honyock
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First off, here are the snaps I counted on the d'line (and linebackers further down). I'd be surprised if I'm not off by one or two on most of these players, but this is roughly the count.
Tackles (for the most part a rotation of Crawford and and Melton at 3, Hayden and Bishop at 1, with Crawford and Melton on the field together on a few snaps):
Crawford.....45 snaps, all but 1 inside
Melton.........23 snaps
Hayden.......30 snaps
Bishop.........21 snaps
Mincey.........4 snaps inside (most of his snaps came at end)
Ends (Mincey was the primary RE with the other three splitting the remaining RE snaps. Spencer, Selvie and JCrawford roughly split the LE snaps).
Mincey.........37 snaps at RE
Selvie...........31 snaps, I think this broke down 18 at LE, 13 at RE
J Crawford...28 snaps, mainly at LE
Spencer.......23 snaps, all but 4 at LE
Overall, the line as a whole put decent pressure on Brees the first half through the first series of the second half. No sacks, but they harassed him and made him move and hurry some throws. After that the pressure fell off. This looked to be partly the Saints going to more quick passes, partly rolling Brees out two or three times, partly a lot of three man rushes, and partly the rushmen just were getting stoned more often as the second half went on. Crawford and Spencer both looked a little gassed towards the end.
After they got the 31-3 lead, Dallas would show a four man front then drop one of the linemen into coverage in the middle of the field a lot of the time. I didn't notice this much if at all in the first half. This was mainly Crawford or Hayden, although Bishop dropped into coverage 2-3 times. This led to more time for Brees and although I didn't keep count, my impression was the Saints had a lot of success against that look.
Most of the pressure that we got came from the inside. Crawford and Melton were both pretty active, Bishop had two or three nice pressures and even Hayden had a couple. On the outside, other than Spencer, there wasn't much pressure from any of the ends.
I thought Spencer looked pretty good, moreso than I was expecting after the layoff. He was solid against the run and had a few nice rushes/pressures. He showed some quickness and burst at times. He was the best edge rusher we had tonight (which is a little depressing). They were working him in slowly at first. He only got 6 snaps the first half and they only let him play a snap or two consecutively. Then he was in for 17 snaps the second half. it was a pretty encouraging start, although he got less productive as the second half wore on (like everyone else).
Crawford had a nice first half, a nice start to the second half, then was pretty quiet afterwards. He was dropping into coverage more, and was facing double teams in the three man rushes later in the game. He played a lot of snaps, more than anyone else
I thought Ken Bishop had a nice first half. It was the best I've seen him play. He was only in for 7 plays but I saw 5 of them where he got good pressure, good push or penetration. Like the others, in the second half he was facing more double teams or dropping into coverage a few times, so he didn't make much impact. He was in for the long run during the Saints first touchdown drive and it looked like he bore part of the responsibility for that play, although the linebackers both could have made the play. But overall he had a good game.
George Selvie looks a little like he's reverting back to journeyman level play. He and Jack Crawford provided a lot of snaps but that was about it. We really, really need some outside pressure. Having to move Crawford inside has forced JCraw to get way more snaps than he probably should be getting. Spencer was encouraging, but right now it's bailing wire and duct tape until Demarcus Lawrence hopefully can give something more the second half of the season.
Hayden got a ton of grief last year. He's still not a world beater, but he looks a lot better with 30 snaps a game than he did last year with 60 snaps a game. I'm wondering what is going to happen when/if TMcClain come back, if Bishop will go inactive again, and then again later when Brent comes back. Bishop looks like he's got some upside and I hope they find a way to keep him when reinforcements arrive.
At linebacker, it was mainly nickel sets with Carter and Durant the first half. It looked like they wanted to be very sparing with McClains snaps. He didn't play much, just a few snaps here and there, until Carter's injury, then was in for every play the rest of the game. Unless I missed a play or two, I never saw Hitchens on the field on any defensive snaps.
