The defense is reminding me of 2011

Lafexpress said

The defense was weak, especially in the middle, falclowns were gouging the center, and guard positions with their offensive guards, then on sweeps during the first three quarters, Patterson (6'3" 240# monster to tackle) was getting past the d line often for large chunks of yardage (much like his career with Bears), this had to stop to have any chance of winning this game.....Saints will face another great runner in TB, must be ready to "stop' the run....as they will attack the middle of the Saints D early and often.

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Dennis Allen needs to bring in someone to help coach against the read-option. My thought/hope is that the defensive linemen were in effect playing passively so as to not get out of position and give up big running plays to Mariotta. To Atlanta's credit, they seized upon this and said "ok, we're not going to run the read-option, we're going to simply run the ball down your throats." At some point, the Saints should have moved Mathieu or Maye permanently into the box and dared Mariotta to beat them throwing the ball. We'll find out a lot more this upcoming Sunday.