xan

Ok, since we've all decided that the D sucks and needs more attention this offseason, what to do? Where do you think the problems are and what holes do we fill?

Here is a minor breakdown of defensive stats.

---------------2004 Saints Defense Allowed
----------------Rushing---------------Passing
------------Wins-----Losses------Wins------Losses
Game-------121-------167----------237---------252
1st Half------70---------77----------112---------158
2nd Half-----51---------89----------125----------94

As you can see here, the defense was significantly better against the run in wins, however, this is skewed because teams playing from behind usually pass more (and gain more ground per average play). When we were getting spanked in 5 blowout losses, teams ran more in the 2nd half and passed less.

It seems that the real big problem is pass defense in the 1st half. That's where games seem to be decided early. Teams that beat us went downfield early and often. No matter how you slice it, pass defense was terrible. Was this due to bad schemes? was this due to inadequate pass rush? Was this due to deficient athletes?