In some circles of the Saints fanbase I don’t think there was a more controversial figure this year than the man at the top: Sean Payton. Many members of the Saints Blogo-sphere, some ‘legit’ and some not, questioned whether coach Payton still had ‘it’ and whether or not he should still be in charge of play calling duties. Billed as an offensive genius and play calling mastermind Payton has led the Saints to a top 5 offense in yards per game in every year but ONE! The exception? 2010 where the Saints were 6th. You can bring up win/loss if you like, and certainly points per game is another stat that indicates offensive success, but in my opinion the one that best represents the playcalling is yards per game. Points per game is often about turnovers and execution in the red zone which I personally place on the players shoulders. Payton has always been a hyper-aggressive play caller who will gamble on his guys over the numbers. That has at times led him to make calls that we as a fan base were less than amused by (Josh Hill reverse on 4th down anyone?), but when you talk about replacing a play caller you have to look at the totality of the season, not a few isolated incidents.
So this means I am fully behind coach Payton remaining the game day play caller right? Nope. Like I said, I am trying to look at the totality of the season here. In my opinion the two best Seasons the Saints have had from a play calling standpoint were 2011 and 2012. What both of the seasons had in common was Pete Carmichael calling the plays in coach Payton’s offense. There is no question in my mind that Sean is both competent and accomplished as a play caller, but his greatest strengths in my opinion are his ability to game plan and adjust to opponents. I believe that the Saints best option is to have Carmichael calling the plays with SP having the option to override him on big/important calls. It’s similar to what they ran in 2011, and it worked because it allowed Payton to direct his focus to a more macro-level form of management…kinda like being the head coach.
The Saints in my opinion have a lot of talented personnel, but at times have reverted to old patterns (and old people) in part because Payton is loyal to what has worked and brought success in the past. This is natural for any human being; as the head coach the success or failure of the team is directly attributed to him and so he is more likely to go with what he thinks will work. In my humble opinion, Carmichael is more likely to go with what is working regardless of names attached to it or past results because his job is tied directly to the performance of the offense.
I do want to make it clear though; Sean Payton as the teams play caller is in NO WAY a bad option. Certain loudmouths (and many of us who are just emotional about the team we love) called him out all year for running the ball, and then it didn’t work they yelled about how PT wasn’t getting enough screens, and when those didn’t work…well you get the idea. Many of us can often become victims of a recency bias with Payton that causes us to assume a couple plays that stick out in our minds are indicative of his entire gameplan/success as a caller. Sean committed to the run when it worked this year, and when the either the line couldn’t make a hole to save their lives, or Mark simply wasn’t hitting them he put the ball in the hands of his HOF QB…sounds like a good option to me. Is he perfect as a play caller? Not a chance, nobody is. But I honestly believe that the combination of Carmichael making the calls and Payton overseeing the team while creating the gameplan’s is the secret to a revival of sorts next season.
What say you all?
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