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After reviewing the Miracle game on several occasions it was a game that really highlighted our major weakness on both side of the ball which are nickle corner on defense and RT/TE blocking on offense.
So who do we draft - a potential starting nickle corner this season and potential RT or swing Tackle in the second round?
I'll start with the last drive by the Saints where Alexander was burned twice on the Saints potential game winning FG drive.
Why another CB/Hughes:
After a long pass completion to the TE vs Kendricks that gave the Saints a 1st down on their 44 the next play Alexander was confused on the coverage and Bree's saw that pre play and went right to Ginn for a 10+ yard easy completion and 1st down.
Then Bree's challenges Rhodes (Harry over the top) on 3 straight incompletions and great coverages by Rhodes/Harry. This forced a 4th and 10.
4th and 10 and the play is clearly designed to go to Alexander cover with Harris (in for concussed Sandejo). Bree's throws a nice pass into a sideline pocket with poor coverage from Alex and Harris late over the top.
Crunch time - Bree's goes to anyone slot/Alexander is covering and it resulted in what was the potential game-winning FG.
Can understand the interest in Hughes and having another CB. Going into that game Rhodes was not 100%, Sandejo was concussed and out for all Saints scores, Newman got dinged and missed some plays and wasn't 100%. Harris played poorly in Sandejo spot as well - IMO.
Hughes - can address the slot weakness seen in that potential loss.
Why Tackle/O'Neil:
Now for RT and right side TE blocking in that game. Many posters concentrate on the Eagles abuse from the right side but it was no better vs Saints.
Hill was abused all game and gave up the most pressures of any OL in the playoffs. With about 8 minutes remaining in the game their was a stat line of the following: Keenum - 29 dropbacks, sacked 2X, Knocked down 9X and hurried 11X - almost all those came from the right side with Hill and Rudy/Morgan.
Keenum's toss up for grabs right after the Saints 1st TD to make it (7 - 17) was a result of what looked like a designed one-on one blocking of Jordan vs Rudy? Not sure if Hill was supposed to help or if McKinnon was supposed to chip but neither happened and Rudy barely delayed Jordan getting right into Keenum's face and throwing up that horrible interception that gave the Saints the ball at our 29 yard line.
Saints score a few plays later vs a dinged Newman (Rhodes out for a few plays) to make the score 14-17.
Vikings then drive down the field to get into FG range which on consecutive plays of Hill missed/whiffed blocks almost knocked us out of FG range but we are able to convert the 49 yard FG and make the score 14-20. The whole drive Hill was beat over and over again. Hill's second half was the worst RT blocking I have seen reminded of games watching Kalil at LT.
Hill does not belong on the right side maybe O'Neil does???
Totally agree on both counts. Alexander got abused on that key Saints drive to set up the potential game winning field goal, including the 4th down completion. It remains to be seen if Zim will let Hughes play a ton of snaps his rookie year.
While I think Hill is a decent backup swing tackle, he should Not be starting. While Remmers can get beat by pure speed rushers like Miller, he is at least serviceable and should be the starter there unless a real upgrade can be found. I do not believe ONeill will be ready this year, so am hoping to see Remmers srarting at RT on opening day and either Andrews, Compton, or Isadora starting at RG.
Quote: @minny65 said:
After reviewing the Miracle game on several occasions it was a game that really highlighted our major weakness on both side of the ball which are nickle corner on defense and RT/TE blocking on offense.
So who do we draft - a potential starting nickle corner this season and potential RT or swing Tackle in the second round?
I'll start with the last drive by the Saints where Alexander was burned twice on the Saints potential game winning FG drive.
Why another CB/Hughes:
After a long pass completion to the TE vs Kendricks that gave the Saints a 1st down on their 44 the next play Alexander was confused on the coverage and Bree's saw that pre play and went right to Ginn for a 10+ yard easy completion and 1st down.
Then Bree's challenges Rhodes (Harry over the top) on 3 straight incompletions and great coverages by Rhodes/Harry. This forced a 4th and 10.
4th and 10 and the play is clearly designed to go to Alexander cover with Harris (in for concussed Sandejo). Bree's throws a nice pass into a sideline pocket with poor coverage from Alex and Harris late over the top.
Crunch time - Bree's goes to anyone slot/Alexander is covering and it resulted in what was the potential game-winning FG.
Can understand the interest in Hughes and having another CB. Going into that game Rhodes was not 100%, Sandejo was concussed and out for all Saints scores, Newman got dinged and missed some plays and wasn't 100%. Harris played poorly in Sandejo spot as well - IMO.
