New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

The New Orleans Saints didn't show very much of a running game in their regular-season meeting against the Seattle Seahawks last month.

But the Seahawks are expecting that to change this time around after the success the Saints had on the ground in defeating the Philadelphia Eagles during the wild-card round of the playoffs. The Saints, behind Mark Ingram, uncharacteristically ran the ball 36 times for 185 yards against Philadelphia.

The Seahawks, who host New Orleans on Saturday in the divisional round of the playoffs, are expecting to see more of the Saints' ground attack as a result.

"I think that's a very effective way to run their offense," said Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman. "It allows them to be balanced and create the play-action fakes and allow their offense to become more explosive in that sense.

"They will try to bring more guys into the box and then throw it over their heads. That's old school football."

The Saints' effectiveness running the football, especially with starting back Pierre Thomas out of the lineup last week, was surprising, though Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said Wednesday he wasn't stunned by the performance.

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Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Run defense is going to be important in this and the next game so..

We ran at will against Philly, they are #14

We will have to run the same against SEA #7, which is possible.
#2 CAR probably wont work.
#4 SF might not work.

BTW NO has the #15 by yards allowed, which is not bad considering they usually dont concentrate on the run.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

They ran fine against Carolina in Wk16. For some unfathomable reason they stopped. They also ran fine the first time they played San Francisco.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

This is going to be a completely different game. Their best cover option on Jimmy is out and even with him last game Jimmy still made plays and scored. They also will have to respect the run, something that was basically not even on the table last time.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Who is out? Which player?

They will have to respect the run if our O-Line performs as well as they did against the Eagles. I'm going to assume SEA's D-Line is better than the Eagle's D-Line.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Can't remember his name but he covered Jimmy and he won't be playing.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

yeah SEA DL is better, but not way better. Philly was #17 and SEA ia #13. By NFL stats and standards that pretty close. Its inches and a couple yards to be 5 apart. Very doable. I dont think they will respect the run at all.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Is it K.J. Wright?

Also, Cam Chancellor didn't practice. That's good news.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

yes. kj wright is recovering from foot surgery and will not be available.
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i believe the running game is going to be very important, but, i really believe jimmy graham is the key to winning on saturday.

if anyone can punch back at that defense, its the graham cracker. we need to go to him often. i dont think they can stop him and if they cant stop him, we will win. if he goes for more than 100 yds, we win. use him as a possession reciever, on seam routes, and use him in the redzone. jimmy needs to show lynch who the real beast is!

run the ball and throw to graham in the 1st half, then that opens a lot stuff up over the top for colston and kenny in the second 1/2.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

The run games started to get going late in the season but for some reason the playcalling kept moving away from it.Ran well againsts the Panthers and stopped, every team left in the NFC will be tough to run against but not impossible and all you have to do it make them respect the run and thinking about run plays so Brees can get some passes opening the field.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Not sure many of us early in the year would have imagined us relying on the run the run game to punch through the playoffs. Of course, some will insist they called it in August, but it is pretty remarkable.

I'd love to see PT, Ingram and Robinson punch out some serious yards, get some roll tide going and take the Seattle secondary out of the game.

But there is more...
That last trip to Seattle made me feel like a loser all week, not to mention the smackdown i took from the wife, who insitncitvley felt my vulnerability and took rude advantage of my weakened outer sheild.

I am pretty sure muscling Seattle out of the game would lend me some sorley needed swag, add 50kgs to my max bench, trim the waistline, add inches to my chest and help me feel like a king in front of my 50 kg wife and the cats again.

Pumped for the run!

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

From memory, however distorted by trauma it may be, they rocked us pretty hard up front.

I'd say its all mental. They came off a bye week and seriously had their head in the game. Clearly we did not.

The blow out might also work against them.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Ingrams first carry vs 49ers went for 16 yards, then we stopped running the ball

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

According to NFL.com, Seattle ranked 7th (correct) allowing 1626 rushing yds, while Philly ranked 10th allowing 1668 yds. That's a 42yd difference spread out over 16 games. You can make numbers say anything.

As long as we focus on the run, they (hawks) don't phase me a bit.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Here are some questions for this upcoming game and what I think will ultimately decide it.

Can the Saints run the ball and control the clock?
How will the Saints adjust defensively to Percy Harvin?
Do the Saints feel confident enough that they can blitz and recover on the back end? (Rob hardly blitzed against Philadelphia but I believe he is going to take some chances this game)?

