They seem to like the big blitz against Manning thing based on one game last year three weeks after he came back from surgery. Let’s just say, I would LOVE the Saints to blitz 6. We might score 50. Oh, and my favorite stat of the yearis highlighted. So much for the “Colts blitz so much” story line. They are still among the least blitzing teams in football. Not much of a change.
The Passing Game
Both of these defenses will try to harass the opposing quarterback, but they’ll do it in different ways. The Saints blitzed more than any team in the league; they sent at least five on 46 percent of pass plays and sending at least six on 22 percent of pass plays. The Colts rarely blitz, sending at least five pass rushers 24 percent of the time (29th) and at least six pass rushers just four percent of the time (31st).
You can see the difference in the defensive strategies of these teams when you look at yards after catch. The Colts, who play mostly zone, allowed only 3.9 average yards after the catch this year. That was the best figure in the league by a huge margin. The difference between the Colts and second-ranked Pittsburgh Steelers is the same as the difference between Pittsburgh and 19th-ranked Washington Redskins. The Saints, who blitz often and play mostly man coverage, allowed a ton of yards after the catch, an average of 5.6 which ranked 28th.
Gregg Williams’ blitzes could bother Manning more than most fans expect. The Saints allowed just 4.9 yards per pass this year sending a big blitz of six or more, compared to 6.7 yards per pass on other plays. Peyton Manning actually struggled against big blitzes this year, with just 5.4 yards per pass; however, this is probably fluke variation, as Manning has been highly successful against big blitzes in past seasons.
Drew Brees‘ numbers are basically the same no matter how many pass rushers are coming after him. However, there’s a difference between a pass rush and a pass rush that actually gets near the quarterback. Both quarterbacks have good numbers when hurried, but Manning was better than Brees this season. Looking at plays where our game charters marked a hurry, not counting sacks, Manning averaged 6.6 yards per play (third in NFL) while Brees averaged 5.8 (ninth). 40 percent of these plays counted as successful for Manning (sixth), 33 percent for Brees (15th).
The most underrated player on the Saints is probably Jabari Greer. He was nothing special in Buffalo’s Cover-2 defense but signed with New Orleans as a free agent and blossomed in the Saints’ more man-based scheme. Before he missed Weeks 10-16 with a sports hernia, Greer had a 69 percent Success Rate according to our game charting data, with 4.8 yards allowed per pass. In both categories, he ranks second among cornerbacks with at least 40 charted pass targets, behind only Darrelle Revis.
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