Hughes - can address the slot weakness seen in that potential loss.
Why Tackle/O'Neil:
Now for RT and right side TE blocking in that game. Many posters concentrate on the Eagles abuse from the right side but it was no better vs Saints.
Hill was abused all game and gave up the most pressures of any OL in the playoffs. With about 8 minutes remaining in the game their was a stat line of the following: Keenum - 29 dropbacks, sacked 2X, Knocked down 9X and hurried 11X - almost all those came from the right side with Hill and Rudy/Morgan.
Keenum's toss up for grabs right after the Saints 1st TD to make it (7 - 17) was a result of what looked like a designed one-on one blocking of Jordan vs Rudy? Not sure if Hill was supposed to help or if McKinnon was supposed to chip but neither happened and Rudy barely delayed Jordan getting right into Keenum's face and throwing up that horrible interception that gave the Saints the ball at our 29 yard line.
Saints score a few plays later vs a dinged Newman (Rhodes out for a few plays) to make the score 14-17.
Vikings then drive down the field to get into FG range which on consecutive plays of Hill missed/whiffed blocks almost knocked us out of FG range but we are able to convert the 49 yard FG and make the score 14-20. The whole drive Hill was beat over and over again. Hill's second half was the worst RT blocking I have seen reminded of games watching Kalil at LT.
Hill does not belong on the right side maybe O'Neil does???
Agree on Hill that he is not a starting Right Tackle in this league. He was exposed over and over again. He actually seemed to do better filling in for Reiff on the Left, but that wasn't the playoffs where things get ramped up significantly.
I also agree on Alexander and Newman. Brees went empty backfield on over Forty consecutive plays in the second half and we had no answer. However, great secondary coverage is also a product of a consistent pass rush and we had a non-existent pass rush that game, and the entire last quarter of the season with Griffen's injury. I also put some blame on Zimmer and the coaching staff who failed to develop any depth/rotation players with our younger reserves. Our starters ran out of gas when it mattered most. One last thing that I don't hear too many people talk about is Barr's lack of impact in the pass rush. He had one sack last year. By far one of his worst of this career. He was a sack machine coming out of UCLA and I'm tired of the excuses made for him about how Zimmer is using him, etc. He had a much bigger impact his rookie season when Zimmer turned him loose on the QB. That seems to have disappeared.
Yea I think Hughes might over take the slot position as the season progresses and will be the 4th corner on the field ahead of the aging Newman.
I was happy with Remmers at RT as well. Hill was decent as a backup at LT but again that was all non playoff's.
I don't think we are going to see that much of a mix up along the OL as much as some expect. I think the only spot open is RG and we have a ton of competition there to find a fix, I hope.
I'd agree that Alexander was exposed late in the Saints game. Not something that he can't recover from, but if they already had some doubts about him, then maybe that bumps up the need for a corner in Zimmer's eyes.
As for Hill, he struggled in the playoffs, but the Vikings didn't really do anything to address that. They didn't draft an interior player early that would allow them to keep Remmers outside and instead drafted O'neill who is a project LT and not necessarily someone they can camp out at RT until he's ready to take over for Reiff. As it stands now our RG appears to be Remmers and our RT appears to be Hill. Maybe we luck out and Isadora can take on the RG job, but I don't feel like the right side of the line is in good of shape as it could be, especially since Cousins isn't as mobile as Keenum. We'll see if playing the long game with their first two picks works, but I do worry that missing out on OL in the 1st may come back to haunt us.
Quote: @Tyr said:
I'd agree that Alexander was exposed late in the Saints game. Not something that he can't recover from, but if they already had some doubts about him, then maybe that bumps up the need for a corner in Zimmer's eyes.
As for Hill, he struggled in the playoffs, but the Vikings didn't really do anything to address that. They didn't draft an interior player early that would allow them to keep Remmers outside and instead drafted O'neill who is a project LT and not necessarily someone they can camp out at RT until he's ready to take over for Reiff. As it stands now our RG appears to be Remmers and our RT appears to be Hill. Maybe we luck out and Isadora can take on the RG job, but I don't feel like the right side of the line is in good of shape as it could be, especially since Cousins isn't as mobile as Keenum. We'll see if playing the long game with their first two picks works, but I do worry that missing out on OL in the 1st may come back to haunt us.
Yea I want Remmers back at RT and Hill back as LT backup. O'Neil might be able to get up to speed as an initial RT backup to Remmers.
Great analysis - but makes me think Alexander is on far thinner ice than usually suggested. Now I wonder if the plan is to have Newman hold down nickel early while Hughes gets up to speed. Maybe Alexander will shift to strictly backing up Rhodes and Waynes outside.
