19 interceptions? (1 Viewer)

[BryanD]

How much does Brees' interceptions contribute to the record pace at which our inept defense gave up yards?

With an average of 6.2 yds a play, per NFL.COM, it is fair to say the amount of drives not finished could have easily changed the overall outcome of how many defensive yards were yielded. Not to mention the potential game winning points left on the field.

I love Drew Brees' character and poise, I just wish he could have had many of those INT's back.

It also kills me to know we lead the league in dropped passes at 2 positions as well but finished overall with a +2 in turnovers.

Anyone have some stats they could throw in?

 

[CantonLegend]

The offenses ineptitude to finish drives was definitely a cause of the defensive struggles. Perhaps it wasn't the biggest reason but it definitely contributed

We led the league in drops, INTs, and morstead punted more times than he ever had in his career

Not to mention our run game dropped from one of the best in the league to one of the worst

 

[mrperrino]

LOL @ this post...Sean is back and now we're ripping on one of the NFL's elite QBs?

Hahaahaah I hear you...but NO other QB has ever had to play a whole season without their head coach, nor contact for 24/7 for 365 days, 1 calendar year....

that sucks.... so I give Drew a pass..

Tom Brady would NOT be the same without Belichcek....

 

[Saint_Ward]

The offenses ineptitude to finish drives was definitely a cause of the defensive struggles. Perhaps it wasn't the biggest reason but it definitely contributed

We led the league in drops, INTs, and morstead punted more times than he ever had in his career

Not to mention our run game dropped from one of the best in the league to one of the worst

These things mentioned play into the added yards to the defense more than anything else (relating to offense). the 19 picks is pretty close to typical for Drew. He usually throws around 16. So long as his TD-INT ratio is over 2-1, it's all good.

But the defense just wasn't good. Could they have gone from 32nd in yards to 30th with a better offensive performance, sure.

 

[BoNcHiE]

How much does Brees' interceptions contribute to the record pace at which our inept defense gave up yards?

With an average of 6.2 yds a play, per NFL.COM, it is fair to say the amount of drives not finished could have easily changed the overall outcome of how many defensive yards were yielded. Not to mention the potential game winning points left on the field.

I love Drew Brees' character and poise, I just wish he could have had many of those INT's back.

It also kills me to know we lead the league in dropped passes at 2 positions as well but finished overall with a +2 in turnovers.

Anyone have some stats they could throw in?

Not that much. Our offense didn't put the defense in bad spots anymore then most any other team in the league and on average they put them in better spots then most. It's a pretty lame excuse.

We were 13th in the league in lowest total turnovers. That's top half of the league, even with the 19 INT's. What that means is that there's no logical excuse created by said turnovers to say the defense wasn't really as bad as it was. It was that bad. Simple as that. They were not saddled with an above average number of turnovers.

We were also 3rd in total offense and 4th in 3rd down % on offense. Again, that means despite some faulty perceptions, this offense (even though not otherworldly like 2011) was still able to sustain drives and give our defense as good of a situation as most any other offense in the league did. You can't have a high 3rd down pickup % and not be sustaining drives at a higher rate then most teams. It doesn't work logically.

The broader point is this. If our offense this year, even with it's flaws, isn't enough for the defense to be in a "good spot" then you are living so close to the edge of ineptitude on defense that it doesn't matter anyway. You've got much bigger problems.

 

[CantonLegend]

LOL @ this post...Sean is back and now we're ripping on one of the NFL's elite QBs?

Hahaahaah I hear you...but NO other QB has ever had to play a whole season without their head coach, nor contact for 24/7 for 365 days, 1 calendar year....

that sucks.... so I give Drew a pass..

Tom Brady would NOT be the same without Belichcek....

That's fine...use the missing coach as your reasoning, but had we not struggled on offense so much, the team would've been better as a whole

 

[bclemms]

Arizona had 21 interceptions this season and gave up almost 2000 fewer yards.


Try again.

 

[RockyMtnSaint]

Hard to say what's the cause and what's the effect. Did we fall behind because of bad defense, forcing Brees to throw more and then give up more INTs? Or was it the other way around? Does it even matter? They were all contributing factors.

