The Salnts offense is actually pretty simple

[The Falcon Jedi]

They Run Pierre Thomas, but he doesnt ever do much behind that mediocre 0-line. We can stop that pretty easily.

Other than that this all the Saints do: They look for Colston deep or down the middle, or Shockey, but if they arent there then Brees checks down to Pierre.

Every time Brees is blitzed or feels pressure he throws a dump-off to his RB. This is where Brees makes his money on 3rd down, and This where Spoony needs to be on his game to cover that. Brees will kill you with that check-down throw, because it usually gets them a 1st down.

No one is going to sack Brees much, he is too smart and knows where to dump the ball off under pressure. And if he gets time to stand in the pocker he is usually going to sling it 20-35 yards to Colston. Brees loves throwing down the middle of the field, esp. into zone coverage. This is where Willy Moore and DeCoud need to be on their toes. But we dont want this scenario to happen.

What we need to do is put pressure on Brees every passing down. Force him to make the underneath dump-off and blow it up with Spoon and Lofton. If we cannot take away those underneath routes then Brees will kill us. But if we can take that away then we should win easily.

Containing Pierre Thomas running shouldnt be that difficult. He is not that great, Lofton should be able to handle stopping him. Reggie Bush likely wont be playing, and that eliminates a huge part of their offensive package. Spoon should have a challenge covering Shockey but I think he can. The Saints might try to create matchups with Shockey isolated on the "rookie" Spoon, but hopefully Spoony will rise up and prove his worth in pass coverage.

I saw a lot of things tonight, and the 9ers defense almost had it right. I think we will do it better.

[Return-of-the-Falcon]

They Run Pierre Thomas, but he doesnt ever do much behind that mediocre 0-line. We can stop that pretty easily.

Other than that this all the Saints do: They look for Colston deep or down the middle, or Shockey, but if they arent there then Brees checks down to Pierre.

Every time Brees is blitzed or feels pressure he throws a dump-off to his RB. This is where Brees makes his money on 3rd down, and This where Spoony needs to be on his game to cover that. Brees will kill you with that check-down throw, because it usually gets them a 1st down.

No one is going to sack Brees much, he is too smart and knows where to dump the ball off under pressure. And if he gets time to stand in the pocker he is usually going to sling it 20-35 yards to Colston. Brees loves throwing down the middle of the field, esp. into zone coverage. This is where Willy Moore and DeCoud need to be on their toes. But we dont want this scenario to happen.

What we need to do is put pressure on Brees every passing down. Force him to make the underneath dump-off and blow it up with Spoon and Lofton. If we cannot take away those underneath routes then Brees will kill us. But if we can take that away then we should win easily.

Containing Pierre Thomas running shouldnt be that difficult. He is not that great, Lofton should be able to handle stopping him. Reggie Bush likely wont be playing, and that eliminates a huge part of their offensive package. Spoon should have a challenge covering Shockey but I think he can. The Saints might try to create matchups with Shockey isolated on the "rookie" Spoon, but hopefully Spoony will rise up and prove his worth in pass coverage.

I saw a lot of things tonight, and the 9ers defense almost had it right. I think we will do it better.

wow you make this sound so easy, now if only it were that simple.

[The Falcon Jedi]

wow you make this sound so easy, now if only it were that simple.

I paid very close attention to the game tonight.

[Pacific_Falcon]

One thing we had better be ready for is the screen pass. Peyton LOVES this more than any other play, and he uses it as effectively as any coach in the NFL. If we dont move quickly to the ball on those screen passes, we will have trouble on 3rd down defense. However, hard to predict how the offense will play without Bush, who happens to probably be my most hated football player. Hated his guts at USC, so I guess it's only fitting he also plays for my most hated NFL team.

Anyway, Bush being hurt is bad for us in that it makes our coaches harder to predict what they will do. They throw a lot of swing passes and screens to Bush, without him I see them going deep and looking for shockey quite a bit more, which isn't good with Owens hurt. With Moore being so inexperienced, the deep pass could be trouble. That said, if Spoon does well covering the RB's in the flat and Shockey, we can force the Saints to be somewhat predictable and can start sending an extra guy or two on blitzes. While I think NO's running game is underrated, our DL has been outstanding so far this year, so I am confident we will play the run well.

[The Falcon Jedi]

One thing we had better be ready for is the screen pass. Peyton LOVES this more than any other play, and he uses it as effectively as any coach in the NFL. If we dont move quickly to the ball on those screen passes, we will have trouble on 3rd down defense. However, hard to predict how the offense will play without Bush, who happens to probably be my most hated football player. Hated his guts at USC, so I guess it's only fitting he also plays for my most hated NFL team.

