December 13, 2018
CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA!
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
What is going on with the Saints offense? Is it a bad stretch that happens to everyone over the course of a season? Is it a flaw that opponents have started the figure out?
As always, the answer is yes. While many have pointed at the six quarters combined from the Dallas game and first half of the Tampa Bay game, I think the slide started a little sooner. The second half of the Atlanta game, the Saints punted three times. It is easy to diagnose the symptoms.
The running game has struggled during this stretch. For whatever reason, Payton decided to stop using Taysom Hill in the run game. He did not receive a carry in the Dallas game or the first half of the Tampa Bay game. Was there an undisclosed injury? Did the Saints feel they were getting predictable with his plays? I don’t know, but it is clearly time to get him back involved with the offense.
Of course, playing without one of the best left tackles in the league makes a huge difference. It is not a coincidence that the offensive struggles have coincided with Terron Armstead’s injury. Bushrod has done an admirable job filling in, but there are too many plays where he gets beat to stall a drive.
Meanwhile, the free agent receivers were a great story in the Atlanta game, but for some reason Drew has stopped targeting them. It got to the point in Tampa game where Drew was choosing to fit the ball to Michael Thomas in a double team in the end zone rather than look in another direction. Either Drew is going to have to give the young guys a chance again or Saints fans better hope for a veteran reprise from either Ted Ginn or Brandon Marshall.
The sluggishness of the offense extends to the tempo of play calling as well. Against Tampa Bay, the Saints used two timeouts because plays were getting in late. The huddle was consistently breaking under 12 seconds for much of the game.
Finally, the Saints are not only not making big plays, they are not even attempting big plays. Again, against Tampa Bay, I believe there was only one pass attempt over 20 yards. Of course, the lack of downfield throws is a result of less time to throw and the lack of a running game. The Saints usually get their big passes off of play action and the safeties don’t bite when they aren’t needed to stop the run.
Despite the recent struggles, the Saints are 11-2 and will get the first seed if they win out. That’s pretty awesome, but I am not optimistic the Saints will earn the top seed. Not because of the recent offensive struggles, though. Instead, I am leary because of the laws of averages. I cannot expect the Saints to continue their streak against Carolina and win two times in three weeks.
The football, logical side of me knows it is possible. Olsen is hurt again and that completely changes Carolina’s offense. The Panthers are in a nosedive and clearly have issues. If the Saints can win Monday night, the last two games are at home and that would give me more reason to be optimistic.
I know I haven’t mentioned the defense, and that is unfortunate because I don’t want to take them for granted. Nevertheless, the pass defense still looks shaky at times, but the defensive line is what we hoped it would be at the start of the year. Okafor, Jordan, Davenport, Onyemata, and Rankins are lighting it up. They make playing from behind against New Orleans very difficult.
I am not of the opinion that the Saints require the Domefield advantage in order to make the Super Bowl. I am of the opinion that they need the offensive line to be 100% healthy, a receiver other than Michael Thomas to make plays, and the offense in general to generate explosive plays.
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HEY REF
I was asked this past week what seemed to be a very simple question but I found it very hard to give an honest answer. A friend’s son that graduated from high school just 2 years ago (2016) asked me would I recommend him for membership in our referee’s association. I was kinda taken aback since he’d never seemed interested in working as an official so I had to pause for a couple seconds and think how to give him an honest answer.
The reason it took me a while to answer him was because I’d actually had two separate “careers” so to speak of. My readers know that between my FIRST and SECOND stints working high school football in Louisiana there was a twelve year span that I couldn’t work because of many severe health issues. And the differences between those two stints are like night and day.
Next week I figured would be a better time to explain my answer to him and I’ll go into a more detailed explanation of “WHY” but for this week I found this “Best Of” article from 2015 that’ll give everyone just a hint of what will follow next week. So, in all its glory, unchanged and unedited enjoy another offering of the “Best of” Hey Ref… … …
Before we get to what matters, this first week of the 2015 high school football season, I’d like to take a quick look at a situation I found myself in last week. Readers of this column are very much aware that this official has never and will never try to pass myself off as a “know it all”. After 20 plus seasons I’m the first to admit that I’m still learning. That’s the way I was “raised” back in ’79 when I first started wearing stripes on Friday nights.
No matter how many years you’ve been WORKING football it’s those first couple weeks of each and every new season while officials are meeting to discuss “What’s New” that the anxiety level is beyond “MAX”. I found myself in just such a situation since this is the year the LHSAA is changing its Rules Test every official must take and pass in order to work varsity games.
In the beginning we used the phrase “brain fart” when a rule stumped us no matter how long we looked, searched and studied. I’d spent more time than I want to admit searching high and low trying to find an answer. I feared this brain fart would turn out to be terminal since I was unable to find anything that satisfied me so I reached out to the so called rules guru. I told him I just had the biggest brain-fart of my life. I knew the answer to my question would be a simple one or there might’ve been a slight chance of a rule change that I’m not aware of.
