Marcus Williams. Starting to get old. (1 Viewer)

[VPCajun]

Something's just not right with our secondary, and I'm starting to lean toward scheme. I am not that knowledgeable on defensive schemes. All I know is we have two 1st round corners out there. We should not be getting torched on chunk plays so often. Marcus Williams seems to always be out of position and arriving when it's too late. Something has to give. The tackling look atrocious yesterday, not just with Williams, but the entire defense.

Not only arriving late, but he arrives like he is a spectator just jogging over and is expecting the OTHER player to make the play/tackle.

smh

 

[insidejob]

Not only arriving late, but he arrives like he is a spectator just jogging over and is expecting the OTHER player to make the play/tackle.

smh

Except for his touchdown drive killing pick against the Texans, of course.

The entire secondary was gassed in the second half last week because they were on the field all day. They don't have a rotation like the line does to stay fresh. That's also why they switched from primarily man in the first half to zone in the second half, and this D is built to play man coverage.

 

[Eman5805]

It's a failure of coaching and the player.

Unless we turn into the 85 Bears for the rest of the season, I'm done with Dennis Allen and I'm done with Marcus Williams as the starting FS. We keep bringing in retreads at DC and it got old about half a decade ago. For once, could we just hire a young, sought after position coach from a highly successful scheme?

The issue is Payton and Loomis keeps hiring coaches who have played our defenses well, not guys with track records and reputations for building strong defenses. Rob Ryan came in to the dome and frustrated and motivated his defense to get all over our offense...

He's suddenly our next DC. We've never hired a promising position coach to DC in the past and given them a shot.

 

[cygnus_ltb]

It seems like the corners are playing underneath coverage expecting safety help over the top...which they're not getting. If they're playing single high safety, it seems to me you need a superior talent there, like an Ed Reed or Earl Thomas. Saints do not have such a safety. That being said, the secondary, or the whole passing defensive schemes look disorganized and players out of position, especially on third down. And when they blitz, they run past the quarterback.

 

[Loose Cannon]

I guess he was "coached up".

Remember that safety from U TX - played lights out his first year. (Often heard post game he was "out of position" when he made a Big Play. He shut down Tony Gonzalez on a potential Game Winning catch in the Endzone.)

The next few years, he was not so hot.

I always felt it was a case of being "coached up".

Vaccaro was going to play dumb football regardless of who his coach was. He always did. I'm not sure that's the case with Marcus Williams - a lot of his flaws seem fixable.

 

[BiloxiSaint1]

Except for his touchdown drive killing pick against the Texans, of course.

The entire secondary was gassed in the second half last week because they were on the field all day. They don't have a rotation like the line does to stay fresh.

So what would the Saints alternatives be? Do we see CGJ playing some FS or see Saquan Hampton active on game day to take some snaps?

I posted somewhere a few days ago that the Saints D wasn't one the field much longer than the Rams. I originally thought they were on the field too long and I wanted to use that fact to support my position. I was surprised to see the TOP in both halves and the plays run were really close. Both teams had 11 possessions. I do know Lattimore, Bell, Apple, and M. Williams were on the field for all D snaps. I am hoping they got "gassed" due to a short week, west coast travel, being demoralized by seeing Drew get hurt, and the ref blown call - more than the time of play they were on the field. If they can't play 15 minutes of D each half in a game, they need to work on their conditioning. BTW, it's crazy how many snaps Cam Jordan takes and still is effective.

I'll look for the TOP, snaps, and possession stats I posted a day or two ago and post here. I do remember even checking to see each half TOP was distributed evenly - and it . IIRC, IMO it was giving up the big play that killed the D - not necessarily being worn down. Same crap as last year - most of the big plays I have seen the D give up were the result of poor safety play. I think every team that sees the Saints in single high safety will test it.

I'll also check the Rams DBs snaps and see if there 4 DBs were in on 100% of the snaps like the Saints' 4 and post back.

 

[BoNcHiE]

The alternative is that you draft a rangy safety next year. There are no fixes mid-season.

 

[insidejob]

Do we see CGJ playing some FS or see Saquan Hampton active on game day to take some snaps?

Maybe. Even probably if the breakdowns in the secondary continue. If they weren't gassed, I don't understand the switch from mainly man in the first half to the zone that always kills us in the second.

 

[blackadder]

The issue is Payton and Loomis keeps hiring coaches who have played our defenses well, not guys with track records and reputations for building strong defenses. Rob Ryan came in to the dome and frustrated and motivated his defense to get all over our offense...

He's suddenly our next DC. We've never hired a promising position coach to DC in the past and given them a shot.

Do you think Loomis has much of a role in this particular process other than to rubber stamp Payton's choices?

 

[saint_drago]

You don't have to have Ed Reed like instincts to play Safety but it certainly helps to have some instincts. Saints fans know what bad Safety play looks like. We've seen great athletes who didn't have instincts. We've seen guys with good instincts but little athleticism. We've even seen a few guys that didn't have instincts or athleticism.

Williams is still young so I'm not giving up on him yet. But at some point he's going to have to get better or they'll find someone better...hopefully.

 

[BiloxiSaint1]

Maybe. Even probably if the breakdowns in the secondary continue. If they weren't gassed, I don't understand the switch from mainly man in the first half to the zone that always kills us in the second.

They certainly looked gassed to me too, but I don't think it was because they were on the field too long against the Rams the second half. It may have been the short week plus it just being the second game.

 

[sammymvpknight]

I think that the Vikings play ruined him. But I can’t blame him...Im not sure I’d ever get over that embarrassment.

 

[insidejob]

They certainly looked gassed to me too, but I don't think it was because they were on the field too long against the Rams the second half. It may have been the short week plus it just being the second game.

And maybe from playing so much man coverage in the first half. In man, they're constantly sprinting with receiver (the corners at least).

I'm hoping it was the short week more than anything and the trip to the west coast both shortening their time to recover and game plan. At least this week, there are no excuses on defense. We play man coverage so much better than the zone that if those two contributing factors last week left them gassed, they're gone this week since we stayed out west.

 

[BiloxiSaint1]

And maybe from playing so much man coverage in the first half. In man, they're constantly sprinting with receiver (the corners at least).

Quite possibly.

Here was the TOP stats from the Rams game:

Saints had 11 possessions with 57 plays that took 29:39; while Rams had 11 possessions with 61 plays that took 30:21. I even looked at the second half and it was about evenly split.

Here are the starting DB snaps for Saints and Rams:

 

[webster63]

It is either Aaron Glenn or Dennis Allen, or both.

its dennis allen 100%

Aaron Glenn was brought in to fix things because this problem existed long before aaron got here, its almost as though DA doesnt even do anything at all and players are on their own until game 3 or 4 and its hard to explain since the same guys end the season as a great defense yet start the next year unable to cover average and below average players and good players alike