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jeanpierre

BY NICK UNDERHILL | nunderhill@theadvocate.com Nov 22, 2018 - 11:42 pm

Between meetings at the Saints’ facilities on Airline Drive and the Wednesday evening walkthrough and subsequent meetings up the road at a hotel, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was asked a question that’s troubled him for years.

There are a lot of guys the Saints prepare to face every year. Many of them cause issues. But is Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones among the most difficult he’s had to game plan against?

“Yes,” he said emphatically, punctuating the answer with a little laughter. “That’s probably as succinctly as I can put it.”

Jones reminded the Saints why he needs to be feared and respected. He had another big day, but it was hollow because the Falcons compiled a lot of yards passing only to fall to the Saints 31-17 on Thursday night.

We’ll talk about how Jones accounted for 147 of Atlanta’s 377 yards through the air. But first we need to establish that the Falcons only had 26 yards rushing on 16 attempts, and 16 of those yards came on a pair of Matt Ryan scrambles.

This was a one-dimensional offense that had to go to the air to move the ball, and that was exactly how New Orleans wanted to play the game. It knew if Ryan had to pass the ball, the secondary could hold firm and the pass rush could tee off on the quarterback.

“We knew that this week, Atlanta has shown to do that, if the game doesn’t go their way early they shy away from the run game,” defensive tackle Tyeler Davison said. “That’s what happened today.”

The Saints didn’t do anything special or unique to stifle the Falcons on the ground. They were familiar with how Atlanta tries to run, and that helped them hold Atlanta to minus-6 yards on its first three carries, but it was simply achieved by being fundamentally sound.

Atlanta tried to come back to the ground game, but it never quite got going. Once New Orleans knew there weren’t going to be many rushing attempts, it was time for the defensive line to go to work.

Six sacks. Thirteen quarterback hits. Nine tackles for a loss. The impact of making the Falcons one dimensional was visible.

“It allows you to tee off on the quarterback,” defensive end Alex Okafor said. “As the game picked up and they got away from their run game, we got more hits and more sacks. It was just a good game for us.”

The performance has this group feeling confident.

https://www.theadvocate.com/video/pl...ideo_id=507630

“It’s been brewing since last season,” Okafor said. “We saw our potential last season. This year, it didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but each week we’ve gotten better, and I think now we’re starting to hit our stride. And now we’re becoming, not only the defense but the team that we want to become.”

As for Jones, there is no question that he racked up some numbers against a new plan by Allen. After dropping Marshon Lattimore on Jones and let him go to work the previous three times these teams played, Allen asked Eli Apple to handle that task, often with safety help.

The reason for the change might have been wide receiver Calvin Ridley's domination of whomever he was paired up against in Atlanta until Lattimore moved onto him with a little more than nine minutes remaining in the third quarter. Everyone else fared better this time, but it was clear Lattimore could do well against the speedier receiver and that Jones could be stopped from making explosive plays with help during that meeting.

This week wasn’t perfect, and New Orleans would much rather not allow 383 yards passing, which is actually more than it surrendered to the Falcons during a Week 3 game when things felt completely out of control for the secondary. But the difference is this one never took on that feel.

There were only three truly notable passing plays for Atlanta on Thursday. A 37-yard gain where Mohamed Sanu ran an effective deep route with Lattimore in coverage, a 50-yard gain where Calvin Ridley got behind P.J. Williams on an extended play and a 21-yard gain by Jones on a fourth-down play in the fourth quarter.

It’s a bogus exercise to say, 'Take away those three plays and it’s a different game,' because the Falcons could take away three of their four turnovers and it’s a much different game. But the yardage from Jones (147) and his running mates is a livable outcome for the Saints against an offense that can put up numbers and a wide receiver who can haunt a coordinator’s dreams.

Especially when that total is compiled against an offense that is playing the way the defense wants it to play.

“We made them one-dimensional. By the time the third quarter, fourth quarter rolled around, they’re in their 11 personnel passing game,” linebacker A.J. Klein said. “Obviously, for us, we don’t want to give up that many passing yards and hold them to less.

“But to get them into third-and-longs, fourth-and-longs, you have to look at that as a positive; they’re taking more and more chances.”

The Saints gave up too many of those third and fourth downs, and there were too many yards passing, but Okafor is right. This defense is rounding into shape. It’s creating turnovers. It’s getting after quarterbacks. No one can run on it. The most anyone can do is pass the ball, but even that doesn’t work some weeks.

It has clicked. New Orleans has a defense more than good enough to complement its offense. The key is to simply maintain it and see how far it can go come January.

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

jeanpierre

Pound, Pound, Pound the Ball, Sean!

vpheughan

SAINTS HAVE THE LONGEST WIN STREAK IN THE NFL BUT THE COWGIRLS WON 3 YES YOU HEARD IT RIGHT 3 GAMES IN A ROW AND ARE THE DARLING OF THE TALKING HEADS!!!! SAINTS USE 4 WR NO ONE EVER HEARD OF TO SCORE TDS YET ALL YOU HEAR IS COOPER, COOPER, COOPER!!!! WHAT A GENIUS JURRRRAH IS HOW BAD DO YOU THINK DETROIT FEELS? THE OTHER TEAM HAS SO LITTLE RESPECT FOR THEM THAT THEY START THEIR BACK UP AND WIN!!!

neugey

I had to work and only got to watch parts of the 3rd and 4th quarter. But I look at the box score and Atlanta's sad rushing totals are a thing of beauty.

dam1953

This will be an interesting matchup. If the Saint’s run game can stop Zek it may not be a contest. The Cowboys don’t have receivers that match Atlanta’s and Prescott’s been sacked 38 times. That may make it difficult for Cooper to have an impact.

Consider that they barely beat Washington with a stand in QB, at home. Let the heads talk. Dallas has yet to face an offense comparable to ours all year. I smell a Philly II.