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The Saints-Face of the Franchise

At Last! Our new RG3-led Redskins in action-for real. And playing the New Orleans Saints.

Face of the Franchise? Well, for the Saints that would be Drew Brees.

And for the Redskins? Well Saints fans have already decided that one.

RG3. Most of the talk about the upcoming game with the Skins is about RG3.

They're already showing respect for his skills. A few dissed him, of course, as a Mike Vick clone or overrated rookie QB but the majority were like these.


NPs6724
Biggest worry has to be RG3. Scrambling ability, unknown entity, new defensive scheme. But our offense should cover for that. RG3 hasn't looked terrible in preseason, but also didn't excel.

Saintster
As long as we stay disciplined and don't let rg3 start running because of over pursuit and contain him we will be ok. Force him to stay in the pocket and pass we should win by ten.
Hard to get a definite feel for what the Redskins are about but week 1 you can say that about most teams.

Saintster got a reply.

rechargeable
Unlike most fans, I have confidence Spags will respect RG3s passing potential and not be blitz happy. He has the arm and acurracy to pick up yards through the air in 20 yard chunks. That happens then he can take off and run later. Let's not forget Cam was trouble for the Saints in his first 6 out of 8 quarters.

I'm feeling the U/49.5.

NCSaint
All of these games make me nervous but I expect we win comfortably. New Defense needs to continue getting better and I think the Redskins will play inspired and will not lay down for us.

chameleonknight
Thinking about the Skins and RGIII, I saw the possibility of "lots of bootlegs" raised, in order to give him some space and open field.

My question is: is Spags zone def a good fit to contain a weapon like Griffin? I know our players will have to be disciplined and smart to prevent the big play, and it almost seems like a foregone conclusion that he will run for one big TD on Sunday.

But how much better off will we be? I'm excited to find out. Makes me say an extra prayer for the health and wellbeing of Lofton, that's for sure.

saintsfan26
We should put Harper on him as a spy. Let Jenkins roam the secondary.

bbourque5
Harper is slllooooww though. Hope he will take good angles!

chameleonknight
See, that's why I'm wondering about a zone. RGII is OLYMPIC level fast. He's probably faster than any player on our roster, off or def. Will take a team effort to contain him.

CantonLegend
i would assume spags is going to make adjustments and blitz off the edge a bit in order to keep him in the pocket but RG3 is a capable passer too. its an underrated part of his game

something that zones do is confuse rookies. in man its easier to read the open man but in zone you dont know when guys are going to be covered. i expect a lot of slant routes, curls, and short passes to get RG3 comfortable right off the bat.

JimmyB1775
Is anyone honestly worried a rookie regular season virgin will cause a major defensive shift in theory?

There were some fairly in depth analyses as well.

TCUDan
One thing you won't see out of Spags' defense is committing a lot of extra guys to contain one player, i.e. "spying". The good thing about playing a lot of zone is you have 11 players facing the QB.

Now how do you shut down "boots?" Well if we're talking naked bootlegs--which is what Shanahan really likes to utilize, especially off of that zone stretch--it's all about defensive contain and solid, technically sound play by the DE.

That boot starts to open up once your end starts to crash down on the stretch play. You'll see RGIII (or whoever the QB) show boot every time they run stretch or outside zone. If the run is working, now that backside end might start trying to cheat. But I suspect our guys will be coached all week to play the bootleg.

It takes one player out of the run defense but you have to respect RGIII's ability to roll out and buy time/extend plays. The risk with a player as athletic is him is that, even if your end plays fundamentally sound football, he is still going to be isolated 1-on-1 in the open field with the QB. The best thing he can do is to really break down, and make RGIII dance around... stay in his face and not worry about the kill shot.

So the question being: Is Spags' defense good at containing QBs? Well, it's really just about the same as any other defense and it comes down to DE play. I worry about Galette in these situations more than Cam Jordan because he can be overaggressive at times.

I think the Redskins will beat us on a few of those plays, but that alone will not be enough to win the game. I'm more concerned about how our defense responds when the design of a play breaks down and RGIII begins to improvise... that's where they can hurt us.

SWJJ
Each zone play called will have someone identified who will have responsibility to contain the qb/RB. In most formations that responsibility will be on the de, however sometimes it can be a linebacker or a db, like on a zone blitz, or when coverage is disguised and a de drop into coverage.

Th best would be to know tendencies, down and distance, when they like to bootleg or waggle rgiii.

However since he's a rookie, and this is the first game of the season, we don't have that luxury.

Primarily, we preach to the DE's to stay home, mind their responsibilities. If we get burned on a few plays, we can implement a "qb spy".

