitz, and blow up linebackers at the second level. He needs the be on the field full time. There\'s no apparent liability in his game.

On the other hand the run offense stalls in the 2 TE set. And Brooks has been very reluctant to throw the TE the ball consistently. So I see no good reason to keep both on 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.

DARKFATHER504

SaintFanInAtlHELL I tend to agree with you, we are very predictable when Duece is in the game. And this is the game plan all the time. I had mention in an earlier post, with all the speed we have at wide receiver and tight end we really need to come out and use that, no huddles 5-10 yard slants something other than Duece left/right/up the middle, Duece left/right/up the middle, drop pass than punt. We hit them up with some deep passing routes than feeling would change about Duece.