Diner Morning News: The New Orleans Saints

FROM MICHAEL LOMBARDI:

12 MAY 2009

QUOTE:  “Example is not the main thing in influencing others.  It is the only thing.” -- Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

FROM MIKE TRIPLETT OF THE NEW ORLEANS TIMES PICAYUNE... But with the start of organized team activities fast approaching, (Drew) Brees said he's getting fired up.  "I love this time of year," Brees said before teeing off at coach Sean Payton's charity golf tournament at TPC Louisiana on Monday. "You like to see the team come together, and you just like to see the dynamics kind of develop. And certainly with (new coordinator) Gregg Williams now on the defensive side of the ball, you know the defense is going to have a lot of new wrinkles, a lot to install. … We always have ways to get better. We've been No. 1 in offense two of the last three years. But when you do that, people start gunning for you. Everybody watches your film. Everybody evaluates you. So you know they're going to scheme for you. So you have to continue to stay ahead of the curve. You have to be able to go out there and execute against anything, any defensive look, any game plan, whatever it might be. And I feel like going up against a Gregg Williams defense every day in practice is going to help us get that way.”

I’m very excited that my colleague, Matt Bowen, accepted my challenge Monday. This little side bet will make the season even more interesting on a week-to-week basis. I have never been to a WWE event and don’t plan to break my streak. It will be fun to see the Boss in Europe next spring. Thanks, Mr. Bowen. 

The best thing about being in the NFL is winning on the road. The “sound of silence” is the greatest when you’re walking off the field. When I was in the league, the most effective way to evaluate your team was watching its performance on the road. Dealing with adversity and overcoming crowd noise and a hostile environment build team unity and require each player’s performance to be at the highest level. I hear coaches say they love going away to training camp to build team unity. My reaction to that statement is that being at camp has nothing to do with building team unity -- coming back to win a game in the fourth quarter builds team unity.  Winning on the road builds team unity, not being in some small dorm room in the middle of nowhere. 

How NFL teams perform on the road, along with their road records, are vital to my overall evaluation. The Texans, for example, have won six road games in the past three years, and that’s why I feel they don’t have the physical or mental toughness to take it to the next level. On Monday, I mentioned that the Saints and Texans are similar teams to me because they’re both so good on offense but have trouble being effective on defense. 

The Saints are fun to watch on offense. They’re extremely creative with their schemes and play calling, and having Drew Brees run the offense is like having another coach on the field. When I watch the Saints, I often think of Brees as an extension of head coach Sean Payton on the field.  If God had given Sean just a little more talent (remember, he played for the Bears during the strike season), he would’ve been just like Drew. They’re a perfect combination, and it seems like when Brees is in the huddle, Payton is in there, too. 

It’s been well-documented here at the Post that I believe the Saints need a big back to give them a physical dimension. I’m not a believer that Pierre Thomas can handle that role. He has some skills as a runner and fits their offensive style well, but he’s not a pounder. I felt (and wrote) that if they’d had a big back last year (based on the preseason, I felt Deuce McAllister was not the same player he once was) they might have been able to keep the lead, not allowing their very suspect defense back on the field. The Saints ranked 29th in the NFL in converting third-and-one situations, and those plays are critical when trying to hold a lead late in the game. The Saints admitted they were interested in drafting a big back this year, but the limited number of picks prevented them from filling that need. As a result, they’re looking into Edge James and any other free-agent back who can fill this need. 

Other than acquiring a big running back, the Saints can function very well on offense.  Getting a big back would help their defense as much as their offense because their defense last year was the weak link. I mentioned in the Sunday Post how strongly former 49ers coach Bill Walsh believed that having a defense that complemented a high-scoring offense was vital to winning championships. The Saints must find that right complement. On paper, they seem to have the right idea, but defensive end Will Smith and Charles Grant have not been able to supply the pass rush that would enable the Saints to create turnovers and build leads. To try to supplement their lack of rush, the Saints were forced to blitz too often, thus resulting in the worse defense in the NFL in defending the passing game when blitzing. 

The Saints’ secondary last year dropped too many passes that could have been interceptions and helped close out games, and their ball-hawking skills were nonexistent. Adding Malcolm Jenkins should help a secondary that gave up too many big plays of over 20 yards, finishing 26th in the NFL. 

Hiring Gregg Williams will help solve some of their problems on defense. He will improve their fundamentals, keeping their overall defensive scheme reduced and eliminating all the mental mistakes that come with having too much scheme. They will be benefit from adding players like defensive lineman Rod Coleman and Paul Spicer to their defensive line rotation, assuming both players can stay healthy and fill the roles on the sub defense.

The Saints’ offense is so effective, so well coached, that vertical field position (this is where teams start drives) never seems to prevent them from moving the ball down the field.  However, they must improve the talent level at the bottom of their roster; they have to find players who can dominate covering kicks. The Saints played on too many short fields last season because they were horrible covering kicks, and this resulted in finishing 15th in points allowed.  They must improve their kicking cover teams. 

Finally, they have to win on the road. Last year, their two road wins came at Kansas City and Detroit. They must find a way to improve their overall toughness and not always have to win on the arm of Brees. It’s so easy to rely on throwing the ball to make plays that it hinders the ability of the team to gain a physical sense. What Brees said about practicing against a Gregg Williams defense each day will help their physical nature. 

For me right now, the Saints are a wild card in terms of making the playoffs. They must make a few more personnel moves before camp starts in July before I can hop on the Bandwagon as my colleague, Mr. Bowen, has already done. I don’t understand how a person from Iowa, who played safety in the NFL, can become so soft in his love of teams. It’s a mystery.

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