It was never going to be a mystery what I’d spend the most time reviewing on film in Week 5. It was the Taysom Hill show.
I took a long look at what made those sets so effective against the Seahawks, and why it seemed so easy despite also seeming so obvious. We also went through the biggest issues on those big-play defensive breakdowns on the latest episode of Inside Black & Gold.
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First thing's first: One misconception is the idea that the defense knows exactly what's about to happen. In a sense, that's true. The defense knows it's about to get a wrecking ball swung at them, but they don't know exactly where.
Taysom Hill ran the ball on 3rd and 1 three different times. On multiple occasions both Landon Young and Lewis Kidd reported as eligible linemen, and you also had three tight ends in the personnel. In most instances the defense has to account for two A gaps (between center and either guard), B gaps (guard and tackle) and C gaps (between tackle and TE).
When you add the two jumbo linemen and extra TE, you've effectively created two extra gaps (D and E), that the defense has to worry about. You can also opt to double team and attack wherever you want.
It's a lot more complicated to defend than it seems. Lose discipline for a second (particularly with no one playing deep coverage), and the runner is gone before you even know what hit you.
This was the case on Taysom Hill's go-ahead 60-yard touchdown, where you also have a lead blocker in H-back J.P. Holtz, and a pulling guard could come from either side. In this case it was Cesar Ruiz pulling from RG with a kickout block to create the running lane that Hill blasts through. The defense doesn't have enough defenders to plug every gap. They'd have to commit everyone, and that's what they do. But despite having 10 defenders within 10 feet of the line of scrimmage, there are only two outside the hashmarks as Hill breaks on the long touchdown run.
Holtz and Ruiz deserve a gold star for cleaning the initial lane, and Taysom against safety Quandre Diggs in the hole is a major mismatch.
One key to this equation is balance. Taysom Hill ran the ball nine times. Five came to the right of center Erik McCoy, four to left. The direct snap allows Taysom an extra split second to survey the defense before choosing a gap. Only once in this game did the Seahawks stop him within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage. The results on his third-down runs were 4 yards, 5 yards and 60 yards.
The fact that it's simple is honestly the best part. You're the hammer. They're the nail. Nothing complicated. And by the way, Taysom has an arm, too. The Seahawks learned that this week with a perfectly set up touchdown to Adam Trautman in the third quarter.
Now, it won't work on everyone. The Bucs, for example, have top-end size and speed linebackers and talented space-eaters inside. That's a recipe to shut down a ground and pound offense. Few teams can claim that in today's speed, speed and more speed NFL. We saw what can happen when you don't.
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WHAT HAPPENED ON THOSE BIG PLAYS?
It's tough to pinpoint one thing. Paulson Adebo had a particularly rough game in coverage, though he did come up and make some timely stops on tight ends.
His open-field tackling ability leaves me wondering if the cornerback rotation might be something you look at in matchups where you're facing an elite deep threat like Tyler Lockett. I trust Adebo to thud the likes of Noah Fant and Co. over the middle of the field. I'm not sure I could say the same about Tyrann Mathieu or Bradley Roby. Justin Evans is a hard hitter, too, but as we've seen with injuries, he can be needed on the back end.
Roby isn't as physical, but I'm not sure that's what you need in a Lockett matchup. That's just my 2 cents there. Adebo was beaten in primary coverage on the two deep Lockett touchdowns. DK Metcalf got away from him on a double-move for the opening score. He also hedged too far inside on Kenneth Walker's TD run, and got beaten to the edge on a long Rashaad Penny run in the first half. The lows were a bit too low in this game. Hopefully he can bounce back.
In Adebo's defense, struggles on the back end didn't make life easier. Mathieu had to help over the opposite side of the field on the initial touchdown with Dee Eskridge left uncovered.
JT Gray bit on a false step to the corner for Lockett's first TD. None of Mathieu, Adebo or Evans appeared to find the ball on Walker's cutback run, which left them out of position to make the tackle.
And on the second Lockett touchdown, there seemed to be a communication breakdown with Adebo playing man and the others appearing to have checked into quarters. Adebo did have 8 tackles and a pass defensed, and he's only three weeks removed from an ankle injury that cost him more than a month of practice. There's reason to think he might still be rounding into form.
Either way, getting Marcus Maye back from injury will be important. Back-end coverage is an area the Saints really have to focus on going forward.
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DEMARIO'S STILL GOT THE RANGE
Nothing too complicated here, just a moment of appreciation for a 33-year-old middle linebacker who still has sideline-to-sideline range.
It's often hard to tell whether a play is starting to lose a step as he gets later in his career. The margin is so thin. But even if Demario's range has decreased slightly, he'll continue to be able to make up for it with his instincts. Watch his feet on the play below. There's not a single wasted step. He breaks on the ball-carrier from the perfect angle. He tracks and times his tackle to perfection. It's a hard hit. It's a legal hit. It's one you remember.
Pete Werner is getting a lot of shine these days with gaudy tackle numbers, and he has been excellent. But gotta make sure we also give adequate props to, in my opinion, the most underrated defensive player in the NFL the last several seasons.
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SEEING IS BELIEVING
One mistake the average NFL viewer makes is seeing a player standing alone at the end of a play and thinking: "That's a mistake by the QB, the ball should've gone there."
In a lot of cases it's not. The quarterback is making his read. He had an open receiver and he threw it there. If the Seahawks, say, blew a coverage on the backside of the play and left Alvin Kamara wiiiiiiiide open, the QB might not have been in position to take advantage of it because that's not where the ball was designed to go.
That was the case on a 3rd and 5 in the first quarter, with Andy Dalton dumping it off short to Marquez Callaway after it looked like a pass-rusher jumped across his face before he could rifle it in to Chris Olave.
But there's a reason these guys are always looking at tablets on the sideline, and I assure you that didn't go unnoticed.
If you're looking for evidence, go find the 54-yard screen to Kamara in the third quarter. It's a different play design, but it generated a similar look from the Seahawks defense. This time the play was designed to go to Kamara, and he was so open that the three blockers in front of him had to run 20 yards downfield just to find a defender to hit.
Also: Props to Keith Kirkwood. He got called up from the practice squad for this game and looked like a guy who never left. He held his own in blocking assignments and caught a pass. On this play, he showed why you want veteran players out there. He was dangerously close to being called for OPI as he drove upfield into his defender, but got his arms away so the ref didn't even have a chance to ruin this play with some yellow laundry. For a team that had undone so many of its good moments with dumb penalties to this point in the season, that was nice to see.
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