What the Saints Can Learn

Michael C. Hebert

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees may meet Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo again soon.

by John Yargo
December 23, 2009

I have been a dedicated Saints fan my entire life. I was in the stands when the team secured its first NFC South title. I was in the stands when Kyle Turley chucked a Jets player’s helmet. I worked security at the 2006 training camp in Jackson. I was in the stands during the first game in New Orleans after Katrina. So I don’t claim any objectivity when I watch or write about the team.

Nothing the team has ever achieved felt quite as great as 13-0. And, predictably, the first loss has punctured some of that enthusiasm. Saturday the Dallas Cowboys came into the Superdome and defeated the New Orleans Saints, 24-17. The Cowboys were on a two-game losing streak, and the Saints had narrowly escaped road scares at Washington and Atlanta. Immediately after the loss, Who Dat Nation sunk into despondency. Losing to the hated Cowboys at home amplified the sting. But a single game does not a season make, and there are precedents for Sean Payton and his staff to study.

Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips has experience knocking off unbeaten teams. In 2005, when he was the San Diego Chargers’ defensive coordinator, he knocked off Peyton Manning and the 13-0 Indianapolis Colts. The score of that game was eerily similar to Saturday’s: 26-17. It did not necessarily portend great things for his team; that Chargers team, with Drew Brees at the controls, did not make the playoffs. But the 2006 Colts team lost in the first round, too, to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who used Phillips’ defensive blueprint to stifle Manning.

So the Saints might not see Dallas again. But they have to recognize that whomever they face will try to replicate the Cowboys’ scheme. Of course, I see only five teams that have the defensive players to make that game plan work: the Chargers, Cowboys, Panthers, Redskins and Steelers. With improved on-field performance, I would add the Cardinals, Eagles and the Giants. Two of those teams are already eliminated from playoff contention and two others are in the AFC. We’ll have to see how favorable the rest of the playoff scenarios shake out.

Though most commentators have rushed to judgment that the Saints were badly outmatched, I doubt that the Cowboys were really the better team. In fact, the key factor in quarterback Tony Romo and the Cowboys’ offense in running up a 17-3 halftime advantage were the schematic decisions made off the field. Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett streamlined his game plan, calling draws and counter runs from two-tight-end sets. When asked to, Romo did a few good things with play action, but was not asked to do anything special. Garrett, at least, does not seem to trust his quarterback with the game as Payton does.

It was the best possible way of attacking the defense. In the first half, Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams went with a three-man line, with exotic combinations of linebackers and defensive backs behind them. There is an adage in football about the 3-4 alignment: Don’t use it unless you have a two-way space-eating defensive tackle in the middle that will make the coordinator look like a genius.

Without starting tackles Sedrick Ellis or Kendrick Clancy, the Saints were not able to stop the run or rush the passer particularly effectively from that alignment. That strategy left their thin and inexperienced secondary vulnerable. In the second half, Williams completely scrapped that scheme and implemented a simple 4-3. The defense responded, allowing only seven points.

On defense, the Cowboys confused the injury-riddled offensive line of the Saints. Phillips, who calls the defensive plays for Dallas, used the Saints zone-blocking scheme against them. Before the play, the Cowboys showed a basic look, but then, at the snap, overwhelmed single players with numbers. So while the center stood there blocking no one, Dallas’ outside linebackers, Anthony Spencer and Demarcus Ware, were able to take advantage on unblocked pressure.

Sean Payton adjusted in the third quarter, moving to the multiple-receiver shotgun formation. From there, Brees could force Dallas into more basic pressure formations. The Saints then forced the Cowboys’ outside linebackers, Spencer and Ware, into man coverage. Both Spencer and Ware struggled to adjust, allowing easy completions.

Adjustments by the Saints (and a missed late field goal) directly contributed to the Cowboys almost surrendering the game in the last quarter. It is easy to see a rematch in the playoffs, with the Cowboys as a sixth seed and the Saints a top seed. Of course, in the playoffs, both teams will revise their game plans in the eternal chess match between coordinators and between players. I’m looking forward to it.

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