Steve Young's first comments: New Orleans defense is too bad to threaten the Packers.

Steve Young does not have a point. Frankly, Steve Young didn't get it.

The Saints' defense completely shut down the GiAnts' running game. They had zip for rushing yards. 73 yards and 3.3/carry, with a long carry of only 9 yards. In the first half, they only reached the red zone once, and came away with only a field goal to show for it. For a team that wants to run the ball down the opposition's throat and dictate to the defense from that, that is called shutting them down.

Did Eli throw for 406 yards? Yes, he did, because that's all we gave him, and the majority of those yards came in dink and dunk plays against a defense playing deep prevent. Big deal. He also had an INT and for all the passes completed in a row, only managed a 101.9 rating for the game. That's not a bad rating, but one would expect something a lot higher from someone throwing for more than 400 yards. That just tells you that most of those yards didn't matter.

Did the defense give up three TDs in the second half? Yes, they did. Let's break those down:
TD #1 - Aided by an extremely questionable "unnecessary roughness" call and not one but two no-calls, one for holding Cam Jordan by the TE who then caught the ball for a first down, then later by the same TE who did not get called for pushing off Roman Harper for another first down catch. Both of those should have been called and set up third and very long which likely would have ended the drive. This TD cannot be laid on the defense. They made the plays to stop them but the refs kept the drive going.

TD #2 - A blown coverage. This one is squarely on the defense, but I think every team does this once a season. Someone blew the assignment on Cruz and he scored on a long TD. However, I don't expect to see anyone doing that again the rest of the year. Our coaches and players are too smart and thorough to let a repeat of that mistake occur, IMHO. I'm willing to call that play an anomaly.

TD #3 - Garbage time. This was the equivalent of an empty net goal in hockey. The defense was playing deep prevent and Eli dinked and dunked down the field. When you're ahead by 25 points, it doesn't matter if you let the other team run 5 minutes off the clock coming down the field to score a TD. In fact, it's actually what you want because they have no chance of catching up like that. Again, big deal.



So, am I afraid of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense? Of course, any sane person is. However, Young's assertion that our defense is no good was short-sighted and frankly not paying attention to what they accomplished. So shut up, Steve. We'll be ready for Rodgers and our game plan will be different. We won't be concentrating on taking away the run like we did against the GiAnts because the Packers can't run the ball anyway. GW knows that and will plan accordingly.

Will the Packers score on us? Yes, but we will score on them, plenty. Will they be able to score enough to keep up with our offense? There's the crux of the biscuit. Don't count on it, Steve, because the Saints' defense is better than they were in week one; and if the Saints are able to get ahead, look for some serious pressure being applied by GW. Cam Jordan is coming into his own and Will Smith can still give LTs and QBs big headaches. Our defensive line isn't the Purple People Eaters or the Steel Curtain, but they have started to generate a decent pass rush that didn't exist in week one.

I'm nervous, yes, but I'm looking forward to the rematch. I think your assertion of Rodgers salivating to play our "D" is misplaced. He won't find the sledding anywhere near as easy as you think he will IMHO.