Saints LBs have tough time again
 

NEW ORLEANS — Starters. Backups. What’s the difference?

Playing with a pair of reserve linebackers on Saturday night, New Orleans’ first-team defense showed little improvement in a 34-27 preseason victory over the Houston Texans on Saturday night at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Middle linebacker Curtis Lofton (ankle) was replaced by Jonathan Casillas and Will Herring filled in for David Hawthorne (knee) on the weak side.

It was a particularly difficult transition for Casillas, an outside linebacker by trade who was forced into the middle just two days ago when Lofton’s expected backup, Roman Humber, hurt his hamstring and forced the Saints to formulate a contingency plan.

Casillas described his performance in the heart of the Saints defense as “average at best”, but interim coach Joe Vitt said he was impressed by what Casillas accomplished in such a short period of time.

“He did a nice job tonight,” Vitt said. “Jonathan Casillas has played that position for about 48 hours. He did a good job.

“We gave him about six-to-10 defenses he was going to run in the game.”

But Casillas said he felt “out of place” at times playing in a new position and the Texans took full advantage of those opportunities.

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Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

By looking,at,him i wouldnt have thought hed only played the position 24 hours. Smart kid.

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

Herring is actually worse than Shanle. Anderson flashed on his sack and pass break up. Could be a diamond in the rough.

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

I thought Shanle played well!! I also noticed Anderson last night Cruize, he looked pretty good, I don't want to speculate but he looked like a sleeper??

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

Casillas at middle LB is like Roman Harper at CB. Scary :help:

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

Ruud looked pretty good considering he's had about 2 hours of practice.

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

Take away the bogus calls, and our defense looks a lot better.

Also, we outscored that team 34-13 after the first quarter. I was very impressed with our defense in the second half and we had six sacks and multiple turnovers.

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

How dare you not have something bad to say... you should get the ban hammer for being so positive. ;)

really, everyone needs to relax. We will have the starters back week 1 and wont have to call bland Defense.

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

Just my opinion, I was encouraged by what I saw on the defense.

The d-line was much better at gap control and containment than they have been. Foster had one big run of 18 yards but besides that one run, the d contained Foster and Tate to 2.4 yards/carry. The line got pressure on Shaub a few times. And Cam got a sack. That's as many as he had all last season. Hicks is playing great. I expected him to be a project this season, but he looks ready for the d-line rotation already.

I thought the Texans came out gunning for Casillias right off the bat. Jenkins was out of position on a few plays and got burned for it but he did have a couple good plays too. Patrick Robinson had a great game. Andre Johnson was pretty much held in check (by Andre Johnson standards) 2 completions on 5 targets.

Overall tackling was much better than it was last week against Jacksonville.

I know I'm a homer but I'm excited to see the d improve from week to week this season.

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

Our LBs did exactly what they were supposed to.....


Sat on the sidelines and watched the second string. With out error.

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

Shanle did look better than his norm. He still sucks in pass coverage, he always seems to end up in no-mans-land.

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

So Shanle finally plays like a linebacker and every one on here wants to applaud him. Have we gotten so used to terrible to average linebacker play that when he actually does what he is suppose to he gets praise. I'm still holding out hope that he doesn't get past final cuts just like a certain "corner who's name is not spoken of" before the 2009 season

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

LOL dont think that for one minute one "ata boy" erases 500 "awe sh1tz".

Re: Saints LBs have tough time again
 

Still too many misses and eating grass for my taste.
I'm talking good contact and failing to wrap.
I also give them extra credit for "several" holds that weren't called.
That may not change either when the good guys get back:
they may show up rusty and have whistles that don't blow,
or make a collective decision to be non-intrusive as a reaction to the current keystone cops.