Saints preparing for double trouble with Falcons TEs Jacob Tamme, Austin Hooper

[FentayeJones]

Quote

Saints preparing for double trouble with Falcons TEs Jacob Tamme, Austin Hooper

 

After facing some of the NFL's top wide receivers to open the season, the New Orleans Saints now encounter a different kind of challenge Monday night.

The Atlanta Falcons come to town with Julio Jones, of course, and the All-Pro wide receiver presents a major threat to a defensive secondary.

New Orleans, however, must also contend with Falcons tight ends Jacob Tamme and rookie Austin Hooper, both of whom come off a Week 2 performance where they combined for eight catches for 159 yards and a touchdown.

"They got two that got a lot of work last week, the rookie and Tamme," coach Sean Payton said Thursday in a conference call. "The boots, the naked, the returns, they do a good job of getting ball out in the passing game quick in the shotgun. You would say in two weeks they're doing a lot of things well offensively."

Through two games, the Falcons aerial attack ranks first in the league (355.5 yards passing per game) and the tight ends have been large contributors.

Tamme leads the Falcons in receptions with 11 and his 126 yards receiving ranks second on the team behind Jones. Hooper, the team's third-round draft pick, has just four catches on the year, but leads Atlanta with a healthy 24.5 yards per catch.

"Good player," safety Kenny Vaccaro said of Hooper. "Obviously, he's young, still learning. Jacob Tamme, their other tight end, is a real good player. They like to get him the ball, but they got two good tight ends now."

The Saints are fully aware of Tamme, who totaled seven catches for 93 yards on 10 targets in two games last year against New Orleans.

But the addition of the 6-4, 248-pound Hooper allows Atlanta the flexibility on offense to effectively incorporate a 12-personnel package (one running back, two tight ends, two wide receivers).

"It's a significant portion and we like that personnel group," Falcons coach Dan Quinn said Thursday in a conference call with Saints media members. "It allows through the run game, the keepers and the play-actions to go and work them a little bit different, you can utilize some different formations."

Vaccaro points out a lot of teams around the NFL favor an 11-personnel package (one running back, one tight ends, three wide receivers).

But the Saints safety said facing a team deploying 12-personnel or even a 21-personnel package (two running backs, one tight end, two wide receivers) requires a different mentality.

"You want a little bit bigger bodies in there for the potential of the run game and covering those larger tight ends," Vaccaro said.

Cornerback B.W. Webb, who is on track to see action Monday night after signing last week, agreed.

"With any receiver or tight end on the field, we have to be aware of them," Webb said. "Their two guys that come in there, the coaches are doing things to scheme up against them. As a cornerback, we just have to make sure our eyes are right looking in the right places and just stay on top of everything."

Meanwhile, the Saints could choose to lean on a three-safety group with Vaccaro, Jairus Byrd and Vonn Bell to help out in coverage against Atlanta's receiving weapons.

The key, however, for the Saints is not focusing on a single threat in the passing game.

Atlanta's head coach said Jones remains the "X-factor" in the 12-personnel package and teams must still deal with the star wide receiver, who has nine catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns on 13 targets entering Week 3.

And with Jones' ability to command attention, Quinn said openings will present itself for other players.

"Some teams still play unique coverage towards Julio," Quinn said, "and when those opportunities happen, there can be some looks for some other guys."

The other players Quinn alludes to certainly include the team's emerging tight ends.

"We knew last year Jacob was kind of our featured tight end," Quinn said. "And now that we have another guy that can be counted on – on third down, down the in the red zone, extending drives and has the speed and ball skills to run seam routes down the middle – that's a weapon."

http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2016/09/saints_preparing_to_deal_with.html

 

[HASHBROWN3]

I sure hope they are. And we'd be wise to get them involved early so as to open doors elsewhere for RB's and WR's.

We need to keep them guessing wrong all night.  Run the dam ball up their azzes if they they over commit on pass.

[gazoo]

I posted a thread after we drafted Hooper about the 2 TE set and how dangerous it can be in matchups against certain defenses.

We run a lot of 13 personnel as well with Tamme, Hooper AND Toilolo.

