Breaking Down the Coaching: Sean Payton vs Mike Vrabel

New Orleans Saints play caller Sean Payton heads to Nashville for a Week 16 test with Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel. Let's have a look at the men behind the play sheets.

It is the penultimate weekend of regular season competition in the NFL and head coach Sean Payton will travel with his 11-3 New Orleans Saints to Nashville for a date with head coach Mike Vrabel and his Tennessee Titans.  Both teams sport winning records and there are some major playoff implications on the line for each.  Let’s have a look at the two men wearing the headsets and holding the laminated sheets and see what insights we can glean ahead of this pivotal matchup.

© Derick E. Hingle | 2019 Dec 16

In just his sophomore season as a play caller, former New England Patriots (.566) (and also Steelers and Chiefs) linebacker Mike Vrabel has thus far led the Titans to a respectable 17-13 record.  His team is on the precipice of the postseason, contending with AFC South rival Houston Texans, and a win against a high octane Saints squad at this point in the season would be one to hang his hat on.  Coach Vrabel presides over a respectable run defense, and what appears to be the reinvention of former Miami Dolphins signal caller Ryan Tannehill. 

By the numbers, the Titans boast the 13th ranked defense in the NFL, allowing just 104 yards per game on the ground.  The Titans defensive front features a perennially great interior lineman Jurrell Casey, while their secondary ranks a paltry 25th, allowing nearly 260 yards through the air per game.  This is cause for concern against a QB like Drew Brees and a Saints team featuring perhaps the very best WR in the league in Michael Thomas.  Vrabel, and defensive coordinator Dean Pees, will need to rely heavily on the likes of All Pro CB and ball hawk Kevin Byard and potentially a hampered Adoree' Jackson to stave off chunk plays from a potent offense like New Orleans’.

© Christopher Hanewinc | 2019 Dec 15

Offensively, since the Week 6 benching of former number 2 overall pick Marcus Mariota, the Titans have enjoyed a 6-2 record with Ryan Tannehill starting under center. Back in October, Vrabel stated:

"We're trying to get a little spark, trying to evaluate what we're doing and how we're functioning as an offense," said Vrabel. "It just felt like now was the time, and sitting at that game, sitting where I was -- made the decision during the game and then was just able to think about it, evaluate it and make a decision to try to spark the offense, to try to do something to get us going, to score some points and to help us win."

In retrospect, it appears he may well be vindicated in making such a decision. After all, it is not as though Tannehill has been significantly more effective in his career than Mariota.   Through 14 weeks of regular season play however, the Titans are in the top-half of NFL total offenses at #15.  They are #20 in passing offense, a statistic that has improved since the installation of Tannehill, and #8 in rushing led by stalwart Alabama product Derrick Henry. 

Vrabel’s offensive coaching philosophy is akin to the old school approach of Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden in that it’s driven by clock management and running the ball.  Availability may inform his approach this week however, as two of his primary RBs, Henry and Dion Lewis, are nursing injuries- Vrabel may have to lean more heavily on rookie RB Khari Blasingame.  Further, his passing attack has question marks in the form of injuries to starting WRs Adam Humphries and Corey Davis.  Suffice it to state that health will be a major storyline to follow heading into Sunday.

© Christopher Hanewinc | 2019 Dec 15

In the visitor’s locker room, New Orleans head coach Sean Payton, as Saints fans are well-acquainted, boasts a 118-74 (.615) record in 12 seasons as the head coach in the Big Easy.  Payton is 8-6 in the postseason, and his team has clinched no worse than the 3 seed in the NFC playoffs this year. Still though, Payton has his sights set on 12-3 this weekend and, with a bit of help elsewhere, potentially giving his team a week of rest come January. 

Since his arrival in 2006, Payton’s approach to coaching can best be characterized as ‘high octane’. Led by future Hall of Fame QB Drew Brees, the Saints are driven by their unrelenting desire to overwhelm their opponents with crafty play calling (see: Saints onside kick in Super Bowl XLIV), gadget plays and players (see: Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill etc.), and chunk yardage (see: Drew Brees (again) and Michael Thomas). 

This season, the Saints are #9 in total offense sitting at 373 total yards per game.  This spot may come as somewhat of a surprise to fans given that the Saints have routinely been in the top-3 nearly every year since Coach Payton has been calling plays. Some of this can be attributed to Brees missing time to a thumb injury (though Teddy Bridgewater filled in admirably), while the rest relates to health to the offensive line and some regression in starting RB Alvin Kamara’s game this season (16th in rushing offense).  As any football observer or knower with two eyeballs can attest though, this is a team liable to hang 30+ points and 400+ yards on an opponent very quickly and punishingly.  Thanks, again, to the innovation of Sean Payton and his staff and the players they have expertly compiled the past several seasons.

© Derick E. Hingle | 2019 Dec 16

On defense, under the leadership of Dennis Allen, the Saints are #11, allowing just under 330 yards per game in 2019.  This spot is better than average for Payton’s tenure as head coach, and much of that is owed to Allen and the likes of senior assistant Peter Giunta, secondary coach Aaron Glenn, and front-seven coaches Ryan Nielsen and Mike Nolan.   While the Saints are middle-of-the-pack in passing defense at #16, they are #4 in rushing defense, allowing just 90.8 yards per game on the ground.  Pending the availability of the Titans RBs, it will be interesting to see how a top-tier rushing offense fares against an upper-echelon rushing defense.

This is a game that features a respectable and ascending young coach leading a hard-nosed rushing attack and stingy defense in Mike Vrabel, and a play calling savant and future Hall of Fame play caller in Sean Payton.  Will the Saints have the ability and will to take a road contest with the Titans and complete their sweep of the AFC South? Will Vrabel lead his men to victory and do his best to angle his Titans to the postseason for the first time in his career?  As Coach Payton said in his weekly media call a couple of days ago:

“There's a physical nature to how they play and I think that if you let him get into your defense frequently it will be a long day.”