New Orleans Pulled A Todd Bowles
November 3rd, 2021
Tables turned.
Regular listeners of former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi, the former coffee fetcher for Bill Walsh, Al Davis and Bill Belicheat, know how big of a fan he is of Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.
In the recent edition of his podcast “GM Shuffle,” Lombardi pretty much said the slimy Saints pulled a Todd Bowles on the Bucs.
Bowles is notorious (unless he is facing a stiff, never-been, cold-as-ice quarterback like Trevor Siemian) for stopping an offense’s run game and rendering an offense one-dimensional.
Lombardi said that’s exactly what New Orleans defensive coordinator Dennis Allen did to the Bucs.
Lombardi pointed out that the reason why Tom Brady sort of struggled (especially at the worst possible time) was a perfect storm ignited by Allen stopping the Bucs’ run game.
And on the flip side, the Bucs, for one of the rare times since Bowles arrived, couldn’t stop the run.
New Orleans had “4.8 [yards] average [running] against a team that is really hard to run on,” Lombardi explained. “And they know you are going to run it. They know once Trevor Siemian comes in, they said, ‘They are going to keep calling runs.’
“It’s screens and runs, screens and runs and screens and runs. And yet [Saints coach Sean] Payton is able to do it. Payton is able to do it. You’ve got to give him credit there.
“[The Bucs] — there was no run game. … So everything became imbalanced. There was no run game, there was no play-action. [Brady] loses Gronk. He doesn’t have Antonio Brown. All of a sudden now it becomes a harder game.”
Pretty keen observation from Lombardi. Take away the Saints’ quarterback runs and they still had 26 carries for 110 yards.
Allen did to the Bucs’ offense pretty much what Bowles does to opponents’ offenses.
So in a sense, the Bucs got a taste of their own medicine.
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:15 am
Surely the MASTERMIND could have adjusted.
He’s HC material, remember?
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:21 am
The defense did fine aside from the stupid penalties they had. They put the Saints 3 and out 4 times in a row in the third quarter but layed an egg at the biggest time and kept giving the Saints first downs in penalties.
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:34 am
The difference between us, and them is we gave up on the run game they didn’t. Why we’ren’t we throwing screens, and running more? So basically what Lombardi is saying is we were out coached. No surprise there, Payton’s record against Arains proves it.
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:50 am
This would and should have been be a non story but we failed to seal the deal earlier in the game with stupid penalties on both sides of the ball and
in the final 1:41. Lombardi post game analysis is just hindsight. Saints were not stopping our offense and we had momentum. AS for the run game Fournette takes so many snaps that there is a possibility he will wear down late in game and
as season winds down.
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:51 am
The difference was penalties. Reading the stat sheet looking at runs isn’t a great way to analyze this game. It was a Bucs W but for the defensive penalties.
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:54 am
Is Payton that much of a better coach the reason the Bucs struggle against the Saints ???
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:56 am
Also the Saints have one of the top 3 RBs in the NFl so that may help; and making an excuse of the bucs, they got Ingram back in a few days and played him and he got some juice being back home
November 3rd, 2021 at 9:10 am
I think BL abandoned the run and didn’t need to. That shouldn’t have happened it happened against the Cowboys and the Rams as well. Keep pounding the rock and something will open. We’ve got Lenny, Rojo and Gio. Use them more. There was honestly no need to come out on that last drive gunning the ball 20yds down field on the 1st two plays with over 1min left 1 timeout and only needing a field goal in a dome.
November 3rd, 2021 at 9:29 am
We played an all around bad game….on the road against a division rival….with a depleted secondary and missing Gronk and Brown. Same as last year with the Bears…..nothing went right. I believe we’ll come out of the bye week ready to make our run.
November 3rd, 2021 at 9:38 am
Bowles pulled a Bowles. The very first play NO ran was a flare pass to Kamara, I believe White was in coverage, total mismatch but every person in America watching that game knew it was coming except Bowles. They ran it 25 times in their win over the Seahawks. He blitzed 22 times that equated to nothing and kept doing it. When does the head coach step in and smack him upside the head?
