You're right. Our defense sucked all year. They had the opportunity to redeem themselves. The naked bootleg (college style and 1932 style) was bad enough. Can't stop Alex Smith and 49er juggernaut with 1:37 left in the game FROM SCORING A TOUCHDOWN?

There needs to be CHANGES, BIG TIME!

The way we lost today was worse than Seattle, we had an excuse for that one, we had injuries, in this one we just plain and simple stunk it up.

OK, that's a valid point. But do you put any of the blame on Gregg Williams? Is he the guy you want long term as the DC?

i mean we have ZERO pass Rush without blitzing. Slow ass linebackers. Vilma is decent at best. And our secondary is god-awful. All have stone hands. Bad Safeties. Only ONE good DB in Greer...and he struggles at times. These deficiencies all point to COACHING.....

Yes. His play call led to Vernon Davis's gain that lead to Alex Smith's TD.

Is he a long term DC? No. But we knew that when he was hired.

Greg Williams. Good God.
 

A defensive end can't be just a DE. He must be able to double as a DT and move around to confuse the offense. And the defense. And a CB can't be just a CB. He must also be a great pass rusher. And a safety is not just a safety, and on and on. And so we wind up with a lot of guys who are jacks of all trades, masters of none. How about we start generating a pass rush with pass rushers and let to job of pass coverage fall on pass defenders? Which translates to waving good-bye to Greg Williams.

Somebody forgot to give me the memo.

It's funny how G.W. has had a Top 10 defense everywhere he has coached; except here...

Why is that?

If I remember right, in the beginning of the year he stated we had good enough LB's right here in the building. I think we can all agree that is crap. I think he has gotten old and has become a one trick pony. His pressures rarely result in a sack or a bad throw.

Subtract 17 points from the 36, and you get 19. 32, or more, to 19, Saints' win. How can you not do subtraction?

Seriously folks, in the playoffs for 3 years, won a superbowl in 2009, and even with all the errors on the offense, handing points to the other side, they still were in the game at the end.

You know what? I'm pretty happy with Williams, and Coach Payton, and there are 32 teams, and I'd put them up against anyone. They gave us 14 winning games to watch, and after watching the Saints' for 40 plus years, and seeing them lose, and lose, and lose, I just can't complain a whole lot.

I'd like for them to have won of course. But they didn't. It's a game, somebody lost, somebody won. I'd have actually felt a little bad for SF if they had lost, they were trying so hard, though I didn't like the fact they were playing dirty, referees weren't calling a lot of penalties, and I really thought taunting was illegal, which it seemed SF was doing on every kickoff.

I hope GB destroys them, and I just wish the Saints' had injured more of them, like they were so obviously trying to do to the Saints', with success I might add. Oh, did you see the guy twist Graham's right arm back while he was rolling the other way?

You don't have to argue; I just mean it's weird how he has coached a Top 10 D everywhere he has been except here...

Bro I wasn't arguing at all. Sorry if it came off that way. I was just adding my thought as to why maybe we were not a top 10. Was really asking what you thought the reasoning was.

Sorry; man! It's just been a rough evening...

The D needs to find an identity, if we need a new coordinator to find it; so be it...

GO PATRIOTS.

They showed up to their game.

Alaska

There is a salary cap, and with all that talent on the offense, one wonders what proportion of money goes to the offense, and what to the defense.

I'm not saying the players are worse, in truth I don't know. But maybe Williams has taken lemons and made some pretty adequate lemonade from them.

I really don't see how the people are are angry at the defense, can't see that after that first drive they were on the field for several minutes, fielding mistakes by the offense, and how much that influence the play, and the score.

I honestly think it was the defense today, through all of the terrible fumbles and the interception, and the sacks, that were the bright points, even made that comment to myself during the game. How many drives did they go 3 and out, or maybe get them after just one first down, to give Breese another chance.

We love our offense, but today I think it was the defense that gave us any chance, and they damn sure had to play an awful lot, with all the turnovers. If they hadn't been on the field, if the drive had been progressing down the field, instead of the fumbles, then they might not have looked so bad.

Face it, 5 or 6 are huge turnover numbers, and the defense kept it from being a total bloodbath. Way to go "D". And thanks Saints' for an enjoyable season.

Tebow is really sucking up the field, 42-7, how'd you like to be Denver, all you whiners and complainers!! I'm pretty happy, and I hope we get another great team like this next year.

So which is it? You make zero sense. Go have another drink because you are obviously out of your mind if you think our Defense is good.

Also, who you calling a whiner and complainer? I hope not the true fans in here upset about a game we could have won and ARE willing to take our black and gold glasses off.

I don't blame the offense. Despite PT going down and all the turnovers we were in that game till the last two drives. GW got cocky and played overly aggressive def play calls. On one play he flipped Harper for MJ in coverage. Those two just cannot cover anyone.

Its GW fault we lost this one and I will be happy to see him go. We can't get any worse on D

The lemonade part,no,there are a lot of #1 picks on our D and I don't see them playing up to that #1 pick status at all. Our D stinks and until those so-called #1's pick their game up we will continue to stink in Gregg Williams system. They may thrive in another system but not his. It comes down to the coach and his system, you can have all the talent in the world and if you don't know what to do with it you aint' got sh!!.

Except for the helmet to helmet hit on PT, the turnovers were inexcusable. We gave up 13 points to turnovers, and it could have been more had the defense not held.

I blame GW for not doubling VD or running press coverage when we got ahead. But, that being said, 5 turnovers, 4 unforced, is beyond comprehension.

I blame the players for not being ready.

I blame Brees for underthrowing three wide open passes, two for int's.

No one should be spared, but this was 90% on the skill players.

Very concerning that ball control was such a major letdown. It should have been priority #1. I said it in an earlier thread the only way the 49ers win is with turnovers. But I give credit to the 49ers, that defense is no steel curtain but it's better than I thought, much better. I hope PT is alright, I don't blame him on that fumble but the rest of em'...absolutely cost us the game.

Agreed.

I also think special teams, specifically kick off, and punt returns needs a lot of work.

And, (grimacing) fundamental ball skills.

I'm not saying the D lost the game for us, they're what kept us in it so the Drew and Co could do their miracle act. I'm saying Gregg Williams let the D down along with everybody else.

Been a Saint fan since their inception, my friends and I used to joke that Jim Mora ruined the team for us by having a season with more wins than losses. Before that we didn't care if we won or loss, it was just another reason to get together and party, not that we needed another reason, lol. Buddy D started the paper bag thing, funny stuff at the time. Almost as funny as wondering who thought it was a good idea to give Buddy D a microphone, could anyone really understand him? Payton and company won a super bowl and I actually think this team might become a dynasty. Today was a sad game to watch because we know they're better than that. Room for improvement, no doubt, but a 14-4 season ain't bad. I don't know a lot about football, never played beyond the schoolyard, but I do know that since Payton became head coach I've enjoyed every season. I predict at least 3 more super bowl wins before Drew retires, someone in the front office has an eye for talent and I imagine the problems being addressed on this forum will be taken care of. Would be nice to see the Saints in the super bowl next year.

Exactly!!
I love your optimism and am with you 100%! Welcome to Black and Gold!!

gregggggs cant stop a #20 level offense from scoring in 1:50 its really that simple.

Dave and I both agreed he coached his last game in New Orleans. He's probably going to St. Louis with Jeff Fisher. Goodbye Greg. Thank for the ring.

Look, they came up a little short. Maybe if they'd won the tie-break, and got the week off, they'd be the ones that won by four.

They've worked hard, they've had several winning seasons. I really don't think we should pick them apart because they came up a few games short. I have to say, it's been so much more fun since they've been winning most of their games.

No team will win the SuperBowl every time. It's the only team I watch, and I hate they didn't make it. But I'm not going to act like a spoiled child about it, it's just a game. Maybe next year, maybe not. But if they win more than they lose, if they get into the playoffs, I'm happy about it.

I lived through the ain'ts.

I don't want a D that keeps us on a roller coaster. I want to have a stable D. Something you can count on. The D plays good at sub-par offenses but good O's eat them alive. Example 9'ers sub-par played great until the last 5 minutes. Lions, if not for our O we would have lost. Our D has been suspect all year and have been on borrowed time and their time ran out today, so we go back to the drawing board and start all over this next season. It has been a he!! of a ride this year though, hasn't it ? Just hated to see it end!!!!!

Definitely has!! We have some changes to make for sure. I just hope that whoever has the eye for talent in the front office(though I must say seems more offensive than defensive) can get us some game changers.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought their kickoff dance was ridiculous. I was waiting for them to break out and do the YMCA dance. Surely, if our guys had done that, there'd be a sea of yellow flags.

I have been saying for the last year and a half that GW needs to go. Our 2009 defense was FEARED! What I see now is no where close to it. We have the talent; they just need the right DC. How much liberty in changing plays was given to Vilma and Jenkins this week? During the Lions game it was announced they had complete control to change plays. Did they have the same this week?

uh, they went 85 yards in 1 minute 37 seconds, r u serious with the somebody lost somebody won thing. Nothing against you bro, but no frigan way that should have happened. 85 frigan yards man

......with Alex Smith as their QB.....Alex freakin' Smith!!!!!! Piss poor defense!

Hey! I will personally drive GW to wherever he wants to go. And I have 4000 miles to fly before I can do that. Wrong schemes.

We're probably going to make an gentlemen's effort to retain him(try but not really try if that makes sense). But in the end, after losing the way we did the past two years in the playoffs, we're both going to move on from each other. Must start making contact with Spags ASAP... at least behind the scenes. I think we're too classy to make Williams the scapegoat.

Sucks we're out the playoffs... I would have like to see us at least making it to the NFCCG but oh well. That's football... but it was one hell of a ride this year. We still should have a strong 3 year window from here but win another Superbowl.

The focus should not be on this game in regards to GW.

30th in the league in passing defense for the season is. ESPECIALLY in a "passing league". All he focuses on is the blitz.... Someone coached Sharper into being the ball hawk he was and it wasn't GW.


IMHO.... leave our defense in tact for now... Steal the 49rs Defensive coordinators and see how we do next season.

I think GW's main problem is that his style of blitzing defense requires fast violent players all along the front 7. We don't have any yet.

Galette, Romeus, Wilson, and Vilma fit that style of play, but Smith, Rogers, Franklin, Shanle, Dunbar do not.

YES the defense lapsed in the end but it’s not entirely the defense fault. When you have 6 turnovers and we’re still down less than a touchdown, I like my chances and as we saw. What disturbs me about Gregg’s defenses is that he always goes soft at the wrong time and since he likes the pressure defense just go straight 46, we all know Harper is a liability in coverage so it was no adjustment there with a corner not Jenkins because Vernon was they're only option

I agree with this. That’s why Galette, Romeus and Wilson needs to be on the field. I like what I’ve seen in Galette and Wilson

I think it's a little more than the DC you have to have the right players to run it and it's a known fact that our front 4 is a joke