AMA: Post-Cowboy's Game

TCUDan said
What I see from the defense is that they aren't pressing, and when the opposing offense does make a big play, they stay composed. The Cowboys game, especially in the first, really came down to the Saints' offense scoring TDs and their defense holding Dallas to field goals. On the one touchdown that was a great route by Lamb (he got Adebo stacked, leaned into him, and then speed cut the out) and Mathieu just took a bad angle (was trying to play the ball and he should have just gone for the hit.... like he did later in the game).

I love what I'm seeing from an individual level too. Kool-aid played really well--far better than I expected. Adebo is earning himself a massive payday (he's been playing pro-bowl ball for a couple years now). Taylor is embracing the slot role and we finally have a nickel that looks like CJ Gardner-Johnson out there. The DL is disruptive and Demario is ageless and while I do think the defense can be a little leaky at times they are playing with a ton of swagger and complementing the offense really well.

Again, I'm not trying to get too excited, but these are 2009 vibes. I love the way the entire team is playing.

I don't remember if it was last year or the year before but when I would do these AMAs I'd always get questions about the defense's tackling--why it was bad, if they needed to live tackle in practice, etc.

At the time what I said was it's this cascade effect (someone can search for it to get my exact words)--basically you have guys pressing, trying to do more than their job, to make a play b/c they don't have confidence in their teammates or the scheme or whatever it is, so THEY need to make a play. So now they're getting out of their lane, trying to force big plays instead of letting the plays come to them. That's when you get bad technique and discipline, which leads to missed tackles, blown coverages, penalties, etc.

How many actual new faces are there on the defense? Where is the massive upgrade? Will Harris???? Chase Young??? Lattimore didn't even play this game.

No. It's the same guys, playing more sound, more composed, and trusting each other. Just like the offense--it's almost the exact same players, playing with confidence.