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jeanpierre

BY NICK UNDERHILL | nunderhill@theadvocate.com Dec 25, 2018 - 2:39 pm

No need to panic.

After playing three subpar games on offense, the Saints took a step toward regaining their form on offense during Sunday’s 31-28 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in what might be the last live action the group sees as a whole before the playoffs begin. A big reason for that was New Orleans’ ability to create the matchups it wanted.

The Saints seemed to like the way Pittsburgh covered the slot, where they took advantage of some coverage issues and the Steelers' zone defense.

The success was apparent — Drew Brees connected with the slot for 115 yards. It was only the third time this season the Saints accumulated 100 or more yards from the inside, also hitting the mark Week 1 against Tampa Bay and later against the Rams. These advantageous looks are likely one of the reasons why Michael Thomas logged 13 snaps inside, his fourth-highest total of the season.

It was clear the Saints were going to have plays to take advantage of when, on the first passing play of the game, a cornerback blitz left Thomas on linebacker Vance Joseph for a gain of 13 on an out route. Later, Thomas was left uncovered for a gain of 5 on a curl against a zone coverage.

Thomas’ biggest gain from the inside was the result of a coverage bust when cornerback Sean Davis, who appeared to be playing zone coverage while the rest of the team was in man, let Thomas go on a slant that turned into a gain of 28 yards.

Later, Mike Hilton made a similar mistake, crashing down on a route in the backfield, before realizing no one was there to pick up Keith Kirkwood on an out route, which resulted in a gain of 23 yards.

Hilton was also on the wrong end of a Thomas slant when he was caught stepping up the field while Thomas broke across the middle for a gain of 7 yards from the slot. Brees went at the cornerback again on a second-and-20 play in the fourth quarter, and Kirkwood beat him on a deep in-breaking route, but he dropped the pass.

The return of Ted Ginn Jr. also played a distinct role in the offense coming back to life. The wide receiver made the biggest catch of the game on a third-and-20 play following Kirkwood’s drop, but it was probably the result of bad coverage and a good play design more than anything.

The Steelers had three players covering one zone with Kirkwood in it, and a linebacker vacated the middle of the field to crash down on a Thomas crossing route, which allowed Ginn to break inside about 20 yards down the field for an open catch. By the time a safety recognized what was happening, Ginn had caught the ball and turned up the field.

But how Ginn’s speed opened things up for him was easy to see. The Steelers often used off coverage on him, and the wide receiver gladly took advantage. He saw the coverage on three out routes and picked up 13, 14 and 15 yards on those plays.

The Saints also got the look they wanted on the interception thrown by Taysom Hill on a pass intended for Ginn. The Steelers triple-teamed Thomas’ route, which left Ginn in a one-on-one situation that was winning until the safety recovered and dropped back to help on him. One could argue that Hill should have gotten rid of the ball sooner, but Will Clapp surrendering a pressure also did not help if the plan was to let the play develop longer.

The biggest issue concerning the Saints moving forward will be the health of the offensive line. Brees faced a lot of pressure in this game. Terron Armstead (two), Larry Warford (two), Ryan Ramczyk (four), Max Unger (four), Andrus Peat (two) and Will Clapp (three) all were responsible for letting some guys speed up Brees. The quarterback, however, did an excellent job of navigating the pocket, getting the ball out quickly and extending plays, so it wasn’t as much of an issue as it could have been.

With Jermon Bushrod (hamstring) and Armstead (pectoral) both fighting injuries, the depth here is getting tested. Whoever plays, the group will need to be cohesive during the playoffs for the Saints to operate at peak efficiency.

Even though it wasn’t perfect, Sunday was a step in the right direction in regards to the overall picture.

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

homerj07

Hill? Sean has to stop being slick or cute. I'm positive we would have scored at least a FG in that opening drive.

Thirty3

Hill had the Oline pushed in his face by defense. Clapp especially was pushed back. I still trust Taysom as does Payton, apparently.

dizzle88

Clapp got pushed around all game, watch the multiple field goals he was in on. He was on his back more than "insert prostitute joke here"

vpheughan

Clapp got pushed around all game

He's from LSU too!!

lumm0x

Yeah I am tiring of the cutsie plays Payton has a tendency to run. I know he's setting stuff up and is a long term thinker. He's trying to produce defensive film on certain personnel and formation groups to try to sucker defenses into tendencies down the road. I get that, but some of these plays seem to have too much going on or are just badly designed from the get go. Or they get run into the totally wrong defense where they are doomed from the start.

I like when we play simple smash mouth football and just let our natural talents be the diversity.