As Rivera, Payton duel again, do Panthers have blueprint for Saints’ explosive offense?
Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera and New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton have faced each other as head coaches 15 times, but they actually go way, way back.
In fact, when Payton was in college, he was a big Ron Rivera fan.
Rivera was a linebacker for the Chicago Bears at the time. As a Chicago native, that was Payton’s team.
“I get to age him a little bit,” Payton laughed on a teleconference this week. “...I can’t pinpoint a date, but I do remember the roster back when I was in college, for Chicago.”
They have been opposing coaches at least twice a year since 2011, but first crossed paths in 1999, when Rivera was an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles and Payton was the New York Giants’ offensive coordinator.
Payton’s playcalling and design caught the eye of Jim Johnson, Rivera’s boss at the time.
“Jim Johnson, one of the greatest defensive coordinators that I’ve been around, he said it. He said ‘That guy is going to be special,’” said Rivera this week. “And he’s been right...
“Jim Johnson was right about him.”
However, that has at times been a problem for Rivera - because since 2011, he has had to play Payton and the Saints at least twice a year.
The Panthers are 7-8 against the Saints since Rivera’s tenure began in Carolina.
And the Panthers actually haven’t beaten New Orleans since a Thursday Night Football matchup in November 2016. The Panthers dropped three games to the Saints last season, including a Wild Card loss.
The Panthers want to get that taste out of their mouths. Quarterback Cam Newton wants to get the broom he said the Saints sent him after the third loss out of his locker.
But this year, the Saints’ explosive offense looks nearly unbeatable.
Nearly.
Payton and Rivera know each other so well at this point that it might be time for Rivera to take a page out of another team’s book in order to save Carolina’s sliding season.
How Dallas did it
Sure, Tampa Bay beat New Orleans in Week 1.
Yet it was the Dallas Cowboys who really proved in prime time in Week 13 that the Saints, smack in the middle of a 10-game win streak, could be bested at their peak.
But how?
First, the Cowboys’ defensive line’s pressure got New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees out of his rhythm, and not how one would think.
Brees likes to step up into the pocket while making his throws. So Dallas worked to hassle him vertically, using the interior defensive linemen, more so than the defensive ends around the edge.
“It wasn’t that the Cowboys were consistently sacking him — they only managed two sacks all night, and one of those was a corner blitz,” said Cowboys.com reporter David Helman this week. “But their defensive tackles, Maliek Collins and Antwaun Woods, consistently were able to push their way into the pocket and get in Brees’ face.
“Without a clean pocket to step up into, Brees struggled to find throwing lanes all night.”
The pressure from the interior complemented the secondary, which broke up six passes despite being composed of second- and third- year players. Brees even started 0-for-4 for the first time in his career, with those four passes broken up by the secondary.
Carolina has had more success clogging the middle of a quarterback’s pocket in the last two weeks, after benching defensive tackle Vernon Butler in favor of Wes Horton.
But where the Panthers have struggled is to contain the edges when quarterbacks scramble, or throw on the run. Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston hurt Carolina early with his scrambling in Week 13, and Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield’s ability to throw on the run gouged the Panthers’ secondary last week.
Brees doesn’t leave the pocket much. So if Carolina can force similar disruption, they might be in a good spot.
And messing with Brees’ rhythm early might mean getting him off the field quicker. One of the biggest factors in Dallas’ win was its ability to control the time of possession. The Cowboys held onto the ball for 37 minutes in the 13-10 win, and started the game with a methodical, 12-play drive that complemented the defense’s early disruption of the Saints’ rhythm. New Orleans seemed to stay off-balance after that.
“You have to control the ball,” said Rivera this week. “That helps keep Drew off the field, because again, (you know) how explosive he is as a quarterback and they are as an offense.”
It also helps keep the ball out of the hands of running back/receiver Alvin Kamara, one of the league’s most dynamic players and last year’s Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The Cowboys “took a gamble” on the way they covered Kamara, said Helman. And it worked.
“They opted to treat Kamara like a wide receiver, rather than a running back, and they used dime back Jourdan Lewis to cover him, particularly in third-down situations,” he said. “Lewis only played eight snaps in the game, but in those eight snaps he limited Kamara to just two catches for 10 yards.”
The Panthers don’t really use a “dime” package, relying more on their athletic linebackers to control that space.
“I see why they approached (Kamara) like a receiver,” said Panthers safety Eric Reid. “We just have to make sure we get him on the ground, limit the yards after the catch...
“He does have good break-tackle ability. ...I think the coaches are confident in our linebackers, Luke (Kuechly) and (Thomas Davis) and Shaq (Thompson) can all run really well. So I don’t think they’re outmatched in the speed category - but we’ll see what coaches decide to do, especially on third down.”
But it won’t be just about containing Kamara.
In fact, much of Monday’s game will come down to the play of the quarterbacks - or, whoever can take better care of the ball.
Newton entered Week 13 having thrown just seven interceptions, with the highest completion percentage of his career through 14 weeks.
But he threw four against Tampa Bay that week, and threw another late in the fourth quarter in Week 14 that killed a potential game-winning drive in Cleveland.
Meanwhile, Brees, 39, has thrown just four interceptions all season as he has one of the best years of his career.
But three of the four picks have all been in the past three weeks.
And at this point in the season, the pressure’s on for both quarterbacks.
The Stakes
Carolina’s duels against the Saints in the Rivera-Payton era always seem to have a lot on the line.
“I feel like every time our teams play, regardless of the records, they’re always hard-fought games,” said Payton. “Generally they mean something.”
The stakes in this Monday night’s prime time matchup are actually pretty high for both teams, despite the vast difference in their records.
New Orleans (11-2) has already clinched the NFC South. But they can also clinch a first-round bye with a win and a Chicago loss or tie, or a tie and a Chicago loss.
The Panthers (6-7) must win out to have a mathematical shot at the postseason. They’ll face the Saints twice over the next three weeks.
Carolina’s players were told this week to take each game one at a time, after their 6-2 start led to a stunning five-game slide.
“Every season has its own personality,” said Rivera. “This one started fast, and it has kind of dwindled a little bit. And now we’ll see what happens.
“We’ve got three games left, we have an opportunity in front of us. We have to take care of one at a time.”
Jourdan Rodrigue: 704-358-5071, @JourdanRodrigue
Jourdan Rodrigue: 704-358-5071; @jourdanrodrigue
This story was originally published December 14, 2018 at 11:01 AM.
