Payton and Brees, стр. 25
After going three-and-out on their opening drive, the Saints didn’t punt again until the final 3:45 of the game. They scored on eight of their next nine drives. Brees completed 20 of 26 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns. His passer rating of 157.5 established a career best and was the second- highest rating ever recorded against the Packers in their illustrious history.
“They just beat us, can’t make any excuses, what happened here or there, they came out and beat us like we’ve never been beat,” Packers defensive tackle Ryan Pickett said afterward.
Brees lit up a Packers pass defense that was ranked third in the NFL and had returned six interceptions for touchdowns in the previous 10 games.
“We got our [expletive] whupped tonight,” Packers cornerback Charles Woodson said. “Thoroughly. In front of the whole country.”
It was the first major offensive outburst of the Payton-Brees era. The 51 points tied a Saints franchise record and were more than the Packers had allowed in the previous three games combined. In fact, they were the most allowed by the Packers in nearly 22 years. The game also marked the first time a Saints quarterback had ever recorded a passer rating of 150 or higher in a game. If there was a coming-out party for the Payton-Brees Saints offense, this was it.
“We had gotten some pieces to the puzzle that you felt like, ‘Okay, we’re poised to make a run,’” Brees said of the 2008 season. “It was our third-year comfort level in the offense. We had added some difference-makers to the offense. We had the four horsemen [receivers Colston, Henderson, Meachem, and Moore], and we were rolling.”
9. Blitzing the Defense
The volume of the Saints offense gives Brees and Payton myriad options to work their magic on game days. But what has made the Saints attack so unstoppable over the years is its multiplicity and the aggressive philosophy behind it. And that starts with Payton, whose offensive approach is to “blitz the defense” with an array of formations, alignments, and personnel groupings. He also takes advantage of quick counts, no-huddle and hurry-up tactics—anything he can to gain an edge over the enemy. The idea is to apply pressure on the defenders and stress the opposing defensive coordinator as much as possible from play to play.
From a defensive perspective, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with and prepare for everything the Saints throw at opponents. It’s not uncommon to see the Saints line up in 30 formations or personnel groupings before halftime. The Saints have used as many as 60 different formations and personnel groupings in a game before. They used 44 in their game against the Dallas Cowboys in 2019.
“They give you a lot to get ready for,” New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said before playing the Saints in 2009, a game the Saints would eventually win 38–17. “If we took the other 15 teams we play and put all the formations and personnel groups together, it would probably be about the same as the Saints. It’s that many. Over the course of 70 plays, there are hardly any repeat formations in the game. Sometimes you end up making mistakes, blowing a timeout or something like that, and that’s an issue, too. And the Saints really try to stress you on that, probably as much as any team I can remember. It’s hard.”
The Saints leave no stone unturned in their quest to blitz the defense. During timeouts, they keep their five perimeter players on the sideline so opposing coordinators have less time to match their personnel. They even use a unique verbal system to employ their personnel groups for each play to expedite the process.
The Saints create additional stress and confusion for opposing defenses by breaking the huddle quickly before each play, preferably at or before the 19-second mark on the play clock. They often huddle four yards behind the line of scrimmage, one yard closer than most teams, to save time getting to the line of scrimmage.
“We really harp on the tempo of in and out and up and down and on and off in trying to apply pressure offensively,” Payton said.
And the Saints don’t slow down once they reach the line. Brees uses a variety of pre-snap motions and movements to keep defenses on their heels. And if catches the opponent in the midst of aligning or calling out the play, he’ll audible to a quick count and snap the ball.
“When you shift and move, really that’s your way as an offense of blitzing the defense,” Brees said. “You make them have to adjust quickly, make decisions quickly. At times, defenses will have checks to certain formations or certain looks, whatever it might be, depending on the personnel you have on the field or the formation you’re in. So when you’re able to switch guys up and move them around a lot, all of a sudden it puts the defense in a tough spot where maybe they blow a coverage or a guy pops wide open, and you get a matchup that favors you.”
Further, the ball comes out quickly in the Saints system. Brees’ ability to read defenses and process information allows him to make quick decisions in the pocket. He annually ranks among the NFL leaders in time-to-throw statistics, regularly averaging about 2.5 seconds from the time of the snap until the time he gets rid of the ball.
“Everything they do offensively is at a breakneck pace,” former Seattle Seahawks head coach and longtime NFL assistant coach Jim Mora Jr. said. “The way they get on and off the field in substitution. The way Drew Brees gets into the huddle, calls the play, and gets to the line of scrimmage. The way they shift. The way they go in motion. And it puts tremendous stress on, not only the defensive coordinator to get a call in, but on the defensive personnel to react.”
Before Super Bowl XLIV, then–Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Larry