I hope it doesn't sound like I was bagging on the d-line. Great win, the whole defense deserves a lot of props for that shutout in the first half and for making the plays they needed to in the second half.
Tackles (for the most part a rotation of Crawford and and Melton at 3, Hayden and Bishop at 1, with Crawford and Melton on the field together on a few snaps):
Crawford.....45 snaps, all but 1 inside
Melton.........23 snaps
Hayden.......30 snaps
Bishop.........21 snaps
Mincey.........4 snaps inside (most of his snaps came at end)
Ends (Mincey was the primary RE with the other three splitting the remaining RE snaps. Spencer, Selvie and JCrawford roughly split the LE snaps).
Mincey.........37 snaps at RE
Selvie...........31 snaps, I think this broke down 18 at LE, 13 at RE
J Crawford...28 snaps, mainly at LE
Spencer.......23 snaps, all but 4 at LE
Overall, the line as a whole put decent pressure on Brees the first half through the first series of the second half. No sacks, but they harassed him and made him move and hurry some throws. After that the pressure fell off. This looked to be partly the Saints going to more quick passes, partly rolling Brees out two or three times, partly a lot of three man rushes, and partly the rushmen just were getting stoned more often as the second half went on. Crawford and Spencer both looked a little gassed towards the end.
After they got the 31-3 lead, Dallas would show a four man front then drop one of the linemen into coverage in the middle of the field a lot of the time. I didn't notice this much if at all in the first half. This was mainly Crawford or Hayden, although Bishop dropped into coverage 2-3 times. This led to more time for Brees and although I didn't keep count, my impression was the Saints had a lot of success against that look.
Most of the pressure that we got came from the inside. Crawford and Melton were both pretty active, Bishop had two or three nice pressures and even Hayden had a couple. On the outside, other than Spencer, there wasn't much pressure from any of the ends.
I thought Spencer looked pretty good, moreso than I was expecting after the layoff. He was solid against the run and had a few nice rushes/pressures. He showed some quickness and burst at times. He was the best edge rusher we had tonight (which is a little depressing). They were working him in slowly at first. He only got 6 snaps the first half and they only let him play a snap or two consecutively. Then he was in for 17 snaps the second half. it was a pretty encouraging start, although he got less productive as the second half wore on (like everyone else).
Crawford had a nice first half, a nice start to the second half, then was pretty quiet afterwards. He was dropping into coverage more, and was facing double teams in the three man rushes later in the game. He played a lot of snaps, more than anyone else
I thought Ken Bishop had a nice first half. It was the best I've seen him play. He was only in for 7 plays but I saw 5 of them where he got good pressure, good push or penetration. Like the others, in the second half he was facing more double teams or dropping into coverage a few times, so he didn't make much impact. He was in for the long run during the Saints first touchdown drive and it looked like he bore part of the responsibility for that play, although the linebackers both could have made the play. But overall he had a good game.
George Selvie looks a little like he's reverting back to journeyman level play. He and Jack Crawford provided a lot of snaps but that was about it. We really, really need some outside pressure. Having to move Crawford inside has forced JCraw to get way more snaps than he probably should be getting. Spencer was encouraging, but right now it's bailing wire and duct tape until Demarcus Lawrence hopefully can give something more the second half of the season.
Hayden got a ton of grief last year. He's still not a world beater, but he looks a lot better with 30 snaps a game than he did last year with 60 snaps a game. I'm wondering what is going to happen when/if TMcClain come back, if Bishop will go inactive again, and then again later when Brent comes back. Bishop looks like he's got some upside and I hope they find a way to keep him when reinforcements arrive.
At linebacker, it was mainly nickel sets with Carter and Durant the first half. It looked like they wanted to be very sparing with McClains snaps. He didn't play much, just a few snaps here and there, until Carter's injury, then was in for every play the rest of the game. Unless I missed a play or two, I never saw Hitchens on the field on any defensive snaps.
I hope it doesn't sound like I was bagging on the d-line. Great win, the whole defense deserves a lot of props for that shutout in the first half and for making the plays they needed to in the second half.
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