SaintsBro

I see a few positive things like:

1) giving up 28 points is better than giving up 40 in week 1, is it not?

2) okay, they did give up 28 points, fair enough -- but 1 of those TD's was from the 11 yard line (only so much you can expect them to do.) And then only 7 points given up in the second half... I know people don't want to see it this way because they are looking for a predetermined outcome that the defense is supposed to be BAD, but I'd say it's a fair debate whether that 2nd half Tampa Bay TD was actually borderline "garbage time" or not. Because the Saints were up by two scores, Drew had been scoring at will all day, until the Saints began shutting down the automatic scoring machine for the day, packing it up for next week, and switching to a conservative ball control offense.... and I feel like the Saints' defense were quite happy to just let time keep trickling off the clock while Tampa Bay moved the ball downfield in the 4th, letting 'em have it, like the Special Man. The same way that I argued that the Saints only made it "look closer than it was" to the Redskins during borderline "garbage time," I'd say the same thing about the Bucs offense yesterday.

3) I know people want to freak out, but you can't say that the 3rd quarter goal line stand was not at least kind of a little bit awesome, can you? That was one for the ages. You can build a season off of something like that. I felt the love.


Having said all that in their favor, I agree with GeauxForMore -- I absolutely don't TRUST them yet. I have zero confidence in predicting what will happen with them on any given play, which makes for an extremely nerve wracking game viewing experience. I have given up on waiting around for "Spags' system" to kick in, or for him to magically wave his wand and make them into the 2007 Giants. Not even thinking about stats or yards or rankings, I just want W's at this point. It's time to fly by the seat of our pants.

I'm just happy every time we get a god--mn stop or make them punt. Every single one of these games, if we had gotten as little as 1 or 2 more STOPS out of the defense during the game, then these games would have all been wins and many of the games would have been the familiar 31-17 type scores that we are used to seeing the Saints put up in the past 3-4 years. One or two more stops than what they're currently getting, that's all we need.

arsaint

We won - IN SPITE OF THE DEFENSE.

This is an 8-8 proposition if we keep playing this way, and that is when you start 2-2, not 0-4.

Got to improve or we will not beat the Philadelphia, Denver, SF, NYG etc of the NFL...

CharityMike

I just can't comprehend why there are ALWAYS receivers WIDE open with no one within 10 yards of them??? Why is this happening every single game?

TheOak

When you allow the opposition to move freely from goal line to goal line you better be able to stop them from scoring anything but a FG.

If we are going to give up 400 yards in a game but they are held to field goals.. I am fine with that. But when allow them free roam of the field and the red zone efficiency is 60% (to the bad) you cant expect to win. Key word being "expect"...

TheOak

Apparently our "zone" is rather large... We need AWACS

CharityMike

I guess so. It is also a VERY noticable difference when Galette and Hicks were in there. Why are these 2 not starting with Smellis and Smith in relief?
We just keep doing the same thing week in and week out with the same result.

As for the "goalline" stand..that was as much TB stupidness as our stopping the run. They ran the exact same play 3 times in a row.

I refuse to give Jenkins any love. 2 weeks in a row he has made a heads up play but the rest of his game is garbage. I am so sick of seeing him miss tackles. 1 good play a game doesn't make up for the rest of his abysmal play.

Jamessr

Goal Line stance = Stopped
Several 3 and outs by Tampa Bay

Defense done exactly what they needed to do was help the offense just enough to win. Yes it could of been worse but the defense gave us a fighting chance.
Weeks 1-3 it would have been different.

winmill1

It seems like we are getting in the backfield more. I think the stats are misleading because we scored so fast at times. The goal line stand was something we haven't seen this year. I mean we will always give up alot of yards because we give the ball back so often. We scored pretty quick yesterday. It is alot of yards though.

Beastmode

Still, we have to score 4-5 TDs, get some calls, and make some critical plays. Little to no defensive consistency. The only consistency so far is that's what the Saints have to do to win games. Keep it close and hope things go your way.

Great goaline stance but look how it got to that point. It was because of a huge defensive breakdown. That designed college trickery by the Bucs was also was a monumental mistake on their coach. That's not going to happen often. What I did see yesterday though is a lot of heart and defenders getting their hands up and tipping balls at the line a few times. If we can't get good pressure a tip is just as effective. I hope to see more of that next week, batting down balls and effort.

Danno

Its Goal Line STAND, not stance.

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