Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Three straight games no team has scored a touchdown on our defense in the 2nd half; only 15 points in 3 games (5 FGs).

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Somewhat. Losing James Laurinaitis was addition by subtraction. The three safety sets are working out pretty well for us as well. I wish we could get Stephone Anthony on the field and making plays more often. I'd love to have that speed being put to use. Craig Robertson is an EXCELLENT pick up, and Stupar reminds me of a far more athletic Scott Shanle...meaning he'd be better served in a back up role, but makes for a decent starter when need be. I just wish we had Kikiha. I wanted to see his improvement. Glad to have Breaux back. I didn't see him give up anything.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

total points given up by our d the last 3 weeks, 20,13,23

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

We've been a bend (a lot) but no beeak defense. As much as I loved the 4 turnovers, i dont think we can keep depending on them to bail us out when we're giving up 400 yards a game. I still cant figure out if the problem is the players, the scheme, the inexperience, or coaching. Maybe a little of all of the above.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

And those were all juggernaut offenses, of course. I think at times the defense has been sort of adequate, and we've overlooked certain things because of injuries. But there has really been no excuse for the lack of pass rush, at any point this season.

Today was the farthest thing from a sign of progress. I'm hoping for the best moving forward, but there was no resistance out there. And the offense gave them a lot of time to rest.

I've seen the defense play better than this. This wasn't the team you would expect to see such a huge step back against.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Thanks 656.
I was not aware of this

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

no they weren't, but at the same token last year we played a struggling Eagles offense and they lit our asses up for over 500 yards. So I feel ya, but there is improvement. Is it enough, no, not yet.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

They gave up 486 yards to a struggling offense today, in just 21 minutes of game time. I'm trying to see the improvement, but it's not showing up.

I do give a certain amount of slack for injuries, but there aren't enough guys out for this kind of performance. I've had moments were I thought I was seeing them turn a corner, but each time they take a step back.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

They gave up 480 yards to THE LAST RANKED OFFENSE.

No they aren't getting better, I was at the game and you could see all the blown coverages. It's the play calling, there was no way some of those players could make a play.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Especially in the first half I just could not understand what kind of defense was being called, it seemed all the TE's were running free as were any late releasing backs and recievers. It seem that the focus was on containment for Kaper*****. DB's were just nowhere near the ball and open feild tackling was awful.

Having said that they played better in the second half, better pressure with some blitzing and BD's seem to tighting up their coverage so defense made some adjustments at half time. But why continue with a scheme when the scheme is clearly not working for the entire first half?

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Yeah, as bad as the tackling was at times, you're right that the scheme was terrible. When no one is within 10 yards of the ball, you know somebody guessed badly wrong. And when it happens over and over again, it becomes apparent that the staff is not prepared. It was just pitch and catch.

When there was even half decent coverage, or pressure, Kaeperstick would sail the ball to nowhere in particular. It shows he has no idea how to read defenses. You just have to MAKE him think out there. Too much of the time, he didn't have anything to think about.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Defense is improved from last year there is no doubt. It will take a lot more though for us to make the playoffs. Denver then Carolina over the next two weeks. Should tell us a lot about this team. It will take 10-6 this year to sniff the playoffs.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

I don't know, man. Like I said in another post, this is a very mediocre year for the league. I think 9-7 will easily get someone in. If we finish with that record, let's just hope there aren't too many teams tied with us. I suspect a lot of these teams will continue to fade, though. 9-7 should be good enough, but it would be nice to get in more comfortably, of course.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Still missing that key Field General on the field on Defense like the role Vilma played.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Fair assessment and I agree. I felt like we had really turned a corner, but today was a massive step backward.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

alright, here are the D numbers. we are currently letting up 5 less yards per game than last season and exactly the same amount of ppg. but we are 30th in both categories, so there you have it. improvement, i think so :)

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

The secondary is killing us as we all know.

I like our bench as a bench. As for the starters? I am still concerned.

So yet another year were Drew is our best defense.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Political Squidworth just threw for almost 400 yards on us. Our saving grace apparently was forcing and recovering fumbling. Need to be better than that.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

I am no expert on defensive coverages but it looked like a lot of the struggles in the first half were in Zone-coverage when switching responsibilities.

