Saints' Defense Actually Pretty Good

xan · 01-17-2007, 01:03 PM

just a casual perusal of the defensive stats make a fairly compelling argument that the Saints' squad is pretty damn good.

#1 in plays run against.
#3 in Time of Possession Allowed
#6 in 3rd Down % Allowed
#11 in Penalties but #5 in Penalty Yards
#13 in Scoring Defense
#1 in FGs Allowed
#3 against the Pass, including #5 in % Completions and only 2 fewer Sacks than Chicago.
#11 in Total Defense, but only 13 yards given up more than Chicago, which isn't meaningful given that they're 5th. 13 yards wouldn't translate into a 1st down, on average.

Give it up for a Super Bowl Caliber Defense!!!!

yasoon · 01-17-2007, 01:36 PM

The Saints defense is very good 90% of the time.

Our problem is, the other 10% of the time, people are breaking off HUGE chunks of yardage.

During the Eagles game, my buddy says we're dominating but we;re only getting FGs. My response was....that's the problem, a deep one to donte and we're losing a game where we have really played well. 2 plays later.....you all know what happened.

To me, there are a lot of coverage breakdowns on the backside. I haven't seen all of the overhead shots (obviously), but I think our safety play has hurt us as bad (or worse) than the play of Fred Thomas. On the replay of Donte's TD (Faulk actually breaks this play down on the NFL network without pointing this out), 3 guys....Bullocks included, break to a short zone about 7 yards deep. This leaves the deep middle open allowing Garcia to hoist one deep knowing that nobody is there.

It seems like on every long play this year, a safety jumps the wrong zone and a 15 yard play quickly becomes a 60 yard play. I'm not solely blaming the safeties, but this has been our achilles heel. Throw out the big plays, and this is a very good D. But that's kinda like saying, aside from missing one leg, i'm in great shape.

Xan...your point is well taken. Our D can be very good, it all comes down to the 3-4 ugly plays and how ugly they are. They don't get enough turnovers, so they are left to force punts, leaving the offense a little extra room for error. They are good in the red zone. It all comes down to containing.

I said before saturday that we were better if we won the turnover battle and kept Donte and Westbrook from hurting us too bad. They both had a huge play and we had the one turnover. That's the only reason this one was even close. We were the better team by a fair margin.

This week...keep Berrian infront of you, avoid Hester in the kicking game, don't allow consistently big gains in the run game. Sit back and let Rex handle the ball as much as possible. I think we will win if we do that

thib82 · 01-17-2007, 02:14 PM

If we get out to an early lead, and look almost unstoppable early, then our D will be ok. Rex isn't going to beat us all game, he's just not that type of QB. Our best defense is our potent offense, they keep alot of pressure on the opposing offense to score TDs quickly.

zioni504 · 01-17-2007, 02:32 PM

I agree with both of ya'll xan and yasoon, our D IS pretty damn solid and is rarely talked about when people talk about us as a team. The big play in blown coverages and such have been the only big issue in our D. Our D line is awesome, we arguebly have the best DE tandems in the league with Smith and Grant. I think if we did not lose S Roman Harper to the knee injury, our secondary would be in A LOT better shape.

WillMacKenzie · 01-18-2007, 12:11 AM

If you remember the early games this season, it was a "stingy" defense that was actually the talk of the team - not the offense. After Harper and Ninkovich were injured (about the 4th game), things were never the same. But I remember we were giving up less than 100 yards rushing per game.

01-17-2007, 01:03 PM	#1
xan Professor Crab and Site Donor 2014 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Princeton Posts: 3,371 Blog Entries: 34	Saints' Defense Actually Pretty Good just a casual perusal of the defensive stats make a fairly compelling argument that the Saints' squad is pretty damn good. #1 in plays run against. #3 in Time of Possession Allowed #6 in 3rd Down % Allowed #11 in Penalties but #5 in Penalty Yards #13 in Scoring Defense #1 in FGs Allowed #3 against the Pass, including #5 in % Completions and only 2 fewer Sacks than Chicago. #11 in Total Defense, but only 13 yards given up more than Chicago, which isn't meaningful given that they're 5th. 13 yards wouldn't translate into a 1st down, on average. Give it up for a Super Bowl Caliber Defense!!!!
	Calvin: "I wish I was a Tiger." Hobbes: "Common lament."

01-17-2007, 01:36 PM	#2
yasoon 500th Post Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 594	The Saints defense is very good 90% of the time. Our problem is, the other 10% of the time, people are breaking off HUGE chunks of yardage. During the Eagles game, my buddy says we're dominating but we;re only getting FGs. My response was....that's the problem, a deep one to donte and we're losing a game where we have really played well. 2 plays later.....you all know what happened. To me, there are a lot of coverage breakdowns on the backside. I haven't seen all of the overhead shots (obviously), but I think our safety play has hurt us as bad (or worse) than the play of Fred Thomas. On the replay of Donte's TD (Faulk actually breaks this play down on the NFL network without pointing this out), 3 guys....Bullocks included, break to a short zone about 7 yards deep. This leaves the deep middle open allowing Garcia to hoist one deep knowing that nobody is there. It seems like on every long play this year, a safety jumps the wrong zone and a 15 yard play quickly becomes a 60 yard play. I'm not solely blaming the safeties, but this has been our achilles heel. Throw out the big plays, and this is a very good D. But that's kinda like saying, aside from missing one leg, i'm in great shape. Xan...your point is well taken. Our D can be very good, it all comes down to the 3-4 ugly plays and how ugly they are. They don't get enough turnovers, so they are left to force punts, leaving the offense a little extra room for error. They are good in the red zone. It all comes down to containing. I said before saturday that we were better if we won the turnover battle and kept Donte and Westbrook from hurting us too bad. They both had a huge play and we had the one turnover. That's the only reason this one was even close. We were the better team by a fair margin. This week...keep Berrian infront of you, avoid Hester in the kicking game, don't allow consistently big gains in the run game. Sit back and let Rex handle the ball as much as possible. I think we will win if we do that
yasoon 500th Post Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 594

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01-17-2007, 02:14 PM	#3
thib82 100th Post Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Carencro, LA Posts: 211	If we get out to an early lead, and look almost unstoppable early, then our D will be ok. Rex isn't going to beat us all game, he's just not that type of QB. Our best defense is our potent offense, they keep alot of pressure on the opposing offense to score TDs quickly.

01-17-2007, 02:32 PM	#4
zioni504 Registered Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 54	I agree with both of ya'll xan and yasoon, our D IS pretty damn solid and is rarely talked about when people talk about us as a team. The big play in blown coverages and such have been the only big issue in our D. Our D line is awesome, we arguebly have the best DE tandems in the league with Smith and Grant. I think if we did not lose S Roman Harper to the knee injury, our secondary would be in A LOT better shape.

01-18-2007, 12:11 AM	#5
WillMacKenzie 1000 Posts + Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 1,627	If you remember the early games this season, it was a "stingy" defense that was actually the talk of the team - not the offense. After Harper and Ninkovich were injured (about the 4th game), things were never the same. But I remember we were giving up less than 100 yards rushing per game.