New Orleans Saints Review

During their run to the Super Bowl, the New Orleans Saints have “brought the wood” and handed out some serious physical abuse to opposing quarterbacks.  Despite the fact that the Saints only have 1 quarterback sack in 2 playoff games against the Cardinals and Vikings, QBs Kurt Warner and Brett Favre took a pounding.  Warner was knocked out of the Divisional round playoff game temporarily, and Favre was seen writhing around in pain on several occasions in the NFC Championship.

Saints’ defensive guru Gregg Williams has employed the strategy of beating up the opposing quarterback and make him think twice about his decisions on the field.  It may very well have played a factor in Favre’s key interception towards the end of the NFC Championship, although only the quarterback himself would know for sure.

When Super Bowl XLIV kicks off in Miami on February 7, Williams will no doubt instruct his defense to punish Indianapolis Colts’ superstar, and reigning NFL MVP, Peyton Manning.  Of course, that’s easier said than done.

Manning, along with Saints quarterback Drew Brees, are annually among the hardest to sack in the NFL.  Manning was only sacked 10 times this season, while Brees went down 20 times (only 13 times in 2008).  In playoff wins against the Ravens and Jets, Manning was uncharacteristically sacked twice in each game.

That said, I’m not sure that the Saints can count on sacking Manning all that much.  So they’ll have to continue the strategy they’ve employed so far, which is to hit the quarterback as much as possible, even if it’s after he throws the ball.

The Saints have taken a few roughing the passer penalties, and probably could have had a few other controversial plays called against them.  They will have to use their heads (to think, not to hit Manning’s helmet) and not do anything over the line.  You just can’t afford to give an offensive power like the Colts 15 free yards at any time.

I’ll be particularly interested in how Williams decides to use the blitz.  He’s known to bring a lot of defensive backs, but I wonder how often he’ll do that against Manning.  Manning is known for being a great reader of defenses and it takes a lot to pull one over on him.  He also is famous for getting rid of the ball quickly.  It will be up to Williams and the Saints defense to put a little bit of doubt in the quarterback’s mind.  Even a split second of indecision can mean the difference between a big play and a bad play.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Opinion, Super Bowl Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.