Saints again start slow, sloppy with comeback falling short; here's what happened in Chiefs loss

gosaints1 · 12-23-2020, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by AsylumGuido

...The Chiefs totally shut down Murray's attempts to run the ball. He had three yards on four carries and those three came on his longest run. I must say that Murray did do well catching the ball with two catches for 26 yards and the TD. Had we completed more of those early short passes it would have opened the door to run more demanding more coverage off the line.

A fair argument could be made that Murray wasn’t given enough chances. My guess is we’ll both agree that four touches out of a sixty minute game just isn’t a large enough sample. And most runners like Murray tend to get stronger as the game plays on and defenses get tired... Umm, lol, that previous statement presupposes that the opposing team’s defense is on the field longer than 2:40 (Saints longest drive) at a time. But when the opposing team “hyper-focuses” on your running game and/or short passing game, then other portions of the field will be freed up. When that happens, we have to make them pay. We definitely have the talent to do that.

12-23-2020, 12:36 PM	#35
gosaints1 500th Post Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 576	Re: Saints again start slow, sloppy with comeback falling short; here's what happened in Chiefs loss Originally Posted by AsylumGuido ...The Chiefs totally shut down Murray's attempts to run the ball. He had three yards on four carries and those three came on his longest run. I must say that Murray did do well catching the ball with two catches for 26 yards and the TD. Had we completed more of those early short passes it would have opened the door to run more demanding more coverage off the line. A fair argument could be made that Murray wasn’t given enough chances. My guess is we’ll both agree that four touches out of a sixty minute game just isn’t a large enough sample. And most runners like Murray tend to get stronger as the game plays on and defenses get tired... Umm, lol, that previous statement presupposes that the opposing team’s defense is on the field longer than 2:40 (Saints longest drive) at a time. But when the opposing team “hyper-focuses” on your running game and/or short passing game, then other portions of the field will be freed up. When that happens, we have to make them pay. We definitely have the talent to do that.
gosaints1 500th Post Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 576