GumboBC

Here's something I've been wanting to dive into. I just haven't done it yet because I know how this is going to go. Never-the-less, I'm going to give it a shot...

For 12-weeks the defense played horrible against the run. And it wasn't only the "elite" backs who were able to have their way against our defense.

Take a look at what these runningbacks were able to do in the first 12-weeks!

K. Barlow 20 114 2 60
E. Smith 21 127 1 29
M. Moore 15 109 0 20
N. Goings 36 122 1 19

Starting to get the picture? In case you don't fully understand ... Our defense couldn't stop ANYONE!

But, "something" happend over the last 4-games.

All of a sudden "nobody" could run the ball against our defense.

Consider this:

J. Jones 23 88 1 15
W. Dunn 18 52 1 16
N. Goings 13 46 0 11

Now, some of you might want to say that the only reason for the improvement was because those guys weren't "elite" running backs. But, all of those runningbacks were regularly rushing for 100+ yards against other teams. And, for the first 12 weeks, we couldn't stop ANYONE!

Was this just luck? Perhaps!

But, I don't think so.

It was clear to anyone who has followed the Saints' defense that something changed. The "scheme" was changed drastically over the final 4-games. All of a sudden, our defense was a stong suit!!

I believe because we've suffered through 4 long years of terrible defesne that fans simply believe our defense is going to be bad no matter what.

I believe Haslett finally got tired of what Venturi was doing and took over. His hiring of Willy Robinson on defense is further proof of that to me.

While some fans might not be looking foward to seeing the defense next year ... I am!! Even if we don't pick up ONE player on defense, I beleive we will be much improved.

Not saying we're going to be top 10. But I think we'll be much better.

And of course, I do think we'll add someone to help the defense.





[Edited on 12/2/2005 by GumboBC]

WhoDat

ROFLMAO

Huh? What? Where\'s the proof? Haslett said that Venturi is his guy, that Robinson doesn\'t effect that, and that Venturi is still here after the last 4 years is proof to me that Haslett is serious about Venturi.

But wait, you\'re suggesting that you observed something about this team and have made assumptions based on what you believe to be the reasonable despite the lip-service that the team may be making in public and people here are supposed to believe you? After you have attacked so many of us for doing exactly that in the past simply b/c it wasn\'t the opinion you had as well...


How is this different than last year? And the year before? And the year before that? ...

LOL - selling sunshine as usual.

\"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s all anyone ever makes for the New Orleans Saints’ organization.\" - Eric Narcisse


\"Being a Saints fan is almost like being addicted to crack,\" he said.[i]\"You know you should stop, but you just can\'t.\"

LongTimeFan

You know I tried to understand the last 4 games and I can\'t, really there were no changes made except for prectices, maybe Haslett worked them to hard,
I keep looking back when we loss to the Cards, we really should have won that game, Emmit Smith shouldn\'t have ran the ball as he did, it will take time for me to forget that game, if we would have won that game we\'re in the playoffs and it\'s anybody\'s guess how we would have done once in the playoffs

SCSaint

You can take it back further than that. I\'ve posted this several time in several places, I\'m sure YOU\'VE read it.

I\'m bored and did some looking and found this on our defense. This is the last six games of the season. Some will say \"look who we are playing\" but all the teams we played had a chance at the playoffs when we played them and give maximum effort.

Carolina=320 total yards

Atlanta=240 total yards

Tampa=283 total yards

Dallas=269 total yards

Carolina=401 total yards

Atlanta=396 total yards

Now if you average that out its 318.2 yards per game. That would be 10th best in the league, not bad.

Also over these 6 games our defense forced 16 turnovers. Our young defense finally showed a little hunger and its very inspiring, in my opinion.

Cant wait till next year..............

Now my opinion is Mike McKenzie made the difference. He alone(and F.Brown stepped up) took the pressure of the Safties and they took the pressure of the LBs and they took it of the D-Line. Think about it.....It makes since

alsaints113

Once again GumboBC tells it like it is. I agree with this 150,000% and in fact have posted some similar comments on this board and others right after the 4 game run. Of course not as detailed with stats but the same basic idea. I too noticed the difference in the defense the last four games and hope this translates well into next year.

I really enjoy reading your posts. It\'s a shame you are considered a \"sunshiner\" because I don\'t even read that in your posts. What I read are the cold hard facts. Of course, unless you are here to \"voice your frustration\" or tear down everything about the team you usually get criticized by the Spinners.

I think most posters here are the type who think that our Saints should be thinking about those first 12 games and how crappy they were and useless and \"high schoolish\" etc in order to have a good \'05 season. I for one hope that the players and coaches take what they learned in the last 4 games and apply it to giving us a stellar \'05 season. I hope they erase those first 12 games from their memory because it will only serve to drop their morale, whereas they really have something to be prod of regarding the last 4 games. I think you get my meaning.

I guess I am a tree-hugging hippie Sunshiner...so be it.

SCSaint

All this posiyive talk gets me ampedfor football. Something good is gonna happen this year.

papz

They \"simplified\" the scheme the second half of the season to see the ball, see player, hit hit hit. Genius! You see the first half of the season the gameplan was just to jump, fall,and maybe, just maybe, someone will trip over one of their limbs.
Tebucky Jones perfected it the first half of the year, and Sullivan incompany followed his lead.

Tobias-Reiper

ah.. stats... they\'re a beautiful thing..

..that game #13 was against a 5-11 TB team that ranked 22 overall in total offense... that don\'t matter...

..that game #14 was against a 6-10 Dallas team that ranked 14 overall in total offense... talking playoffs here!

that game #15 that everyone knows the Falcons played not to get hurt because they had abso;utely nothing to play for... what the heck, let\'s fool ourselves...

..that game #16 was against a decimated Panthers team that had no more to give ... (I\'ll give credit to the boys for this game, though.. they played tough...)

..here, I give you guys a last \"stat\"

in the season the Saints won 8 games and lost 8 games... that averages to .500, which ranks BAD in the NFL... how\'s that for a stat?

.. hey, I\'m as happy as anyone they actually won the games, but I am not going to fool myself thinking that the last 4 games of the season meant anything other than what they were: 2 wins against bad clubs, one win against a team that didn\'t want to get hurt, and one team decimated by injuries..

[Edited on 13/2/2005 by Tobias-Reiper]

'Cause the simple man pays the thrills, the bills and the pills that kill

shadowdrinker

I agree Tobias...I\'m not going to get very excited about those wins...they are meaningless now anyway...

If I was running the mile...and i get smoked the first 3 laps...then finally sprint the very last one...I wouldn\'t reach too hard to pat myself on the back...nor..would I expect anyone else to...

Like moths to the flame...haha

Saint_LB

Very, very well said. This is one of the best posts I\'ve ever read. I was thinking the same thing, but never could have put it into words like that. Great job!! :thumbsup: