Saints insist stats belie defensive improvement
 

METAIRIE (AP) — Cam Jordan refuses to let the New Orleans Saints' dreadful defensive statistical rankings get him down.

He sees no evidence that his defensive teammates are discouraged, either.


"That hasn't happened yet," said Jordan, a second-year defensive end. "It definitely has not happened. If anything, everyone's re-energized and the effort is on bettering themselves as players and bettering the unit. Luckily we've got a whole bunch of veterans on the squad who aren't nervous, who aren't antsy, if you will. I'm definitely not and I'm not even a veteran."


Having played only three games under new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, it is likely too early to judge how New Orleans' adjustment to their new scheme will pan out long-term.

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Re: Saints insist stats belie defensive improvement
 

We have given up the most points in the NFC and 2nd most overall. I don't need any stats other than those.
Maybe they should be down.

Re: Saints insist stats belie defensive improvement
 

Well, just because you're pushing guys into the QB 4-5 seconds after the snap doesn't mean you're doing something right. We haven't shown that we can contain in any game this season. Our D-Linemen get trapped inside on almost every play and we haven't stopped the outside run game or the inside run game for 4 quarters all year.

Re: Saints insist stats belie defensive improvement
 

I can somewhat see where He is getting at ... Look guys the first 2 QB's we played this season ( THEy're absolute freaks , nothing like them has ever existed ) they Got the better of a rusted team. We may have lost the last game but besides from the freak 91 Yard Run ( which did have a penalty ) We held the chiefs out of the endzone the entire game. Our offense lost us that one ... Imagine if our defense could hold a team to 1 td and field goals for the rest of the season ? If our offense got clicking we'd be hosting the SB... Thats fact ! There was actually huge improvement from The first 2 Games to the last one.

Re: Saints insist stats belie defensive improvement
 

32nd in the NFL, lets not try to sugarcoat it. The Saints can say all the want about keeping the Chiefs out of the end zone for most of the day, bottom line is Matt Cassel is not a great QB, gave up 510 yards in the game, and Jammal Charles went Marshall Faulk on their azzes. Will it get better? Probably has to at least by default.

I do seriously get that the offense has been very little help so far this year, I mean cannot keep going 3 and out and expect great things to happen for your defense.

Overall, just a big cluster suck on both sides of the ball. Can it get better, the obvious answer is yes. Offense can start with a little better ball control. The scoring so far isn't a real issue, but in between those scoring drives, the offense needs to work the field position aspect of it a lot better. Defense will arrive, no not lights out, but we all know if the defense holds teams under like 24, it looks good for the Saints.

Re: Saints insist stats belie defensive improvement
 

I have to agree with Saintaintso. When you watch the film from that game they did an excellent job keeping them out of the end zone. Our offensive line just fell apart in the second half. Brees seemed to be off his game the entire second half because of the pass rush. What happened there? I realize Zach Strief took alot of the blame, but he wasn't the only one not blocking. If you go back and watch the game the linemen on the left side quit blocking once the rest of the defense for kansas city was in persuit of Brees. They should have been playing until the whistle was blown. What happened to those guys? They used to be the best O line in football. It seemed like after the announcers said something about all of the time they were giving Brees they just quit protecting him. Overall, very dissappointing perfermance by the offense. It doesn't matter where they are at on the field. They should always be able to get positive yards. I felt like Brees was making up 100 million dollar excuses. He is the top paid quarterback in the league, why hasn't he stepped up like everybody said he would in Paytons absence? Lackluster....Made me want to record all of the games instead of watching them live.

Re: Saints insist stats belie defensive improvement
 

The league has seen quarterbacks like the first two we faced before. Their names are Michael Vick and Donovan Mcnabb. Neither of them great, but both very athletic with big arms (though Mcnabb gained a ton of weight and slowed down tremendously). Mcnabb was at least a winner in Philly. Cam Newton did absolutely nothing against the Bucs or Giants in his other two games this year. Griffin played better in his other two games than Cam did, but not nearly as good as the Saints made him look, and he also lost both of those games.

The moral of the story is that our Saints have played horrible football, and there is no excuse that can be made. All we can do is hope that the light goes on, because the potential is insanely good. That's what is so disturbing about this start.