GumboBC

The big thing that stuck out in my mind were the HUGE holes the Bear's runningbacks had to run through. Simply put, our front 4 got dominated. Brian Young's lack of size really showed tonight as he got pushed back far too often and it left a big void in the run defense. Howard Green also got handled pretty well and put up little resistance stopping the run.

Daren Howard once again did a poor job of sealing the outside of the line. It looks to me like he does a poor job of diagnosing the play. He rushes up field and plays the pass first and the run second. Charles Grant was a non-factor. Grant just seems to disappear.

Bottom Line for the front four - They left huge holes for the Bears runningbacks and that was the main reason for the Saints struggles in stopping the run.

Linebackers -- None of our linebackers played well. Nothing to write home about anyway. But, our D-line really didn't help them out any. Even so, our linebakers were blocked very effectively and did not make the plays they needed to make. Courtney Watson is not a special player. Not at this point in time. I saw him get blocked out of the play and most of the time he was no where near the runningback. Courtney does seem to do a good job in pass coverage though. James Allen made some good plays. Allen was the most impressive of all the linebackers. But again, nothing to write home about. The rest of our linebackers were non-factors.

Cornerbacks - Fred Thomas did a good job again. Jason Craft did OK until he got injured. Fakir did OK as well. Ambrose needs to hang 'em up. Got beat for another long pass and was trailing his man by about 3 or 4 yards.

Overall it was a very poor showing for our defense. I really don't have much hope we'll be good at stopping the run this year. We just don't have the guys up front to get the job done, IMO. Especially at DT. I don't like Brian Young. He goes all out but isn't big or physical enough. Sullivan seems to be our best bet at DT.

Darren Howard is a good pass rusher but not very effective against the run. Charles Grant seems to take too many plays off or something. Will Smith seems head above shoulders better than either Howard or Charles Grant.

There were two guys that really stood out. That was Tebucky Jones and Will Smith. Tebucky did a nice job of tackling and was all over the place. Will Smith is going to be a SPECIAL player. He might be already. He's unbelievable. Made a couple of INCREDIBLE plays. I would start Will Smith and sit either Howard or Grant. Will Smith needs to be on the field as much as possible. He's that good!!

My other concern is our O-line. They look very shaky.

For all the O' Sullivan fans .... he's got a LONG ways to so. Same for Bouman. We need Brooks to get healthy and stay that way.

I'm not saying we can't make the playoffs and that we won't improve. But I DO NOT see us stopping the run and our CBs are suspect.

I came away from this game not feeling good about our chances this year.

Venturi needs to go. I just have my doubts about his scheme. It's either something wrong with Venturi's scheme or someone just can't evaluate talent on the D-line. OR BOTH!!