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Saints believe defense will jell by start of season

By MARY FOSTER
AP Sports Writer




It's supposed to be faster, stronger, better all around.

But three games into the preseason, the New Orleans Saints defense has struggled in one area - pass defense.

In three exhibition games, New Orleans allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 70 percent of their passes and toss four touchdowns while coming up with just one interception.

In a 27-12 loss to San Francisco Saturday night, 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia completed six of seven passes for 52 yards.

There are problems, coach Jim Haslett said, but he's not worried. He prefers to dwell on what his team is doing well - stopping the run. It's something the Saints did not do well last season. And it's a key to winning in the NFL, Haslett said.

"If you can't stop the run, then you've got problems," Haslett said. "Either you're not physical, you're not big enough up front, or something's wrong. If you can't stop the pass, then you can do something to fix it. There're schemes to fix it, ways to make it simpler to fix it, or more complex where you blitz. I don't think we're to that point yet."

New Orleans was without defensive ends Darren Howard and Charles Grant against the 49ers. Howard and Grant, the top pass rushers on the team, were held out because of injuries. Both are expected to miss the final preseason game Thursday night against the Miami Dolphins, but be ready for the season opener Sept. 7, against the Seattle Seahawks.

The preseason is not the way to judge the Saints defense, both the players and coaches said. For these games, the Saints don't put together a game plan for opponents, don't study them on film, and aren't about to reveal what they're capable of before the games count against their record.

"We're still vanilla," cornerback Ashley Ambrose said. "We're still holding stuff back. We don't want to show everything in the preseason. We're going to be fine. This is what the preseason is for."

The Saints have not only revamped their defensive scheme, they have added a lot of new players, including seven new starters.

"They're going to progress," defensive coordinator Rick Venturi said. "It's a question of how fast. It's been an immense challenge in the summertime putting all these new guys together."

With as many new players as he has, Venturi would like to have 10 preseason games this year. He will have to settle for the two he got to see his first string defense play more than a few snaps in.

Against the Dolphins Thursday night, the team will probably have starters make only token appearances. They don't want to risk injuries and want to make sure the players are fresh for the opener.

"One thing this team is not doing is that there are very few big plays given up," Venturi said. "The things that are pretty solid right now is that we're playing pretty good run defense, and we're not giving up a lot of big plays. so everything else is what you have to address."