SmashMouth

Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera and New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton have faced each other as head coaches 15 times, but they actually go way, way back.

In fact, when Payton was in college, he was a big Ron Rivera fan.

Rivera was a linebacker for the Chicago Bears at the time. As a Chicago native, that was Payton’s team.

“I get to age him a little bit,” Payton laughed on a teleconference this week. “...I can’t pinpoint a date, but I do remember the roster back when I was in college, for Chicago.”

They have been opposing coaches at least twice a year since 2011, but first crossed paths in 1999, when Rivera was an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles and Payton was the New York Giants’ offensive coordinator.

Payton’s playcalling and design caught the eye of Jim Johnson, Rivera’s boss at the time.

“Jim Johnson, one of the greatest defensive coordinators that I’ve been around, he said it. He said ‘That guy is going to be special,’” said Rivera this week. “And he’s been right...

“Jim Johnson was right about him.”

However, that has at times been a problem for Rivera - because since 2011, he has had to play Payton and the Saints at least twice a year.

The Panthers are 7-8 against the Saints since Rivera’s tenure began in Carolina.

And the Panthers actually haven’t beaten New Orleans since a Thursday Night Football matchup in November 2016. The Panthers dropped three games to the Saints last season, including a Wild Card loss.

The Panthers want to get that taste out of their mouths. Quarterback Cam Newton wants to get the broom he said the Saints sent him after the third loss out of his locker.

But this year, the Saints’ explosive offense looks nearly unbeatable.

Nearly.

Payton and Rivera know each other so well at this point that it might be time for Rivera to take a page out of another team’s book in order to save Carolina’s sliding season.

How Dallas did it
Sure, Tampa Bay beat New Orleans in Week 1.

Yet it was the Dallas Cowboys who really proved in prime time in Week 13 that the Saints, smack in the middle of a 10-game win streak, could be bested at their peak.

But how?

First, the Cowboys’ defensive line’s pressure got New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees out of his rhythm, and not how one would think.

Brees likes to step up into the pocket while making his throws. So Dallas worked to hassle him vertically, using the interior defensive linemen, more so than the defensive ends around the edge.

“It wasn’t that the Cowboys were consistently sacking him — they only managed two sacks all night, and one of those was a corner blitz,” said Cowboys.com reporter David Helman this week. “But their defensive tackles, Maliek Collins and Antwaun Woods, consistently were able to push their way into the pocket and get in Brees’ face.

“Without a clean pocket to step up into, Brees struggled to find throwing lanes all night.”

The pressure from the interior complemented the secondary, which broke up six passes despite being composed of second- and third- year players. Brees even started 0-for-4 for the first time in his career, with those four passes broken up by the secondary.

Carolina has had more success clogging the middle of a quarterback’s pocket in the last two weeks, after benching defensive tackle Vernon Butler in favor of Wes Horton.

Read more here: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sp...#storylink=cpy