Charting The Saints

Not surprisingly, among the readership here we have a couple guys who do game charting for FO.  The nice thing about the way they schedule games is that if you're an Eagles fan, for example, you'll generally get either the Eagles or a team they have coming up soon.

This week, Jason H, got the second half of the Saints game.  Below are his drive-by-drive notes, as well as general impressions at the end.

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1st Lions Drive (8 plays, 71 yards for TD)
Drive is highlighted by a tremendous Calvin Johnson catch and run.  Play highlights poor tackling by the Saints secondary.  Should have been a touchdown on this play but the refs blew it and the play was not reviewable.  Resulted in a 5 play goal line stand.  Detroit’s interior line was terrible and got no push on 2 running plays.  Officials gave a make-up personal foul on Sharper to extend the drive before Stafford sneaks it in. 

NO 28 – DET 17

1st Saints Drive (10 plays, 64 yards for FG)
Big play was a Mike Bell rush out of the saints heavy formation.  They bring in a 6th o-lineman lined up on the left with WR and TE lined up right.  Lions had 8 in the box, all the Saints picked up their blocks and Bell had a gaping hole to run through.  What struck me on the drive was that Detroit brought no pressure with the exception of the last play of the drive, a 3rd and 2 at the 20.  Other than that play, they either rushed 4 in their base 4-3 or 3 when the Saints went 4 wide.  Pass plays on this drive were a dumpoff to the FB, quick hitch to Bush, and a quick slant.  The Detroit corners consistently gave a 10 yard cushion to the receivers.  Detroit’s defense looked awful.  On that final 3rd down, Detroit finally brought some pressure via a zone blitz, the left tackle blew the block, Brees was forced to step up and misfired.

NO 31 – DET 17

2nd Lions Drive (6 plays, 6 Net yards for FG)
Started out with a 87-yard kickoff return with horrible tackling efforts by the Saints special teams but then the Lions couldn’t execute inside the 10.  They had 1 effective play, then the Saints got a little pressure and Stafford went wild with his throws.

NO 31 – DET 20

2nd Saints Drive (1 play, 58 yards for TD)
Good return by Meachem who’s got good straight line speed but didn’t look overly shifty.  Again Detroit brings no pressure, but the ends actually force Brees to step up.  Brees hits Henderson in stride and the safety is out of position and the corner, Eric King, can’t catch him.  Again, Detroit is bad.

NO 38 – DET 20

3rd Lions Drive (5 plays, 19 yards – Interception)
Tentative return by the Lions results in this drive starting at the Lions’ 15.  The Lions ineptitude surfaces.  1 good play is followed by a drop, then a pass forced into double coverage, then a horrible, horrible interception thrown to God knows who.

NO 38 – DET 20

3rd Saints Drive (1 play, -2 yards – Fumble returned for TD)
Mike Bell fumbled on a routine swat by a Detroit lineman while holding the ball with 2 hands.  Lions are amazingly still in this game.

NO 38 – DET 27

4th Saints Drive (15 plays, 78 yards for TD)
Mercifully, the Saints shift into grind the clock mode as we finally end the 3rd quarter.  Methodical drive.  Lots of hard, straight-line running from Mike Bell.  Lions defense is very vanilla and doesn’t change their look much.  Saints run out of lots of I formation, 2 receiver sets with the receivers in tight to the left or right, then they just run the ball down the Lions’ throats.  Bush had 1 cutback run but was brought down by the first tackler.  The FOX feed cut out on this drive and the next 3 minutes of play weren’t shown.  They cut back to the Saints scoring on a fullback screen on 3rd and 13.

NO 45 – DET 27

4th Lions Drive (10 plays, 47 yards – Interception)
Saints come up with good coverage on the kickoff forcing the drive to start at the 17.  Detroit started the drive with a well executed screen that was recognized by one of the Saints DTs but the Lions still got 9 yards out of it.  For the next few plays, the Saints mix up their looks to try and confuse Stafford.  They start in a base 4-3 with no blitz and Stafford throws wild high.  The next play they stay 4-3 but blitz 7 and Stafford is hit in motion.  Finally on 3rd and 10, the Saints go 3-4 and get burnt by another screen pass.  On 4th and 1, the Lions execute a nice play fake that draws in the Saints line and linebackers and Stafford rolls out for a 14-yard completion.  The next few plays, the Saints go back to a 4-3 with no blitz, get no pressure, and the Lions pick up some decent yards.  The drive ends when Stafford throws another errant ball right to Darren Sharper. 

NO 45 – DET 27

5th Saints Drive (9 plays, 42 yards – End of regulation)
The Saints run out the clock on this drive and show just how overmatched the Lions front 7 is physically.  The Saints stay in their heavy package for every play of the drive and run out the clock.  The drive does display the contrast between Bush and Bell.  Bell is a good north-south runner who can break a poor tackling attempt.  Bush is good in space and makes nice cuts but goes down on first contact.

NO 45 – DET 27

Overall
The Saints look good, but they’re not doing anything spectacular.  On offense, the just overwhelmed the Detroit defense.  The Lions didn’t pressure them or challenge them in any way and the Saints didn’t need to do anything extraordinary to beat them.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see us play some press coverage to disrupt the short routes and allow our blitzers to get to Brees.  The Saints tackles looked suspect on the few plays Detroit brought pressure and Trent Cole should have a big day against them.
 
On defense, the Saints looked pretty bad as Detroit was able to move the ball on them.  If it weren’t for some horrendous throws by Stafford this game would have been a lot closer.  When they rushed 4, they got little pressure and that usually came from 91 Will Smith.  They were susceptible to screens and play fakes.  Their secondary tackled poorly, although I suppose Calvin Johnson will make just about anyone tackle poorly. 
 
As has been noted, the Saints special teams play was competent at best but dreadful often.
 
Detroit looked bad and the game plan on both sides is very vanilla.