Opinion It is our lack of getting to the QB, that is losing us football games. Not lack of WR FA. (1 Viewer)

[liveoakh]

We are 30th in winning those battles. Could the back end play better?...........Hell yea, but they are not the problem. Watch those games we lost. They were ugly. I would take a DE FA in a nano second, if he could get to the QB on a semi regular basis.

 

[Consigliere]

Our ends appear to be getting double teamed a lot. Perhaps the issue is that we only rush 4 people and pull the other 7 back into coverage?

 

[Eeyore]

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[football]

I sort of feel the same way. Blame all you want on the offense. But the defense has it struggle. Watch almost any games right now and you see how quarterbacks are sitting in the pocket allowing to scan the field for a good while. Sack is one thing. But if you see them taking their times to go their second or third read, then we aren't pressuring enough. Last two years have been pretty good. This year, it is noticeable bad.

 

[liveoakh]

2021 NFL pass-rushing, run-stopping, blocking leaderboard: Win rate rankings

ESPN Analytics created revolutionary new metrics to measure performance in both the run and pass game. Here are the leaders for the 2021 season.

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Team Pass Rush Win Rate​

1. Cleveland Browns, 55%
2. Philadelphia Eagles, 53%
3. Los Angeles Rams, 53%
4. Carolina Panthers, 52%
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 49%
6. Pittsburgh Steelers, 47%
7. Buffalo Bills, 46%
8. Baltimore Ravens, 46%
9. Houston Texans, 45%
10. Las Vegas Raiders, 45%
11. Miami Dolphins, 45%
12. Washington Football Team, 44%
13. New York Jets, 44%
14. Dallas Cowboys, 43%
15. San Francisco 49ers, 42%
16. Arizona Cardinals, 42%
17. Seattle Seahawks, 41%
18. Tennessee Titans, 40%
19. Los Angeles Chargers, 40%
20. Indianapolis Colts, 40%
21. Minnesota Vikings, 39%
22. Chicago Bears, 39%
23. Jacksonville Jaguars, 38%
24. Kansas City Chiefs, 38%
25. New England Patriots, 38%
26. Green Bay Packers, 36%
27. Cincinnati Bengals, 35%
28. Atlanta Falcons, 35%
29. Denver Broncos, 34%
30. New Orleans Saints, 32%
31. Detroit Lions, 30%
32. New York Giants, 29%

 

[woohoosaint]

Dropped footballs don't exactly help either.

 

[joejr]

Dropped footballs don't exactly help either.

I agree but we all knew that the offense would struggle & the defense would need to carry the team. The lack of a pass rush is concerning but even with that the blown assignments on the back end & to many WRs running free is frustrating also. The defense seems to play with more intensity against the top offenses & have a let down against the average.

 

[SaintStephen1]

We did have injuries early in the year but lately with most of the guys back, the pressure hadn’t been there. This is the reason why I think the Saints have to move Cam Jordan before he loses all his value.
Oh yeah see my signature below which I started professing should be the zssints off-season manta every year since 2011.
“It’s the pass rush, stupid!”

 

[dvdman]

A lot of things have gone wrong to cost us games, yes the defense has had numerous lapses late in games but so has the offense and coaching in general. It’s been a combination of things and injuries. Bottom line is they need to be corrected if we are to have any chance at the post season.

 

[Eeyore]

Teams can't run on the Saints,so they pass

 

[LordPoopington]

I don't think it's an either/or proposition. I think we have suffered from things like our WR/TEs struggling to get separation and then dropping 8 PASSES vs. ATL. But you are correct to point out our pass rush has contributed significantly to our losses as well. We didn't bother Ryan much on Sunday but that was still better than the absolutely atrocious pass rush performance we had vs. NYG (I genuinely don't remember us even getting a pressure that day, much less a sack).

In the Mora era, the defense and Morten could make up for some of the offense's bad days. In Drew's era, the offense could pick up the defense on a bad day. I think we have too many flaws on both ends of the ball for us to survive one unit having a bad day in any game. The exception might be the Seattle game where our offense struggled, but both offenses struggled in part b/c it was raining with 40 mph wind gusts.

If our receivers catch just 2-3 of those 8 drops, we probably beat ATL. If we get better pressure on Ryan, we also probably beat ATL. It can be multiple things at once.

 

[Saint Spud]

Both are bad. But WR play is far worse.

I put a lot of blame on the defense in general bc that’s the side of the ball that has more draft/$ capital invested. But it’s not like Ryan had all day to throw on that last pass to Patterson. Adebo just blew the coverage. Terrible play by him.

 

[rsmith2783]

I love Cam but I wouldn't get rid of him. We need him to help stop the run. But I would look to get another pass rusher in here next year. I wouldn't spend a 1st round, but I would look to get someone on a cheap deal.

What is AQM up to? We should have stashed him properly.

 

[acb814]

D-line had a lot of turnover from last year combine that with injuries and the suspension of arguably the best lineman we have and not really replacing brown/rankins who really did great at gap control and pushing the pocket freeing up DE’s for one on ones and this is what you get. I think the talent is still there at the end spots but we need an upgrade on the interior next to onyematta. The other Dts we have are really just rotational guys.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

At the same time the D (including the line) is what has won us the games we’ve won
If a team figures out how to neutralize our rush, we’re in trouble- which means we need to score points, which means we need to catch the ball
With our D, 24 points should win us most games (yes I realize we scored that this weekend)