mighty12

I believe Shanle played his way off the team. He couldn't shed blocks, missed tackles, and lacked instinct in coverage. Casillias looked good. Make the move Sean.

Cruize

I think Wilson, Vilma, and Cassilas should be the starting trio at linebacker. The Saints need the speed and the playmaking abilities of Wilson and Cassilas out there. The occasional mistake made by the young guys will be more than made up for by the plays the make.

73Saint

Marlboro Man, nothing you say is registering with me, except your avatar...
Just sayin'...

hitta

Anyone else feel a somewhat slightly disappointed by the middle of our d-line so far. I'd imagine that they are still trying to gel, but still, they've been somewhat behind my expectations.

FinSaint

Yeah, and it was Vilma himself (I think) who said in an interview that the vanilla D is the core of the D and that is when the defense should be at its best or at its most solid, because all other D packages and schemes have their foundation in the vanilla D.

SaintsBro

I am very skeptical of this D. The offense looks good, when they're picking on rookies and going for it on 4th down practically every single time. But with the starters in, we were basically in a shootout with an 8-8 team that didn't have most of their main offensive weapons. Has this defense made a STOP or taken a STAND yet in preseason, against starters, other than San Francisco, who were just plain TURRIBLE on offense (and when everyone on both squads had just put the uniforms and pads back on, for the first time in months). Except for Jenkins' nice play in the end zone, I scratch my head and can't think of one single instance this preseason where I was really liking what I saw in the D, or where they dictated the game or made a "statement." We have our first three games against three really good offensive teams. Not a good sign.

Mardigras9

I agree, Defense is still unproven. Offense looked better, but did have to have several 4th down conversions against the raiders D. Hopefully, they get it together and make there statement Sept 8.

SaintPauly

Let's also remember that the Raiders were 2nd in rushing offense last year. Not an excuse, just a fact. Missed tackles was the biggest problems last night. No excuse for that. That's basic fundamentals.

I agree that Shanle looked terrible last night. He was getting knocked on his butt whole game....

homerj07

Screens frippen killed us!! Arm tackles suck

NOW - on Jone's TD there were 2 amazingly obvious holds that did NOT get called!! I continually saw infractins (on both sides) not called!!

FinSaint

I felt the same way, but maybe it was all due to the fact that the officiating crew was not intact. Two of the judges were last minute replacements from the crew that officiated the SF game the day before. Maybe they missed some calls because they weren't totally comfortable working together as a team.