The Saints are playing smart and aggressive, and it’s working

Retired NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz says the benefits of calling an aggressive and smart game go a long way for big results.

“You play to win the game.”

You’d think it’s easy enough, right? You play and coach to win the game. But far too often, coaches play to lose. They play conservative. They make the easy decision to punt or settle for a field goal, when the right move is staying aggressive, as modern day analytics would tell you. Over the long term, coaches that stay aggressive often get rewarded for their boldness, as we’ve seen with Doug Pederson and the Eagles. They get rewarded on the field, but also with love from their players.

The biggest win on Sunday — and not on the scoreboard (hey, Rams and Chiefs) — was the New Orleans Saints heading into Baltimore and beating the Ravens. The Saints were down 17-7 to the Ravens in the fourth quarter and scored 17 points in the final frame to pull off the 24-23 victory ... with a little help from a Justin Tucker missed PAT.

The Ravens defense entered the game as the second ranked defense by Football Outsiders DVOA. They had 11 sacks en route to a shutout over the Titans in their previous game. Didn’t matter for the Saints. They went right after them.

When you play an excellent defense and you’ve got one of the NFL’s offensive lines, like the Saints, you should go right at them. The Saints did just that. They understood points would be at a premium and staying aggressive was the way to make it count.

It started on the very first drive of the game. The Saints ran a fake punt on their first fourth down from their own 34-yard line! Their own 34 on the road! They got 4 yards and the first down.

They went for it again from their own 47, and again from Baltimore’s 36, well in field goal range. The final play of the drive was a fourth-and-1 from the 4-yard line. A field goal would have been an easy call there, but nope, the Saints went for it. They didn’t get it, but I loved it anyway. It ate up nine minutes of clock and showed the Saints meant business.

I discuss this often and it’s important to note again here — Confidence is the biggest driving factor for success in the NFL. Going for it on fourth down and converting, sends a team’s confidence through the roof. It shows the players you have the confidence in their abilities, and not just the offense. When Sean Payton is going for it on his 34-yard line, he trusts his punt team to execute the fake, ALSO, just as important, Payton trusts his defense to stop the Ravens if they don’t convert on fourth down there.

Players inherently play faster, quicker and without fear of making mistakes when their coach shows, and not just tells them, that he trusts them to go win the game! Love the aggressiveness.

You still need the right plays to make aggressive coaching count

In London, the Titans scored a late touchdown to cut the Chargers’ lead to 20-19. They had a decision to make. Kick the PAT and go into overtime. Or, go for two, and win the game. Vrabel decided to go for it. Awesome. Love it. They were almost seven-point underdogs and with the Chargers offense, you don’t want to give them a chance to win in overtime.

However, the Titans completely botched their two, yes two, 2-point attempts. The first attempt from the two ended up with a late Mariota pass into the back of the end zone. It wasn’t a completion, but the Chargers committed a holding penalty. The Titans got another chance from the 1, with Mariota, a supremely mobile quarterback and Derrick Henry, a massive man at running back.

They needed a single yard. With those two players, it seems easy enough to run a creative zone read play where Henry can run it in or Mariota can keep it. Nope, they put Mariota under center and had him throw a pass. That pass, of course, falls incomplete. Just utter incompetence on that play call. Loved the aggressive nature of the attempt, but the play call was atrocious.

Give the Lions their due

Is it time to give the Lions their respect? The Lions are now 3-3, with their loss in Week 1 against the Jets far in the rearview mirror. They now have three wins against the Patriots, Packers and Dolphins.

One key is that they’ve finally been able to run the football. Kerryon Johnson, the rookie from Auburn, has rushed over 100 yards twice and is averaging 5.9 per carry. To pair with the run game, the Lions pass defense is rounding into form. They are only allowing 230 pass yards a game and their defense should continue to improve under first year coach Matt Patricia.

Season-changing win for the Panthers?

What a win for the Panthers. Down 17-0 in the fourth quarter to the Eagles, they came storming back for a 21-17 victory. That’s two weeks in a row Cam Newton has started slow and finished fast.

I’ve written that I don’t know what to make of the Panthers. They show signs of being an outstanding team, and then they show signs of being an average team. But this win is going to fire them up. It’s going to do wonders for their season. I’ve been in the locker room when you win one of these games and there’s no better feeling. You know that you’ve stolen a game, and that you’re able to overcome anything to win one. Confidence is flying high. Such a fantastic win for the Panthers.