New Orleans Saints defense struggles in 27-14 loss to Texans
 

HOUSTON -- Two games into the preseason, the only thing that can be said for certain about the New Orleans Saints defense is that it won't be as good as it looked in Week 1, and it won't be as bad as it looked in Week 2.

In a span of eight days, the defense went from a dominant performance to a disastrous one. They gave up 24 points and 323 yards in the first half of Saturday night's 27 to 14 loss to the Houston Texans Although it was the kind of performance that comes with the usual "it's only the preseason" disclaimer, Coach Sean Payton said, "there's no way to sugarcoat a game like that."
"They whipped us," Payton said. "Obviously, it wasn't real good. We've got a lot to do to improve. There will be some valuable lessons learned from this game.
"Fortunately it's a preseason game, however, it's getting closer and closer to the start of the regular season."
Instead of the sacks the Saints piled up last week against San Francisco, this game was rife with missed tackles

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New Orleans Saints defense struggles in 27-14 loss to Texans | NOLA.com

My observations from the game...

Like the play-by-play guys said... this was all one big bluff by Sean Payton running the most vanilla offense possible so that they wouldn't give away too many offensive ideas before we meet the Texans in the regular season. We'll break out the real plays in September and they won't know what hit them because they'll think they have our number. I mean, for god's sake... since when have we been a run first offense like we were tonight (and yes I'm just talking about the Brees era.)

With that being said, Brees sucked. I don't like this new trend of being nervous when Brees is in the shotgun formation with 5 receivers. Maybe it's not Drew's fault because Bushrod and Strief sucked too. JJ Watt made Strief look like a *****. Jabari Greer sucked. Paul Oliver was just flat-out embarassing... seeing as how the saints brought in a banged up Malcolm Jenkins just to get Oliver the hell out of there. I haven't seen that many missed tackles since... Well, the playoff loss to Seattle.

What team did this Paul Oliver come from again?

While the play calling may have been vanilla, it still shows that this team has some major problems that need to be addressed.

Problems like:
A) Drew Brees' lack of ball security. Brees is a 10 yr. vet and starting with last year, there is no excuse for 22 INT's, and no excuse for that fumble last night. Even POP Warner players know to protect the ball and take the sack in situations like that, and Brees knows better than that, so no excuse.

B) The O-Line really looks bad. After the big payday Evans has dropped to mediocrity, Krutez looks worse than any C we've ever had and Bushrod, well let's just say he hasn't improved and I for one am not surprised.

C) I have to say that I'm still underwhelmed by Mark Ingram. I've watched a lot of really good to great backs in my time and I just don't see it with this kid. I think he's getting a lot of mileage from the media because they don't want to admit to another poor choice in a RB again. When Ivory gets back, you're gonna see just how underwhelming Ingram is. I still hope I'm proven wrong because I love my Saints and don't want us to have shifted again on a 1st round pick.

I could go on and list every position on this team but I don't feel like wasting anymore of my time on it. This team for whatever reason has lost their groove or desire or whatever you want to call it. I just hope they can find it before the season starts. At least I got to see them win a championship in my lifetime so anything else is just lagniappe.

This is why I hate the preseason so much. Is it true that Payton is trying to hide things. Sounds reasonable. Would he go as far as tell his guys to slack off? Doubtful although this is the guy that started the 2nd half of a Superbowl with an onside kick.

I'll finish this by reminding everyone that the '67 Saints finished 5-1 in preseason. (Yeah...6 games, you know I loved that)

Can you imagine the anticipation of a novice NFL fan going into the season with a preseason like that? I've been this way about preseason ever since.


Oh, yeah... They finished 3-11 in '67.

I commented in chat last night, and now, on further reflection, it seems like this game was a "just get out of there healthy" affair. Only the barely competent 3rd stringers were giving much effort.

Preseason is trial and error for all aspects. We just need to eliminate the negative aspects we are seeing. I think the first teamers will learn from that wipping and be better for it.

Preseason or not...

I WILL ADMIT - the lack of tackeling was upsetting

Uhmmmm.......that was Bushrod Watt was beating like a drum. Strief looked decent against Mario Williams. As for Greer........horrible. Looked like Jason David out there.

Slacking off gets you hurt!!