There are lots of different ways to try and play a qb like rgiii. No matter the playcall your players have to mind their assignment, something shanle does as well as anyone, one of the biggest reason he is on the field for our defense as often as he is.

WhoDatElite
Zones Schemes are more suited to handle a mobile QB.

Normally a DE would be assigned to contain the QB, in this case I would be Cam Jordan, because RG3 would be more likely to roll to his right. It might be too big of a risk to give that job to a player like Cam who is still really inexperienced. I could see Spags giving the job to Shanle and have him Spy RG3 most of the game.


I know everyone is gonna complain about letting Shanle have that job, but It's the smart move. Shanle is not athletic, but he is smart. He'll be able to make good reads on RG3 and coral him back towards the dlinemen.

ndcc
The problem I see is RGIII buying time, then heaving it downfield after having extra time. Don't forget... he has a rocket arm, and is far more accurate than someone like Michael Vick.

TCUDan
Also don't expect the Saints to use a "controlled rush" against him. They're going to rely on their coverages to confuse the youngster and our DL is going to be tearing after him. I expect him to try and stay in the pocket early and if we can have some success getting to him and frustrating him, he'll start relying more on his legs as the game progresses, going back to what he knows best and trying to create more on his own.

He is an exceptional talent. But some things (like reading NFL defenses) only come with experience. He may put up some good numbers, but I trust our defense to stall their offense enough to keep us ahead on the scoreboard.
__________________

And a reply...

Marlboro Man
Not sure what you mean by controlled rush, but our DE's cannot push too far up field opening gaps between the DE and DT for RG3 to break out through. We have to close the pocket around him and then squeeze it down. If you don't call that controlled rush what do you call it? DE disciplined rush? I can see letting our DT's go like mad dogs after the QB, but the DE's have to keep contain to keep the QB in the pocket.



CantonLegend
something people need to realize is that RG3 is a passer first

he has amazing breakout speed....but thats never his first read. rushing the passer should be our first priority in passing plays. getting him rattled early will play a major role in our defensive approach


RaisingTheBar
We will be fine. RG3 will extend plays and pick up a few extra first downs that normally qbs wouldn't, but we have too much talent on both sides of the ball for us to lose. 38-17 Saints no doubt.

Madhattr
I think we should put a spy on him like they did vic in the reopening of the dome after katrina.

Shoe.
I'm hoping the Zone look we give them causes RGIII to take longer than he wants on his reads, allowing us to get to him

The thing that makes me nervous is that if he takes longer in his reads he may have to start making sh*t up, and the dude is freakishly athletic and has WAY more open field speed than we (or just about anybody else) can deal with

There were predictions, of course.

OhioSaintsFan
vs. Washington Redskins (L)

Here's how I came up with this (admittedly, after half a bottle of American Honey, so...yeah)

The loss against the Redskins is a fluke. Last second field goal or (deity of your choice) forbid, an absolutely horrendous call by the replacement refs.

zeetes
first and foremost, your taste in alcohol is somewhat suspect. second, a loss to the redskins isn't out of the realm of possibility since we do seem to struggle against them, but I just don't think it likely in the dome.


sleepingbunch
My predictions

W 38-24 vs. Washington Redskins

navysaintsfan
While I do think we win, I am thinking more like a 17-27 win. Washington will find a way to keep it close, but we pull away when it counts.

Their secondary will be their weakness, and that is not a weakness you need against Brees.

NOS 1SB41C
Brees.... 29/38, 306 yds, 3 td, 1 int, 0 sacks .... 3 rush, 4 yards, 0 td
Griffin... 15/27, 204 yds, 1 td, 2 int, 2 sacks .... 5 rush, 40 yards, 1 td


Canadian Saint
I'm feeling very confident in this game and this season in general.

I feel a Brees led offense against that secondary should give us a big advantage.

The only question is, how is our D going to do against RGIII and co. I have 100x more faith in Spags this season than I did in GW last season, so with that said, I think we'll be fine.

31-17 Saints.

RGIII will get his points in a probably stunning debut(love the guy, great talent), but Redskins aren't done building their team and will fall short against a contender.

Brees tosses 3 TDs, Ingram runs in 1 TD, Cam Jordan and Ellis with sacks and Jenkins with the INT.


Symbiote
Griffin 12/28 1 TD, 3 INT

There wasn't very much mention of the Skins D other than our secondary.

Finally, the most accurate prediction of all.

houstonwhodat
I predict there will be 16 unbeaten teams after week one.
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As we enjoy today's conversations, let's remember our dear friends 'Docsandy', Sandy Zier-Teitler, and 'Posse Lover', Michael Huffman, who would dearly love to be here with us today! We love and miss you guys ❤

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