Sean Payton and Drew Brees have a great relationship, that stems from their long time together as well as their desire to win. Payton masterfully designs the Saints offense each year to tailor it exactly to the personnel he has.
In 2019, the Saints added TE Jared Cook, a mismatch nightmare. Cook is outstanding at using his big frame and large catch radius. His strengths are running vertical routes, such as seams and sail routes, from the slot or in-line.
A lot of teams have great weapons, but few use their weapon better than Payton uses Michael Thomas. Arguably the best route runner in the game, Thomas is so physical and adept at understanding coverages and defender’s leverage. Payton features Thomas on crossing patterns, dig and out routes, now slants, and maybe most of all, option routes from the slot.
During his own quarantine, Payton shared a popular Saints concept, in which Thomas runs an option route from the slot. The concept is called “Shock Lucy.” Shock is a 3 man route concept, shown below. The “Lucy” is the option route, which many west coast offenses call “Lookie.”
An example from 2019 of this play, where Thomas runs the Lucy. The Bucs play Quarter coverage, so Thomas will run his route off the Will linebacker. Because the coverage is quarters, the Will LB has inside leverage. Thomas sees the Corner backed off at quarters depth, so he knows he will be able to win outside. He shakes the LB inside, before exploding outside. Kamara runs off the Corner, giving Thomas a ton of room to operate after the catch.
The Saints will also run the Shock Lucy concept with Cook running the Lucy instead of Thomas. Occasionally, Kamara will run it too.
Another staple concept in the Saints playbook is 4 verts, or All Go Special. While Payton has a few variations in his toolbox, most of them are out of 3×1 formations, with Thomas as the backside X receiver and Kamara the back aligned to the weakside.
Against the 49ers, the Saints run “52 All Go Special X Shallow Cross H Choice.” On this play, the 49ers are in a type of combo matchup zone coverage. To the top of the screen, they are basically playing man to man, with 3 defenders matching the 3 vertical routes. On the backside, they play Cover 2, with the corner letting Thomas run underneath on his shallow. Kamara will have the option to break out, in or sit down. Since the Will LB and the cloud Corner are in zone, he sits down between the 2 of them.
While the Saints have their stale concepts they run every week, Payton is notorious for adding a few unique plays every week. Against the Bucs in Week 11, Payton schemed a shot play after getting a fumble recovery on defense.
The Saints line up in a 3×1 formation, with a nub TE to the boundary. The formation gives Brees a man/zone indicator. Since the corners are over, Brees knows it is man coverage. The play was put in not only because is it a man coverage beater, but because it works against quarter coverage, which the Bucs call a lot.
The #1 and #2 receivers run inside, clearing space for Thomas to work on his slot fade. The corner covering Thomas is picked by the #2 receivers route, so Thomas is wide open. Payton schemes plays for his best players to make plays. It is no coincidence why Thomas led the NFL in catches in 2018 and 2019. By the way, his 2019 stats were video game numbers; 149 catches 1725 yards and 9 TDs.
Some other quick hits about the Saints pass game. The Saints run double stick out of 2×2 formations on early downs. This is a quick game concept to get the ball out of Drew’s hands and gain some easy yardage. Payton also likes drive concepts, with Thomas or Cook running the dig. Two frequent 3 man concepts are snag and spot-dig, primarily out of bunch formations.
Here is double stick out of 2×2 against the Colts. Brees throws to Cook in the slot at the top of the screen, working on a linebacker.
Here is snag-dig out of bunch. Thomas runs a speed dig and and Kamara a choice route backside.
Payton is so good at using formations to his advantage. He will spread teams out by going empty out of 21 personnel. He will stick Thomas and Cook, his 2 best weapons, inside and put a fullback or tight end out wide. Again, a man/zone indicator for Brees and an easy way to get Thomas matched on a linebacker like he does with the Shock Lucy play.
As Brees gets older, he becomes more and more of a point guard. He is a ball distributor, who beats teams with his mind. Granted, his subtle movement in the pocket to compensate for his lack of height, as well as his accuracy are still elite. Brees’ skillset and Payton’s creativity are a perfect marriage that will continue for at least 1 more year.
Talkin Ball 