Greg Williams' Defense Against the Colts

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maverick4

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It appeared that for most of the night, Greg Williams used only a 4 or 3-man pass rush (with an occasional 5-man rush) after Peyton Manning, and played a ton of nickel and dime packages. He took away any deep threats, for the most part, and had his DB's and linebackers hit the receivers with quick tackles after the catch. Cowher said he expected some 2nd half wrinkles from the Saints defense, but it was still pretty much using 5-7 DB's on the field all game.

This predominantly nickel/dime defense against an elite QB sounds similar to the 2001 or 2007 Superbowl, when Kurt Warner and Tom Brady were stopped against a D that didn't commit too many pass rushers. The degree of pass rush generated was very different in each of the three games of course, but is there something to this style of defense, as a big game model against elite QB's?
 
That's how the Pats used to play the Colts, and they still use to get a little pressure on him.
 
They basically told the colts to run becuase they were playing 3-3-5 most of the game. If I was the colts I would have ran 50 times in that game.
 
I thought they'd use alot of 3 man rushes. Worked against the Pats too.
 
Personally, I don't think there was any magic formula last night.

The Saints did what most teams were able to do against Peyton Manning all year long, and that's keep the game close going into the 4th quarter. The only difference between last night and the previous 8 comebacks, is that, Peyton threw a game ending interception. That was the first time he did that all season long.
 
MAYHEM said:
I thought they'd use alot of 3 man rushes. Worked against the Pats too.
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Yes it did, they essentially played the same defense, the only problem was, our oline was letting them through.:banghead:
 
spiderman said:
Personally, I don't think there was any magic formula last night.

The Saints did what most teams were able to do against Peyton Manning all year long, and that's keep the game close going into the 4th quarter. The only difference between last night and the previous 8 comebacks, is that, Peyton threw a game ending interception. That was the first time he did that all season long.
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Yeah, usually that is when peyton is his best.
 
spiderman said:
Personally, I don't think there was any magic formula last night.

The Saints did what most teams were able to do against Peyton Manning all year long, and that's keep the game close going into the 4th quarter. The only difference between last night and the previous 8 comebacks, is that, Peyton threw a game ending interception. That was the first time he did that all season long.
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They had a good plan. All those DB's forced the the Colts to checkdown to run or throw short. Good way to keep Manning from passing all over the place. Wouldnt have worked had the Saints offense not wasted so much time. Addai was up to 7 per carry, Brown at 5.
 
MAYHEM said:
They had a good plan. All those DB's forced the the Colts to checkdown to run or throw short. Good way to keep Manning from passing all over the place. Wouldnt have worked had the Saints offense not wasted so much time. Addai was up to 7 per carry, Brown at 5.
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The colts played the saints the same way, the difference was, brees was better than manning that day, he killed the colts underneath.
 
They had zero pressure on him; fortunately for them, it worked out in their favor
 
MAYHEM said:
They had a good plan. All those DB's forced the the Colts to checkdown to run or throw short. Good way to keep Manning from passing all over the place. Wouldnt have worked had the Saints offense not wasted so much time. Addai was up to 7 per carry, Brown at 5.
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Just about every team the Colts played this year kept the game close or took a lead into the 4th quarter.

On the INT drive Manning was flinging it down field just like he had all year long.
 
midgar8784 said:
They basically told the colts to run becuase they were playing 3-3-5 most of the game. If I was the colts I would have ran 50 times in that game.
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Kind of like how Mike Martz lost the 2001 Superbowl because he didn't run Marshall Faulk 50 times.
 
maverick4 said:
Kind of like how Mike Martz lost the 2001 Superbowl because he didn't run Marshall Faulk 50 times.
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the rams were playing catchup most of that game. The rams trailed until the 4th quarter, when teh colts got up, they should have ran, the saints were letting them.
 
midgar8784 said:
the rams were playing catchup most of that game. The rams trailed until the 4th quarter, when teh colts got up, they should have ran, the saints were letting them.
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The Pats were playing a similar style, nickel and dime or even 7 DB's all day against Mike Martz. Why is it justified to abandon the run, regardless of score so long as it's not a blowout yet, if the other team is basically letting you run on them? The game never got out of hand score-wise and there was plenty of time left to still run.
 
maverick4 said:
The Pats were playing a similar style, nickel and dime or even 7 DB's all day against Mike Martz. Why is it justified to abandon the run, regardless of score so long as it's not a blowout yet, if the other team is basically letting you run on them? The game never got out of hand score-wise and there was plenty of time left to still run.
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Yeah suppose so, although the rams were not used to doing that, but I guess neither were the colts.
 
anderson said:
We should have never abandoned the run against the Saints. Would have been a very different game.
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Check out the game thread where I was wearing out the "gashing them with the run" line.

They had to abandon the run though. They couldn't stop the offense. Even a little.
 
anderson said:
We should have never abandoned the run against the Saints. Would have been a very different game.
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Well except them running up and down the field at will on offense.:coffee:
 
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