Marlboro Man

We aren't going to have a lot of money to sign players with this year, and we haven't been able to generate a pass rush with the players we have on the D-Line for 6 years now. I'd like someone to explain to me, how, all of a sudden, coach Spagnola is going to take these same players and make them become all pro linemen and get pressure with just the front 4. Our scouting dept. is gonna have to do the best job they've ever done, and they've done an amazing job the last 6 years, of finding up and coming players in FA that we can develope as well as what Spags can find in the draft. If they can come up with 2 DT's and 2 OLB's and at least 1 DE, we could have a pretty decent defense next year, but the reality is, that's a LOT of players to come up with in only 1 year.

Having said that, let's say we DO win the Super Bowl next year. How long do you think Spags stays? I'd say we had better be looking for his replacement today as well. Additionally, what do you think the effect on the players would be if we're changing DC's every year to every 3 years?

SaintsBro

I think the optimistic answer to your first question, lies in this...I think it's sort of a three year cycle type deal... Gibbs came with Payton in 2006....result: NFC Championship appearance in the first year. Williams came in 2009...result: Super Bowl win in his first year, then two years of defensive regression, sort of eerily similar to what happened with Gibbs. There's no question that with the exception of Sharper and maybe one or two guys I'm forgetting about right now, Williams came in and had great success with the same basic people, that Gibbs was faltering with in 2008. They looked like a totally different defense out there! But both Gibbs and Williams ended up going OUT with kind of the same storyline or rap, that Drew and the O were AMAZING but the D was giving up big plays and losing games at end.

That's why I'm optimistic and hopeful it will be an instant improvement with Spags -- it's happened that way twice already for the Saints under Sean Payton. Yeah they need a few upgrades, but I'm optimistic the difference will be night and day. Partially because for the first half of the year, teams will have no film to study and NO IDEA what to expect defensively when they line up and face us. Just like 2006 and 2009!

I don't worry about how long Spags will stay here, the guy hasn't even called a single defensive snap yet for the Saints. Worry about that later, after success.

Third, I've said this before in other threads, the effect on the players will be GOOD rather than bad -- that they will want to bust their rumps to impress the new DC, to avoid being cut, or traded to some losing team in Siberia. They will be inspired that the new DC can fix the problems from last year, and put them in positions to win games. I think that is precisely what happened to some degree in 2006 and 2009. That's why I'm optimistic.

Boutte

There's no telling if he will be able to get these players to be any better. The hope is that he won't set them up to fail like Williams did. Even if our personnel is as bad as you seem think (and maybe they are) Williams was definitely not doing anything to help disguise the lack of talent. If Jenkins sucks as bad as many people think why are you going to ask him to cover the fastest TE in the league one on one? A good DC doesn't make those kinds of mistakes. Repeatedly. In the same game.

At least we're trying to improve and Spagnuolo seemed to be on everyone's A list. Did you have someone you thought would be better?