To me the biggest matchup of this game will be the Saints Offensive line vs Hawks defensive line. Whoever wins that matchup will win the game. I am pretty confident that the Hawks can move the football minus all your losses at linebacker and the secondary, am I wrong??

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

and then we won. Quitcha complainin. :)

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Ummmm:

YES.

Percy is a shell of his former self if you look at recent pics; so no worries there. Besides, it's not their first rodeo facing Percy.

It will be raining hard during the game; no need to blitz! Besides, our front can handle rushing the QB fine.

Armstead is in there now. He is improving leaps and bounds. This may be his best game yet. Keenan is playing. So we're good there so long as we suffer no more losses in the backfield.

Bigger questions is how the SeaHags are going to handle Grambeaux in light of the SeaHags loss of their cover man from the last contest. Not very well, methinks.

Also, about that "press" coverage (a PC way to label Pass Interference or Holding) they employ, we should do the very same, since the refs don't really call it, maybe even less in the playoffs.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Seahawk fan chiming in. I went to the last Seahawks game against the Rams. Zac Stacy (who is a solid running back) and the rest of the Rams got 13 yards rushing. Seattle was not scared of the Rams receivers so they just packed it in and there was literally no where to run. Stacy would get the ball and then get thrown down.

The presence of J Graham will soften up the front 7 a bit, but I have a feeling the Hawks will not worry at all about the outside receivers. I mean they play man against L. Fitzgerald with no help most the time. I think the Rams best running and throwing lanes will be in the middle of the defense. No team ever really beats Seattle to the outside.

In my opinion the Saints will move the ball between the 30's fairly well (running and passing up the middle). What happens in the RZ will be the tale of the game. The safeties are incredible players, once they get the endzone behind them and don't have to cover deep, they make a lot of plays. Jimmy Graham plays a big role in that department, and his matchup is crucial.

KJ Wright is out, and that is the LB who took Graham out of the game last time, he is a 6'-4" backer who can cover a lot like Urlacher. In his spot is Malcolm Smith, who is a great coverage backer he is very fast, but lacks the height of Wright. Could be the difference in the game.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Hey Smashmouth, how are things in the great state of Texas? A very special friend of mine lives in the Woodlands.

I am amazed at the apathy or dismissal when it comes to Harvin. I very much doubt you would be making those comments if you were hearing what his teammates and reporters are saying about him this week. I think you are in for a surprise but I can tell you that the Saints won't take him lightly.

I also tend to think Ryan wont blitz but he is very unpredictable. Your front line is no joke. Remembering the game in Seattle, I thought your D line was impressive regardless of the score. If they do want to slow down Seattle, they will have to get to Wilson.

Graham will be interesting for two reasons:
He had an ankle injury last week in Philadelphia which limited his play and that was the reason Philly's linebackers were able to control him. Will there be any lingering effects?

If he is healthy, I imagine Kam Chancellor and many others will cover him by committee. The Seahawks can give up plays to him but he cannot go off. Looks like it could be a big advantage NO.

The Refs are letting press coverage go but interesting enough the Hawks played zone most of the game last time. I really think because of this the Saints are going to make it a priority to run the ball. They have to duplicate last week given the conditions Saturday (wind gusts up to 40 mph expected). However, it will hurt our passing game as well. I think it will be a smash mouth affair.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

I hope Harvin's hip feels like mine in cold and rainy weather thereby slowing him down. This game determines SB champion in my opinion.

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

They are great in Texas. Thanks for asking.

http://www.seahawks.com/assets/image...3harvin600.jpg

Please note the toothpicks of legs in this latest photo. Harvin is an injury waiting to happen, not that anyone is wishing anything close to that.

Seattle Seahawks: Percy Harvin

They state 5'11 and 184 lbs. He looks smaller and more fragile now.

Darren Sproles at 5'6" weighs more than Harvin does.
New Orleans Saints: Darren Sproles

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...11/sproles.jpg

http://ninerfans.com/new/wp-content/...2013/11/GI.jpg

http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/D...WUzOSryd8l.jpg

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

HAHA Since your coach is putting Seahawk logo's on the practice field, any chance they put The Falcons logo when they come to town next year? :) :) :)

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Probably not. We own the Falcons. You could ask them if there is a Saints logo in their house??

Re: New Orleans Saints' rushing attack has Seattle Seahawks' attention
 

Saints need to run the ball. When you run and get first downs it takes the crowed out of the game because they get bored. Run early, then pass, run the clock out=win.