Marlboro Man

I'll give them that they played a good game and I don't put this loss on the defense but dang man, after 11 games and they STILL CAN'T TACKLE??? It's really disgusting. Like I've said all year about what these players say, TALK IS CHEAP. Try stepping up and actually improve your tackling. Y'all have to realize too that what you're talking about is only 30 freaking yards less than 400 anyway so not that impressive.

FinSaint

The poor tackling is a concern, but that is something that you'll see watching any NFL game at the moment. I don't know if the new restrictions on practices had this affect on the game or whether something has changed in the way that tackling fundamentals are being taught to players at the junior and collegiate levels, but there's definitely been a decline in the level of tackling across the whole league, and that is very concerning from a fan's point of view.

As it pertains to the defense, the amount of yards they gave up wasn't ultimately great, but, on the other hand, the yardage doesn't matter in the end, but points do. The three biggest defensive stats in my opinion are 1) points given up; 2) turnovers; and 3) time of possession. All of those three were negatively impacted by the Saints offense this Sunday, which is why it's harder to really blame the defense for the loss or for the yardage given up. Also, the Saints' special teams played well and were able to produce a turnover which resulted in one of the TDs for the Saints offense - giving them a really short field to cash it in. If you calculate that fact in with the whole performance, the Saints' offense really had a fairly lackluster game against the 49ers.

The Saints' defense isn't great, far from it, but they've improved a lot from what they were, and if they keep improving - they might just become good enough to take on some of the pressure of winning a game off from the offense's shoulders in the coming weeks.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno

TheOak

11 games? Try at least 40 games. Marshawn lynch (2011) bring anything to mind? How about Deangelo Williams (2009)? Cadillac Williams (2009)? Steve Jackson (2009)?

You have to realize that this is the first and only game that Rushing yards and passing yards is not lopsided. Its the only game that passing was under 250 and rushing was under 150.

And 30 yards is monumental.... How many first downs do you think comes with 30 yards? The answer is not 3. Average gain per offensive play was 6.7 yardsthat is 4.5 first downs... What can an offense do with another 5 first downs? Average rushing was 4.6, what can an offense do with another 7 first downs rushing?


Ill put it in other terms... if you find $30 it isn't much but losing $30 when your hungry can be a b1tch!