How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

You know with all the talks about adressing the saints D woes, I find myself still positive and even somewhat excited about next years D?? Is it the will of a Wishful thinking Saints fan, That the performance of the last 4 games will carry on throughout the next year?? Possibly. Could it be that when finishing LAST in D stats , Next year can only be better?
( Knock on wood) Is it all concerns out there or is there anyone else caught in the same boat??

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

Not only could our D get better, but our offense left room open to get worse. Now that\'s a thought for next year. :(

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

I believe that as FA and the draft goes, so goes the Saints season. The next couple of months will be all we need to gauge how the Saints will fare this football season.

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

Well, according to WhoDat, this team has enought talent to win the super bowl ... :P

I happen not to be in that camp, however.

You\'re not going to find too many Saints\' fans that are optimistic about this defense unless we pick up a stud player. Most likely a linebacker.

I\'m under now illusion that we don\'t need help on the defense. Because we do. We\'re simply not as talented as some of the better defenses in the NFL.

HOWEVER - Fans want to write the last 4-games off as some kind of fluke or say it\'s because we faced inferior competetion. I don\'t see it that way, though. What I saw was the biggest improvent on the Saints defense since 2000.

There has never been a 4-game period where the Saints\' defense looked so good. Not unless you go back to the 2000 season.

Some of the improvement was due to the young linebackers. But, most of it was because of the change of scheme. It allowed the players to make plays. It allowed James Allen to look better than we\'ve ever saw him. It allowed Bockwoldt to look good. And it made Mike McKenzie look like a pro-bowl cornerback ... which he didn\'t before the change in scheme.

And that final game against the Panthers covinced me that the defense was for real.

But, there\'s still a lot of room for improvement....

[Edited on 2/3/2005 by GumboBC]

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

LOL! Now that\'s priceless.

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

We have 3 A-players at DE, one of the premier positions in the NFL.
We have a good DT in Young.
We have very young 3 LB\'s that looked like they finally got it during the last 4 games
We have a stud #1 CB (McKenzie)
We have a promising #2 CB with good upside (Brown)
We have 3 CB\'s I\'d consider above average at the nickle (Craft, Thomas, Ambrose)
We have a veteran SS playing his best football ever.
We have a promising young SS who should now be 100% recovered from an ACL.
We have a new DC (even if he is oddly titled an \"assistant DC\")
We have a young DT with the talent and potential to be quite good, if he wants too.

Does that help?

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

YEP! That\'s what I was hoping to hear, It\'s not just me! The Talent is hopefully comming through. The comment on Changing schemes at the end of the season to simplify things also helps. Get rid of those false start penalties and be in better shape.

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

I don\'t know that there will be a lot to look forward to next season for the D for two concerns:

(1) The defensive schemes employed last year were either too confusing or ill-applied. That means either the players need to be smarter or the coordinator needs to be smarter (or both). With essentially the same group intact, I cannot forecast that there will be an improvement, despite the \"last 4 games,\" which were against inferior offenses.

(2) The offense must improve in several ways -

(a) time of possession
(b) third down conversion rate
(c) 1st quarter scoring
(d) fewer turnovers causing a short field defense situation
(e) fewer \"and goal\" turnovers

Each of these factors contributed to the defense\'s poor performance last year. The only good thing to look forward to is that the Special Teams units were ranked #2, which means they helped the D more than any other team except Buffalo (whose defense did little with that advantage, as well.)

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

How can I be excited about next year\'s D?

They can\'t get worse!!!!



Yeah BnB, I liked that too. I may need to change that slogan.

Billy Brand Beachware - Flip Flops for the Real World.

LMAO.

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

well to me i hope. i hope that we start off next year on d the way we ended it this year. i mean those guys really played good. to me the last game was most telling. we shut down a panthers o that was on fire up until then. the 2nd half of the season. but i have no idea how they will come out next year. maybe jim took more responsibility. maybe the new guy they hired will have more responsibility. taking some from venturi. i dont know for sure that guys the problem but man our d has been crap since he took over. i cant imagine he turned it around the last 4 games. maybe if he has less to do with it that is the answer.

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

I hope they\'re better than the last 4 games of \'04 cuz they weren\'t that great then. Maybe better than earlier in the season, but that\'s not saying much. Two of the games were given to them (Atl & Dal) and the other two they played justok.

I need more than that to get excited about their potential effectiveness next year.

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

i disagree about the carolina game. they played really good against a team that was lighting everyone else up

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

I\'m not sure if Danno is being serious or sarcastic - but if serious, he\'s been a regular hum-dinger optimist lately.

Dropping the :censored: debates certainly seems to have improved the atmosphere!!!

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

i agree mut

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

How good is our D?
Let me break it down simply and by position

DE-Good unit. Two A players and a B. However, one of the A\'s might be on his way out. Still powerful position.

DT-Young is good, but we start 2 DTs

OLB-Weak players that wuld play back-up for almost any other team. Looked better at end of season, but still don\'t feel comfortable with them

MLB-Average. Watson should continue to improve and will have a solid carrer.

CB1-Average for a number 1. no stud however

CB2-Woulb be a CB3 on most other teams.

CB3,4,5-Good, but unfortunatly we can\'t start 5 corners

S-Bellamy is playing well but he is like 50 and likly to die soon. Tebucky just can\'t cut it.

So their it is. While we have some talent and potential, we have more negatives than positives and need some dramatic changes. If things don\'t change, I expect a D raked between 20 and 25.

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

i think its possible. but more has been done with less. i think it could depend on who is calling the d. what ya think?

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

We need at least one major player change. We need either a great DT to stop the run or a great OLB to blitz the QB and cover RB\'s out the backfield.
If we could stop the run, we put opponets in tough passing situations which helps the secondary.
If we blitz the Q, we force bad passes which helps the secondary.
If we don\'t allow the quarterback to dump the ball off to the RB when no other options are open, we stop drive.

Bottom line, the Saints need at least one playmaker on D. And that is the bare-minimum. If we don\'t, expect another sub-par yaer.

How can I be excited about next year's D?
 

im with you taytay. i especially like the idea of a good d tackle. to me everything starts up front so thats where we should concentrate. and we need a dt