Simple but it works!!

GumboBC · 02-07-2005, 08:59 AM

Watching the Patriots play yesterday made me think of something I've said on this board many times. And it has to do with coaching in general.

While many Saints' fans like to complain about McCarthy calling bad plays or Brooks doing whatever, I see a lot of "simple" things that have cost the Saints' offfense.

1. We do nothing to slow down the blitz.

a.) When defenses blitz us, which is often, we hardly ever run a screen pass. IMO, it is VITAL that you have the screen play in your playbook. And it's VITAL you use it often to encourage the defense not to blitz so much.

b.) You've got to get up to the line of scrimmage EARLY. You need to have as much time left on the 30-second clock as possible. Then you need to go with a long snap count and try to get the defense to show their hand. By doing that you can get defensive players to commit to the blitz and they are much easier for the QB to point out.

You can also go with some hard counts and get the defense to jump offsides. Or make them hesitant to go on the first count.

c.) You need to go max-protect sometimes. When teams aren't succesful blitzing and you complete some passes on them, they don't blitz nearly as often.

All of this needed to have been done more often, IMO.

Thoughts?

02-07-2005, 08:59 AM	#1
GumboBC Banned Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,616	Simple but it works!! Watching the Patriots play yesterday made me think of something I've said on this board many times. And it has to do with coaching in general. While many Saints' fans like to complain about McCarthy calling bad plays or Brooks doing whatever, I see a lot of "simple" things that have cost the Saints' offfense. 1. We do nothing to slow down the blitz. a.) When defenses blitz us, which is often, we hardly ever run a screen pass. IMO, it is VITAL that you have the screen play in your playbook. And it's VITAL you use it often to encourage the defense not to blitz so much. b.) You've got to get up to the line of scrimmage EARLY. You need to have as much time left on the 30-second clock as possible. Then you need to go with a long snap count and try to get the defense to show their hand. By doing that you can get defensive players to commit to the blitz and they are much easier for the QB to point out. You can also go with some hard counts and get the defense to jump offsides. Or make them hesitant to go on the first count. c.) You need to go max-protect sometimes. When teams aren't succesful blitzing and you complete some passes on them, they don't blitz nearly as often. All of this needed to have been done more often, IMO. Thoughts?
GumboBC Banned Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,616