The New Orleans Saints went up-tempo and seemed to find something in the second half against the Jaguars, so the obvious question becomes: Why not just do that all the time.
It's been a discussion for weeks, and a first half that included three field goal attempts didn't help things. The tempo picked up midway through the third quarter, Derek Carr made a majority of the calls at the line, and the result was a 15-point comeback that fell short when a drive for a game-tying touchdown stalled at the 6.
Center Erik McCoy had a pretty straightforward suggestion in his postgame comments.
“That got rhythm going," McCoy said. "That got our offense going. That got DC into rhythm, got our receivers in a rhythm. So if that’s what we’ve got to do for an entire game, then that’s what we’ve got to do.”
But that's easier said than done for one obvious reason: It's exhausting, particularly for the offensive line. One benefit of going into the huddle and getting everyone on the same page is a chance to breathe. If you ask McCoy, though, that shouldn't be a hindrance.
"We’re willing to do whatever it takes for this team to win. If that means we have to do extra conditioning after practice, run extra gassers, get extra pass sets, that’s what we’ll do," he continued, "because above all else we want this team to be successful, we want this offense to be successful. And if that means sacrificing being tired, like, whatever.”
Carr himself said a "dream of his" would be to run the offense at the line full-time and never slow down, but he knows that's not exactly a reality. Still, it's a situation he's always felt comfortable. The Saints kicked off their hurry-up offense midway through the third quarter down 24-9. From that point he went 16-24 passing (67%) for 159 yards and a touchdown, with the completion percentage impacted significantly by four consecutive incompletions thrown into the end zone to effectively end the game. Prior to that point he was 16-20 since the start of the 2-minute offense (80%).
Through the first 2.5 quarters he was 17-31 (55%) for 142 yards and an interception.
"I’ve always enjoyed [hurry-up] for many reasons," Carr said. "Some teams get real vanilla. Some teams still try and throw their pressures at you, but that leaves them vulnerable if they’re trying to disguise or get set up. There’s spaces in certain pressure looks and coverage and things like that, which we were able to hit with Mike on one of them. There’s some benefits to it. Now, like we said, you can’t do it all the time. We can’t make that just one thing, but there’s definitely some benefits, for sure.”
Another issue is that go, go, go simply hasn't been the Saints' identity, and not many NFL teams operate that way. If the Saints can get their up-tempo offense incorporated more, there are clear benefits. The offensive attack is streamlined and has a limited menu of plays to go off, but that might be a good thing for an offense that has far too often suffered from communication breakdowns and mistakes.
On the opposite side of that coin, defenses are limited. McCoy adds that it helps Carr read defenses more quickly. There are fewer variables, and that will help the Saints' many playmakers stand out.
"I felt like that was something that jump-started the offense a little bit," head coach Dennis Allen said. "We kind of got going there and I think obviously that’s something that maybe that’s something that can benefit us as we continue to go through this season."
As Allen also pointed out this week, it's been demonstrated in the NFL that a hurry-up attack loses its effectiveness over time and as teams adjust to it. The Saints have to able to execute at a high tempo, but he needs to see his team execute well at all tempos. That will be a focus this week and beyond, even as his team looks to take advantage of operation speed a bit more in the coming weeks.
At the end of the day, no, it's not realistic to run a 2-minute offense for an entire game. It's also not realistic to expect positive returns from an offense throwing the ball 50-plus times, which has been the case each of the past few weeks. But there's a middle ground and that's what the Saints are likely to try to tap into in the coming weeks.
After big plays or first downs? speed things up. When the defense is on their heels? Speed things up. Find ways to win early, and the results will be better later on.
"I think we get a boost when we do it," Kamara said. "But it’s just picking the spot where we do it. It’s a help. I like some of the looks we get out of that. I like keeping the defense off-balance, but like I said, you’ve got to pick your spots when you do that.”
The first chance to do that will come on the road against the Colts in Week 8.