I was encouraged by the fact that we created a bunch of turnovers.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Meh ... the pass rush is nearly non existent. Covering crossing routes (TE's) and the read options is also an issue.
Denver's QB (Trevor S.) isn't nearly as athletic as Kaep however he is mobile. I see potential problems with rolling pockets.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

I thought we didn't have any high priced talent, forget about Jordan because he is just high priced.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

It's definitely players. You can't have DB's playing man and LB's playing zone which is what happened on both long TDs. On one it looked like Robertson dropped in zone and Vaccaro was playing man.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Yeah lets not think we have a top 10 D all of a sudden. Its about match ups and opponets. I think we have individials on D that is improving but overall still have lots of question marks.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

I wouldn't call it non existent. Jordan creates a lot of pressure but he is alone, the QB can escape the pressure by going to the other side.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

The Saints must do a better job with assignments & pressure this week. Kaep was missing receivers more than the Saints making stops. Giving up 300 + passing yards to horrible offensive teams in the first half isn't gonna get us very far long term.

Denver and Carolina will be true tests for this defense. We still have a lot of work to do on that side of the ball.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

I wonder how much "prevent" we played since we were up by 3 scores for most of the game. That'll pad some stats pretty significantly, especially yardage.

I haven't re-watched it yet but I suspect we gave them a lot of underneath stuff. Might be why Vaccaro had such a poor outing stat wise.

But maybe not. Maybe we still suck.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

When we face Atlanta and come out with a win, I will dedicate a shrine to our defense in the living room.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

9-7 might see the playoffs. There is 3 teams over .500 now holding the advantage in the wildcard race. 3 more teams holding at .500.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

We played zone from beginning to end with a couple man mixed in. And I do mean a couple. We did the same thing last week against Seattle. We are not a zone defense. I am assuming we are doing because of facing Wilson and the terrorist this week.

This was not a very good game for Vacarro. He was roasted a few times. He definitely does not shine playing zone. But I guess all that really matters is the score board at the end. We are winning with ugly defense but I'll take it over losing week after week. Hopefully with some guys coming back, these guys can start to gel and play better. I'd say we are inproving a bit but it is not going to change over night.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Mistakes were made in the first half when we played zone, it started to get embarrassing how open the 9ers receivers were but a couple things gave me solace.

The guys played as team, offense made up for defense and vice versa.

The D allowed 20 first half points and 3 second half points, you can't say that isn't a huge adjustment been made there.

Oh yeah...Michael Thomas...that guy is good. If Ezekiel wasn't leading the league in rushing, Thomas would be rookie of the year leader.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

You say it's players but everything you describe goes back to scheme.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

There is no debate, our defense has VASTLY improved. I would love to see them if they had the defensive backs we started camp with.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

To my knowledge, there isn't or there dam well shouldn't be a scheme where some players are in man and some in zone. You all have to be on the same page and in the same coverage to be successful.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Just read this stat;

The Saints defense has forced a league high 9 fumbles and are 9th in the league with 13 takeaways on the season.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

We're bottom dwellers on D, but they do seem to be improving which is a good sign. But, only 2-3 teams that are "good teams" this year are in the top 10-15 defensively. Dallas is clearly the best team right now overall.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Well that's a good stat.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

I think "bottom dwellers" is a bit of a snap judgement. In the last 4 games the defense has generated 7 turnovers and with the exception of the Panthers game has held the opposition to under 23 points a game for 3 straight games. Note that with both KC and Seattle that the offense gave up a turnover for a TD. So the defensive scoring against has been 20,13, and 23 points the last 3 games.

There are 3 crucial stats on defense: scoring, turnovers, and 3rd down percentage. scoring is down the last 3 games. Turnovers are up. and 3rd down percentage is ranked 14th in the entire league @ 38.9%

A hall of fame defense? Certainly not. But honestly, it has improved from flat terrible to adequate.

SFIAH

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

I think the way the offense is playing really puts a lot of pressure on other teams to perform as well. That can only help our defense.

Re: Don't think our defense is improving?
 

Correct, its a huge pressure on an offense having to play catch up all the time during a game. It easily leads to stress and turnovers due to mistakes.