Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

Up until Sunday's loss to Tampa Bay, Stephone Anthony hadn't lined up at middle linebacker since the end of his rookie season.

An injury to Craig Robertson placed Anthony back in the role against the Buccaneers, and he lived up to the confidence Dennis Allen showed in him last week.

Anthony led the Saints with nine tackles-for-loss, added a tackle-for-loss on the goal line and although he had some early issues in coverage, the second-year player filled in admirably for Robertson, who leads the Saints with 99 tackles.

"There's a handful of looks we'll make corrections on in tape, but he gave us a definite winning performance," Payton said.

Anthony was initially set to be the Saints' starter at strong-side linebacker, but an inability to understand his role in the defense forced him into a special teams role this year after making 112 tackles in 16 starts as a rookie.

But Allen has seen some improvement in the classroom over the course of the season, and Anthony held up while playing every one of the Saints' 66 snaps on defense.

"He filled in nice, he got a lot of work," Payton said. "Overall, I think he did a lot of things positive."

Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance' in return to middle linebacker, Sean Payton says | Saints | theadvocate.com

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

Opportunity (Injury) and Coaching (Dennis Allen)...

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

Really? He looked awful...

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

No he didn't. He missed a few plays and they're only glaring because of all the discussion as of late...

He needs playing time in a new system...

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

Yeah he did, at least from what I saw.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

There were plays where he was around the ball carrier for a loss but that was all due to Cam Jordan and Nick Fairley. They completely threw their blocker to the ground.

Anthony missed a ton of tackles and got drove backwards when he made them.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

I thought he did well enough to play in the one game all season at MLB. I disagree about Allen having confidense in him at MLB spot, he was all that was left to play there. To me he showed how bad Allens judgement really is not keeping him in the middle.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

I thought all last year, and said it on here a few times, that nothing Anthony was doing was all that impressive. People kept showing me stats of other rookies and how Stephone had more tackles than them. I thought it was pretty obvious that playing middle linebacker on a bad defense would lead to a lot of opportunities for tackles. I used Curtis Lofton as exhibit A.

The amount of tackles didn't impress me. I saw him constantly out of position in coverage, I saw him getting pushed around and missing tackles. He did make some nice plays. But it wasn't anything to really change my overall perception of his season. I certainly hadn't given up on him, though, after just one season. It was simply my opinion that he hadn't shown anything worth getting excited about, yet. Not many people agreed with me, and continued to show me his stats vs. other rookies.

I look up today, and there are several of those same players, having very good years, and the Saints were clearly not impressed by Anthony's performance last year, enough to let him start one game until week 14. I have criticized plenty of things about the Saints coaching staff, but the complete absence of playing time for Anthony surely can't all be on blind coaching.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

It's funny you bring up Lofton. I think Anthony is another Lofton 2.0 except bigger, I never liked the pick but his hussle grew on me. Anyone can see he will never be a Vilma, but he's tough against the run and a step to slow just like Lofton. I don't think he was drafted to be a Vilma type or a Kiegly(carolinas mlb) for a 4-3 that has great range to cover but he's more of an enforcer in the middle in a 3-4 or a 4-3. A lb. like Anthony doesn't fit Allens type of D for the starting middle spot but not to use this kid on certain packages in the MLB spot,I would call that blind coaching. If he gets traded I hope NE or Pittsburg picks him up.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

Yeah, I was not impressed at all with number 50. He just didn't look comfortable or competent. I have officially given up on Anthony.:brood: