SaintsRule11

I realize that a lot of people around here are worried about our defense. I think some of this feeling has carried over from the playoff game where we got yanked around by a sub-par ball club (Seahacks).

But if you look at the statistics, there are reasons to be happy about where we are on defense.

First of all, let's look at the sacks. We have 14 sacks through 5 games so far. We rank 6th in the league in this category and if the 2.8 sack per game average holds, that would be 45 sacks for the season. In 2009, we ranked 10th in sacks, and in 2010 we ranked 18th in sacks.

It's true, our defense has given up a busload of points, but let's look at the teams we've played! Green Bay and Carolina are top 5 offenses. Houston is a top 10 offense. We smothered the offenses of Chicago and Jacksonville. Currently, our defense is ranked 16th, which is actually above the level of 2009, when we were ranked 25th. In 2009, we gave up an average of over 21 points per game. I am kind of curious why so many people long for the 2009 defense. I realize we got a ton of takeaways back then, but that's also because we were on the field for so many longer drives. Personally, I prefer the defense of 2010, where we were ranked 4th in the league, consistently forced three and outs and had one of the best records in the league against 3rd down conversions. I think one of the reasons people remember 2009 so fondly is because there were so many games where we scored 40+ points, so people didn't necessarily notice that we had just given up 27 points to the Detroit Lions (who were terrible back then).

I feel certain that by the end of the season we will be a top ten defense and will start limiting opposing teams' scoring opportunities. Currently we are giving up an average of 25 points per game but that is skewed mainly because of the opening day loss to Green Bay. Last year, we only gave up 19 points per game and I think the upcoming schedule will be favorable to our defense. The real test will be this weekend in Tampa Bay. If we can hold the Bucs at home to, say, less than 20 points, that would be a major achievement.