Buccaneers vs. Saints Week 1 Highlights | NFL 2018 - YouTube

I'm watching these highlights right now. Here's what I see as I go.

1. When O.J. Howard caught that pass down the seam Saints were in man to man. It looks like Cover 1. Marcus Williams wasn't the single-high safety, Von Bell was. Williams plays kind of the intermediate-middle role, and he went to try and undercut a pass. Davis already had it under control underneath though. Williams should have went high since Davis had low. If he did it would have been a pick. At the least an incomplete pass. Davis did well all things considered. Matched up on Howard 1 on 1 is no easy task for anybody, let alone a LB.

2. Saints were in man to man when Goodwin caught the TD on the back-shoulder fade. Perfect pass. Crawley just loss that match up. He was in great position. He just got outmuscled by the bigger guy.

3. The long TD to Mike Evans was either Cover 3 or Cover 1. Either way Lattimore was 1 on 1 with Evans and just flat out loss the match up like Crawley did earlier. Williams is always chasing from behind though. He's never coming over the top like he should be.

4. The 2nd TD to Jackson looks like Cover 3 again. Jackson goes up the seam and scores. Nobody over the top like there should be. Make's Crawley look pretty bad, but I'm not sure if it's really his fault. It's hard to tell from the sideline view. This might be a Williams thing again. Our safeties are trying to do too much.

That's every passing TD and bigger passing play they had. Cover 3. Cover 1. That's Seattle's defense. That's the Vikings defense. It's not working out well for us at the moment.

I know that there really isn't much that can be done to prevent plays like the Goodwin TD where the placement of the ball was so perfect, short of somehow getting pressure on the QB, but would you say the others are correctable or does the defense just totally suck as some around here are claiming and all hope is lost?

The corners are in position to make plays, they just need to do it. Lattimore will get better as the season goes like he did last year. There's FAR too much talent there for him to continue playing poorly. He's a natural corner. I can tell he's not really in playing shape after a full game of watching him. He's still right there on his man though. It's a game of inches. He'll be fine. Once he starts locking down a side of the field again you'll see more turnovers.

It's the safety play that needs to be addressed, and it definitely can be corrected. We can stop these big, splash plays. Williams keeps trying to jump under routes for interceptions instead of being a FS and sitting back making sure nobody gets behind him. I'll keep saying it, I want to see how we look running 2-Man Under with Williams and Coleman at safety. I'd even try P.J. Williams next to Marcus back there waiting for anything deep. Honestly, I feel like Lattimore, Crawley, and Robinson are more than good enough man corners for our safeties to just sit back and wait for somebody to take a chance over the top. That's easy interceptions.

We should consider more Tampa 2 as well. Put Demario Davis at MLB and let him play the Urlacher role. He has that kind of speed and he can cover well. The safeties are still back deep on both sides, and the corner's play underneath. This is what I would try.

Just looking at Lattimore you can tell he's not in the same great shape he was last year. That does concern me a bit, but I'm hoping this was all he needed to show him that he can't stop grinding, ever. Feels like most of the defense was drinking the kool-aid before this one. Ultimately though I put the majority of the blame on the coaches. They should have had our guys ready, and perhaps had a solid idea of who our starting linebackers are and where to put them.

I still believe in this defense and think they have the potential to be special. But if they're not performing at least around league average within a short time then some coaches need to be shown the door.