Posted by Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune December 13, 2008 4:44PM
New Orleans Saints Insider, Saturday film study
It was a frustrating day for the Saints in Chicago.
The significance of the game could be seen in the face of Coach Sean Payton, who prowled the sideline like a caged jaguar, the intensity evident in his expression.
The wind-chill temperatures were in the teens but Payton spent most of the night hot. And with good reason. The Saints opened the game in a stupor and didn’t snap out of it until midway through the third quarter.
It’s been awhile since Payton was as animated on the sidelines as he was in this game. He got in the face of several players for things he didn’t like, among them Reggie Bush, Robert Meachem, Billy Miller, Jason David and Roman Harper.
The only game this season where I remember Payton being so intense was at Denver. And that, too, resulted in a disappointing loss.
On Saturday, Payton downplayed the significance of his animated sideline “dress down” of Bush, saying Bush’s benching in the second half was due to injury rather than poor performance.
Payton said Bush was not effective after he appeared to tweak his surgically repaired left knee late in the second quarter. Bush is expected to have Dr. James Andrews review the results of an MRI on the knee to see if there is any further damage to the joint, Payton said. The results are expected to be known early next week.
Still, Payton’s displeasure with Bush’s effort on his lone carry in the second half, a run around right end that resulted in no gain, was obvious. Cameras caught Payton lecturing Bush for not cutting the play upfield into the teeth of the defense and instead stringing the play outside.
That would be Bush’s last offensive snap of the game. The Saints went the rest of the way with Pierre Thomas exclusively at running back.
Bush was clearly frustrated by the situation and spent most of the rest of the game parked on the bench under a black Saints parka.
Afterward, Bush told reporters, “That’s how it goes. I just work here. I’m just an employee. I don’t call the shots. I definitely don’t call the plays.”
Payton downplayed the comments on Saturday, saying, “Hey, we all just work here, right? So I don’t pay much attention to those comments that we’re able to capture after a tough game.”
Nevertheless, clearly there was friction between the two parties on Thursday night and that’s significant because Payton has always been loyal and quick to defend Bush, who he selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft.
And Payton’s explanation that he replace Bush because of his ailing knee doesn’t explain why he inserted Bush to attempt a punt return later in the third quarter.
Stay tuned on this one.
Now, on to the video tape:
CALL OF THE GAME: The Saints have had their share of problems with short-yardage but they dialed up a sweet call to score their first touchdown. After fullback Mike Karney lost a yard on a first-and-goal belly play at the 1, Payton took advantage of a Bears defense that was loaded to stop the run. He faked a dive into the line and tossed a swing pass to Pierre Thomas in the flat, where he easily avoided defensive end Adewale Ogunleye for the score.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Josh Bullocks hasn’t had a great season by any means but he was in the right place at the right time to make his first interception of the season. Patroling the action in a deep zone, he made a nice pick of a Kyle Orton pass that deflected off the shoulder pads of receiver Rashied Davis. Bullocks then showed nice running ability on his 23-yard return to five the Saints’ great field position at the Bears’ 45-yard line. Two plays later, Pierre Thomas scored on a 42-yard run and the Saints had the momentum.
DIDYA NOTICE?: Sean Payton dressed down Robert Meachem for running the wrong route after a first-and-10 play in the third quarter. The Saints were in a “run look” with two tight ends and a fullback in the package, with Meachem isolated in single coverage to the right side. It appeared this was one of the Saints’ “shot plays,” where they try to go deep and indeed Brees was looking Meachem’s way initially but he then was forced to uncork a short incompletion in the direction of Mike Karney. NFL Network cameras caught Payton shaking his head on the sideline and vigorously waving Meachem off the field, saying “Get out!”
UNSUNG HERO: Pierre Thomas officially scored the Saints’ first touchdown, but an assist should have been given to his buddy, Usama Young. Without his spectacular play on special teams, Thomas never would have had the chance. Young tight-roped the goal line to down a 38-yard punt by Glenn Pakulak at the Chicago 1-foot line. On the ensuing play, Jon Vilma recovered a botched snap from center by Olin Kreutz and Thomas did the rest.
QUICK SNAPS:
–Kickoff returns don’t get much easier than Danieal Manning’s 88-yarder to open the game. He was untouched. The Saints coverage unit looked like it was running in quicksand as it closed in on Manning. No one came within an arm’s length of Manning as he raced through a gaping hole on the right side of the field. The hole was opened by a series of good blocks on Jo-Lonn Dunbar, Leigh Torrence and Usama Young. As Payton said Saturday, “He scores if we’re playing flag football.”
–Bad move by Mike Karney to fair catch the opening kickoff at the 17-yard line. Not sure why he did it because there was plenty of running room as he made the catch. That cost the Saints 11 yards of field position on their first series.
–The Saints dropped three passes in the game, one each by Devery Henderson. Robert Meachem, Jeremy Shockey. An interesting comment by Cris Collinsworth on the telecast, after Henderson dropped the first ball thrown to him: “Devery Henderson is one of the great deep threats, a speed receiver, works down the field, makes big plays, (but) doesn’t really like running those slants. I’m just going to leave it at that.”
–I’m not sure there is a better pair of screen-play blockers in the NFL than right guard Jahri Evans and right tackle Jon Stinchcomb. The tandem on the Saints’ right side is excellent at hitting moving targets and setting up the back, usually Pierre Thomas, for big gains.
–Jon Vilma won’t get an easier chance to make an interception than the ball he dropped in the second quarter. Again, another case of the cold weather having an effect.
PERSONNEL GROUPINGS:
The Saints used nine different personnel formations, a higher than normal allotment. Perhaps because of the weather conditions, they relied more than normal on multiple-tight end sets, using two- and three-tight end formations on 32 of 76 snaps. Fullback Mike Karney also had a heavy workload, seeing 28 snaps, including 17 in the second half as the Saints went to a more ground-oriented attack.
Here’s the breakdown of the Saints’ offensive personnel packages on all of the 76 plays from scrimmage I saw:
3WR/1TE/1RB – 20 snaps out of 76 plays
2WR/2TE/1RB – 17 out of 76
2WR/1TE/1RB/1FB – 17 out of 76
1WR/2TE/1RB/1FB – 10 out of 76
1WR/3TE/1RB/ – 5 out of 76
2WR/1TE/2RB – 4 out of 76
4WR/1RB – 1 out of 76
3WR/2RB – 1 out of 76
3WR/1RB/1FB – 1 out of 76
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