GumboBC

Recently some of us here at B&G discussed if the offense was responsible for the poor defensive performance or if the defense let the team down. Of course - not everyone agreed on this subject.

Some believe that the offense kept the defense on the field too long and thus made the defense worse than what it was. While I believe there’s “some� truth to this, I really don’t buy into this theory. I support my opinion with this evidence:

1. Saints’ offensive time of possession was 28:18 per game.
2. Saints’ defense finished 32nd in the NFL.

While the Saints’ offense finished 29th in TOP (time of possession) that’s still no reason for the poor defensive performance.

Not when you consider this:

1. Dolphins’ offensive TOP was 28:20 per game.
2. Dolphins’ defense finished 8th in NFL.

Now, you might say that’s just one example and it really doesn’t prove anything. Okay … you might also want to consider the following:


Tampa, Baltimore, Atlanta and the Eagles all finished in the bottom half of the league in time of possession:

Tampa: 29:43 – Rank 18th
Baltimore: 29:36 – Rank 19th
Atlanta: 29:00 – Rank 21st
Philadelphia: 28:26 – Rank 26th
New Orleans: 28:18 – Rank 29th

How did that time of possession affect their total defensive ranking?


Tampa: 5th in total defense.
Baltimore: 6th in total defense.
Miami: 8th in total defense.
Philadelphia: 10th in total defense.
Atlanta: 14th in total defense.
Saints: 32nd in total defense.

As you can see, TOP really had very little affect on any of the defenses. What’s quite apparent to me is that the Saints defense earned their 32nd ranking and Tampa, Baltimore, Miami, Philly, and the Falcons simply had much better defenses.


Of course we can always point to our 27th ranked rushing attack and say it kept our defense on the field too long. And you would be correct. However, that still doesn’t change the fact that our defense couldn’t stop anyone. Where as … that certainly wasn’t the case for the other teams I listed.

In short … No one should be blaming the offense for our defensive troubles. They were bad. Real bad.

As I posted in another thread … if this defense is to improve, most of the improvement must come from within the current group of players.