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Underhill: Impossible to ignore injuries as Saints cling to life after big loss to Falcons

Nobody wants to hear excuses.

The standings aren’t going to pardon the Saints for losing their third game just because they were without more than half of their projected starters on defense. New Orleans lost to the Atlanta Falcons 45-32, are now 0-3, and will need a major rebirth to save the season.

"No, it's next man up," linebacker Craig Robertson said. "You'll hear that all over the NFL because you can't change what you do week in and week out from injuries. It's always next man up."

The Saints aren’t going to make excuses. That’s not what football teams do. It’s a next-man-up world, and the ability to fill in and overcome adversity is typically what separates winning teams from losing teams. But it’s impossible to tell the story of this game without noting who wasn’t on the field, and it has to be pointed out that, at least at cornerback, the seventh man is up and on the field at this point.

No question guys have to step up and make things happen, and the standings don't care how logical the reason for losing might be. A loss is a loss is a loss.

But the reality is that it’s hard to operate when there when the starting defense has just as many replicas on the field as real starters. And on Monday night, the wounded players infected the body of the team, and the body of the team didn't perform well enough to fight off the effects.

Now, the Saints as a whole are clinging to life.

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Nobody is going to argue that the Saints defense has been a steel curtain through two games. But it was decent. The team played well for three quarters against Oakland until cornerback Delvin Breaux broke his fibula, and it didn’t surrender a touchdown in Week 2 to the high-powered New York Giants offense.

But perhaps it should be pointed out that the defense was allowing 4 yards per carry entering action and that defensive tackle Tyeler Davison, who is typically on the field on the in running situations, was sidelined with foot and shoulder injuries. Maybe the Giants and Raiders didn’t have the proper formula to expose the weaknesses in the Saints running defense, but the unit wasn’t this porous during the first two games.

Strong safety Kenny Vaccaro, who missed the game with an ankle injury, was also missed against the run. He also would have likely made a difference in the passing game, where it seemed like Atlanta kept running on the Saints by dicing up New Orleans after the catch.

Even so, it’s hard to find the level of disdain needed to rant about this being the worst defense ever, as some likely will, when Davison, Vaccaro, Breaux and linebacker Dannell Ellerbe were all sidelined. And that’s not counting cornerback P.J. Williams and defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, both of whom are on injured reserve....

Underhill: Impossible to ignore injuries as Saints cling to life after big loss to Falcons | Saints | theadvocate.com[/B]