The New Orleans Saints kicked a field goal to go up by six with 50 seconds left in their game against the Houston Texans on Monday night. But then, the Texans struck quickly, completing a two-play drive that ended in a 37-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson to newly-acquired wide receiver Kenny Stills. Only problem? There were 37 seconds left on the clock – plenty of time for Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.
Forget about the roughing the kicker call and the fact that this game probably should’ve headed into overtime. Let’s fast forward to Brees and his surgical game-winning drive where he hit targets even in tight coverage.
With six seconds left and one timeout, the Saints lined up for one last play before attempting a field goal kick. Only problem? The Texans seemed to be out of position. However, based on what Saints head coach Sean Payton said when asked about the last play of the game and the look the Texans defense gave them, it may not have mattered.
“If you get man or zone, it’s going to affect the type of route that we want to run. We know that we are in a down- down situation, so we are not looking for any yards after the catch. We are looking to catch (the ball), get down, and call timeout. Versus zone, there are certain looks. Versus man, there are certain looks. Drew (Brees) was doing a good job of trying to assess what the coverage was.”
Brees hit a short pass to Ted Ginn before he fell. The Saints called a timeout and the rest is history. But the game-winning drive didn’t happen by accident. Payton said the Saints prepare quite a bit for game-ending scenarios such as the one they faced on Monday night.
“The unique thing is there are 85 to 185 different scenarios. Is it 28 seconds with two timeouts? Just the multitude of scenarios (are plenty). Drew has got a real good clock in his head. He understands where we are at time-wise,” said Saints head coach Payton. “We really value the timeout. You can tell the one play where we took a few ticks off the clock maybe too many and grounded it, but we wanted to keep that timeout. The minute you use the timeout, then what you do defensively changes, they (Houston) protect the sidelines and you get really handcuffed (on offense). We have to work getting the ball back to the official cleanly, (and) quickly getting set. There are so many things that go into it. (We practice it) quite a bit.”
On a short week, the Saints will now look to clean up any miscues they had as they prepare to take on the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2.
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