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DomeComing
by Doug Miller, NewOrleansSaints.com
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - 2:25 PM
Home and away. Will Smith and Jon Stinchcomb, for starters, certainly appreciate the difference.
Incredibly, for the first time in the last three weeks (or fourth in the last five weeks), there are not any planes, buses or extensive travel planes in the team’s schedule.
And we aren’t talking about the comforts of sleeping in their own beds or dressing in their own locker room. Instead, the focus is on what happens on the field and the difference between playing in front of a hostile crowd versus that of having the crowd’s full-fledged support.
Call is a case of good old fashioned home cookin’—Nola style. Or better yet, “Dome Sweet Dome.”
In Smith’s case he says he thrives on the energy the Superdome crowd provides to the Saints and mentioned today that when the Superdome gets really revved up and loud that it provides the team with one of the biggest home field advantages in the league.
“Most definitely,” said Smith when asked if the Superdome noise level can reach levels that rival the loudest in the NFL. “If you look back at the last three years here, I would say our biggest wins at home have been when the crowd is totally into it. Is it a coincidence? I don’t think so.”
Smith was referring to the Saints’ opening game of the 2006 season against the Atlanta Falcons (a 23-3 win), the following home game (a 24-21 over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), the Saints’ 27-24 NFC Divisional Playoff victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, last season’s 41-24 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars and this season’s opening 24-20 victory over the Bucs.
“I think it is pretty well documented that the majority of games, week in and week out, are close games,” he said. “Our first three games of this season prove it. Seven points or less seems to be the rule, not just with us, but across the league.”
From a defensive point of view Smith said that the crowd provides not only energy for the players to feed off, but also a competitive advantage. “When it gets so loud that the quarterback has trouble calling plays in the huddle, there is the chance someone may miss something when the play is called. And then when they get to the line, calling an audible becomes much harder to do. The quarterback’s cadence is hard to hear, especially as you get further away from the quarterback.”
Stinchcomb said the tackles, tights ends and receivers are traditionally the most affected positions by the noise, as those positions have to look in at the ball when it is snapped and the probability of a false start increases exponentially.
“You factor in the speed of the game from the outside speed positions, where every split second counts and if you are a split second late in reacting, it is often the difference between a successful play or a play that gets blown up by someone coming free and getting into the backfield,” Stinchcomb said.
“At home it is obviously easier to hear on most plays because the fans are more quiet when we have the ball,” the six-year veteran from Georgia said. “It’s easier to make adjustments and communicate with each other.”
This week’s opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, have won their past two games. The first of the wins was in one of the NFL’s most traditionally loud venues, Qwest Field in Seattle. Despite leaving with a 33-30 victory, the 49ers were penalized nine times for 60 yards. Of the nine infractions, seven were called for false starts, holding or illegal formations against the offense. The 49ers also surrendered eight sacks against the Seahawks.
Conversely the 49ers, in their victory at home last week against Detroit, committed only three penalties for 30 yards, with a delay of game and a holding call against them. Additionally they surrendered only one sack over the course of the game.
San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike Martz, known for producing high-scoring and powerful offenses, is hardly a stranger to the Superdome crowd. Martz, who coached the St. Louis Rams, first as the offensive coordinator in 1999 and then the next six years (2000-2005) as the head coach. The Saints were in the NFC West through the 2001 season and formed a healthy rivalry with Martz’s squad during the “Greatest Show on Turf” days.
Clearly the 49ers are thriving in their new offensive system, as they are averaging 25.6 points per game through their first three games. It’s a tall task apparently for a lot of the defenses in the league. Can the voices and noise of 70,008 or so of the Saints’ faithful help slow it down? That remains to be seen, but it could be one of the most compelling story lines of the game.
For the last two weeks, the Saints played in venues (at Washington and at Denver) that many national media members sight as providing upper echelon home field advantages.
This week New Orleans has the opportunity to show it's stuff.
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