Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

The aforementioned positions are of concern to me Lelito is totally unproven,having Goodwin is good insurance but I .can't help thinking that the saints are hoping for Lelito claims the spot Our starting ILBs have been below average.If Fort can contribute I would be very happy. Graham and Dimke will battle it out in training camp. Neither of these guys have my confidence .

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

tired of a gamble on the O line yet again this year? same here.

ILB are solid in run support but neither seems to have a clue in pass coverage. another year quick hitters over the middle to negate the pass rush.

kickers? oh god lets pray

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

Thanks, I was wondering about that.

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

I think Humber and Reddick see more playing time; Humber at least seems to be decent in pass coverage...

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

Lofton and Hawthorne are not anywhere close to "below average." I wonder what some people think they are seeing when they are supposedly watching Saints games. They are both good, solid linebackers and would be an upgrade for 2/3rds of NFL teams.

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

Lofton and Hawthorne are average at best. They are still better suited playing the MLB spot in a 43. Fact is neither of them are fast enough to be a ILB. I personally think Humber out-performs both of them, but unless they get injured Humber won't start. Humber won't start because paying Lofton or Hawthorne to sit on the bench won't look good (let's call this the Shanle situation). Fort is a development project, but maybe he'll come along fast enough.

We aren't in trouble at ILB, but out of every other position on D, I think it's our weakest link.

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

Lofton is great at best, however, better suited for a 4-3. How good are we really expecting linebackers to be in pass coverage? If your defensive backs and pass rush does its job you don't have to worry about how well an ILB can pass cover. Most of the time they're just sitting in some sort of zone anyway to tighten up the passing g window.

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

Like someone said earlier in a similar post: you can't have a top-5 defense if you're getting poor play from your ILBs.

And I don't believe for a second that SP and/or RR looks at the individual salaries before deciding on who to put on the field on a given time - the best player gets the call every single time.

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

I don't agree that they aren't fast enough to be inside linebackers. How many fast inside linebackers are there? Lofton is one of the quicker linebackers in the league, and I value quickness more than speed in an inside backer. There's a reason Lofton is always near the top of the league in tackles. He's pretty good at getting to the ball. The problem I have with him is that he doesn't wrap up consistently in the open field. I think he would lead the league in tackles every year if he finished a little more consistently. But overall, he's solid. Hawthorne is what he is. He's not bad, and he's not that great, but he holds his own reasonably well.

You can't buy all of the best players in the world. You have to choose where you want your strengths to be and invest in those areas, and then do what you can to make the other parts competitive. In our case, we've invested a lot in the secondary. You really have to get lucky to come up with pro bowlers at other positions. We got lucky already with Galette, even though he didn't make the pro bowl, it's pretty obvious that getting 12 sacks out of him was a big deal. There are some young guys at linebacker who will hopefully surprise us this year, but if not, I really don't think our linebackers are that much of a weakness. I do agree that they are the weakest of the unit's, though.

Re: Center ILB,and kicker worry me
 

4-3 MLBs have to be faster than 3-4 ILBs and have to be better in pass coverage.
3-4 ILBs don't have as much area to cover.

Ours are just fine.