Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

As expected, ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer had a lot of insightful thoughts on the upcoming rematch between the New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks -- from the reasons why he thinks Seattle’s defense gets away with being so physical in coverage to his belief that the Saints should speed up their offensive tempo the second time around.

Dilfer was in the stadium for the first “Monday Night Football” meeting between the Saints and Seahawks last month. So I was eager to get his thoughts during a Thursday conference call on what he expects the second time around. Here are the highlights from our Q&A:

On whether the Seahawks are as good as any team in the NFL today at disrupting receivers’ routes:

Dilfer: “Yes, Pete [Carroll] and his staff have done a great job in kind of bringing back the ‘80s secondary play. And I know they’re gonna deny this, but there’s no denying it -- they’re convinced that the refs are only gonna throw about 15 flags a game. And they’re not gonna throw all 15 of those in the secondary. So they might get four to six thrown on ‘em. But they figure, if a team’s gonna throw the ball 40 times and we’re gonna get physical 40 times, they’re not gonna call more than six [penalties]. So they’re really playing the odds with how they play in the secondary.

“I mean, it is a lot of roughhousing -- a term we use in the war room, Tom Jackson, [Tim] Hasselbeck and myself. ‘A lot of roughhousing.’ Which is good. I mean, it’s brilliant what they’ve done. But it makes it very difficult, very frustrating for the quarterback and the wide receivers.”

On whether he expects a better effort from the Saints this time around:

Dilfer: “I think the Saints can play better -- I know they can play better. They have some matchups that are in their favor. In fact, I was talking to John Lynch last night, who’s calling the game with Fox, and we were kind of going over notes. And we both agree that the Saints have some really favorable matchups. It’s whether they can get to them.

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Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

it says a lot to me the wimpie coach carrol is a cheat and a cheat will never stop cheating or finding a way to exploit the rules. hope the ref committee sees that article. shows how to ridicule the clowns in stripes.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

I used to really dislike dilfer but I do respect his opinions and the time he puts in coming up with them. Very rarely does he say something without giving a well thought out reason as to why he feels that way.

Plus, he pointed out something I've been thinking about seattle's defense for a while. I also fell the same way about the panthers and colts secondary. They do a lot of pushing and holding all the way down the field because they know the simple truth that the refs won't call it all the time. It's like holding. It happens almost every play but doesn't get called at the same rate that it happens.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

its ashamed that a playoff game has to come down to how many calls a phreaking ref calls.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

I can fix this; Severe penalty after the 2nd PI call. Third one is a automatic 20 yd penalty. After that ejection along with the penalty and loss of TO.

Really getting tired of seeing blatant PI and the refs starring right at it. It's not just Seattle either, several teams are using this tactic. It has been out of control this season. I agree with Sherman, they don't do anything unique, just mugg receivers and climb their backs.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

I want it to go down like the first panthers game did, The Panthers were pushing and shoving in the secondary, so our secondary clocked 'em in the mouth. Lets show the Seadderal that they wasted picks on trading for Percy Harvin and hold him to 0 catches.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Dilfer is a confirmed Seahawk hater. Take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Dilfer was one of the few that predicted the Saints would beat the Colts in the Super Bowl.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Today's NFL is so soft anyway that some CB physical play
against WR's should be condoned.

To think the Hawks hold on every play as ya'll assume is a
bit ridiculous.

A big difference between the teams is the physical play
vs the finesse play which was shown in the Dec 2nd game.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Whatev, we jus' gonna have to go all grabby hands, too. Fire with fire. Let 'em play.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Don't you have somewhere else to be?

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Whether or not you think it's soft is really irrelevant. It's either against the rules or it isn't. If it is, it should be enforced. If not, then it should be announced that the rules have been changed so every team's DBs can hang on receivers.

You might want to read the article, it's the analysts at ESPN that brought up the claim that Seattle holds on every play.

Since you're trying to be antagonistic, another way to put that is "Slow and Plodding" vs. "Fast and Athletic". Both teams were built to play in their home environment. If the Seahawks had come down to the dome on Dec 2nd, without a doubt, the score would've been reversed.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Nailed it

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...gzAfrGqAtuWO4A

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

No offense, but when an ex-player leaves a team and then is called a 'hater', it doesn't say much for the organization

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

I notice you didn't dispute a single thing he said!

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

One must speak untruths to qualify for hater status. I'm not a fan of dilfer, but he has established a rep for being thorough and fact checking.

Calling someone out for exposing truth is termed either douche-nozzle or spluge-bucket.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

The way to fix all the tugging and grabbing is send 2 recievers on a opposite crossing route and when they meet in the middle, pop the db. that is covering the opposite reciever, the next time the db.'s grab and hold the get pop'ed again, by the 2nd time it happens I bet they worry more about getting pop'ed that they don't tug or grab as bad. If 1 can play dirty 2 can also. Illegal picks =15 yrds. Even trade.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

I like Dilfer and I feel he does not receive the credit he is due.
Once the answer to a punch line, "Well, Dilfer has a ring."

Trent is fair and balanced. I agree he thinks before opening mouth and fact checks.

I feel, he is the best former QB talking head.

All my opinions.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

That sounds an awful lot like cheating to me.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

It's the old "it's only cheating if you get caught" mentality.

Re: Dilfer’s thoughts on Saints-Seahawks
 

I like that in a man.