Barry from MS

Not particularly talented. We were without 2 starting safeties with 2 banged up linebackers and held the Boys to 193 yards...all game. The D really only gave up 14 points considering the spec teams fumble. Remember, the Girls were 4th in scoring with 27.4 per game; 19th with 327.8 yards per game.

Folks, talent isn't the sole ingredient for automatic "W's". I wouldn't get too upset with the national media calling this defense "untalented". Giving up 18.1 per game for 5th in the NFL...suck it hard Gantt, as he is not a particularly talented writer or thinker, either.

"I'd far rather be happy than right any day" ~ Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
"Honor: if you need it defined, you don't have it" ~ Ron Swanson

biloxi-indian

Calling Gantt the national media is an insult to the national media.

ikecomp

I honestly didn't have an issue with most of the article. I think we can all agree with his assessment of our oline. I can't disagree with what he said about ingram either. I also think he's correct about our defense. It wasn't stocked with pro-bowlers like the chiefs. It's just a really solid, well coached defense that has some decent depth.

There are no gamebuster d-lineman or other worldly linebackers getting 30 tackles a game. Just guys that are doing their job.

The one thing I take exception to is how he's downplaying the overall success of the defense. At the end of the day, the defense is putting up numbers comparable to some of the more "talented" defenses in the league and that should be respected more regardless of the lack of big names. We took one of the league's best offenses last night and completely destroyed it. No need to call our defense all-world but at least respect the results.

Jack Vegas

They are confusing "big names" for "talent." We have several players on this defense who are elite performers at their position this year. Show me all the big-name defensive linemen in the league, Cam Jordan has outperformed just about all of them. Same for Lewis at corner, and I suspect our safety play is around the top of the league despite the revolving door of injuries.

ScottF

Wonder how 'talented' we'll be when our two starting safeties are healthy, and our MLB's are 100%.
and no way the 'un'-talented Jordan was anywhere near 100% last night

CoreyO

If we don't have any talent why have they compaired Jordan to JJ Watt all year long

halloween 65

I would take a solid D unit over a few talented players day in and day out. Our D seems to play way better than I expected this season. An example of very talented players that do not play as a solid unit is Dallas, they have more talent than most teams in the league but do not play well together. It's not all about big names but more of what to do when to do, thats all, but it's much easier said than done.

The Dude

Maybe we aren't talented from a personnel standpoint. Not every team has dream team players like Ware, Talib, Suh, Willis, etc, but I guarantee we do more with less than any other team in the league.
We also have a lot of young players on the team that will be talent that are relatively unknown at this point. Vaccaro, Jr, Jordan, etc.

QBREES9

Pro Football Talk "not particularly talented" enough said.

saintsfan403

Not saying I don't want Vaccaro back, but Harper and Jenkins are more than sufficient for this game. No. 7 couldn't complete a deep ball last week and our secondary is no longer haemorrhaging yards...would rather have Jenks and Bush in deep coverage and Harper in the box. Plus no Vernon Davis for the 9ers this week.