Payton and Brees, стр. 51
“It’s a game of inches,” Butler said. “If I have a deep crossing route, and I’m supposed to get across the field and settle, if I’m supposed to be at a three-yard split, and I’m at a five-yard split, it’s going to take way longer for me to get over there. Now the quarterback’s drop is thrown off. Now the timing of the play is thrown off.”
In addition to his visor, Payton has also been known to use chalk or shaving cream to denote landmarks of a receiver’s splits and/or breaks. The visual aids are one of his favorite teaching techniques. He’ll also use goal posts or pylons for aiming points to help guide receivers on their routes.
“Coach [Payton] and Drew make a big to-do about that,” Taysom Hill said. “When we break the huddle, if the receivers are not lined up perfectly, he will get them lined up perfectly. Every play has a specific plan and a purpose. In order for that play to have the best chance of succeeding that person has to be in the right spot. Drew realizes it. Coach realizes it. They’re both that way.”
Over the years, the Saints receiving corps has featured similar prototypes. Slot specialists Lance Moore, Willie Snead, and Austin Carr were smart, quick, and precise route-runners. Flankers Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson, and Ted Ginn Jr. were speed merchants who stretched field on post and corner routes. Split ends Marques Colston and Michael Thomas were do-it-all types, equally capable of working outside on hitch routes or inside on crossing routes. Tight end Jimmy Graham was a master of the seam route because of his 6’6” frame.
“Sean is very specific: What kind of receiver do we need?” Carmichael said. “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.”
The Saints run new receivers through a gauntlet of route workouts after they arrive to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and identify which ones might work best for them in the system. Brees throws to each of them to get a feel for their speed and body language. His input goes a long way in determining which receivers play in certain route packages.
“One of the top five things he does as a quarterback is he throws to the receivers, gets a feel for them, and learns very quickly who he likes throwing to on what routes,” Lombardi said. “Everyone runs certain routes a little bit differently. Receivers talk to the quarterback with body language, and they have a feel. It’s just Drew learning the capabilities, smarts, and the feel for every receiver on the roster.”
When new players are signed in the offseason, Brees often invites them to California to train with him and start the feeling-out process. During these sessions, Brees constantly tweaks the receiver splits and adjusts alignments to fine-tune the connection. Smart players quickly learn the importance of spending time with Brees when asked.
“There’s a lot of time on task that takes place during the week just to absorb all of (the offensive game plan), but I’d say the concepts and the splits and the depths and a lot of the stuff that we’re doing is stuff that we rep, we rep, we rep,” Brees said. “From offseason until through the preseason until the regular season, there’s a lot of time on task that’s taken place and a lot of muscle memory and so there’s a lot of trust and confidence that comes with that.”
Like everything else, the emphasis on route technique and alignment has evolved over time as Brees and Payton have fine-tuned the scheme. In time, receivers are cross-trained at different positions. The Saints’ best offenses have traditionally been the ones with the most experienced receivers. During the Super Bowl run, Colston, Henderson, Meachem, and Moore were interchangeable in the scheme, giving the offensive staff myriad options in the game plan. This flexibility allowed the coaching staff to move the receivers around like chess pieces in the offensive formation and target favorable matchups against defensive backs. One of the reasons Thomas has emerged as one of the NFL’s most dominant receivers is because of his ability to line up anywhere in the formation on a given play.
“It’s gone from very simple to much more advanced, to where maybe back in ’06 it was, as a receiver you were either plus two [yards from the tackle], outside edge, or inside edge, right?,” Brees said. “And now we’ve got all kinds of different splits, according to the route, according to the formation, according to who we’re playing. If a team does a good job of reading these splits, we’re going to change it up. It’s why we spend so much time in what we do. It’s why I have the guys come out with me in July in San Diego. It’s why we spend so much time after practice, every practice.”
For the receivers, mastering the nuances of the scheme can be a daunting task. The ones who earn the trust of Brees and Payton eventually receive more playing time and, in turn, more opportunities to shine. The standouts like Colston, Graham, and Thomas become so in tune with Brees they’re allowed to improvise on routes.
“There’s rules guys and guidelines guys,” Lombardi said. “Certain guys are told, here are the rules to this route and you follow them. And then all of a sudden, he does something off script and it works and we say, all right, maybe you’re a guidelines guy. You understand the guidelines of this route and maybe you can get away with fudging it a little. They have that feel, and that their feel matches Drew’s feel. So once they become synchronized with Drew, then all of a sudden