I'm really excited to see how good it is working and I wouldn't discount Toilolo as he was a primary target a couple times last week, once in red zone but he got held by Kahlil Mack or he probably would have scored (Tamme, Ryans 4th progression, instead made the catch for. TD) 

[HOYLE]

I think Toilolo is a physical mismatch that has gone unused. It is especially important to use him in creative ways in the redzone.

[SkerFalcon8710]

The best part is that Ryan is spreading the ball to 8&9 different recovers a game. That puts stress on every single defender ever play to keep their assignment. It's a stark contrast to last yr when we had catches from 4-6 different players...

coleman

tamme

jobrs

sanu

hardy

5 players with tds after 2 games.. 

Beautiful site 

[RazorWing]

 If they pay too much attention to the tight ends. Freeman,teco will burn them for 200 rushing yards and julio will get 150yards. And they better keep their eye on aldrick robinson and sanu. Pick your poison.

Edited September 24, 2016 by RazorWing

[Draftnut57]

  This team is really starting to shape up,,, Never ever has there been a Falcon team with this much talent.. How exciting is that??? And it's nice to see them get a little better every week,,, If we can win this game, and i think we will,, we will be just that much better with that much more experience, And we will be harder to beat every week that goes by,, I made a statement before the season started,, If we can just get through about 6 games with only a loss or two,, We will be a much better team the rest of the season... And No, you can't say that about other teams as much because of all our young rookies and talent. When they learn to play added to all the talent we got in FAcy ,, We will be one of the top 4 teams to beat . JMO..... JM is my initials BTW.  JMs Opinion. 

[Flyin' In DC]

I dont know if we have to discount the Raiders defensive deficiencies but the offense looked so much more efficient. I think the play-calling and Matt's comfort in the offense was very evident. I think the combination of getting a good snap, the OL protection and our skill players knowing the offense that much better is going to cause teams a lot of issues(including Denver, Carolina and Seattle)

[falconidae]

1 hour ago, SkerFalcon8710 said:

The best part is that Ryan is spreading the ball to 8&9 different recovers a game. That puts stress on every single defender ever play to keep their assignment. It's a stark contrast to last yr when we had catches from 4-6 different players...

coleman

tamme

jobrs

sanu

hardy

5 players with tds after 2 games.. 

Beautiful site 

Another benefit of completing passes to 9 different players is that everyone keeps their head in the game because they know they can get the ball on any given play.

[PokerSteve]

13 hours ago, HASHBROWN3 said:

I sure hope they are. And we'd be wise to get them involved early so as to open doors elsewhere for RB's and WR's.

We need to keep them guessing wrong all night.  Run the dam ball up their azzes if they they over commit on pass.

Couldn't agree more, and they almost HAVE to over-commit to the pass with all our weapons. We should run, run, run and keep Scarface and his offense stranded on the sidelines.

But, we have to score TD's, not FG's with our long drives or they'll come right back down and score TD's and completely nullify our offensive advantage.

[Pacific_Falcon]

11 hours ago, gazoo said:

I posted a thread after we drafted Hooper about the 2 TE set and how dangerous it can be in matchups against certain defenses.

We run a lot of 13 personnel as well with Tamme, Hooper AND Toilolo.

I'm really excited to see how good it is working and I wouldn't discount Toilolo as he was a primary target a couple times last week, once in red zone but he got held by Kahlil Mack or he probably would have scored (Tamme, Ryans 4th progression, instead made the catch for. TD) 

Remember that thread, and I was thinking exactly the same about Toilolo. He's the most polished blocker, but the Saints won't do themselves any favors assuming he's just going to block. Given his height and blocking ability, I assume he'll see significant red zone duty. Maybe even throw in a few of those 3 TE sets...Oaklands D isnt good but neither is NO's so I think we can have some success with it again Mon night.

[vel]

Didn't Peyton kill when he ran the WCO out of a heavy 2 TE based offense in the early 2000's? Was that a WCO? I don't really remember, but I remember a lot of stretch plays and play action off of it from that 2 TE formation. 

[quickzero]

Our Wrs, Rbs, Tes, and Qbs all compliment each other well. We've got big targets, fast receivers, and alot of surehanded targets. Ryan cant go wrong with all this speed and catch radius. 

