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Opening Statement:

“Obviously, (I’m) happy with the win, happy for the team, and happy for Aaron (Kromer) to come away with another win as a head coach. Just moving to defense, we probably made just enough plays to win the game. I’d start off saying that. Certainly the goal line stand was big and that obviously was generated by the fact that Malcolm (Jenkins) was able to run him down. That was a huge play. I thought we had an interception earlier in the game. I know the official saw it differently. Jonathan Vilma put the pressure on the quarterback and Roman (Harper) does what he’s supposed to do in trying to secure the catch. Obviously, the official underneath the replay system might have gotten a different view or whatnot. We thought we had one there. The red zone defense, it might not look good statistically and I know they scored there a couple of times down there, but we forced them into 21 red zone defensive plays. That was a lot. The way the game went, making them earn anything was really kind of important. So there were some good things in there, even though they did score that one touchdown. Most disappointed really if I was to say anything, and I think the guys feel the same way, is that we weren’t as a defense, after our offense did a tremendous job, able to close the game. There were two series there where we could have basically closed the game. We did it in the San Diego game two weeks ago and that’s a great feeling to know you helped your team by closing it. When I look at both those drives, what I see is this – in both of them, within four plays, and the first (drive) we’ll call a two-minute drive (even though) it was at ten minutes, but within four plays they’re in the red zone and then the other one it was two plays and they’re in the red zone. So we never really got a chance to be in a pin-your ears back and rush the quarterback two-minute because we let them out of the bag too early. To me, that was the biggest disappointment and it is certainly going to be an area that we’re going to need to focus on.”

The play that won the game in the end, with the thought process of pushing a player out of bounds when the quarterback is out of the pocket, a lot of people say that’s a sign of a growing defense. Do you agree?

“It was smart. If you noticed, and everybody was focused on where the ball was thrown, but Malcolm (Jenkins) did the same thing to another receiver on the other side of the field. He actually forced him. That’s good football. Good players do it in key situations in this league and two of our guys actually did it on that one. Patrick Robinson knew exactly what he was doing because as soon as the guy caught the ball, if you watch him, he goes right to the official. Good officiating. I want to make sure I get that out. Good officiating on that play.”

How much presence of mind does it take for a defensive back to know that a quarterback has gone out of the pocket and to push the receiver out of bounds?

“Yeah, the scramble and the whole thing and you’re allowed to do it, make sure the ball’s not in the air when you do it, otherwise it’s going to be a penalty for defensive pass interference. Again, there were two instances on that one play. That means a number of guys are being coached well and guys are embracing it and did the right thing.”

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TheOak

It's actually very enlightening when you think about it. Our defense is "thinking"...

Thinking something other than "blitz".

saintsfan1976

And that may be why they've been so out of position at times.

Stealthman

Thanks for the post, Papz.

73Saint

That was a great read. Spags' defense is definitely more cerebral. Whether that's good or bad remains to be seen.

jnormand

I hope the front four bring pressure in the Denver game or we are in deep ****. Manning will make us pay. Yeah we got Drew but their defense is better. Vitt better rally the guys cause I'm freaking out!!! Aaaghhh!!!

|Mitch|

At least Manning isn't as mobile as Freeman. We've had decent pressure the past 2 games, could get to Rivers and Freeman kept running around...

dizzle88

Our Safeties need to make mannings aggressiveness be his downfall

Manning is going to go straight for Patrick Robinson and Corey White because they are our weak points, I've seen Roman Harper catch two interceptions now (even if the refs ballsed up on one) so he can catch

Malcolm made a great play, but he was having a pretty terrible game up until then.

Im expecting alot of two deep zone, manning will air it out, our safeties need to be on point every play and get there hands on the ball.

To coach vitt - Please bench corey white, every QB every week has abused him, manning will rip him apart if you keep Corey white as the starter

Johnny patrick is better

Your bonehead creator picked a fine chapter to omit from your memory bank....let me ask you, does a machine like yourself ever experience fear? - Vegeta, DBZ

Marlboro Man

Manning knows exactly who he's going to attack. Patrick Robinson, Corey White and Roman Harper unless he's playing LB, maybe.

I live here in Denver and I can tell you that the altitude is definitely going to play a factor in this game. Especially with the no huddle offense that they run here. We are probably going to have to rotate players every possession because I doubt we'll be able to during a possession.

Denver has been dying to get off to a fast start in a game this year, and I fear our defense is the perfect cure for their woe's. Our secondary looks to be lost on most every play. It seems like no one in our secondary knows who to cover on any given play. I really expected to see a more marked improvement from our defense after the bye week but was again disappointed. Coming up with some meager stops in the second half in this game isn't going to get the job done this week. We are going to need to stop Manning at least 5 times in this game to win and our defense has only shown the ability to stop any team maybe 2 times in a game and that just won't do. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see us winning this game.

Jamessr

Manning is still manning just not as strong in the arm. His games has shown that. He's also not playing with an All Star cast...
We still have a shot at this