Anyway, Bush being hurt is bad for us in that it makes our coaches harder to predict what they will do. They throw a lot of swing passes and screens to Bush, without him I see them going deep and looking for shockey quite a bit more, which isn't good with Owens hurt. With Moore being so inexperienced, the deep pass could be trouble. That said, if Spoon does well covering the RB's in the flat and Shockey, we can force the Saints to be somewhat predictable and can start sending an extra guy or two on blitzes. While I think NO's running game is underrated, our DL has been outstanding so far this year, so I am confident we will play the run well.

We have to cover the underneath crap. Dump-offs, Check-downs, Screens... Brees eats your breakfast with those plays.

[JustinTJ]

Saints offense: dump down in the flats, dump down over the middle, screen pass, and deep bombs every 10th pass. Rinse and repeat.

I'd be accurate too if the vast majority of my passes were under 10 yards. The YAC is what kills teams, stop the YAC and stop the Saints.

[The Falcon Jedi]

Saints offense: dump down in the flats, dump down over the middle, screen pass, and deep bombs every 10th pass. Rinse and repeat.

I'd be accurate too if the vast majority of my passes were under 10 yards. The YAC is what kills teams, stop the YAC and stop the Saints.

Yes. When they do that dump-off no-one seems to be in the area covering them.

[st. diehard]

Yes. When they do that dump-off no-one seems to be in the area covering them.

You'd almost think it was by design.

[lokifalcon55]

It's harder to stop than it sounds. But Brees has become the checkdown king. He throws more and more to the checkdown. They strech the field with their core of WR and you have to honor that. If nothing is there Brees just dumps it off for a positive gain which leaves them in a good down and distance ratio. Bush being out will hurt them because he can break a checkdown at anytime. But it still will be a formidable challenge without him. Most defensive guys responsible for covering the RB in those situtations is a mismatch in the Aints favor.

[chrispcall]

They Run Pierre Thomas, but he doesnt ever do much behind that mediocre 0-line. We can stop that pretty easily.

Other than that this all the Saints do: They look for Colston deep or down the middle, or Shockey, but if they arent there then Brees checks down to Pierre.

Every time Brees is blitzed or feels pressure he throws a dump-off to his RB. This is where Brees makes his money on 3rd down, and This where Spoony needs to be on his game to cover that. Brees will kill you with that check-down throw, because it usually gets them a 1st down.

No one is going to sack Brees much, he is too smart and knows where to dump the ball off under pressure. And if he gets time to stand in the pocker he is usually going to sling it 20-35 yards to Colston. Brees loves throwing down the middle of the field, esp. into zone coverage. This is where Willy Moore and DeCoud need to be on their toes. But we dont want this scenario to happen.

What we need to do is put pressure on Brees every passing down. Force him to make the underneath dump-off and blow it up with Spoon and Lofton. If we cannot take away those underneath routes then Brees will kill us. But if we can take that away then we should win easily.

Containing Pierre Thomas running shouldnt be that difficult. He is not that great, Lofton should be able to handle stopping him. Reggie Bush likely wont be playing, and that eliminates a huge part of their offensive package. Spoon should have a challenge covering Shockey but I think he can. The Saints might try to create matchups with Shockey isolated on the "rookie" Spoon, but hopefully Spoony will rise up and prove his worth in pass coverage.

I saw a lot of things tonight, and the 9ers defense almost had it right. I think we will do it better.

Man that's awesome! Where were you last year!? You could be making tons as a D coordinator! (But then who would post garbage all day!?) Sorry, had to....

[Dog River]

Don't kid yourself into thinking Peyton hasn't been holding back for us. He's the premier offensive mind in the game right now.

There's some formations and route combos they ran last year that they haven't ran yet this year. We will see them.

That being said, Smitty and BVG know this offense just as good as the saints.

[maxatlanta]

Spoon can't cover Shockey and blow up the drop off to the RB on the same play. My biggest concern on defense is Moore just not making mistakes. We've seen that he can make plays, but we can't afford anymore 50/80 yard TD runs(not saying he is to blame by the way).

We have looked better on both sides of the ball IMO(must factor in Pitt elite defense). The greatest challenge of all will be overcoming the domefield advantage. They get real loud there and we can't have those guys jumping our snap count all day. If Turner and Snelling do what they were doing last week then I'm feeling pretty good about our chances.

[bighurt]

You guys are missing something, The Niners were playing the Deep coverage, to take away the long stuff. One important thing I saw was Brees being a short QB doesn't like people in his face. The Niners did a good job of bring pressure up the middle. This is were we got our sack fumble also on Bress, delayed pressure up the middle. I think we should hit them up the middle with pressure in Brees face, cover the outside flats when we do.

[crankdatfalcon]

better believe with bush out, their gameplan will get tweaked a little bit. They ran so man screens and short dump off plays with bush, i doubt they do that with thomas but we do need to keep a eye out for those screens, especially that double fake screen with meachem going down the field. The wind might of played a factor in last nights game, so this weeks drew's throws will be on target, so its up to the secondary to be on their p's and q's..