[etherdome]

12 hours ago, HOYLE said:

I think Toilolo is a physical mismatch that has gone unused. It is especially important to use him in creative ways in the redzone.

I have quietly hoped Toilolo would emerge into an "old school" TE.  I have given up on him.  His hands are just not trustworthy.  

We need to move forward with Hooper and Tamme.  

[RING OF HONOR]

I hate to sound too overconfident. ..but i don't think the Saints have a chance

[gazoo]

6 minutes ago, WhenFalconsWin said:

With everything already mentioned in the passing game and the emergence TeCo out of the backfield the saints won't know who to cover or who is getting the ball.   

If the Saints want to play 3 safeties, just have Teco come in and slide up to the edge to run a route. I'd love to see a safety try to cover him. 

We have the offensive personnel to exploit any weakness in a defense. In this case the Saints have issues in the secondary, so we can bring our speedsters like Gabriel or Robinson in with Julio, Teco in backfield, and let Teco move up to the line depending on what defensive alignment they have. 

Speed, speed and more speed against this defense.

[gazoo]

7 hours ago, vel said:

Didn't Peyton kill when he ran the WCO out of a heavy 2 TE based offense in the early 2000's? Was that a WCO? I don't really remember, but I remember a lot of stretch plays and play action off of it from that 2 TE formation. 

I'm thinking against Saints less 13 Personnel and more 2 TE sets on first downs with 3 wides and Teco more on passing downs.

Against Denver the 13 Set should help to some degree  protect the edges in pass protection and gives us more bigger bodies to help block on runs. 

It is a big advantage against defenses with fast edge players like that to have 5 OL and 3 bigger TEs helping block.

[Draftnut57]

I think we need to run more also,, we have the 2 backs who can getter done... That opens up our passing game but most importantly ,, wears out the opposing D#..  I'll put it like this.. I'd hate for us to be playing a team as good as we are.   But thankfully we're not, at least not this weekend.

[RING OF HONOR]

Am I the only one that wishes it was Monday night....

Offense has me intrigued

I hate the Saints

Looking forward to seeing the defense

I hate the Saints

[gazoo]

Just now, RING OF HONOR said:

Am I the only one that wishes it was Monday night....

Offense has me intrigued

I hate the Saints

Looking forward to seeing the defense

I hate the Saints

I'm with you!

[falcoatlantae]

8 minutes ago, gazoo said:

We have the offensive personnel to exploit any weakness in a defense.

I am with you in so many aspects of this assertion, but one thing with which this offense will have trouble, is an all-pro, disruptive DT.  Now that might not be a problem in this game, but it is something that I am going to worry about every game.  

That said, you'd have to go back a good deal of years to recall the same amount of playmakers at skill positions....

[gazoo]

6 minutes ago, falcoatlantae said:

I am with you in so many aspects of this assertion, but one thing with which this offense will have trouble, is an all-pro, disruptive DT.  Now that might not be a problem in this game, but it is something that I am going to worry about every game.  

That said, you'd have to go back a good deal of years to recall the same amount of playmakers at skill positions....

Especially if said All Pro beast DT is lined up over Chris Chester because he is the weakest link in the offensive chain and so close to QB. 

[Clark Kent™]

I'm curious how the Saints are going to do against our TE"s. I actually think there is a chance that they can do ok. They are going to be starting 3 safeties most of the game with Bell, Byrd, and Vacarro. This might be a game where our wideouts put up big numbers. 

[stizz]

22 minutes ago, gazoo said:

Especially if said All Pro beast DT is lined up over Chris Chester because he is the weakest link in the offensive chain and so close to QB. 

Chester got bulldozed on that first series vs OAK, but found a way to turn it around. I was hoping we'd find a way to upgrade that position in the offseason.

Garland has been putting in the work and may get an opportunity if age does indeed catch up to Chester.

[PHALCONABERNATHY]

Absolutely love this. Our offense looks absolutely dynamic when on paper like that. It reminds me a lot of the Patriots offense with two tight ends, who I think started that trend. If Hooper plays week in and out like he did against Oakland our offense will be special with the packages and plays we could roll out. It's hard for even Shanahan to screw that up.

Edited September 25, 2016 by PHALCONABERNATHY