November 3rd, 2021 at 9:41 am
The running stat sheet was largely skewed by that late 22-yard reverse run, so I’m selling this take on the defensive side. It’s not like they were pounding it out successfully so much as they caught a late break w a successful gadget play.
If anything Payton has shown a consistent propensity for surprise over a decade, I’d be more outraged that we weren’t prepared for trickeration.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:03 am
@Leighroy
We’re NEVER prepared for trick plays against any team but the Saints run at least one against us seems every game and it’s either a TD or a big play.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:08 am
The excuse that we didn’t have Gronk and AB falls a little flat.
We still have 2 of the top WRs in the NFL (@30mil+btw) and a very capable #3 WR + capable TEs
Sure…. it’s great to have everyone out there and there’s no denying Gronk and AB are exceptional…..but come on…. we still have enough talent to win.
No excuse.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:08 am
Um……when the Bucs tried to run the ball they were pretty effective. They just didn’t try.
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:12 am
White had THREE personal fouls on that game?
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:00 am
Todd is not good, he’s just been blessed with good players but can’t even do that justice. LA and the Saints out there destroying us on the defensive side of the ball and ours can’t even make a difference against other good teams
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:09 am
Don’t know if I completely agree. Bucs seem to always just pull away from the run and let Brady sling it. Forney wasn’t doing very good with his style of running, but Rojo was breaking some good runs with his down hill running. The Bucs always get away from the run way too early especially when the run they use 90% of the time doesn’t work, every Bucs fan favorite, run right up Jensen’s a$$. Stupid play call you see way too often and so predictable.
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:38 am
Said it on here few days ago. Gio was running better than Lenny this game. The few carries he had he picked up positive plus yards every time. Gio should of had more touches in this game.
November 3rd, 2021 at 11:54 am
Rojo is a better runner than Lenny but you become sorta one dimensional,,,,, the real answer is can Vaughn Catch ,,,,at Vandy he could ? But can he catch the Bucs routes , if he can , the offense becomes interchangeable with Gio and Vaughn with Rojo the odd man out and Lenny maybe getting a few snaps on third down . May sound a lil crazy but that’s a much better offense !!
November 3rd, 2021 at 5:40 pm
It’s not that we couldn’t run, it’s that we didn’t.
Only 14 attempts… At least 5 of which were over 6 or 7 yards.
Bad playcalling + tons of penalties + turnovers = a loss, almost always.
Especially against good teams who happen to be divisional rivals.
November 3rd, 2021 at 5:53 pm
Gio 2 carries for 30yds
Fournette 8 for 26yds
Rojo 3 for 13yds
Brady 1 for 2yds
That’s 14 runs. How many times have we heard about and seen BL get away from the run when he shouldn’t have. This is a classic example of just that. Brady threw I believe 40 passes. Stop abandoning the run.
November 3rd, 2021 at 7:24 pm
as i always say “there are reasons and there’s excuses” They are not the same. We lost pathetically. There are several REASONS but very few EXCUSES. Once the Bucs run a few plays, their defense knows what’s coming the rest of the game LOL. Todd rarely makes adjustments. At least the right ones
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:33 pm
How about that pick 6 😂😂
November 3rd, 2021 at 8:34 pm
Tom bradys kryptonite Nick foles,eli manning and saints defense😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:02 pm
Brady needs so many weapons and so much to go his way to win GOAT?
November 4th, 2021 at 2:28 am
It’s kinda hard to run the ball if you don’t call running plays. The bucs averaged 5 yards per carry on 14 attempts. That’s not shutting down the run, that’s abandoning the run.
November 4th, 2021 at 4:52 pm
Eh, Kamara only averaged like 3 ypc. Most of their running success came from Winston scrambles.