The play didn't go the way it was planned to go, but it still resulted in an Alvin Kamara touchdown and a pivotal moment in the Saints' win over the Seahawks.
So what exactly happened? Kamara said he didn't know his QB Jameis Winston had bobbled the snap and was in a bit of a scramble, but when he spotted the defense in a soft Red 2 look, he cut off his route, sat in space, got the ball from Winston and took care of the rest.
“AK is one of the most dominant players in this league," Winston said after the game, "so it’s always exciting when you put the ball in his hands and watch the things that he does.”
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But what was the route Kamara was actually supposed to run? That'd be an arrow concept, where he's shooting out of the backfield, faking inside before cutting back out toward the sideline.
"Alvin’s got real, real good football savvy and the coverage was soft," head coach Sean Payton said when asked about the play. "It was the tail-end of a two-minute drill and it stayed soft. Rather than mindlessly [running the route] he abbreviated that and presented a really easy target for the QB."
The Saints' star running back was the offense for a majority of the game, which included 108 receiving yards in the first half. The number was the most in the NFL by a running back since Brian Westbrook in the 2004 season, and helped the 26-year-old earn his second NFC Offensive Player of the Week Award of his young career.
The second half went differently, and primarily because the Seahawks decided they'd sell out to stop Kamara. He faced bracket coverage throughout the second half, a defensive strategy that opened up one-on-one matchups on the outside that Saints WRs were unable to take advantage of. On one series, the Seahawks devoted extra defenders to Kamara and on back-to-back plays Kevin White and Kenny Stills failed to haul in balls as they broke open down the sideline.
Even with bracket coverage, it's nearly impossible to take Kamara away completely. He finished with 179 total yards on 30 touches as the Saints walked away with a critical 13-10 victory. Defenses might have a harder time selling out on Kamara now that his "partner in crime," as Payton describes him, back in town in the form of Mark Ingram. The Saints brought Ingram back to town through a trade with the Houston Texans, a move that will allow the Saints to recreate some of the sets that spurred Kamara to combine for more than 3,000 total yards and 20 touchdowns in the 2017 season.
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Ingram left in free agency before the 2019 season, spending two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens before joining Houston on a one-year deal before the start of this season.
But, regardless, the Saints will adjust. If teams want to bracket Kamara, the wide receivers need to make them pay for it.
“We’ve just gotta win on the outside, and we will," Winston said. "They had a great gameplan in the second half of doubling AK, and we’re going to have an answer to that.”
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