New York Giants Week 15: Examining the New Orleans Saints Offense

How much of a difference has Derek Carr made for the Saints offense?

Author:
Brandon Olsen
Publish date:
Dec 14, 2023 10:00 AM EST

In this story:

Don't be surprised if Sunday's game between the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints is hideous, at least from an offensive perspective. We know about the Giants offense; let's dive into what the Saints field.

Personnel

The Saints went out this past offseason and brought in Derek Carr from the Las Vegas Raiders. The move was expected to take the Saints' offense to the next level, but to this point, it hasn’t worked out that way.

Carr’s been unable to find any consistency with his offensive line and skill position players, partially because of the injuries dealt to those position groups. The other part of the struggles for Carr is that he simply isn’t playing with the confidence he used to play with in Las Vegas. He was never elite and never close to it, but it’s clear that he’s regressed in New Orleans.

In the run game, Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill are the main ball carriers for a Saints rushing attack that asks the rushers to do all the work themselves. Kamara and Hill combined for 910 rushing yards during the season, and 573 came after contact.

The Saints still use Taysom as one of the most versatile offensive players, if not the most versatile offensive player, on the planet. Hill has played 96 snaps at QB, 24 as a running back, 61 as an in-line tight end, and 170 in the slot or out wide. Hill missed last week’s game but was a game-time decision, so could be available this week.

Kamara’s presence as a pass-catcher has greatly helped Derek Carr get rid of the ball to a reliable option, but being a check-down Charlie isn’t ideal for an offense. Kamara has 63 catches this season (second on the team) for 402 yards (fourth on the team) with an average depth of target of just .2 yards past the line of scrimmage.

Chris Olave has had an up-and-down season as an NFL sophomore. On film, he’s become an even better route-runner that has no issue separating from defensive backs. Production-wise, he’s getting more targets but slightly fewer receptions and lower yards per catch.

What’s been down, though, is that he and Carr don’t seem to be on the same page. Multiple times this season, there have been clips and videos showing Olave either not hustling through a play or just not being on the same page and arguing afterward.

Other receivers have struggled to separate consistently, with Lynn Bowden being more of a gadget receiver than anything else and AT Perry being a deep-play-or-nothing receiver. Michael Thomas is once again on injured reserve. Rashid Shaheed is still dealing with an injury as well.

Tight ends have been an important part of the offense while the receivers are banged up. Expect to see all three of Foster Moreau, Juwan Johnson, and Jimmy Graham this Sunday. Moreau will likely see the most snaps, as he’s the most reliable blocker of the bunch, but Johnson and Graham will likely see some relatively consistent snaps.

Dec 3, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (26) rushes against New Orleans Saints defensive end Carl Granderson (96) during the second half at the Caesars Superdome.

Scheme

Last week, I got to write about one of my favorite offensive schemes with the Packers, and this week, well, not so much. The Saints offense isn’t very fun, a stark difference from when Sean Payton ran the show.

It’s not something I would usually notice when watching film, but when this team goes under center, they run the ball a ton. From watching it, it’s clear that if they go under center, be prepared for a run. That’s where most teams have some fun because, generally, that’s a run-heavy set, so they tend to run, play action, and get defenses in bad spots, but the Saints genuinely just run there.

The Saints run play action at a significantly lower rate among qualifiers than anybody else in the NFL. The Saints run play action on just 12.4% of Derek Carr’s dropbacks - that’s dead last among the 40 qualifying passers.

The only two areas where the Saints offense has any true variety is in their run game. Schematically, it’s a decent rush plan that features both gap and zone runs. Their tight ends have to be able to hold their own to truly find success, especially with the Saints bringing split zone into the fray.

Split zone is another of my favorite run schemes, and its popularity is increasing quickly. In a split zone, a tight end lines up on the play side and blocks across to the weak side. Essentially, imagine a tight end lined up outside the right tackle, the run is inside zone going to the right, and the tight end sprints across after the snap to block outside of the left tackle. This allowed the offense to run inside zone while also giving the running back a cutback option.

The Saints also use multiple ball carriers in their plan. When healthy, Kamara, Taysom, Bowden, and Shaheed are all threats to take a handoff.

What This Means for the Giants

It’s easier said than done, but "see ball, hit ball" if you’re the Giants. The Saints don’t run a lot of play-action, haven’t been very creative with their misdirection, and don’t have some of their most threatening pieces on offense.

With how rough their offensive line is as well, rush four and let the back seven read and react. Sitting in the zone hasn’t been an issue at all, given that the Giants pass rush should be able to cause issues on their own without a blitz, and once the defense recognizes where the ball is going (almost always Olave or Kamara), there’s not too much concern there.

Final Thoughts

The Giants defense has played well this season against good and bad offenses. This week, they get to face a bad defense in what will almost definitely be a low-scoring affair.