Saintaintso

3-3-5 like I said a month ago ... Gruden agrees

Beastmode

You can see opposing QB's early on thinking, damn, I'm going to get nailed at some point. There is no time to go through their progressions. You either dump it or run it. All the QB's have said the same thing.

Crusader

The talent level on the line is a lot higher than what it has been in quite a while. Jordan is a stud an Galette is becoming one fast. Jenkins at NT seems like a really good pick. That tackle he made on the 3rd down early in the game to force them to kick was huge. Hicks was a great talent that just nobody knew about.

hagan714

Ok i am going to admit i was wrong here. the biggest reason for the improved play is Bunkley getting hurt and knocked out of the rotation. John Jenkins has given the saints what they have missed for years. A solid DT to plug up the middle and push the pocket. I was not happy with the pick and in my wildest dreams didn't i see this coming. the kid has a motor after all. i eat my crow last week on this one. but i still wish we would have addressed the OL some how. he is playing like a seasoned pro


hold your horses there he has done a solid job handling the injury bug with the player he kept

Solid move by the saints. It is obvious that Robinson is not the answer. You can blame his play if you want ot blame the injury bug year after year. But the two together is not good. At this point i have White as our best option to date to replace Greer when the time comes. This is an area that saints need to keep an eye on

no not really well except Spags. He is doing what Williams did. Nothing really shocking. he is benefiting from that learning curve. core of the defense is still the same as when Williams coached

ok we are doing a hell of a lot more 43 than people may think first of so climbing on the 34 band wagon maybe a little much. So far all i have seen is much the same style of defense Williams ran. BUT Roy Boy does have more athletic youth on defense than Williams had.

Williams was going through the building phase of the offense. Now the past three years has been defense and we are seeing the gains. But we are seeing the effect it has had on the offense also. it is much the same ol same.

in so many words it the fact the defense is gelling finally after so many years and not so much a change in philosophy as just simple growth as a unit.

Funny how one year of a defense Spag'ing out makes everyone forget the previous years. This unit was not bad just needed time to grow and get some good youth added to it. It could have done without Spag Bump but in a weird way it did teach the basic fundamentals of defense to the unit. Gap responsibility has been the biggest improvement in my book and that i give credit to Spags coaching.

Amazing what 3 years of off seasons can do for a defense.

in adding players
Williams last year was solid
Spags despite himself did a solid job
Roy Boy also did a solid job

Change in philosophy?
nope all i see is we skipped a year and are back to doing what we did before. Attack the offense. That is what makes defense fun from the school yard to the pro's

Are we done building?
not by a long shot but we may have to turn back to offense in the 2013 off season. If the OL can not get its act together players will needed to be added. so the defense will get some seasoning added to it and it appears the offense will get the main coarse.

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins

Jack Vegas

But the Saints aren't playing a lot of 2-gap alignments, except on obvious run downs. Watch how many 1-on-1 matchups there are on the line; generally there is one guy facing a double team while the other three go one-on-one.

Realistically 3-4 or 4-3 doesn't matter when you play nickel/dime as often as we do, because you're almost always rushing a 4-man line in that situation. GW's defense used to rush 3 and drop back 8 sometimes but we aren't seeing a lot of that.

Don't get me wrong, Jenkins was a steal and looks like a very good player, but we aren't better off because Bunkley got hurt. Bunkley is one of the top nose tackles in the game, you don't lose a player like that and get better no matter how good his replacement is.

hagan714

Bunkley is one of the top nose tackles in the game.

Bunkley to date falls into the category of a contract year player. You get his best when money is on the table. Look i i wanted the saints to take him well not that high in the draft so after keeping an eye on him over the years i was not all the happy to see the saints give him all that money. He had one outstanding year and then the pay day. I am not happy he got hurt but he did let us see Jenkins early and often. I will be surprised if Bunkley gets his starting job back to be honest.

Bunkley in the rotation is a good thing.
Bunkley getting fewer snaps than Jenkins is wise thing.

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins

jeanpierre

Hagan, gotta disagree...

Bunkley wasn't the problem on the defensive line...

Sedrick Ellis, Will Smith were the biggest problems on the defensive line...

In fact, I'd argue that if Bunkley can return we'll see a marked improvement over what we already have as the defensive line will have another soldier to help the rotation stay fresher longer through four quarters...

And with Cam Jordan lined up in his familiar collegiate gap assignment, he's flourished...

But you're right that the injuries have forced the hand of very stubborn coaches to play younger players; a higher power is trying to show these coaches that younger players on defense increases the likelihood to win games...

And sharing the workload is smarter because the salary demand, comittment of a rotation player isn't as high...

Also, you're able to weather injuries when you have a multitude of rotational players rather than a couple of uber salary players who, when injured, costs wins...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

dizzle88

Chris ivory for John Jenkins is looking like a real good trade for draft pick right about now

John jenkins in this rotation could be a very good player

SaintsBro

I'm sure that the Guy Who Posts Responses To Every Other Post will chime in with his two cents and disagree with me, but I think a large part of the success is, simply because they BELIEVE in it again. Did you see last night? It was crazy out there. Every play, while the Dolphins were in the huddle, or lining up, you'd have 3, 4 Saints defenders waving their arms around, trying to get the crowd to MAKE NOISE!!! Even during time outs, even during TV TIME OUTS with Mr. Orange Mittens, they were beating their chests, flexing muscles, jumping around before and after almost every play. It was emotional and they showed ENERGY, they showed passion, they showed confidence, and the crowd was feeding off of it.

That is happening because, beyond all the technical adjustments that Ryan has made, they are BUYING IN to the defense and BELIEVE it can work. They are investing it with energy and intensity that they DID NOT HAVE last year. Because they "QUIT" on Spagnowedon't. Last year, they looked listless and dull and lifeless out there, getting penalties for too many men on the field because they would just casually saunter off to the sidelines like they didn't care, just walking. Not this year. Everybody is IN and on board with Ryan and that's what makes it so darn exciting to watch.

Jack Vegas

That's all I meant. Need both guys.