SmashMouth

Imagine being Matthew Stafford in Week 6 last season.

Through the first five games, the Detroit Lions quarterback had completed 64 percent of his passes and thrown nine touchdowns and just one interception.

Then, in Week 6, the New Orleans Saints defense forced him to have a miserable day.

The Saints had 16 passes defensed in the game as the defense consistently knew where he was going with the ball and how to defend it. Stafford finished the game 25 of 52 (48 percent), and more than a quarter of his passes were tipped at some point, either at the line of scrimmage or in the defensive backfield. Stafford threw three touchdowns, but he also had three interceptions, including two that came off tipped passes.

"You looked at the end of the game, and it was like he was demoralized," Saints defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen said.

Talk to any Saints defensive coach, and the term "affect the passer" will almost certainly come up. As defensive coordinator Dennis Allen explained Thursday (May 31), the ball is the most important thing in the game, and because the quarterback has the ball the most, finding ways to make him uncomfortable is a chief goal for the defense.



Every defensive player has a chance to affect the quarterback on each passing play. The all-encompassing phrase includes sacks, pressures and quarterback hits, but defensive backs can affect the passer by knocking a receiver off his route or applying tight coverage that forces the quarterback to hold the ball for a little bit more time.

When the Saints evaluate players after each game, they have a formula that credits players for all methods of affecting the quarterback, and the defense was much better at accomplishing that goal in 2017, which was a big reason the defense improved to 17th overall after ranking 27th or worse each year from 2014-16.

read more on NOLA

Attached Thumbnails