GumboBC

Looking back at how teams were able to run the ball on us last year, it's amazing we were able to win 8-games. When the Bears can rush for 144 yards and the Falcons rush for 128 yards and then the Falcons top that with with 169 yards rushing. Then there were the Redskins who rushed for 160 yards. And the Giants rushed for 120 yards. Amazingly we won all those games.

Then in the games we lost teams were simply able to run the ball at will most of the time. Stephen Davis and Fred Taylor had career games against our defense. Then other teams like the Eagles just used multiple running backs to shred our run defense.

Our run defense was just plain terrible. Hopefully we will be able to stop the run better this year. It's a tall order to improve on last year.

vs. Seattle
S. Alexander 24 108
M. Strong 5 32
M. Hasselbeck 4 11
Rushing=151

vs. Texans
S. Mack 13 31
D. Davis 6 23
D. Carr 4 14
J. Simmons 1 7
Rushing=75

vs. Titans
E. George 29 100
S. McNair 4 7
Rushing=107

vs. Colts
D. Rhodes 7 35
R. Williams 9 34
J. Mungro 10 30
Rushing=99

vs. Panthers
S. Davis 30 159
D. Foster 7 25
B. Hoover 1 3
Rushing=187

vs. Bears
A. Thomas 21 96
K. Stewart 9 42
S. Pritchett 1 6
Rushing=144


vs. Falcons
W. Dunn 6 82
T. Duckett 14 42
J. Griffith 1 4
Rushing=128

vs. Panthers
S. Davis 31 178
D. Foster 3 25
S. Smith 1 10
Rushing=213

vs. Bucs
M. Pittman 16 48 0 7
B. Johnson 1 9 0 9
Rushing=57

vs. Falcons
W. Dunn 23 162
T. Duckett 4 7
Rushing=169

vs. Eagles
D. Staley 8 77
D. McNabb 7 54
B. Westbrook 9 52
C. Buckhalter 7 18
Rushing=201

vs. Redskins
T. Canidate 16 115
R. Cartwright 4 27
T. Hasselbeck 3 10
L. Betts 2 8
Rushing=160

vs. Bucs
T. Jones 20 89
M. Pittman 6 13
C. Lee 1 8
Rushing=110

vs. Giants
T. Barber 11 37
D. Levens 8 37
J. Palmer 2 25
D. Joyce 4 21
Rushing=120

vs. Jaguars
F. Taylor 34 194
B. Leftwich 2 23
C. Fuamatu-Ma'afala 5 15
L. Toefield 4 11
Rushing=243

vs. Cowboys
R. Anderson 6 26
T. Hambrick 11 26
Q. Carter 2 17
Rushing=69

St.Shrume

I think it will be hard NOT to improve on last year. Our run defense was definitely our major short coming. That is why i was surprised how everyone got in the Saints for going DE and LB with 2/3 top picks. Our front 7 needed more depth and talent. Too many injuries to key people. But that happens to all teams.

I would much rather see us go after Trotter than McKinzie. Trotter i think would make a bigger positive difference to our team (in the locker room as well). Of course, our passing defense being rated so high (8th, i think) is kind of misleading, since people didn\'t have to pass on us, since running was so easy.

GumboBC

I think it\'s a natural assumption for some to think because our run defense gave up a lot of yards that it helped our pass defense. Especially when there are a lot of the media folks going around preaching this stuff without ever really looking at the situation a littler deeper.

Let me try and explain how our poor run defense did NOT help our pass defense. Hopefully, this will put an end to all these myths.

Here\'s the thing about our run defense. We were ranked 31st in the NFL at giving up runs of 20 or more yards. We allowed 16 runs of 20 or more yards. That\'s next to last in the league, by the way.

To put that into perspective:

Runs of 20+
New Orleans 16
Tennessee 2
New England 2
Baltimore 3
Dallas 5
Miami 5
Buffalo 5
Jacksonville 5
Carolina 8

What does this have to do with anything? Well, it means that a LOT of the yardage given up on the ground was in large chunks.

The yardage given up by our run defense is kinda misleading.

For large portions of games, teams weren\'t running the ball that effectively and controlling the clock. Which is ONE of the reasons our defense was on the field less than Jacksonvile.

Saints=29:46 defense on field
Jaguars= 29:51 defense on field

The Jaguars just didn\'t give up as many LONG running plays

Saints 20+ = 16
Jaguars 20+ = 5

To once and for all put an end to the myth that our run defense helped our pass defense. Consider this:

Pass attempts per game against Saints defense = 30.3

That\'s the 7th fewest in the league. And that\'s what everyone wants to point to and hang their hat on.

However, do you know how many passes were thrown againt the team who was passed on the 8th most in the NFL??

It was 33.1 pass attempts per game(Miami Dolphins). Which is a WHOPPING difference of 2.8 more pass attempts per game. That\'s hardly enough help a pass defense out.

Bottom line is our pass defense was passed on 30.3 times per game and it really wouldn\'t have made a difference if teams would have rushed for 1-million yards per game. It\'s how many times teams attempted to throw the ball against our secondary that counts.


And for final proof that our secondary was passed on as much as just about any other team in the league:

Team/ Pass att. per game
Indianapolis 27.8
New York (A) 28.4
Oakland 29.2
Tampa Bay 29.7
Washington 30.2
Pittsburgh 30.2
New Orleans 30.3
Dallas 30.8
Denver 30.9
Arizona 31.1
Cleveland 31.4
Houston 31.4
Buffalo 31.8
Atlanta 31.8
Cincinnati 31.8
St. Louis 31.9
Jacksonville 31.9
San Francisco 32.1
New York (N) 32.4
Carolina 32.6
Detroit 32.6
San Diego 32.8
Chicago 32.8
Miami 33.1
Baltimore 33.2
Minnesota 33.2

















[Edited on 2/6/2004 by GumboBC]