I don't understand...
 

...why so many think we still need vast improvement on defense, the saints did finish as the 11th best defense last year.

the LB crew was not near the best in the nfc, but it was solid and with the addition of brian simmons and the addition fo some young guys there is a big improvement.

with adding jason david, roman harper returning, bullocks having another year under his belt and picking up a "young" guy (so puny) at corner...the secondary is improved.

our defensive line is not in need of immediate help, but hollis thomas does not have that many years left (maybe only 1).

saying all that...i do thing houston might have been a could pick at 27 instead of meachum. now if meachum turns out to be a solid #2 and young takes over for mckenzie by the end of the year or atleast is a solid #3 corner, i will take that back.

i am interested to see how palko develops. i pray that brees doesn't get injured. if he does, the saints season is done.

The problem is...
 

Our D looked good, damn good at times but they never dominated. They gave up big plays, to many big plays. We need some dominate guys who can play consistant. Weakness were exposed and teams took advantage of them. At least on O our weakness was disguised most of the time.

Most of the big plays against our defense was by Fred Thomas. Yea we had some problems in the run game. But I do remember Boykin from last year and I think they are pretty high on him.Last year he just had some personal problems, when he got the straight he came back. I too think this new Thimas kid can be a boon to the line IF they can keep him on the straight and narrow.

I was really looking for some help on the D-line. Another good solid DT would have been nice. Honestly, I have no clue about the backup to the DE's either. All in all though, in FA we got a LB, CB, S, plus two CBs in the draft. That's a lot of new blood for the D.

The Saints defense wasn't bad last season in not for our secondary, we played pretty good up front, Fred Thomas just killed us, especially with the deep balls , the Saints will be much improved next season because now we'll be able to cover down field.
The future looks great with the Saints..
I also hope to see that the line protects Brees better than they did last season...

Blame
 

...you can put the blame where ever you like but The DB's gave up huge pass plays (either D-line with no rush or bad DB's). Our OL gave up HUGE running plays (D-line, LB's, DB's) Whatever! Everyone had there fair share of giving up big plays.

Euphoria is right. We gave up huge plays all over the field, and in almost every game. We had an offense to overcome it.

On defense we have gone 11th, 15th, 20th, and back to 11th. Last year's 11th show we gave up a lot of rushing yards. But these stats do not tell the whole story. Depends who you play against (are they a passing team or rushing team), the margins of scores in games (argue you get thrown against if you have a huge lead, get rushed against if you are losing badly), and so on.

I reckon our special teams are going to improve big time, and that will give us great field position.

Way to many BIGGGGGGGGG PLAYS, we wasn't as horrible as everyone thinks, but we weren't that good. We gave up at least one huge play in every game this season, and against the Ravens, Steelers, Bengals, Redskins, and the first game against the Panthers, we never was able to over come those soul crushing plays. That was just unacceptable, and I'm glad the coaching staff thought so to, we didn't need a whole defensive overhaul, the moves they made were pretty dam good if you ask me, and I think they're not done just yet. Remember, there's the second wave of free agency coming up, I think they will address the DT position in due time.

Why can't Meachum turn out to be a #1, nothing against Colston, but he was a 7th rd draft pick, while Meachum is a 1st rd draft pick. I hope they both are great players.

The main reason our defense was # 11 is because of the offense time of possesion. The defense did play ok but it does need some improvement