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- - Byrd (https://blackandgold.com/saints/68479-byrd.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Dude (Post 614953)

I see a lot of people down on him. I get it, he doesn't look like the player we hoped he would be. Adding insult to injury we have key Saints players we had to let go to sign him and JG on other teams having a good year.
He isn't producing but the guy hits hard. Its really really hard to evaluate how well any of our DBs are doing because they are not getting any help whatsoever up front. Like I said in another post, you can have an entire backfield of Richard Shermans but it wouldn't matter if your line gave the QB all day to throw and continually let players by to get into the secondary.
Maybe we should have focused more on the D line this offseason instead of safeties.
It all starts up front. If you want to build a good defense you have to start there and build backwards.

There wasn't an immediate need to upgrade the D-line because they didn't suck last year. We could have been better at DT, where we've struggled to stop the run for years, but the fact is we had no problem getting pressure last year. Now everybody looks slow and confused. More importantly though, they look scared to tackle. If you can't make a simple tackle you're hopeless. You can have blazing speed, diagnose every play perfectly and be all around the ball, but if you miss the tackle you're useless.

Sadly, missed tackles are just one of the problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by billyt81 (Post 615134)

. I've been waiting for teams to attack Vaccarro cuz he's slow and they have been with much success. . No one will mention it cuz he's our golden boy but he ran the same combine 40 as Harper. Just saying.

Vaccaro has looked as bad or worse than Harper ever did. Vaccaro is an in the box safety similar to Harper. Play him too deep and he'll get exposed. Keep him in the box and he's probably a pro-bowler.

Byrd has looked bad, but that's what happens to safeties when you don't have a solid pass rush or a good front 7.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danno (Post 615155)

Vaccaro has looked terrible, but then what player on our defense has actually looked good?

Corey white stills grades out as our best DB, I still see him trying every week, I can't say the same for the others

Keenan Lewis did an excellent job on Dez Bryant. Man to man. No help from the safeties. He did his thing. Vacarro did well playing nickel corner and covering people last year. I don't know what the issue is. Everybody on our defense looked great last year. Maybe it's because teams didn't know what to expect. They've got a year worth of film. They know exactly what they want to exploit.

I heard a ridiculous statistic yesterday (sorry can't qoute it, maybe Oak can help) about the number of solo tackles made by our DB's and safeties against Dallas. This of course means they were the last chance to tackle because the Dallas player had gotten past the front 7.

Until the front starts getting some pressure and playing at the level we all thought they were capable of, it just doesn't matter if it's Byrd, P-Rob, White, Charles Woodson, or Ronnie Lott. They are going to get picked apart every week.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizzle88 (Post 614987)

Darren Sharper did...

Well, let's go get Sharper out of jail and put him on the field then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainshawn (Post 615176)

Well, let's go get Sharper out of jail and put him on the field then.

Not saying anything about the fact that he's a rapist, because he deserves to be in jail and never come out

I'm talking strictly on the field, when sharper lined up 20-25 yards back he still managed 10 picks

I wish we could mimic the bills defensive scheme where Byrd was so successful.

Byrd has been one of 4 defenders I see making efforts. Only he, Keenan, White and Lofton are playing. Everyone else is awol. We overpaid for him but in fairness I saw him as the last piece of the puzzle that was an excellent defense last year. I figured with him as a realistic upgrade over Malcolm Jenkins we could play more one high safety coverage and allow Vaccaro to be disruptive at the line.

I truly do not understand what is wrong beyond lack of effort, ignoring basic fundamentals of defense and perhaps our scheme becoming stale. We have been atrocious on defense overall and it's shocking and frustrating.

All I can say is we better f**king beat Tampa Bay into oblivion.

Vacarro last year was very solid in guarding te's and wr's in the slot and was a beast in run support. Idk what it is this year, imma go with no pressure and scheme same with Byrd having to babysit cb's instead of roaming like he did in Buffalo. Seems like Rob and Sean are trying to reinvent the wheel and out smarting themsleves in the process