Jack Vegas

It's that simple. Other teams worked. We just rested on our laurels, thinking that last year would automatically carry over to this year. We didn't put in the work in the offseason and that's showing through on the field.

I attribute that to a mostly young team; young players with newfound success who didn't know how to handle it. So obvious on the defensive line when you look at Jordan, Galette and Hicks, guys who tore it up last year but can't even sniff the QB now. I don't think the coaches are immune to it, either. Rob Ryan got his first real taste of success in a long time and started reading all the press clippings about what a great genius and guru he is, and forgot the simple, fundamental things that made his defense good.

I think the team has probably by now taken a good long look in the mirror, and now they understand that complacency has been a shotgun in the mouth to the season.

This is where the truly great organizations recover. The Patriots are one of those teams that can look terrible and you wonder if they're ever going to win a game, then next thing you know they have won 7-8 games in a row and lead the division. We know the Saints can do the same thing, we saw them do it in 2011.

I think it will definitely be interesting down the stretch. This team can still make the playoffs. Assume we win all 8 games at home; that means if we can win 2 road games we'll at least be in the picture for a wildcard spot. And as crappy as the NFCS looks this year, we might even have a shot at that.

No time to waste though. This team needs to win next week, straighten things out during the bye week and then start tearing it up. I have faith it can happen, 100%.

DrewDat

I agree but we MUST figure out this Cornerback issue

saintsfan403

White is awful, looks lost in coverage. I dunno if Ryan is trying to over complicate sh*t, but he's deviated from whatever he was doing last year. Need to get back to the basics and away from whatever the f*ck this is.

saintsfan403

I also want to say thank you making a completely rational, positive thread. I was worried about what I would find on here tonight.

Jack Vegas

^Why scapegoat White? He didn't look any worse than anybody else. Keenan gave up a TD, Vacarro suddenly can't cover anybody. Byrd lines up 45 yards from the line of scrimmage, no wonder he's never involved. We can't bring down Murray with six guys on top of him because they're too worried about stripping the ball instead of making a tackle. And that's just the defense. Corey White is the least of our problems right now, seriously.

We also just happened to play a team with a really, really damn good offense tonight. Romo gets a lot of crap because of his turnovers, but when he's hot, he's just as good as Brees. We were going to have to match that team score for score, instead we dropped passes and played soft.

Again though it's still early. We could easily be 3-3 after the next two games which are both very winnable.

saintsfan403

[QUOTE=Jack Vegas;614795]^Why scapegoat White? He didn't look any worse than anybody else. Keenan gave up a TD, Vacarro suddenly can't cover anybody[/] Aside from the TD, Lewis played half decent. White routinely bailed on coverage and b-lined it towards the endzone. That reeks of someone who has no idea what they're doing. Manning vaccaro up on Witten was silly, I have no idea where that idea came from but that experiment was a failure, Witten is way too big to get jammed and KV isn't quick enough to recover. We need a true SAM linebacker, PH is good playing the run but about as bad as Lofton and Hawthorne in coverage.

Jack Vegas

Its too late in the night to get involved in a discussion about zone defense and combo coverage. I will just say that he is not "bailing." Say what you want about White, but he does not play scared. This is more about overcomplicated defense than anything else.

saintsfan403

I'm not blaming White for our defensive woes, no one is playing well, but White was very bad tonight. One thing that needs to come together is the d-line. They're way too talented to be playing this poorly and that's really hurting our DBs. I think the 2013 line will show up soon, but one sack tonight was disappointing.
As for the rest, I agree. The cowboys have huge amounts of talent on offense and with the way that oline is playing it's no surprise that Romo is lighting it up. It's too bad they showed up for the whole game and we didn't, but I agree that we can build off a few home games and hit a win streak.

Jankman8

This team looks scared and out of place often. Watch the bad angle Byrd takes on the first Murray TD, then another play where it should have been a tackle for loss instead it`s a 25 yard gain. I hardly see any really tackling, everybody seems so focused on stripping the ball. A stop on third down IS a turnover!!!

Last season the defense got worse as the season went on. We beat up some rookie QB at home, like the Bills game, but other teams also had a field day against us.

The fire on the Dline is non existing, that was there last season. Last year they covered up some holes on the secondary, this year without any real pressure the secondary looks completely lost.

As for the offense: 2 drops on the first drive, that should have gone for a combined 40 yards. Jimmy Graham that looks lost on the field and the fumble just made his performance worse.

Brees seems to have lost his throwing power, don`t get me wrong he made some awsome throws - f.e. Kenny Stills 46 yarder - but the short bullets I have not seen this year.

hagan714

Reading press clipping and eating boudain is the best way to get mentality ready for the season baby.

The entire team does not have it's head screwed on right. some more than others but as a unit they are totally dysfunctional and running on 1 out 8 cylinders.

there is no fire. no desire.