WhoDat

In all of the chatter recently, the thing I've heard the most about the Saints D is how bad the secondary is. Is it just me, or is that freakin' nuts?! Yeah they gave up a lot of passing yards but consider this:

A. There was NO pass rush. You're talking about a team that led the league in sacks for three straight years that all of a sudden couldn't buy a sack. Clemons went from 13.5 sacks to 1/2 a sack. We lost Joe Johnson's 9 sacks. We lost La'Roi Glover's 8 sacks. No secondary in the NFL can cover forever. You give an NFL QB five or six seconds and he will complete a pass.

B. Our run defense was terrible. Not statistically, no, butI'll get to that in a minute. Bottom line though, is that our middle was soft. Hand got slapped most games, Clemons is a terrible middle linebacker, and Knight was in the horrible postion of deciding whether to come up and help our hideous run defense, or sit back and worry about our guys getting beat deep.

C. Our offense was good. What does that matter? Well, when you can score 30 points a game, it forces teams to use a pass heavy scheme to stay with you. As a result, we were thrown against far more than we were run against. No matter what, statistically speaking that is going to hurt you. Especially when teams have to run the hurry up more often. The best way to defend a hurry up is usually bend don't break. That adds yards and completions, and helps completion percentages, etc.

D. This might be most important - Venturi. There's no telling what could have been if Zook was still around. Venturi's mistimed blitzes, poor schemes, and bad formation calling no doubt cost big plays and big yards time and again.

On top of all of that, we had suspensions and injuries. Yeah, I can cover better than Hawthorne, and Irvin isn't much better either. BUT, I can't remember the Saints ever having as talented a starting lineup (secondary) as Carter, Thomas, Knight, and Bellamy. If anything, Bellamy is the weak link and you don't hear half as much talk about him as you do about Knight.

Mark my words, if Knight goes somewhere else, he will be a pro bowler again in his career. He's a John Lynch type of safety. A big hitter who isn't a great man-on-man cover guy. Do you think it is a coincidence that Knight flourish behind a front 7 that could stop the run and rush the passer? But all of a sudden when you have one of the worst front sevens in football, his play drops and you're surprised. Give me a break.

Sure the Saints could use another cover corner allowing them to use Thomas and Craver in their nickel and dime packages. But, how can you say that the secondary is worse off than the D-line and linebackers? No way!