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:

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

I didn't notice any alignment, 12 men on the field issues so that's a plus for Stephone however he is still a liability in coverage.

Coach (study, preparation, film review) him up guys!

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

I don't know man. I'm not sure that Anthony's lack of playing time has anything to do with the system. It might be true that he could be better suited in a different system but, generally speaking, coaches will try to get their best players on the field and let them play through any schematic learning curve.

I think not playing virtually at all this season speaks volumes about Anthony's ability to grasp an NFL defense, in general. I could be wrong, but from what I see of him on the field and coinciding with his lack of playing time, I don't know what else it could realistically be. That's just my opinion. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I just see it a lot differently at this point.

You mentioned that he doesn't have the range to cover, and that has been a huge disappointment for me, because people raved about his speed and quickness coming out of college. I don't think he's slow, but whatever speed he has is not helping him track the ball.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

From what I saw he played well....he's no more a liability in coverage than C.Robertson

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

doesn't t seem to matter now, the pickity tackety he cant do this or that is just lets see what u learned from the bench all year. if trading him is the thing well so be it. theres going to be a coach cleaning house coming soon.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

this offense has gotten atrocious as of late when theres another team that hasa shot for after season playoff hopes its every single team that just pomles us into something we havent seen, we cant match there effort to keep hope of contention, we crumble brees is rattled,eyes bigger than ever back there , come on un can see it a thousand miles away DBs jumping his throws week after week. DBs jabbering everywhere that there reading his eyes its so simple now to pick him off , come on dammit i'm fed up, put a viser on if this is the way hes going to finnish it here in nola, sorry if i burned some pu#@ys but this is not drew brees sorry.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

For what I seen he did a great job. He just need more reps to build up his confidence in coverage. On one particular play I notice he had excellent coverage but his confidence in his coverage look like he bailed out at the end looking for a offensive interference. On plays of attacking the run was exceptional, but I would like for him to be more decisive when hitting the holes on his attack to the runner which only comes with more reps. Don't come back next year screwing the kid into playing strong lb. if they choose start Robertson at middle keep Anthony at back up mlb

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

MLB is a tough spot. Quarterback for the defense. Not only do you have to know what you're responsible for on each play, you gotta make sure everyone else is lined up in the right spot AND be able recognize what the offense will do based on the way they line up AND check out of the called play if it doesn't match up. If the other team thinks the MLB isn't up to the task, they'll take advantage of it.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

Reporter with cajones should have asked, "How much of this do you feel is a coaching failure and how much on him?"

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

From watching CRob throughout this season, he very rarely makes a mistake in zone coverage. Maybe not as consistent as we would like, however when it's time to pick up the TE on the seam .. he picks him up. I may sound like a Robertson homer but the man is in on a ton of tackles.

But circle back to Stephone for a moment. His overall lack of awareness in coverage is alarming. There were plays where he left zone/man & went off into a "twilight zone" where there were no receivers within 5 + yards, resulting in wide open catches :(. I'm not sure which tv announcer said but I'm paraphrasing here ... "#50 is out there in no mans land covering the grass". This is why I continue to comment on SA and his lack of coverage skills.

He still looks awkward in space :hallucinate:.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

He is. Ryan was going from a 4-3 to a 3-4 which I think suits Anthonys strenghth to a tee. Coverage is not his strong suit. Stuffing holes and blitzing is what he would do best, shoring up the middle against the run.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

Sry but he has been on the bench all year and some of you expect him to be a pro bowler... he did do positive things considering he hasn't played all year...

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

No one is anticipating him to be a Pro Bowler this early however expectations are higher based on where he was drafted.

FWIW Stephone Anthony graded out @ 38.0 (one of the worst players) according to PFF on last Sunday :rolleyes:.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

You cover areas in zone not players....and C Robertson has been beat a plenty in man how do you get better at something by sitting on the bench then getting told to go play well at it?? PRACTICE & REPITITION make perfect not the opposite....Ive seen C Robertson give up a TD before half vs the Panthers which without we would've won don't get me WRONG I'm a fan of Craig but he's far from our best cover LB it's Ellerbe or Stupar

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

Apparently he still has a lot to learn. I'm pretty sure most of us are OK with that learning process including these last 3 games.

Re: Stephone Anthony turned in 'winning performance'
 

That was all on the coaching, you can hardly blame Craig Robertson for not being able to catch Ted Ginn Jr on a deep route. If you watch the play, he was literally one step behind one of the fastest receivers in the league.