Shaun Rogers
 

He looks like he's finally starting to get his legs under him. I wish Franklin would follow suit. Looks like the line though is improving every week and could actually be rather good eventually once the dust settles.

Yeah I wasn't very impressed by him in the first 2 games but this game I think we finally played the run pretty well. They might not have had Foster back there but Tate is no slouch.

This would be good time.

Maurice Jones-Drew, DeAngelo Williams, J-Stew, Cam Newton, and Blount are next in line. If we are going to crush these teams, it's got to start with our DL.

I'm worried about Ellis. He's been virtually invisible.The presence of two space eaters beside him was supposed to allow him to create havoc as a 3 tech.

So far, and I know its early, but I'm underwhelmed. Maybe they still need more time to gel.

This week wil be a good test since Jacksonville is going to try and ram the football up his butt.

D Line is playing pretty well. Actually they did a good job against Chicago last weekend. Aside from giving up one big run (43 yards) to Matt Forte, they held him to just 6 rushing yards the rest of the day with no touchdowns on the ground. Did a fairly decent job against Ben Tate, but there's always room for improvement! Maurice Jones Drew will be a very good test for this defense. Shut him down and it's game over.

I'm not trying to be an ass about this. But I'm tired of hearing the term "Time to gel." Were talking about people who has been in the league for a long time. Look at Darren Sproles, he just took off. We could be saying he needs time to gel with the oline in setting up his blocks. I use to say it to about the gelling, but players have been in this system now for how many weeks?
Just trying to say it's time to produce NOW.

Well that's true, but you got to remember that the role that Sproles has is in a more individualized capacity. He catches the ball, watches his blocks, shifts and works around people. I'd still argue that Sproles though will probably get better as the season goes as he'll more naturally have a grasp of the way that certain people with throw their blocks, and better position himself to make a play.

The thing about playing D-Line is that there is so many small things that have to be perfected. You can have the best defensive end in the history of the football with 3 other guys out there that are middle of the pack and that player would probably struggle. He'd still make plays and stuff from time to time, just because of his skill set, but the point I'm trying to make is that on the line, all the guys have to be in sync with each other. On the line, a couple of inches can be the difference between being dominated and dominating.

i too am down on ellis. whats his problem? youwould think with the new tackles we got he would be shining but he sure isnt. in fact he is the worst of all our DTs right now. he needs to step it up.

Ellis looked out of shape...

Truly like comparing apples and oranges. Two completely different skill sets. But, I understand your desire to see something, anything out of Rodgers and the other D-Line players. Although they did contain a very good rushing attack on Sunday, the lack of pressure on the QB is a major problem.

"
Yes that's true apples and oranges, and of course it's TOTALLY different skill sets. Your missing my point, I'm saying these guys have been in the league for yrs. It's not like we have a bunch of Galette's up on the front line together. Now you can talk about having time to "Gel" still learning the game etc...
The first point brought up was about Ellis turning loose, "Because of the space eatters". Ellis has been in this system for what three yrs now? If those guys were brought in to eat up space.? Ellis should be having a field day. He should not need time to gel.
I brought up the Sproles as a reference, he has been in the league now for a while. He's not like a Ingram or any other rookie who is learning the NFL game. We brought him here now and look what he has done already.

That's all I'm trying to get across, just tired of the term GEL. Because these guys are well coached and SHOULD be a force in the NFL with more pressure up front.

Perhaps, he is doing what is asked of him. We cut Mitch King, not Sean Rogers.

We are 2-1. We have weathered the early part of the schedule really well.

We have played against two really good offensive lines.

GW's scheme may be right on target.

Ellis does not look good & HAS NOT looked too good - ever!

Sorta what I'm thinking about Ingram...

Sometimes there's just too much water in the gelatin and it never sets up!!!

Alaska

But King was getting in the backfield. I thought he was looking the best out the group we have now. Plus the dude has a motor that went from snap to whistle!

They haven't rushed Ingram enough to have any reservations at all. He's going to be a force. There are two dang fine RBs ahead of him.........he'll get his time.

The heavens will part, the earth will shake, and the oceans will surge...

Finally something we can agree upon...

As I've been saying - He sure as hell wasn't worth the move up in the draft...

The Saints did it as they were too emotional on getting stiffed by King Carl and the KC Mob who wanted the moon and starts for Glenn Dorsey...

See, Mickey hasn't been that sharp...

And I hope we know only to draft Left Tackles (Jury out on Brown) and Linebackers (I still wanted Clay Matthews) from USC...

Ingram has looked better each game, he will be good. He will also learn from Thomas alot this year. Once he finds his "NFL" identity, he will be a force.

I've heard coaches like to break it down into quarters. Heck, with a win on Sunday (and heaven knows we should win) we'd be 3-1 out of the gate against GB, Chicago, Houston, and Jacksonville. I'll take that and happily move on to the next set of 4.

It's not like Sproles hasn't played in a Drew Brees system before. For the DT's, this system takes some coordination, especially with all the exotic blitzes. Responsibilities and recognition take some time. When you are learning a new system, then layer in diagnosing what the opposing offense is showing, the "thinking" aspect is causing delay in the doing. 1-2 tenths of delay can mean a huge difference in the outcome of a play.

The thread mentions Rogers, I immediately thought of Franklin, our other acquisition. Between Rogers, Ellis, Franklin - we should be putting a lot of pressure on our outside guys to mop up what's left after cleaning up the middle of the field. Ellis is not where I think he should be at this point. But who am I? Progress looks slow, but I could see things coming around soon. I still think we are giving up too many points each week. Vilma should be back soon, Smith picking up where he left off, Jordan coming into his own, Porter back to game shape... I'm hoping all the pieces fall into place at the right time. I hope we "start" to think the same way about our defense that we do about our offense. Wouldn't that be special?

i look charleston and shanle as our weak link. not the interior of the def. robinson's lack of run support is hurting too. will smith's return i hope changes some things. oppps wrong side of the line.

Granted that overall Ellis hasn't become the threat that we all probably envisioned/hoped he'd become when he was drafted, but I wouldn't exactly call him a bust either.

I remember being really excited when the Saints drafted him - probably had a lot to do with the Ed Orgeron connection - and I thought he'd become a solid anchor and a disruptive force on the D-Line. That hasn't happened yet, but I believe he will keep on developing and getting better and will reach his full potential in a season or two.

On the other hand, I don't agree with most of you on that he has been the worst out of the DTs. I know that stats don't always reflect the whole truth of the matter, but if we look at purely the tackle stats on the Saints' DTs: Ellis is at the top.

• Ellis 8 with 3 solo
• Rogers 5 with 2 solo
• Franklin 3 with 1 solo
• King 3 with 1 solo

Also if we look at the NFC there are only 3 DTs with more tackles than Ellis: Alan Branch 9w/5s (SEA); Cullen Jenkins 9w/7s (PHI); and Ndamukong Suh 9w/6s (DET).

Also I have noticed that #98 is the one who is getting the most penetration (consistently) out of the Saints' DTs and, for example, in the last game I remember him running after the RB and bringing him down close to the secondary.

All in all, Rogers has been a bigger disappointment to me, because I had such great hopes for him based on his showing in the Browns game vs the Saints last season.

He's been getting the malority of the carries so far and has the worst YPC. If he isn't ready then give it to PT or Sproles. How long did it take Ivory to start gouging out big runs?