If you read last week’s film preview for the Ravens you would’ve known that the Ravens offense runs through Zay Flowers. Although most think of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry as the most dangerous players on the offensive side of the ball for Baltimore, Flowers is the real difference maker in Declan Doyle’s offense. The loss of Flowers this week undoubtably helped the Saints who were able to accomplish all three of my “Keys to Victory” from last week on their way to what many around the football
world saw as a huge upset by the now Coach of the Year Favorite (+600 on FanDuel) Kellen Moore’s squad.
Takeaways from the Film
Containing the Boot
Brandon Staley devised a great scheme and gameplan this week that proved to stifle one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the league and an offense that seemed unstoppable after their first half showing in week 1 vs the Colts. Below we see the Saints responding to the boot action from Lamar with what looked like a Cover 4 scheme that allowed Carl Granderson to eliminate the run threat while waiting for the flat route. Most boot concepts will try to flood one side of the field and gash you in the middle while the defense worries about trying to limit passes to the sideline which absolutely killed the Colts last week. Staley seemed to take the approach of making Lamar make the more difficult pass in the concept, the deep out. While the Cover 4 defense above worked perfectly to blanket every receiver on the field (great communication by the Saints defense) below is a Cover 1 hole defense they also deployed to make Lamar take the hard throw (Deep comeback to #10). Each defense has it’s own weakness as the boot is hard to stop and a fundamentally great concept in football, however the Staley expertly mixed the two defenses in this week to limit the ability for Jackson to find his most dangerous receiver (#7 Bateman on the crossing route). Key to Victory Number 1 (Limit explosive plays off of play action and boot passes): Check.
New Orleans: We Have a Quarterback
I had all the confidence in the World in Tyler Shough after watching his first handful of games last year, but let’s be honest, the first half against Detroit was rough. Kelvin Sheppard (Lions Defensive Coordinator) clearly confused Shough in his first live action since last season and was able to affect his play by having his defense hit him early and often. Shough’s confidence from the second half last week carried over into the Ravens game as he noticeably more poised as the Ravens were doing a good job of pressuring him from multiple looks. Shough improved tremendously in the turnover department and had a much better feel for where rushers would be coming from; Key to Victory Number 2: (Take care of the football and correct pass protection issues): Check. The increased comfortability allowed Shough to show off his elite level of anticipation and timing that he has developed with his receiving core. The game tying touchdown pass to Chris Olave is shown below to illustrate just how dangerous Shough can be and why there are whispers about him being a dark horse in the MVP race (+3000 on FanDuel). This play (pictured below) is a perfect example of what makes Shough special as he is able to diagnose the miscommunication in the Ravens defense as they tried to defend this Bronco concept (Post + Corner) the instant Vele breaks to the corner route. This is the definition of a perfect play by a quarterback, and with the game on the line, Shough made these plays repetitively to lead the Saints to victory.
Kaden Ellis Impact
Kaden Ellis was all over the field on Sunday and, so far, had proven he was well worth the money it took to get him back from the NFL team that plays in Atlanta (their name doesn’t need to be mentioned). Elliss was able to effect the Ravens entire offense as he proved to be a mismatch when blitzing versus interior pass protectors (pictured below) and forced the Ravens to play Justice Hill more than they probably wanted to. This led to the Saints accomplishing Key to Victory Number 3: (Don’t let Henry get rolling) as Doyle’s hand was forced and the Ravens couldn’t justify keeping Henry on the field. This is a perfect example of what people refer to as the chess match inside of the chess match when it comes to football. The Saints knew they have to stop Derrick Henry and they chose to attack his running ability by exploiting his worst trait, pass protection (below is an example of Pete Werner getting a sack because of Henry’s confusion on his blocking assignment). This was a beautifully designed and executed gameplan by Staley’s defense that held the Ravens to just 3 points in the second half of Sunday’s matchup.
End of the Day
If you aren’t believing in this team now, can you even call yourself a Saints fan? Kellen Moore deserves more credit than he is getting for finding Tyler Shough, building an offense around him that has dynamic weapons, employing Brandon Staley, and inspiring this team to believe they are never out of a contest. Chris Olave noted after the win that, “I feel like since I’ve been here, we haven’t really beaten a good team” when asked if this was one of the best wins in his career, and I couldn’t agree more. This was the most impressive win the Saints have had since Sean Payton left New Orleans.
