Rich Storry-Imagn Images
By Ross Jackson
The middle of the field has yielded success for the New Orleans Saints in their passing attack. Particularly, less than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. It’s that area where New Orleans did some good things to get their offense going in the second half against the Miami Dolphins in Week 13.
Since becoming the starting quarterback, rookie Tyler Shough has completed 29 of his 34 attempts (85.2%) between the numbers and within 10 yards of the snap. Over the past two weeks, the Saints have seen more in routes run (48) than the previous four games combined (44). New Orleans is adjusting its offense to its new passer.
The strategy also makes sense from a matchup perspective. The Dolphins ran the third-highest rate of two-high safety looks while their Week 12 opponents, the Atlanta Falcons, ran the highest rate of quarters coverage against the Saints all season. Both coverages invite offenses to attack the middle of the field.
“I think they played some shell defense,” head coach Kellen Moore said on Monday. “Cover-2 defense allows for in-breakers, and we were throwing in-breakers to the boundary, where [Vele] was lined up a lot. And so he’s got a lot of those in the past weeks, when we played Cover-2 teams. And so I think he did some really good stuff.”
The approach sparked a breakout game for wide receiver Devaughn Vele. The 6-foot-5 pass-catcher reeled in all eight of his targets for 83 receiving yards and a touchdown reception. Per Next Gen Stats, 50 of his 93 yards receiving came on in-breaking routes.
As the Saints began to connect on these passes, the offense began to move more consistently, especially in the second half.
The in-breaking routes also began to take hold in the intermediate areas, accounting for some of the team’s biggest gains. Moving forward, however, converting these middle of the field targets to explosive plays will be necessary. The team hasn’t generated an offensive play of more than 18 yards in either of the last two weeks.
In the next game, the Saints will face a Cover-2-happy Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that showed the Saints the highest percentage of Cover-2 defensive snaps (28.2%) all season back in Week 8 when the two teams squared off in New Orleans. The Buccaneers will deploy quite a bit of Cover-3 looks, where the short-area attack may come in handy.
This is a step in the right direction for New Orleans as the team watches its wide receiver corps take shape after some recent departures. Vele’s ability to attack between the numbers and make contested catches (has caught seven of eight contested targets this season, per Pro Football Focus) paired with wide receiver Chris Olave’s downfield ability can combine to put a lot of stress on opposing defenses if used appropriately.
Adding more depth to the attack for both than what’s been seen over the last few weeks would be another big addition to the Saints’ evolving offense.
More New Orleans Saints
