Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

Sarcasm my friend, sarcasm. Settle down Beavis

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

Reasons to be optimistic........Sean Payton and Drew Brees.
Reasons to be pessimistic.......Patrick Robinson and Malcolm Jenkins.
Everything else is a wash. :smile:

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

I'm also very skeptical about players transitioning to a new linebacking position, although I'm admittedly a bit ignorant as to the technical aspects of the transition.

My hope is that in the Falcons game our defense comes with an element of surprise. They're not used to playing us in this way and maybe we can capitalize on that.

But I have a very sinking feeling that we're going to see some major running lanes in the defense as they try to figure things out.

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

I think this is easily the most significant year of the Sean Payton era. IF these new guys on D turn out to be any good, or really good, then we know we are set -- that we have them locked in at low low Brees-friendly prices for the next 3 or so years to grow and get even better. If they're bad, then we know we are looking at continuing on squandering and wasting the next 2-3 years of Brees' talent, and the whole window starts shutting very rapidly. It's make or break.

The defense last year was the worst in history....I get that Poydras and everyone else is frustrated and skeptical, because of that....but here's the deal. Part of that was lack of big-play talent, yeah...but a BIG part of that, specifically to Poydras's fears, was it was bad last year because the unit GAVE UP on Spagnuola, as per the anonymous Saints defender who spoke out around New Years' Day.....they stopped believing in him, they basically started tuning him out. He pissed off the other coaches (according to the anonymous player), he couldn't make adjustments, it wasn't working, and one by one they slowly gave up and lay down on him....

So for most of the latter part of the season, that means Spagnola is there in the team meetings and he's up there at the podium going WAH WAH WAH WAH, like the trombone parents in Charlie Brown, and no one is listening to him....plus there was no REAL head coach to step in and say "WHAT THE ____ IS GOING ON?" when the defense under-performs week after week.

If you go back and read the actual quotes from the "anonymous player" you will see the whole year EXPLAINED in great detail. From the perspective of a player. I just re-read the interview with fresh eyes, and it's a real eye opener to read it NOW with some distance on it.

So in short: yes, the defense last year was really miserably bad. But it actually was WORSE, than it really truly was.

New Orleans Saints player: Steve Spagnuolo should be fired as defensive coordinator | NOLA.com

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

I am not trying to sway your realism, maybe just add a little perspective.

Preseason, base, bland, defense with 1/4 of your starters not on the field is not exactly a good sample size to evaluate what the season will look like.. is it?

Preseason is the 4 game period in the season when you try things, not prove things. Had we dominated in preseason I will still be playing the same fiddle trying to temper enthusiasm as we would have dominated against vanilla offenses trying things..

Look brother youve been around long enough to know that what separates 1st and second string is .15 of a second in speed... As small as that is, its huge on the field, its the difference between a sack and a 50 yard TD pass. We have had a good bit of starters on both sides of the ball (key people) watching from the sidelines.

What I am doing is taking that into account and also understanding that Defenses are always behind Offenses during regular season in regards to catching up. So, if we look like total crap in week 4 I will panic besides you.. Until then I am going to let things develop naturally as they will do anyway.

That my friend is my realistic view of the Saints so far in 2013.

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

I agree, I believe what scares most people is the lack of experience on Defense.. If I recall Seattle did pretty good with a very young defense last year didn't they? A youth movement is not a negative, its just an unknown.

1/2 of their team has 2 years or less of NFL experience.
Seattle Seahawks 2013 Roster | Seahawks.com

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

Thanks, Danno. You just saved me the time of typing the very same response!

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

Looks like I need to try harder...

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

Well, remember it's a world of only .15 seconds between the starter and the backup!

Re: I'm afraid we're in trouble.
 

Constructive criticism is fine if its based on realism. His was not.

No one seriously thinks were unstoppable and everything is honky dory. There isn't a team in the league that's unstoppable.