How will the Saints ‘Michael Thomas, Books’ Antonio Brown shape the NFC South Race?

NFC South is getting hot right now.

The Tampa Bay Bookers (-2-2) and the New Orleans Saints (-2-2) have been involved in the NFL’s most exciting division battle leading to a decisive showdown in Tampa on Sunday night (: 20:20 ET, NBC). Now they are to add two great recipients of the past decade: Antonio Brown and Michael Thomas in the second half of the season.

Brown will make his debut with the Bucks, appearing in his first game in 14 months. Thomas, meanwhile, is likely to play for the first time since New Orleans suffered a long-term ankle injury after the weekend 1-1 win over the Buccaneers.

Thomas is officially listed as questionable. But he practiced all week on a limited basis, and a source told ESPN’s Diana Rusini that he expects her to play.

Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians said Brown could play somewhere between 10 and 35 on Sunday. Saints coach Sean Payton – who honored Brown’s talent enough to bring him to a tryout in New Orleans late last season – said it could be enough for a four-time first-team All-Pro to be effective.

“You know, the wrong time can be a big play [be a game-changer]. And he doesn’t need 11 catches, “Patton said. It’s explosive and smart. He understands football.

“No idea about the challenge this week, ‘Does he come out and play Z or X? How much?’ So you have to be prepared for where you put them in your plan. “

The Buccaneers should have a better idea of ​​what to expect if New Orleans gets a full complement of offensive playmakers. (Receiver Emmanuel Sanders was also activated from the Reserve / Covid-19 list this week after missing the last two games.) But that won’t make it any easier for the Saints to defend.

The Saints have begun to find a rhythm on the offense during their recent four-game winning streak, which marked the historic beginning of Alvin Camara as runner and receiver.

“Without giving him the ball, you have to account for Mike Thomas,” Kamara said. “” Defense is the expected game. They have to expect what will happen when Mike Thomas is on the field. … and obviously, when you put the ball in his hand and you move it around and run how he is used to running. And doing the things he’s used to doing, he’s not many players, not many defenses that can stop him. “

Here’s a look at how little Brown and Thomas can have an impact – and what else the Buccaneers and Saints should do to win the South.

Brown demands the attention of the defense

Unlike Thomas, the passing of the Brown Bucks will not be the focus of the game. But his presence draws little attention from heavy lifting players like Mike Evans, who said that after an ankle injury in the weekend he now seems close to 100 per cent, affecting Evans’ ability to cut, but Chris Godwin off the field. It has also seen a lot more double coverage when it hasn’t, which has had a significant impact on its production. Godwin’s condition is not certain for Sunday, and it’s based on a lot of grief, but Arians said Friday that Godwin passed away for the first time since his surgery. October 27, “I would expect him to be playing.”

What Brown Bucks brings to the offense that can help the team not only make the playoff push but also the Super Bowl push is that he can do all this as a root runner. It is just as dangerous on the Go routes and deep danda routes as it is on the short-to-intermediate pass and crossing routes used with Godwin. It has Godwin-like versatility, which Arians consider invaluable.

“He’s a dynamic player. The thing you always knew with him is his cut and in-cut transition ability is definitely his strongest claim,” Patton said of Brown.

Books will make some packages for Brown in front of the Saints, but Arians will keep him close to the West. In the only game Brown and Brady played last season – a 43-0 win over the Dolphins in 2 weeks – Brown was on the line at 12 snaps and 12 others outside the slot.

Although he made no run for the Patriots, you can’t ignore Brown’s ability on post routes, which has become the defining characteristic of Brady’s action in the Ariana offense. Brown has held 67 percent of its post routes since 2017. Brady has already thrown in a lot of post routes this season (14) which he did all last season, with only Matt Ryan and Patrick Mahoms throwing 15 more. The Bucks now have four of the top 15 players in targets on post routes after the year 2017.

