Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

Good point, it wasn't a style it was a model.... Organized chaos.

GW is not a better defensive coordinator than Spags just smarter, and since Spags admitted he had a lot better talent its possibly the players that made Spags and not Spags that made the players.

GW realized what he had, and FOUND a way to make it work out.... The Bountys were like PCP... super charge a bunch of players and they become more difficult to handle.

Explains Fujita leaving.

At the end of the day the reality is that our defense is just bad... A few decent players but as a whole unit its awful... The only way it has any success is to confuse QBs and blitz with so many people that WRs have to pass block.

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

Well. Some of ya'll (not just Shoe, and I mean this in a FRIENDLY way) are just looking for stuff to trip out on... he is not telling you ANY thing different from what you all are saying here, he's just saying it in a more diplomatic or level-headed way!

I mean he has got to be pulling his hair out over this. It's HIS NAME going on the defense in the history books, if this keeps up. You think he likes it?

When he is saying he "doesn't know where to start," he simply means, it's because there are MULTIPLE, simultaneous problems with this defense.

Think of it like a medical patient, who comes wheeling into the ER, and has many, many problems: he's overdosed on pills, which caused him to fall asleep at the wheel and be in a car wreck, he has high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney failure, he's allergic to a bunch of stuff, he's lost a lot of blood, and now he's having a heart attack right there on the gurney because of the stress of the car accident.

Even the best, most experienced world-class doctor is going to have problems with sorting out THAT kind of situation, where to even START fixing the guy on the gurney. Translation: we're fricked.

"can't put my finger on it" simply means, the players suck...that more than one player sucks, and they suck differently at different times...if it was one player or one scheme or one THING that was not working, Spags could put his finger on it and EASILY fix it for us. Or at least make it tolerably bad, acceptable. Kinda like Gregg Williams used to do a lot of.

But it's like Frogger, or that video game where the gnomes come popping out of the holes and you have to hit them with a hammer. He's got to be pulling his hair out over this thing, his hair is practically turning gray before our eyes!

But, he said in the longer version of the interview that he IS in fact losing sleep over this defense, so at least there's that!

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

Here's a thought...

You are forcing your scheme on a defense with players not suited for it?

We have CB's who are better at man, yet they're playing mostly zone.

You have the tradition SS/FS, yet they're playing 2-deep.

Your best DT is more of a NT, which doesn't really fit your scheme.

You're scheme relies on front 4 pressure, and LB's that can cover well, which we haven't got.

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

GW had quite a few more drafts and offseasons to get players he liked and suited his scheme to come down to New Orleans. Now, Spags has to try and make that personnel, which GW largely brought in, to work for him in a very different scheme than what perhaps their natural abilities are suited for.

So, it's all still very relative, and I would definitely not call GW a smarter DC than Spags when everyone in the building knew that GW was going to blitz and then he do it again, again, again, again, and again. Have you forgotten all the big plays GW's defense allowed during the past couple of season?!

Spags is just being honest about the situation, and the feeling I got from his press conference was that when he was saying that he didn't know how to fix the problem(s) at this point in time... he was referring to the fact that at times the defense - even on this Sunday - shows flashes of being a good defense, but then it all inexplicably falls apart a few moments later. That might be something that is very hard to fix or even to figure out where to begin fixing it, since the season is half way over and big personnel changes are no longer really possible.

I don't know, it's all very disappointing since I really thought that the defense would be a top 15 caliber defense this year with Spags as the DC, but I for one will still defend the guy and the job he is doing.

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

Right, that is all true.

But at some point you have to wonder if it really was Spags forcing his scheme on this team or the franchise seeking out his services and wanting him to, even forcibly if necessary, to implement his scheme for better or worse?!

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

But that wouldn't be smart during this past off-season. If we had a lot of cap to play with and a lot of picks I could see that. But why sacrifice a season just to change from a blitz heavy man scheme to zone?

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

IDK, I was just speculating.

But, they certainly didn't expect the rest of the offseason to go as it did after they hired Spags. So maybe they thought that they could make it work in the sense that at worst it would've been a transition season to another scheme while SP and Brees would protect the defense by lighting up the opposing defenses like they did last season?!

Like I said, I don't know, but some blame has to fall on the front office as well if Spags really was/is such a bad fit for the defensive personnel the Saints have at the moment as people seem to think.

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

That was a damn good analogy, SaintsBro...

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

If SP were on the sidelines would the D be this bad. This question keeps popping up in my mind.

Re: Steve Spagnuolo says there’s no magic fix for the Saints’ defense
 

We've been to the playoffs the last two years with most of this D. Now, they weren't good enough to keep us there, but we were there.

Add Spags and it falls apart.

I like Dannos reply. It's the only one that makes sense.

Alaska