Payton and Brees, стр. 20

“S.H.A.R.C.” Lombardi said. “It’s easy to learn that way. You try to come up with something that makes it learnable or relatable.”

Regardless of the terminology, the basic philosophy of Payton’s offense is to attack the defense on all three levels—deep, intermediate, and short—with all five skill position players on every play. The backs, both halfbacks and fullbacks, are incorporated into the passing attack and are targeted as often as the receivers and tight ends.

Where the Saints offense differs from most West Coast attacks is in their downfield attacking philosophy. Payton calls them “shot plays,” and he tries to set up and call a handful of them a game to keep defenses honest. That’s why former Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Larry Coyer described the Saints offense before Super Bowl XLIV as “a mix between dinkin’ it and lettin’ ’er go.” It’s also why the Saints almost always have a speed receiver like Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem, or Ted Ginn Jr. on the roster.

“Sean has a very aggressive approach,” said Marrone, who was the offensive coordinator on Payton’s original staff. “When people hear West Coast they think horizontal passing, and you really don’t see that in the offense. Sean is always looking to attack you deep.”

Because Brees throws so often to spots in anticipation of where his pass-catchers are going to break, the Saints receivers, backs, and tight ends must be good at reading defenses—especially on option routes, which are a staple of the Saints offense.

More than perhaps any team in the NFL, the Saints obsess over the details of their pass routes. Every factor is considered down to the minutest details: splits; alignment; personnel on each route.

The routes are synchronized to the quarterback’s drop. Three-step drops are married to quick pass routes, five-step drops to intermediate routes, and seven-step drops for deep passes. Ideally, the receiver will be breaking open at the same time the quarterback plants the last step of his drop.

Payton has a phrase for this sophisticated choreography: “Painting the picture for the quarterback.”

“Quarterback is a funny position,” Payton said. “The other 10 guys on offense need to paint the picture for this player, be it the receivers, the protection, the back. And when they’re able to do that, you can see him function very well.”

Few NFL offenses are more reliant on the synchronization of this timing than the Saints. Brees’ hallmark accuracy and innate anticipation skills allow him to fit balls into tighter windows than most quarterbacks who have ever played the game. The Saints’ sophisticated use of receiver splits and alignment creates leverage against opposing coverage schemes.

“This whole offense is about precision, timing, execution,” said Rich Gannon, a former NFL MVP quarterback who now serves as an NFL analyst on CBS.

The Saints do such a good job of exploiting defensive weaknesses with their scheme that they don’t necessarily need a fleet of elite players at the receiver positions. Receivers still need to be athletic enough to get open, but intelligence, discipline, and reliability are valued almost as much as athleticism. That’s why undrafted players like Lance Moore, Willie Snead, and Austin Carr have been able to carve out productive careers in New Orleans.

“It’s all about spacing,” Lombardi said. “There’s this timing to how plays develop for a quarterback. That’s why for so long we had super smart, good route-running receivers, but not necessarily guys that you could just put outside the numbers and say, ‘Go win a 1-on-1 matchup.’”

Because Brees has never had a particularly powerful passing arm, he relies on timing and anticipation to make his throws. The Saints’ entire passing attack is built around this facet of Brees’ game. It’s why every detail of the offense—the splits, alignments, and timing of the routes—is fine-tuned to the smallest detail.

When Brees leaves, Payton will morph the offense and tailor the playbook around the strengths of the next quarterback. If it’s Taysom Hill, for example, the offense will feature more read-option runs and downfield passing.

“Everything we do offensively is predicated by who’s in the building,” Payton said. “You’re looking for certain pieces. When we drafted Reggie [Bush] and had Deuce [McAllister] we had certain packages that took advantage of those guys. It all goes back to, what do these guys do well, and it’s up to us to have them try to do those things.”

This customization is a key ingredient in the Saints’ success. When new receivers come to the Saints, Payton will have them run every route in the route tree with the quarterbacks during practice to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The offensive staff then marries the route concepts to the specific receiver when compiling the game plan for a given game. This is also true of the backs and tight ends.

“Sean will always say, ‘Hey, this route is not for everybody,’” Carmichael said. “He’ll figure out that some guys can run this specific route and then other guys have other routes that they can run. He puts guys in spots that are doing things that they can do well.

“Sean is very specific about personnel. What kind of receiver do we need? Those inside routes that Lance Moore, Marques Colston, and Michael Thomas run, those inside routes aren’t for everybody. The guy has to a feel for or a knack for finding the void or running a route off a certain defender.”

Meachem was Exhibit A in this case study of the Saints’ successful customization. The 6´2˝, 214-pound Meachem came out of the University of Tennessee as a highly coveted speedster, but when the Saints got him on the field they quickly learned he lacked the natural hip flexion to make quick cuts and change directions. When he ran routes that required him to break down and change directions quickly—hooks, comebacks, outs—he was easy for NFL defensive backs to cover. So during his time in New Orleans, the Saints only ran him on routes that didn’t require those kinds of movements: posts, seams, and