The New Orleans Saints won’t win many games if their rushing attack doesn’t improve. This may be harsh, but it’s true. The Saints are setting Tyler Shough up to fail, and even worse, putting him at risk of injury.
Shough has been outstanding, but he can only do so much, This was evident in the Saints’ week four loss to the Atlanta Falcons, where they only had 50 rushing yards and averaged 2.6 yards per carry.
Because of this, Shough was pressured a 25 times on his 51 dropbacks (49%). This alone is bad, but it’s been a trend throughout Kellen Moore’s tenure and can’t continue. If it does, then kiss the season goodbye and say good riddance to the coaching staff.
The Saints are setting up Tyler Shough for failure with their subpar run game.
Tyler Shough is in a bad situation because of the non-existent rushing attack. The front office did an excellent job supplying him with receivers, and even added running backs and offensive linemen; however, that’s meaningless if they can’t produce.
Right now, the offense is one-dimensional. Defenses can solely prepare for the pass because they aren’t threatened by the run. This allows them to sit back in coverage and eliminate big plays, making Shough’s job significantly tougher.
Additionally, opposing defensive lineman can exclusively focus on rushing the passer. Even when ill-prepared, they can stop the run. As a result, this exponentially increases the amount of pressures Shough faces and gives him minimal time to operate.
This will also lead to the second-year quarterback getting hit more. Injuries haven’t been a factor so far, but Shough was frequently sidelined in college, suffering two broken collarbones and one broken leg. This is the worst-case scenario for the Saints and is something they must avoid at all costs.
Although the Saints can’t make any drastic changes right now, barring an unforeseen trade, there are ways to quickly improve the run game. The first and most important thing that they must do is eliminate slow starts. They have 6 first quarter points this year, which instantly puts them behind and forces them to abandon the run to catch up.
Beyond this, the blocking and running backs simply must improve. The Saints have committed far too much draft capital for mediocre lanes. The same can be said about running backs, with Travis Etienne and Alvin Kamara’s contracts.
On paper, it’s easy to improve at this. However, it’s much tougher in practice. Still, then improving and helping Tyler Shough is the key to saving the season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google