SaintsBro

Serious question: does anybody KNOW for sure if Sean Payton still "scripts" the first 10 to 14 plays of the game, beforehand?? Because if he does, that was a pretty ridiculous, extremely pass-happy script. Pierre got 4 yards on one of them, but why abandon it?

I've often felt that the "pass happy" or "abandoning the run" thing comes from, Payton scripts those first dozen or so plays, and if he does not get the results he wants from the scripted runs, if it doesn't get huge chunks of yardage, he gets impatient, that "OCD" part of his personality kicks in and takes over, and he starts passing the ball all over the place. That's what I always felt from 2006-2009 when the whole "pass happy" thing was at its biggest argument.

The first quarter, you had Pierre for 4. Ingram for 2. Pierre for 0. And 20 passes. Sheez Louise.

Also wondering, if maybe Sproles being out, caused Payton to get out the Sharpie and scratch a bunch of planned running plays off the playsheet, that required Sproles to work, either as running back or decoy. It could have been some specific schemes and plays where "next man up" really didn't hold true because there was NO next man up, who could do the specific job of Sproles. I dunno.