Saints v Patriots - Saints destroy Patriots 3-4 with textbook approach

For me watching the ESPN Monday Night Football Saints v Patriots game was a trip back in time to all of the textbook methods I learned how to attack a 3-4 defense. What was so surprising to me was to see the New England Patriots play little variation in the basic "Oklahoma Defense" alignment, with a nosetackle and two inside linebackers over the guards. The New Orleans Saints tore apart the Pats defense using a basic rule: keep the linebackers moving and guessing.

  3-4 defense

The strength of any 3-4 defense is its linebacker play. One of the best ever teams at playing the defense was the 1977 Denver Broncos. The "Orange Crush" Defense was known for its exotic blitzes and rapid linebacker pursuit. The Dallas Cowboys approach against the Broncos in Super Bowl XII was to use two-tight-end sets, screens, draws, and misdirection to keep the linebackers always guessing regarding where the offense was going - called "the point of attack" - and gaining yardage in the process. The result was a 27-10 win for the Cowboys.

The Saints Offensive game plan had all of that, and more. A signature play was the fake screen left, screen right to Robert Meachem, who ran 38 yards to score.

In Super Bowl XIX in 1984, San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Bill Walsh designed a play that caused the Miami Dolphins 3-4 inside linebackers to "split": one to the left to cover one running back on a screen and the other to the right to do the same. Meanwhile, Tight End Russ Francis faked a block, fell down, then got up quickly and ran downfield wide open. He picked up 35 yards on that play as I recall from memory, and the Niners won 38-14.

The Saints ran the exact play tonight, Monday night, and with similar results, decades later. That play only works against a base 3-4 defense and man-for-man coverage, which is what both the 1984 Dolphins and the 2009 Patriots presented.

But what I can't figure out is why the Patriots would go into such an important game with so terrible a defensive game plan? To say that New England Head Coach Bill Belichick was outcoached is an understatement. But to his credit, he admitted it.

Somewhere along in the fourth quarter, Coach Belichick knew he had the wrong game plan. But I'm still massively shocked he allowed Head Coach Sean Payton and Quaterback Drew Breeze to beat them in such a textbook fashion. Brees' perfect 158.3 passer rating was a child of a great game plan. I'm not taking anything away from Drew Brees, who was magnificent, but watching that approach unfold was a thing of beauty and I'm not a Saints fan.

Still, one weakness is there to be exploited: the nature of the Saints passing approach by coaching is ripe for a hard-blitzing team to exploit. Why? Well, the Saints have really gotten by on the "look-off" pass, having Brees turn his entire body away from the intended receiver before turning and throwing. I first noticed this during the preseason when the Raiders played the Saints, and they did it in that blow out game. I took note of it as the "secret sauce" in their attack. I figured a blitzing team like the New York Jets might get to them.

The New York Jets held them to 24 points, the Saints lowest total this season so far, but the Jets' offense generated three interceptions from Quaterback Mark Sanchez,and so they lost 24 to 10. But the blueprint is set. Just which team - that has a good offense to help out - will use it is anyone's guess.

Stay tuned.