Brown doesn’t need to play tons of snaps to do a little damage. In one of his games with the Patriots, Brown was targeted eight times at 14 yards (57.1%), and he caught 56 ​​yards and four passes for touchdowns. According to ESPN statistics and data research, there have been more than 2,300 cases of running WR 10-plus routes in the game since the beginning of last season; Brown was targeted more than one in the game.

Books Cornerback Carlton Davis said, “He’s skilled at everything he does. … not too much futile movement, so a small movement or a mistake, it will definitely leave you in the dust.” “You have to stay with Abby on your P and Q.”

Will Thomas’ return bring back the cold ball?

The Saints have maintained their efficiency on offense even without Thomas and Sanders due to Camara’s sensational game and the defense of Payton and Drew Breeze.

But the team can certainly use the spark in a downfield passing game. Who better to offer that broke the NFL record with 149 receptions last year?

As Kamara said, even if Thomas doesn’t get the ball, he can open things up for others.

Todd Bowles, the books’ defensive coordinator, said of Thomas that “it affects the game’s plan a lot.” The cameras were enough, but they got all their weapons back to Thomas and Ma. [Emmanuel] Sanders – it will be fully loaded, obviously – and you have [tight end Jared] Cook too. …

“We can’t favor one person or another. We’ve become vocal in our technique, everything we do has a voice and we try to slow it down. It’s dangerous, and it’s probably one of the leagues.”

When asked why a challenge is created to save Thomas, Balls said, “I’m sure he has a great work ethic. He can hold it from below. He can hold it from above. His hands are strong. He can run the root tree for them. He can do many things, which makes him very dangerous. “

Barrett added, “They have that chemistry. They’ve got it. [Brees] Knows exactly where the 13 will be, and when he puts the ball on it, he gets a huge catch radius. He is a great player. “

The Bucks had Davis, the top cornerbacker in the middle of the breakout season, with four league-leading interceptions, shadow Thomas in Week 1, and Davis Thomas limited to three catches for 17 yards.

When asked why he is so successful against Thomas, who is expected to shadow him again this week, Davis said, “I prefer to extend my hand. I prefer to stay out of line and waste time. “It has some ways. This kind of time is like a way. It’s my game.”

Bryce leads the NFL, as always, with a completion percentage of .1% .1%. After a sluggish start to the first two games, he has the league’s third-best passing week 3 to 111.2, just behind Mahoms and Deshaun Watson.

The Saints are in the top-10 in the NFL in terms of yards per game, points per game, third-bottom conversion rate and lowest turnover.

But as has been tested, Breeze is throwing the ball into the downfield even less than usual. According to ESPN statistics and data research, only 3% of Bryce Passes have traveled at least 20 yards in the air this season – the second-lowest rate by any player in the eight weeks since ESPN began charting the figure in 2006.

Bryce is now dealing with an indefinite injury to his right shoulder that limited him to practice earlier this week.

When Payton was asked if he thought he would find his groove all together with his playmakers in the Saints’ offense, he cautiously replied, “We’ll see.”

“There are some things that I think we’re doing better. And yet I think we still have a lot of work to do to be as efficient as we want to be.”

The more obvious point for New Reliance’s title hopes is probably finding compatibility on the other side of the ball.

The Saints ’talent-rich defense coverage is frequently sabotaged by allowing cold-passing plays against disruption. New Delhi have allowed a staggering seven passes of 48 yards or more in the last five games.

Saints’ defense is eighth per game allowed in the NFL and third against runs. But they have moved into areas such as red zone defense (finally, at .3 83.33%) and third-down defense (at 22nd, .947. Fal૨%).

Next they face their stricter test against a more stinda and more varied Tampa Bay crime.

“It’s just a matter of focusing with us. We’ve got the talent,” said Santo Cornwall’s Martin Lettimore, who has played his best football against Evans, catching him on zero catches 54 times in the last two seasons. “Every week we go there like we’re going to dominate. But some little things turn into big things. So that’s just it. We just have to fix those things, stay consistent, and we’ll be fine.”