The answer to my simple question was very easily found but the reaction and statement I received from this guru burned me to my core. If you’ve done this job more than once then no doubt you’ve also suffered one of these brain farts while preparing for your test. I’ll just simply file his answer away and if I get a game with you then you’d better be at the pinnacle of your career cause the slightest hick-up I’ll remind you how high a pedestal you’ve put yourself on and it’s a hard fall from that altitude.
Once again I’ve been allowed inside the world of why officials suck on Friday night. Too many officials feel they alone are God’s gift to the game. They’d rather intimidate and embarrass a fellow official in the hopes of making themselves look good and not do the right thing. They shouldn’t “slap” a fellow official in the face when someone has reached out to them. After all I’m aware of just one person that’s walked on water!!
There’s a right way to help fellow officials see the forest even though they can’t get around all the trees in front of them. I guess he feels good after a game when he’s made all the right calls but his crew screwed up all night. Sorry but my “Old School” way of making sure every member of my crew is certain of the very rules we’re charged with enforcing has a clear understanding of each and every rule. The “Old School” train of thought is “We get it right as a crew and we get it wrong as a crew”. No member is above any other member; we’re there to make sure neither team gets an advantage by going outside the intent of the rules. It makes for a better game when each member of the crew respects each other. It’s sad and bad for the game when some officials feel contempt for others in the crew.
AND NOW TO THIS WEEK’S VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE
Coaches
Coaches
Coaches
If you’ve never heard or read a single column of “Hey Ref” then this should be your first! I want to make it very plain now before the 2015 football season begins this year as never before the officials working your Friday night games (and all others) will be concentrating on the elimination of personal fouls and unnecessary late hits.
It’s not just in high school games but every level of play the need for making the game safer is paramount. The National Federation has always taken player safety as the number one goal in any rewriting of their rules. From the opening kickoff our priority will be to curb any hint of excessive aggression and it will not be just against quarterbacks.
High school officials and the L. H. S. A. A. have been meeting for the past six months making sure that when we blow the whistle to start play every one is on the same page. But I can only hope that our coaches understand there will be no grey area when it comes to “targeting” an opposing player.
Last Monday night at our weekly meeting the vast majority of time was spent reviewing films of illegal hits and exactly what the officials are being instructed to do and what we must do when we see it. So not only will teams be walking back fifteen yards but anything that can be ruled as an intentional act to PUNISH an opponent will be met with an immediate ejection.
This means ANYTHING to ANY PLAYER that is meant to punish will be rigorously enforced. So please coaches do everybody a favor and get rid of any player that refuses to abide by these strict guidelines. You’ll be doing your school a huge favor because there will be times this fall where I’ll hear coaches say “Hey Ref; that sure was close”. And I won’t argue with any coach that says that because he’ll be correct.
The buzz word in football these days is TARGETING. Many officials and I do include myself along with them in that we won’t take this targeting thing as a rule change. In our world we’ll let a hold go without calling it (if it doesn’t influence the play or its outcome), we’ll let a guy slide if he’s just inside the neutral zone again influencing the outcome of the play is major when we work a game because the kids aren’t professional players.
But what I won’t let go is anything I feel is a cheap shot no matter if the whistle hasn’t been blown. Yes, I’m well aware that there are coaches out there telling their players to keep going hard until you hear a whistle. Some coaches feel it’s part of the game to play hard and that is a part of the game that’s always been there.
To this very day I get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I see a kid not get up. The hit doesn’t have to be a hard one to injure someone so we’re paying very close attention when the time comes for everyone to get up and into their respectable huddles. The hardest thing about working football games is when I’ve got to look at a 16 year old’s parents when they are carried off the field.
Any idea how hard it is to look a parent in the eyes if you didn’t flag someone that took a cheap shot at their son and now he’s being carted off the field? Of course not, you’ve got to be in our collective shoes to feel that disgusting, gut wrenching pain. And I feel too many “fans” forget that these are just 15 to 17 year old kids playing a game that shouldn’t put them in a wheelchair for life.
So, coaches, parents and players help the zebras out; tell your kids to hold up on any shot to your opponent cause it may just be one of yours that doesn’t get to come home right after the final whistle. I’ll close for now because this week there isn’t another issue in “Hey Ref’s” world more important than making crystal clear to all the coaches, players and parents that we’ll be calling TARGETING on those types of plays that you feel are close, borderline and “cheap”. Of course you’ll be correct but you should know by the time we get to the stadium that keeping players as safe as humanly possible is at the forefront of every one of those “hated” refs!
Till next week…
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