The New Orleans Saints have their first win and some legitimate positivity heading into a Week 6 showdown with the Patriots.
One of those things, as Saints legend Drew Brees explained on his weekly segment with Bobby Hebert on WWL Radio, is the return of a legitimate RB tandem featuring veteran Alvin Kamara and third-year RB Kendre Miller.
"I think when two backs take pride in that together and they really, like, feed off each other," Brees said, "I think you get the best out of everybody.”
Hear the full interview with Drew Brees in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Coaches have said all along the plan was to keep the backfield split reasonably close, but it was heavily stilted toward Kamara in terms of carries the first few weeks, with AK taking 50 carries for 186 yards (3.7 ypc) compared to Miller's 17 carries for 59 yards (3.4 ypc). That's shifted much closer over the last two weeks, with Kamara carrying the ball 23 times for 97 yards (4.2 ypc), and Miller taking 21 handoffs for 106 yards (5 ypc).
The contrasting run styles allows for the type of 1-2 punch that Brees knows well. He called back to the original "thunder and lightning" combo of Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush, followed by Bush and Pierre Thomas, then Darren Sproles and Mark Ingram, followed by Kamara and Ingram -- which was nicknamed Boom and Zoom.
The Saints have attempted to recreate tandems the last several years, but none were particularly even as Kamara dominated the backfield touches.
"I think this could be that same type of 1-2 punch, where, you know, look, both these guys can run between the tackles," Brees said. "Obviously Kamara does so much as a receiver and as a receiving threat outside of the backfield, but I think having that 1-2 punch has always been efficient for those guys, not just to give them a rest from time to time, but then they really start to feed off each other."
Related
The Saints will look to keep their effective run tandem going against a stout rushing defense in the Patriots (3-2) this week. The Saints (1-4) host New England at noon Sunday within the Caesars Superdome. Catch all the action on WWL and Audacy.
━━
MORE FROM BREES
On Taysom Hill's impact/role
“ still to this day don’t know why he wouldn’t get some 7-12 snaps a game at the quarterback position. I mean, as a defensive coordinator is that just not a nightmare for you? Because half the time he’s going to carry the ball in some sort of, you know, misdirection one way and he’s going the other, or some sort of quarterback power where now we just have an extra blocker, and then at the end of that rainbow you’re going to have to tackle this 240-pound dude who wants to run over you, so that in and of itself is highly effective, but now throw in the opportunity for him to push the ball down the field, which he is so good at. He completed a seam route in this game. We’ve seen him over the years launching a post, launching a deep over route, whatever it might be where they are chunk plays opportunities when he’s in the game at quarterback.
"So, for a defensive coordinator it’s an absolute nightmare, and I would say for a guy like Spencer Rattler, a weapon like Taysom Hill could be his best friend, you know, where this guy comes in, he throws the defense off-balance, you know, whether he’s coming in to fulfill another position, you know, like an H-back or a tight end or a slot or running back, and then next thing you know he’s taking a snap. It just adds another dimension to this offense that I think would be highly, highly effective as it has been in the past when he was doing it for me.”
Related
━━
What should Spencer Rattler be working on?
“So much of playing the quarterback position is just being a problem-solver. … Not every play is going to be perfect. You’re going to have breakdowns up front at times. You’re going to have penalties that put you into tough situations. I mean, so much of playing that position is, like, knowing when to take chances and when not to. It’s OK to punt sometimes, you know, knowing where and how you can extend plays, I think, is definitely a skill to have, but look, at the end of the day taking care of the football — it just gives you a chance to win in the end just about every single time. Even if the game hasn’t gone the way that you want, as long as you’re not putting your defense into compromising positions, teams are going to have a hard time just driving up and down the field on our defense, right, it’s only when you make critical mistakes, you give them short fields, you give the other team momentum that that stuff really bites you, otherwise you’re always going to give yourself a chance, and I think when you look at our defense, they’re only going to get better as some of these guys have more of an opportunity to play. ... All that stuff is really, really encouraging and just makes you feel like, you know, we’re gonna get better each and every week, but at the quarterback position, let’s make sure that we’re not putting our defense in compromising positions and we’re always in a position where we’re solving problems.”
━━
On Patriots/Drake Maye
“I think the first thing that comes across is [Drake Maye] has got a maturity about him that’s pretty unique for a young guy. ... I like [head coach Mike] Vrabel. He was a hell of a football player. I think everybody has a ton of respect for him. He’s a hard-nosed — kind of comes from a hard-nosed football lineage, so certainly he’s trying to instill that, you know, in this day and age there in New England again, but you can see just, you feel like they’ve got this culture and this identity that they’re really trying to recreate there and obviously you’ve got to do it with the quarterback first and foremost and it seems like Drake is like his kind of guy when it comes to building that, but he’s got them believing and obviously they go and they knock off arguably the favorite in the AFC, the Buffalo Bills at their place early in the season.
"That’s got to have them feeling pretty good about where they are, but I know this, I figured the Giants might come in a little overconfident. I think our challenge this week is that, man, the Patriots aren’t coming in overconfident. Vrabel seems like one of those guys that is going to keep them humble, keep them hungry and like, they’re gonna keep trying to build, like, man, we’re gonna have to bring out absolute best and it’s going to be, to me, this is like one of those physical, like, really, really, physical type of games, where like, we’ve got to win the fight before we win the game, like the old bat games that Sean Payton used to have, to me, this is that type of game for the New Orleans Saints."