WhoDat!656

An offseason of change is evident all over the Saints’ defense.

New faces at every level of the defense, brought in by way of free agency, the draft, the CFL and anywhere else New Orleans found talent. Dennis Allen’s back to work with the secondary. Old, familiar numbers nowhere to be found on the practice field.

But the biggest change might be the scheme itself. Rob Ryan, known for the complexity of his schemes in more than a decade as an NFL defensive coordinator, has dialed it down and simplified the system in the Saints’ organized team activities.

“At this point -- two, three weeks in or whatever we are -- I know two or three of the base packages we have,” defensive tackle Cameron Jordan said after the first three days of the Saint’s organized team activities last week. “This time last year we were like 20 schemes in.”

Ryan, who first admitted the defense might be too complicated last September and started dialing back his scheme, wasn’t able to stop a slide that dropped the Saints from fourth in the league to 31st in total defense, from fourth to 28th in scoring defense and from ninth to 31st in the league on third down.

Why Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan thinks New Orleans' defensive slide won’t happen again | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

foreverfan

saintsfan1976

Careful... We are running out of excuses.....

WhoDat!656

And promises!

hagan714

defensive slide from 31? now that would be a short ride.

halloween 65

I'll settle for consistancy. Middle of the pack would be fine with me.

halloween 65

You miss NOTHING!!

dizzle88

2013 - top 5 in the league on 3rd down defense
2014 - worst in the league on 3rd down defense

Foot Stomper

We keep reading about the complicated schemes were the issue for the slide to 31. Then it was dialed back and the slide continued. So the thinking must be that you need the complicated schemes or you wouldn't do it right? And that a simple scheme isn't good enough? But now we have to go back to a simple scheme to make it work? My head hurts trying to keep up with the reasons, excuses and promises for this teams poor defense.

dizzle88

There are many excuses that have been thrown out there but I think it came down to passion and intellect - or the lack of it which continued the slide.

Vaccaro, Lofton and Hawthorne missing a 100 tackles a game

Coverages blown in the final minutes - vs browns and 49ers.

Teams throwing at Corey white or Patrick Robinson when they needed an easy first down.

Maybe we missed Roman Harper and Malcolm Jenkins impact more than we anticipated.

At the end of it, I don't think scheme hurt us, you never hear Seattle or San Fran say " the scheme is too hard"

In my opinion it was dumb guys playing dumb football, hopefully we've eradicated that by getting rid of a couple players and adding through the draft.

Your bonehead creator picked a fine chapter to omit from your memory bank....let me ask you, does a machine like yourself ever experience fear? - Vegeta, DBZ