Credit Where Credit Is Due

@"JimmyinSD" said: I dont know if it was on Stefanski or Zimmer but the offensive play calling became a major issue at times and really made this game more of a contest than it needed to be down the stretch.

Setting things up or not,  when you see 9 in  the box on first down and you still try and power run behind a very weak interior OL... to damn many times we needed to PA to a TE or other and they insisted on pounding a RB between the tackles.

This is a feel good win for a lot of reasons,  but really a fucking head scratcher far to  often for a playoff game.

Stef is going to have to do better against the Niners, their D is a big step up from the Aint's.

@"JimmyinSD" said: I dont know if it was on Stefanski or Zimmer but the offensive play calling became a major issue at times and really made this game more of a contest than it needed to be down the stretch.

Setting things up or not,  when you see 9 in  the box on first down and you still try and power run behind a very weak interior OL... to damn many times we needed to PA to a TE or other and they insisted on pounding a RB between the tackles.

This is a feel good win for a lot of reasons,  but really a fucking head scratcher far to  often for a playoff game.

Blaming Zimmer for the offense, pretty lame.

Saints run D was significantly better than the 49ers..SF pass D is the best in the conference...

@"greediron" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said: I dont know if it was on Stefanski or Zimmer but the offensive play calling became a major issue at times and really made this game more of a contest than it needed to be down the stretch.

Setting things up or not,  when you see 9 in  the box on first down and you still try and power run behind a very weak interior OL... to damn many times we needed to PA to a TE or other and they insisted on pounding a RB between the tackles.

This is a feel good win for a lot of reasons,  but really a fucking head scratcher far to  often for a playoff game.

Blaming Zimmer for the offense, pretty lame.

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said: I dont know if it was on Stefanski or Zimmer but the offensive play calling became a major issue at times and really made this game more of a contest than it needed to be down the stretch.

Setting things up or not,  when you see 9 in  the box on first down and you still try and power run behind a very weak interior OL... to damn many times we needed to PA to a TE or other and they insisted on pounding a RB between the tackles.

This is a feel good win for a lot of reasons,  but really a fucking head scratcher far to  often for a playoff game.

Blaming Zimmer for the offense, pretty lame.

Lame?  How is the notoriously conservative to a fault HC not questioned when the offense goes into a horrible shell that coughs up a 10 point lead in the 4th quarter.  I am sure Zimmers direction is part of game  planning and discussion for in game adjustments.

I didn't say I was blaming anybody,  but it's hard to argue that the conservative approach didnt nearly cost us the game.

Taysom Hill and Stefanski are the main reasons this game wasn't over by the 4th Quarter. Hill was the wrinkle Payton had for Mike. Really, and this is batshit crazy, Sean should have played Hill at QB most of the final quarter. Zimmer just couldn't adjust  

But that's hindsight shit. You can't sit Brees no matter how ineffective he is. 

I've seen most of the game twice now. If Stefanski calls for runs up the gut in at least 3 crucial situations instead of toss backs to go off Left Tackle this game is done and dusted.

First, why left? Reiff and Elf are by far the worst two Linemen. Second, pitchbacks give a fast Defense time to penetrate the backfield. New Orleans had speed. Maybe nothing else. To keep dialing up pitchbacks to the  worst side of your Line against a speedy team is the actual Webster Dictionary of Insanity. And even worse, he kept doing it in the Redzone. 

If you're really objective, Zimmer had the best Coaching performance today. Allen did well without a lot of actual playmakers. Kevin was inconsistent but dialed up some killer pass plays to Thielen. Payton was MIA except for Taysom Hill for some reason. 

Kevin did good enough. He'll need to do better next week to keep this thing rolling. 

Ron Johnson discussed the struggles with the running game going left. Vikings are far more effective running to the right based on the percentages so when they kept running to the left, especially in the 4th Quarter and Overtime, it was very frustrating to watch. 

Yeah, Barr... I've gotta eat a bunch of shit too. I hated on Zimmer, Spielman, Cousins (mostly), but this win really made me shut up. 

I'm kind of at peace. I'd never expect this team to beat a 49ers team, but I didn't want to get embarrassed in the WC. We showed up, and it was because of Zimmer and Cousins. TONS of credit where it's due.

There are so many times where I just don't understand what Stefanski saw to justify a given play. It feels like guessing a lot of times, or throwing plays at the defense vs. each play being a complex chess move. For me, that's compounded every time I watch the opposing defense completely disregard our presnap formation. It took a long time for our passing game to finally get their defense to start yelling at each other and frantically trying to adjusting coverage.

I personally loved the audibles today. Kirk is a veteran and I think he should be checking out of things if he knows they won't work. It's an easy way to get a defense that just wants to run downhill through their gaps and to the ball suddenly thinking and hesitating. 

There are lots of kudos to go around. Zimmer, Dalvin, Hunter, Thielen, Kendricks, Griffen, Cousins among others. They fought hard and found a way. Thanks for taking it to Who Shat nation. 

All credit is due to Kirk's voice cracks

@"Tyr" said: The Saints were clearly focused on taking away Diggs and forcing Thielen to beat them through the air. He got off to a rocky start with the fumble, but he got stronger as the game wore on and finally started to look like himself for the first time since the hamstring injury. Having Thielen back contributing is huge, since Diggs had to carry the receiving game for the bulk of the season.

I do wonder about some of Stefanski's play-calling. The attempted end-around pass play was an early drive killer and late in the game the Saints were sitting on outside runs, which resulted in a couple big losses in yards. I get that outside running is the offense's strength, but those were risky calls when the offense needed to close out the game.

They need to be audibling out of the sweeps to the strong side. That was bad. I agree with the original poster was a good game plan. I just didn't like the bend dont break stuff in the 4th. I liked the aggressiveness in the first 3 quarters on D and felt like the offense was wasting a few too many opportunities. Luckily it worked out. 
Will need a better game next week. Hope the Vikings are 10 point underdogs.

Saints got beat by a 14 year old boy...

@"greediron" said: All credit is due to Kirk's voice cracks

Lol. Sometimes you gotta revisit puberty.