Saints vs. Packers: New Orleans Defensive Game Plan for Thursday's Opener

The defensive game plan of the Saints should not be a difficult one for the players to digest, because the opponent they are squaring off against is very similar to the offense they face in practice everyday (more on that in the next slide).

Gregg Williams is playing at a bit of a disadvantage in this game—without the services of suspended defensive end Will Smith. But that shouldn't stop Williams from putting together an aggressive game plan that plays to the strengths of the men that occupy the lineup.

In fact, if anything, Smith's absence ought to mean even more blitzes and other types of pressure packages designed to create just enough pressure to throw stud QB Aaron Rodgers off his game. But it also would make a lot of sense—given Rodgers' propensity to scramble and make things happen with his legs—to assign a player to spy Rodgers in hopes of keeping him in the pocket and slowing down some of his brilliance.

Doing so is a unique challenge—one that the Saints don't figure to have any other time this season until a possible playoff matchup versus Michael Vick and the Eagles. So while the Packers' offensive philosophy is remarkably similar to the New Orleans offense, there is an added element they must prepare for that very few NFL offenses bring to the table.

Packers' Offensive Scheme

Quite frankly, Aaron Rodgers is the straw that stirs the drink, the whole kit and caboodle, the cornerstone of the offense—whatever overused cliche you want to throw in is true of Rodgers. If there were no Rodgers, Mike McCarthy's offense would not be what it is—not even close.

With Rodgers' rocket arm (I still can't believe people questioned his arm strength way back when), accuracy, athletic ability, and overall command of the offense, Rodgers is this decade's ideal QB (even more than Michael Vick).

With all those traits in his arsenal, Rodgers makes his head coach and play caller's job easy. It almost doesn't matter what play is called, Rodgers can ad-lib and improvise as well as any player in the game.

But make no mistake about it, Rodgers and the Packers offense are at their best when Rodgers can take a three-step drop, find an open receiver and just chuck it. In fact, that is what the Packers offense relied upon for so long in the past. That is the system Donald Driver and Greg Jennings became elite receivers in and that is still what the Packers most desired to do.

The deep slant is their favorite route, but the Packers will also run a variety of deep routes, often of the slant-and-go variety, other times a hitch-n-go. Either way, the Pack want to get close to 30 runs per game, regardless of effectiveness, in order to create play-action opportunities where they will also go deep.

The Packers use a zone-running scheme, which has slanting linemen aiming to chop at the defender's knees and move laterally giving the runner two options—stay in path of the linemen's slant or cutback to an unoccupied lane against the grain of the play.

The Packers will look to get tight end Jermichael Finley and Jordy Nelson involved in the passing game, and running backs Ryan Grant and James Starks in the running game.

Those are the men and the scheme which the Saints must be prepared to stop Thursday night.

First and Second Down

First and second down are going to come down to who best plays assignment football at the defensive end spots. In my opinion, the ideal players to play the majority of these base downs are Cameron Jordan and Junior Galette, as I believe those are the two most likely to stay home on the backside against that zone scheme.

Recall that the Saints have struggled in the preseason against the very zone scheme the Packers employ, and that they will see much of on Thursday evening. Many of those struggles were due to cutback runs, so the loss of Smith may not actually be that great of a loss for this specific game (can the Saints choose to have Smith not play Week 3 against Houston instead of next week against Chicago?).

But being successful against that zone scheme is not only in containing the cutback, but in creating penetration in the middle—that's looking at you Shaun Rogers and Sedrick Ellis. If the guys up front can do that, Jon Vilma and Roman Harper should be very successful in making plays at or around the line of scrimmage.

Because of the Packers' ability to throw the ball effectively from any set, and their propensity to do so off play action, I would keep Harper and Jenkins in a two-deep shell most of the time, but allow Harper to flow to the ball and truly "take chances". Sure, this could lead to a big play off the run fake, but that's where Harper's intelligence and instincts should come in handy, and hopefully will.

I think Gregg Williams can allow Rodgers to stay in the pocket on base downs and even allow him to throw without blitzing him by playing coverage with seven or eight. The Saints know they aren't going to get a lot of pressure on him, so they may as well play as much coverage as possible. 

And because the Packers are apt to go play action on a base down, it is advisable for the Saints to play off coverage which will give the corners more time to adjust to certain route breaks.

Rushing four and playing man-to-man with zone coverage by the linebackers should leave few automatic throws for Rodgers and his receivers. And it should force the Packers to run the ball, something they want to do, but cannot be greatly successful due to their lack of a legitimate running back (I count neither Grant nor Starks as legitimate threats to run the ball against the Saints).

Third Down

On third down, Rodgers is more likely to hold the ball and scramble. Because of that, I would blitz and assign Roman Harper as a spy to keep Rodgers from escaping out the back end of the blitz. I would also assure he doesn't get out by building a wall around Rodgers forcing him to throw amidst the trees .

To go along with the pressure packages I would play bump-and-run coverage causing the Packers receivers to have to readjust their route, which on third down is often a deep slant. The bump-and-run will not allow Rodgers to throw quickly, thus potentially giving blitzers an opportunity to get to Rodgers.

It seems the Packers are entirely likely to throw on every third-down opportunity they have. Williams must make sure to time his blitzes up, and bring guys from different angles and hit a multitude of gaps with those blitzes.

Zone coverage should be used in third down only in the red zone—which is where we're going next.

Red Zone Defense

The Saints are one of the finest red-zone defenses in the entire league. They do it well because they have a great plan each week. It is not going to change dramatically this week from what it would normally be.

But the Packers are more likely to spread the field against the Saints than most offenses would. Because of this, the Saints need to be careful to stay prepared for anything in the red zone. They should be prepared to play a nickel defense, but either way Malcolm Jenkins will be huge in the red zone as he's playing tight end Jermichael Finley, or trying to stuff Ryan Grant in the backfield.

Again, slants are the Packer coup d'etat, though they will also throw fades to the corner pylon. Similar to the Saints, Rodgers and the Pack will throw back shoulder fades, which are nearly impossible to stop. Playing press coverage will be very advantageous to potentially stopping these throws.

Stopping the running game would require eight guys in the box, but playing with the normal personnel. Harper and Jenkins must remain versatile enough to play run and pass and ready for play action.

Conclusion

Jonathan Vilma, as always, is the key to the defensive game plan. Because Aaron Rodgers is an upper-echelon quarterback—and an intelligent one at that—Vilma's job is to call the defense against the somewhat predictable tendencies of the Packers' offense.

If he does this successfully, the Saints have an opportunity to make this a fairly low-scoring game. Given the quality of these two teams and the youth of the season, it seems to be a strong possibility.

It's difficult to say which team a low-scoring affair serves better, but it's good odds that a low-scoring game will give the Saints an opportunity to win.