SmashMouth

Michael Nolan has helped us bring in Anzalone, AJ Klein, Teo without his girlfriend, and coached up the other LBers.

AsylumGuido

Drop the Te'o girlfriend stuff. He a Saint now. Move on with it, please.

jeanpierre

I remember when we started discussing Joe Vitt had to geaux...

saintfan

We looked like a real defense tonight!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

burningmetal

I've held the opinion all off-season that our two best acquisitions were Mike Nolan and Curtis Johnson. Both have strong reputations coaching their position groups, and frankly, just having ANYONE other than Vitt coaching the linebackers would have been reason for at least some optimism. The guy just didn't develop players.

It looks like Nolan is getting the linebackers to be more aggressive, and they look like they actually know what to do, instead of looking like paper bags floating in the wind.

As for Curtis Johnson, you can see the effect he's already had on Tommylee Lewis. He made exciting plays in the preseason last year, but clearly lacked polish in the receiving game. I wasn't sure at all he'd make the team this year. After what I've seen early on this year, he looks FAR more polished and confident. The athleticism was always there. He could be a real weapon this year.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, the NFL would fine and suspend me.

Barry from MS

Fast. I saw speed at LB tonight...first time in 13 forevers.

Oh, and you could tell the LB's are much better coached at the position. The LB's will end up being the strength of the defense. I saw them as beasts in the coverage teams, too.

SmashMouth

In the 2016 preseason the Saints defense gave up 100 points, or 25 points a game.

In the 2015 preseason the Saints defense gave up 131 points, or 30.3 points a game.

Halfway through the 2017 preseason our defense has given up 10 points per game.



Championship?

neugey

The LB play looks pretty encouraging. Will be interesting to see the final pecking order.

burningmetal

Yep, preseason is annoying and largely meaningless, but when something stands out, especially contrasted with those recent preseason numbers, it is reason for optimism.

nola_swammi

Vitt who?