jjasso007

I reflect on our Saints today and we just aren't a very good team. I think we've become accustomed to being dominant since Sean Payton's arrival and now, having a very bad season, there's a lot of anger going around. Heading into this season, we had 73-39 record with Payton on the sideline. That's a 65% winning percentage. Pretty impressive in this day and age.

So what has happened this season? I know people want to blame Payton and Ryan, but we're still running the same offense and defense from last season. Realistically, our players aren't executing, missing tackles and blowing assignments. Now, that's not a reflection of the coaching staff, but a reflection on the players themselves. The coaches can scheme and put the players in a position to be successful, but once there, they need to execute, and that hasn't happened this season. Injuries have put a huge damper on our season, but age has also crept up, especially on the offensive end.

I had posted something a few weeks back showing the top offensive teams and ours, looking at the Oline average age, and we were by far the oldest Oline. Goodwin, Grubbs and Evans are on the downside of their careers and Colston has significantly dropped off from last season. New blood is needed to shore up our Oline problems, which has become even more evident the last couple games. We can't get any push in the run game and Brees has had even more pressure up the middle.

On defense, our CBs are just not very talented (outside of Lewis), and our MLBs are slow and are a huge liability in coverage. Again, major upgrades need to be made to our LB core and CBs. This won't happen in one off season tho. For this season, however, on offense and defense, we have to play the pieces we have, and right now, they are just either getting old, are not very talented, or are making mental mistakes and having fundamental issues (blown assignments, missed tackles, dropped passes).

Will we be dominant again? Yes. Payton is a great offensive mind. But we need to get the pieces in here for him to be successful once again. Back when we drafted Evans and Nicks to keep a clean middle of the pocket for Brees. We need to get young again and add more youth and speed to our defense. We may be a couple years away from being absolutely dominant again, but we'll get there.

WhoDat

blackangold

This team has plenty of talent. The injuries hurt, but we still have too much talent for how bad we are.

Coaches don't just make schemes they make average players better and bad players average. Our coaches just don't do that. Rob's scheme is erratic, but it's his fault for not coaching the players. We were good in 2013 because we had players coaching themselves (Vilma, Harper, Jenkins and Greer) but this year it's all on the actual coaches and we see the results.

If you have multiple players making the same mistakes over and over again that tells me they aren't being coached properly.

dam1953

You read my mind.

Papa Voodoo

I think the loss of Greer and depending on Champ bailey and PRob to fill in at corner is where things went wrong along with Sean demanding more turnovers from the D. PRob and White have given up big plays that have really cost us. We kept our core players from the #4 D and "upgraded" at safety.

At the beginning of the year the D was thinking instead of reacting/anticipating. It looked like RR had instituted a plan to use the "Chicago style" of play where the defense holds the offensive player up and others attempt to strip the ball. It was a disater, but RR was going for what Sean wanted. Then, RR had to switch back to the 2013 defense which stabalized and then the injuries started coming.

The D line should have been able to do much more and getting gashed for huge runs with the same people is mind boggling. We need to get a Vilma style LB, a Willis style LB, and a solid corner opposite of Lewis.

hagan714

the core is solid. it is the core group every one had super bowl or bust in the pre season. now they suck? sorry i can not jump on this band wagon.

were are the saints ranked offensively?
were are they ranked defensively?
which of the two has lost us more games?

answer the three questions and you have your answer.

If it is not defense then there is a problem. talent is there for the most part. Off season moves were not enough to cover up for the talent we cut. than add in that draft and of course things went south.

When the offense takes the field they now they need to score each and every time they have ball because this defense is not going shut any down especially when it is needed most. 3 and out feels like a super bowl win now a days. no add in all the injuries and it is not looking so good

1 CB on this team that can play solid man to man coverage would make a huge difference and help cover up the weakness we have else where. I fear we may need to look at adding a true SS also. maybe. time will tell on that one. but all the other positions we all knew they needed to be addressed for a couple of years now. cap strapped and trading up in a draft a long with picks that can not contribute is well sicking to say the least. I wish they would learn one way to deal with cap issues is through the draft

Now one last question

Who is the person with final word to build this defense?

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins

Mardigras9

How quickly that has been forgotten.




Agree completely.

Cruize

A few simple things. I would start by cutting P. Robinson. He's not good. Other teams target him. Send a message. Next guy up. I would rather go down with a guy like Dixon who's out there atleast fighting. Let SJB get some man to man snaps. Use his size. The offense looked better with Lelito at center. Morgan needs more snaps. Toon needs to get some of Colstons routes. Coleman needs to be activated. See what he's got. Humber plays with passion and fire. He should start over Hawthorne. JR needs to be a situational guy. Not an every down guy. Teams run at him. He wears down. See if cutting his reps helps. Give them to Edebali and Powell. SHAKE IT THE HECK UP A LITTLE BIT! The same 'ol crap every week isn't working. Maybe some of the new guys will accidentally make a play or two.

blackangold

Couldn't agree more with just about every point you made.

AlaskaSaints

Gonna be a long road back to the top.

WhoDat!656

Hopefully not another 40+ years long!!