Will, as usual everything is a problem. In fact your point is moot on several fronts:

1. Preseason is a waste of time. Everyone runs vanilla schemes and starters generally only play enough to break a sweat.

2. By the time teams get to the backup QBs, both teams have gone to the second string on both sides of the ball. So the guys out there on defense often will not be the guys playing in September when the flack starts flying.

3. The purpose of preseason is to evaluate talent under real time conditions. Established starters are generally not the focus of that evaluation process.

The Saints defense needs to do the two of three things they always needed to do. Keep defensive scoring in the low 20's, get off the field, stay healthy, and create turnovers. Nothing that happens in preseason is really going to predict any of those items other than if players play more in the preseason, the more likely they are to be injured in the process.

Will the defense actually be better? I'm unsure. Will we know one way or another in the preseason? No way in hell.

SFIAH