[illest_will]

yeah, it's real easy...the part that's not easy is getting consistent pressure, while keeping Lofton and Spoon head-hunting for the dump-off(and apparently Spoon will also be covering Shockley at the same time), while keeping DeCoud and Moore deep...if we can get constant pressure from the front 4(basically what you said in one sentence), yes, we will probably win the game. the real question that makes the situation complex, is can we get constant pressure with our current personnel?

[BadMoonRising]

Payton is June Jones, with a talented QB.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[vel]

We need to be able to get pressure with just our front four. Jahri Evans may be the "best guard in the league" but they are weak in the middle. The 9ers had Brees flushed a lot but they didn't have the OLBs to corral him. I think with our heavy rotation of Babs/Jerry/Peters/JA98 will cause them a lot of problems and negate the run early. Our problem is stopping the screens and dump offs (like everybody has said already). The 9ers showed us the blueprint to beating the Saints, and I think we will do it because we won't shoot ourselves in the foot like they did. 4 turnovers against the Saints and you only lose by 3 shows you figured something out. That something = ball control and keep Brees on the sideline

[phattywankenobi]

Didn't read all that but I was reminded of the same thing. Brees always has Bush or a TE to stay in and block then he cuts out at the last minute for a dump down. Last night watching the defensive player bumping Bush to get to Brees was so obvious what happens next.

Brees average pass completion is for 6.6 yards so far with 30 being the longest. It's all a matter of play calling so that a player gets the dump down with time to run and that is to me the secret to Brees' high completion percentage. For some reason when the Falcons do it there is always a defender waiting.

[SaintsWrath]

I paid very close attention to the game tonight.

Hmm, Vikings game and 9ers game showed two different styles of Offensive rounds of plays out of Sean Payton's Bible (playbook) and you managed to crack the code Multimillion Dollar Coaches and staff members in the NFL couldn't from one MNF game.. Somebody give this man a job!

I really hope Atlanta falcons staff thinks like their fans and go in with this "We got it we got it!" they Simple! idea and get a wide awakening lol..

Edited September 21, 2010 by SaintsWrath

[Sidious]

I noted at least 2 screen passes to Bush last night that went for 10 yards & he just barely made the first down. I don't think they have a faster back than him & if any other back had run that play they would've come up short. I think with Bush being out the Saints will try to use their medium & deep pass to set up their run & screen passes. I think we will see more "gimmick" plays than usual to make up for Bush's absence. Bush is the "lightning strike" component of their offense. I just hope the Falcons avoid the turnovers which the Saints thrive on so far in these first 2 games of the season.

[Bird Hunter]

WoW Dude, you have the Saints all figured out...I say you should contact Mike Smith and be a consultant to the team...

Keep smoking that water pipe in your avatar...

[SaintsWrath]

I noted at least 2 screen passes to Bush last night that went for 10 yards & he just barely made the first down. I don't think they have a faster back than him & if any other back had run that play they would've come up short. I think with Bush being out the Saints will try to use their medium & deep pass to set up their run & screen passes. I think we will see more "gimmick" plays than usual to make up for Bush's absence. Bush is the "lightning strike" component of their offense. I just hope the Falcons avoid the turnovers which the Saints thrive on so far in these first 2 games of the season.

I think you should probably do a quick check down of our roster again and watch some tape.. Sean Payton's best at making sure he has depth.. i'll stop there.

[The Messenger]

better believe with bush out, their gameplan will get tweaked a little bit. They ran so man screens and short dump off plays with bush, b but we do need to keep a eye out for those screens, especially that double fake screen with meachem going down the field. The wind might of played a factor in last nights game, so this weeks drew's throws will be on target, so its up to the secondary to be on their p's and q's..

LOL....um, PT is our screen back. In fact he lead the league last year in screen plays and yards off of them. Good thing for you, your team doesn't allow you to break down tape.

Edited September 21, 2010 by Atl_WhoDatster_81

[ghostofdonkey]

I saw a lot of things tonight, and the 9ers defense almost had it right. I think we will do it better.

Yeah, it's so easy that the entire league can't stop it. Falcons don't have the pass rush, secondary, or LB's to keep that offense off the field. Just look at the inept Arizona offense, if Anderson wasn't a 3rd string QB he could have hit multiple big plays on this defense. Be careful what you wish for.

Vegas opened it up at -6 and for good reason, Ryan can't make plays outside of the comfy Georgia dome. He will implode on Sunday night, it will be painful.

What's with this we stuff, are you playing on Sunday?

[mrsportsinc]

They Run Pierre Thomas, but he doesnt ever do much behind that mediocre 0-line.....

I stopped reading after that. Are you kidding? Saints have one of the best if not THE best line in the league. 49ers have a very good front 7 and they were playing great. If our line is mediocre, what is the falcons o-line?

Edited September 21, 2010 by mrsportsinc