 

[CantonLegend]

Hard to say what's the cause and what's the effect. Did we fall behind because of bad defense, forcing Brees to throw more and then give up more INTs? Or was it the other way around? Does it even matter? They were all contributing factors.

It doesn't....but they are definitely connected

Ignoring this is just being blind to facts

Drew threw 5 picks in 1 game....if that didn't contribute directly to a loss then idk what would

 

[RockyMtnSaint]

What facts am I ignoring?

 

[bclemms]

5 teams finished the season with 19 or more picks. Of those only two team finished outside the top 20 in total defense. Who Dat you ask? The Saints.

 

[BoNcHiE]

5 teams finished the season with 19 or more picks. Of those only two team finished outside the top 20 in total defense. Who Dat you ask? The Saints.

The INT's stat is a pointless argument anyway because fumbles exist as well.

We had an incredibly small number of lost fumbles. So our overall turnover numbers were actually pretty good in the league (13th in least turnovers and most above us are only separated by a turnover or two).

If we were near the top of the league in total turnovers the OP might have a point. As it stands we were nowhere near that, yet 31 other teams managed to field a better defense despite over half of those having more turnovers to deal with from their offense. The correlation isn't there to excuse such horrible defense, even on a small level.

 

[GasBag]

How much does Brees' interceptions contribute to the record pace at which our inept defense gave up yards?

With an average of 6.2 yds a play, per NFL.COM, it is fair to say the amount of drives not finished could have easily changed the overall outcome of how many defensive yards were yielded. Not to mention the potential game winning points left on the field.

I love Drew Brees' character and poise, I just wish he could have had many of those INT's back.

It also kills me to know we lead the league in dropped passes at 2 positions as well but finished overall with a +2 in turnovers.

Anyone have some stats they could throw in?

About 9 of those interceptions were the receivers fault -- tipped balls.

 

[bornnraisedwhodat]

It's a couple of things.

1. Yes, the defense was bad, but it wasnt a direct influence on his INT's. As a matter of fact, a lot of those INT's happened when the game was in our control (SanFran, ATL, Giants, Panthers x2). Drew did force some ball this year, for whatever reason. Many have said he felt they needed to rack up points to protect the D. Hard to argue.

2. Too much throwing. Not a balanced offense and poor overall game planning.

3. Drew is a gun slinger. Always has been. Payton reels him in from time to time, but with No Payton, Drew was slinging it. One the upside, it gets you points and big plays, and the downside it gets you sacks, tipped balls, and INT's.

4. Pressure: I dont k now, but I just felt like he was in much more pressure this year, and didnt do a good job of avoiding it.

5. He is short, so he will always throw INT's. I remember reading an article earlier in the year where he said many times he has to throw blind. He literally can see where he is throwing sometimes, but through practice and timing, he knows where his guy will be. Sometimes they arent.

 

[bclemms]

It doesn't....but they are definitely connected

Ignoring this is just being blind to facts

Drew threw 5 picks in 1 game....if that didn't contribute directly to a loss then idk what would

Drew threw multiple picks in 5 games, we went 0-5 in those games.

Drew had 6 games in which he threw 1 interception. We went 3-3 in those games. In those 6 games Brees had a 20TD 6Int.

Drew had 5 games in which he didn't throw a single pick. In those games we went 4-1.

You can look at this stat and say Brees threw too many picks and as a result we lost too many games.
or
You can look at these stats and see that unless Brees was perfect we were at best a .500 team. You can also say that when Brees has a bad game we have almost no chance of winning. In other words, he isn't getting help.

Brees only had 3 games in which he had as many or more interceptions than TD's this season. If you would like to compare that to some other QBs then here ya go.

Tom Brady- 5
Aaron Rodgers- 5
Andrew Luck- 8
Joe Flacco-7
Matt Ryan- 4
Russel Wilson- 5
Matt Shaub- 8
RGIII- 6

In other words, don't even try to pin this sorry excuse for a defense or even a single yard on Drew.