New Defensive Era to match era of the dominant passing game
 

I was listening to No Huddle and that's exactly what Micheal Irvin, Charles Davis, Warren Sapp and Coach Mariucci were saying.

They noted that, this year, both the Packers and the Patriots have "weak" defenses from a yards allowed POV. But, said they these teams make up for it in other ways, like red zone defense, take aways and scoring on turnovers.

While the Saints don't have the turnovers, and up until lately didn't have the RZD, we at least were stopping the run and I thought our secondary, especially Greer (scary), Jenkins and Harper have played well. Junior should be mentioned on defense too.

I wish we would get more pass rush with front 3 or 4 though. But, really, can't complain.

I think we are peaking at the right time. Fingers crossed for no more INJURIES!!!

Ball Larceny
 

I hear you. It is surprising to continue seeing them bended over holding their helmets with both hands. It is disappointing.

But, I keep thinking that they get so few poorly thrown balls in practice, it kinda looks like they aren't expecting to get a ball thrown their way. It looks like they are mostly expecting and training for simple prevention (which would make sense). But, in the 2009 season, Sharper, Harper and Porter, etc. seemed like they were trained in a culture of ball larceny.

I would love to know how much film our secondary watched on the opposing team in 2009 versus this year. I also wonder how much influence Sharper and his accomplishments had on our defense that year. Was it simply a competitive environment that year?