I think the blame on Alexander may be accurate but it is unfair to an extent.
The blame goes to Mike Zimmer who was thoroughly out coached.
He played 4 defensive linemen over 66% of the snaps last season and
Griffen - 79.7% (795 snaps)
Hunter - 77.7% (775 snaps)
T. Johnson - 67.5% (675 snaps)
Joseph - 66.5% (664 snaps)
Robison - 56.4% (563 snaps)
Stephen - 38.5% (384 snaps)
Weatherly - 8.9% (89 snaps)
J. Johnson - 4.1% (41 snaps)
The Eagles played only one player over 65% of the snaps.
B.Graham - 666 (64.6%)
F.Cox - 608 (59.0%)
V.Curry - 578 (56.1%)
C.Long - 496 (48.1%)
T.Jernigan - 492 (47.7%)
D.Barnett - 424 (41.1%)
B.Allen - 422 (40.9%)
D.Vaeao - 230 (22.3%)
E.Qualls - 103 (10.0%)
S.Means - 53 (5.1%)
J.Hamilton - 44 (4.3%)
... people talk about the Eagles line being so great but I am not sure they were that much better than the Vikings. They just had plenty of rest and were very fresh in the post season.
Zimmer has a problem and he needs to play rookies otherwise the same situation will occur again.
Jaleel Johnson hardly played. Why should anyone believe Holmes will play any this year?
Alexander did get beat. No question.
But they need pressure to help them out.
I just wanted to focus on the Saints game because many have analyzed the Eagles debacle and their were breakdowns everywhere. But the Saints near defeat highlighted two areas of concern that carried over into the Eagles game and would carry over into this season if unaddressed - right side blocking and nickle corner - and I tied that to the draft rationale.
Our Defense played really well vs the Saints and shut them out until about 1:18 remaining in the 3rd Q. They converted their 1st 3rd down with 5 minutes in the 3rd Q. Zimmer did not blitz much at all and rushed four most of the game choosing to have another DB/LB on the field like I think he plans on doing more this year.
The other two TD's came on very short fields from Case's Interception (result of no right-side blocking) and gives the Saints the ball on our 29 yard line.
The 3rd TD was after a ST blocking blunder (I blame Harris for not helping block outside rush or inside push) and our punt was blocked and the Saints get the ball at our 40 yard for their final TD.
Again, Zimmer rushed 4 and did not blitz Bree's that much and it was overall effective. First time the Saints were shut out in a half in a very long time etc.. The short fields given up by Case and ST were the reason the Saints fought back and took the lead. The game winning FG before the Miracle was a result of Bree's picking on our nickle back Alexander and replacement safety Harris as noted on my OP.
I don't blame Zimmer and DL snaps or non blitz scheme for what may have been a loss to the Saints...but that is my opinion and breakdown. The Eagles have been noted for having the best rotation last year but Zimmer rotates well compared to most teams just not the Eagles. I agree on Griffen playing hurt and it didn't seem like we tried to rotate him much more after his injury which is surprising but I guess we didn't have the backup player. Inside, Shamar got injured during the Saints game and I think we addressed that need with Richardson in free agency.
I think we addressed our 5 biggest needs this offseason either through FA or draft with late cuts to come:
QB - Zimmer never bought into Case and being the guy - so we go get Cousins
DL - need better interior players to rotate so we go get Richardson who can also play end
Nickle - per my OP - Alexander needs to be pushed or moved outside as backup so we draft Hughes
Right-side blocking - I see Remmers back there with O'Neil as backup/swing and Hill as LT backup only
Guard replacement for Berger - tons of competition on roster, free agents and draft plus late cuts.
Quote: @Jor-El said:
Great analysis - but makes me think Alexander is on far thinner ice than usually suggested. Now I wonder if the plan is to have Newman hold down nickel early while Hughes gets up to speed. Maybe Alexander will shift to strictly backing up Rhodes and Waynes outside.
This is where I am, as well. You would think that, because of his size, Mac would be a good/natural nickel. But he mostly struggles there. His future may be on the outside. Newman was/is better than Mac on the inside. But I have my doubts whether, at his age, Newman can do the job for an entire year.
The coaches want to see if Hughes can learn the nickel position and take over for Newman and be the long term answer.
I don't know if they are thinking about UDFA rookie Hill as someone who could backup on the outside as well as at Safety, but if he could, that would really increase his value. He could eventually take over for Sendejo since Ant Harris has not made much progress at the position.
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