“Why not just get Alvin the ball in space?” pic.twitter.com/5bOFiMMRsp
Buy Saints Tickets— NOF (@nofnetwork) December 15, 2022
One persistent complaint surrounding New Orleans Saints play-caller Pete Carmichael Jr. has been the lack of screen plays this season. Those signature plays for Alvin Kamara have felt like a thing of the past, appearing few and far between; and when Kamara has been targeted, he’s had a disheartening drop or two, as was the case on on early third down in Oct. 16’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Still, a negative play here or there shouldn’t result in that whole part of the playbook being scratched out. Kamara was asked about the scarcity of screen plays after practice on Thursday, and he offered a thoughtful response.
“I’ll ask Pete after this, I’m gonna go ask Pete,” Kamara laughed. “It’s hard to get those looks. Some of it is defense, some of it is scheme. It’s hard to cross some of those when we might be behind the plays, we might have some plays not going our away. The timing just isn’t right for some of these screens.”
That timing has been an issue dating back to the Saints preseason games; remember when right guard Cesar Ruiz collided with running back Tony Jones Jr. while trying to set up a screen against the Green Bay Packers? Whether they didn’t put in the work over the summer to prepare those plays or have wound up in too many negative-script situations to lean on them during the fall, the screen game just hasn’t been a factor for the Saints this year. So why not simply throw the ball to Kamara when he’s out in space?
“It’s not that easy. I think me, Andy (Dalton), and Jarvis (Landry) were just talking about that on the sideline. The passing game complements the run game, you get the run game going and it’s easier to get the pass game going, obviously,” Kamara grinned, taking a shot at “Twitter coaches and Twitter analysts who don’t really know the game,” and just want everyone fired and traded away when facing adversity.
He expounded on that, saying that it’s easy to just throw the ball over and over, but that there needs to be some element on the ground to balance things out and keep defenses honest. Just what that balance looks like is the subject of rampant debate within and outside of NFL circles. At the end of the day, Kamara mused, the Saints need to get out of their own way so they can play games on their own terms.
He added, “But when you’ve got a good flow going on, running the ball and getting consistent yardage and staying ahead of the chains, it’s easier for Pete to get some optimal pass looks going and get Andy in rhythm. Spreading the ball out, you talk about me getting the ball in space.”
And there’s the problem: the Saints haven’t run well, gaining 100-plus yards on the ground in just one game out of their last seven matchups. They’ve had injuries along the offensive line and a lackluster passing game to lighten the defensive box, but they’ve still got to execute. Until things clean up there, don’t expect them to smooth out elsewhere. Nobody knows that better than Kamara and his teammates.
