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Sheldon Rankins ticked off the New Orleans Saints list of defensive accomplishments against the Bengals.

Stop the run? For the most part, check.

Disrupt Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton? Check.

Stop Cincinnati from coming through on third down and extending drives? Emphatic check.

Rankins did not even get into the Saints two forced turnovers — their eigth and ninth turnovers forced in the last six games — before rolling into what he was trying to get at.

“If we come out with the right mindset, we can play like this every week,” Rankins said. “If we continue to do that, we can play with anybody.”



New Orleans turned in what was easily its best defensive performance of the season in a 51-14 throttling of the Bengals. Outside of Cincinnati’s opening drive and a garbage-time touchdown when the game was out of hand, the Saints suffocated Cincinnati with a brand of defense they had not been able to put together throughout an entire game in 2018.

It was their best game, but also a continuation of a recent trend.

The Saints defense got off to a rough start in 2018. In its first three games, it gave up averages of 34.3 points, 421 yards per game and 336.7 passing yards per game. It forced just only one turnover in those three games.

New Orleans has cut down on those numbers drastically in the last six games, allowing averages of 21.5 points per game, 353.8 yards per game and 275.8 passing yards per game while forcing nine turnovers.

Linebacker Alex Anzalone, who played a season-high 69.8 percent of the defensive snaps against Cincinnati, said the Saints are not doing anything special. There are no exotic schemes or magic pills that have transformed them into a defense that is worthy of praise.

It has simply come down to executing the basics, he said.

“It's not really what you play in the NFL, it's how you play it,” Anzalone said.

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