Opportunistic defense carries New Orleans Saints again: film study

SmashMouth · 09-22-2010, 05:34 PM

It's tempting to look at the New Orleans Saints No. 23 defensive ranking and think they're the weak spot in the club's arsenal.

G. Andrew Boyd/The Times-Picayune
The New Orleans Saints defense tends to give up big plays, but makes key ones when they need to.
At times, the Saints yield yards at an alarming rate, as they did in their 25-22 win against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.

But just when your ready to rip into them, they come up with a huge play or create a momentum-changing turnover to save the day.
The resume now spans all of the 2009 season and two games into 2010. The body of work is sufficient enough that their performance can no longer be written off as lucky.
This is what the Saints do. They pressure on third down. Play good red-zone defense. And attack the ball at every opportunity, looking to create turnovers.
This is their identity.
The Saints allowed 417 yards to the 49ers and made Alex Smith look like Joe Montana reincarnated for four quarters but they managed to force four turnovers and allowed only a handful of explosive plays.
Not surprisingly, the Saints rank second in the NFL in takeway/giveaway ratio with a plus-five differential. The Saints also ranked second in 2009.
That's not a coincidence.
That's a trend.

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09-22-2010, 05:34 PM	#1
SmashMouth I donated, did you? Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Mandeville, LA Posts: 38,550 Blog Entries: 29	Opportunistic defense carries New Orleans Saints again: film study It's tempting to look at the New Orleans Saints No. 23 defensive ranking and think they're the weak spot in the club's arsenal. G. Andrew Boyd/The Times-Picayune The New Orleans Saints defense tends to give up big plays, but makes key ones when they need to. At times, the Saints yield yards at an alarming rate, as they did in their 25-22 win against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. But just when your ready to rip into them, they come up with a huge play or create a momentum-changing turnover to save the day. The resume now spans all of the 2009 season and two games into 2010. The body of work is sufficient enough that their performance can no longer be written off as lucky. This is what the Saints do. They pressure on third down. Play good red-zone defense. And attack the ball at every opportunity, looking to create turnovers. This is their identity. The Saints allowed 417 yards to the 49ers and made Alex Smith look like Joe Montana reincarnated for four quarters but they managed to force four turnovers and allowed only a handful of explosive plays. Not surprisingly, the Saints rank second in the NFL in takeway/giveaway ratio with a plus-five differential. The Saints also ranked second in 2009. That's not a coincidence. That's a trend. read more Attached Thumbnails