Saints-Chargers film review: Despite allowing 34 points, here's where New Orleans defense impressed in 2nd half (1 Viewer)

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Saints-Chargers film review: Despite allowing 34 points, here's where New Orleans defense impressed in 2nd half

Nick Under hill -- Advocate



Even before the New Orleans Saints became the beneficiaries of luck late in the fourth quarter against the San Diego Chargers, the team put some good things on film.

No, it wasn’t perfect. And the mistakes made throughout their 35-34 victory would have outweighed the positives if those numbers were flipped, but that’s how conversations unfold when your team doesn’t pull things out.

Remove the takeaways, and the numbers won’t support the argument that this was actually a solid game for the defense. New Orleans allowed 346 yards, 21 first downs and 34 points. No one is going to get excited about those figures.

But if you watch closely, you’ll see a defensive line that performed well and a secondary that made plays. Most of the issues that showed up during the first half were the result of being too conservative.

The team played some soft zones and didn’t blitz often. As a result, San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers was content with taking what was there, picking apart the defense on underneath routes and in the flats. He then waited for New Orleans to make mistakes, two of which resulted in touchdowns.

MORE -- Advocate
 
All of our young guys contributed in that win. There were a couple big plays in that game where rookie WRs were the primary targets and they came thru. TommyLee caught a pass on a critical 3rd down, and Michael thomas caught the late TD, and he was the only read on that play and made a helluva catch.

Other rookies showed up big time as well. Daniel Lasco got plenty of carries and also had a catch. Von Bell played big in that game and also caused the first fumble.

We're going through growing pains with our youngins but its good that they're taking their lumps and learning now so they can be ready to make this run over the next few years.

Our cap situation will be so much better I can't wait to see who we can bring in to mix with our young talent.
 
All of our young guys contributed in that win. There were a couple big plays in that game where rookie WRs were the primary targets and they came thru. TommyLee caught a pass on a critical 3rd down, and Michael thomas caught the late TD, and he was the only read on that play and made a helluva catch.

Other rookies showed up big time as well. Daniel Lasco got plenty of carries and also had a catch. Von Bell played big in that game and also caused the first fumble.

We're going through growing pains with our youngins but its good that they're taking their lumps and learning now so they can be ready to make this run over the next few years.

Our cap situation will be so much better I can't wait to see who we can bring in to mix with our young talent.

I'm actually loving that we are getting experience for our younger players. While we probably won't contend for the playoffs this year, if they can learn the ropes and be competitive, I'll consider this season a success. We need to find out who will be the long term answer at multiple positions. Hopefully at least a few are currently on the team.
 
I hope DA keeps going with the aggressive defensive calls, forget about sitting back, we cant win waiting for QB's to pick us apart.
 
One correction that I'm not sure who is wrong on. Robertson was listed as the starter on the weakside and Stupar in middle.

They technically were both in the middle as the starting formation was a nickel package with three corners, so the designation may be moot. But just something I noticed.
 
I hope DA keeps going with the aggressive defensive calls, forget about sitting back, we cant win waiting for QB's to pick us apart.

This right here. What do we have to lose by being aggressive? It can't be any worse than what we've been doing the last 3 out of 4 years.
 
We're getting close on defense. Just a little better overall play out of the DL will keep our LB's and DB's out of impossible situations.

Some of our DB's get a lot of criticism, but I'll bet if a stop watch is put on the plays, they are having to cover too long. The underneath stuff is almost impossible to stop, but I like the way they bring the wood after the catch. Lesser receivers will eventually fold when their ribs are tuned up 2-3 times.
 
Saints still have trouble with OLBs coverage in the flats which has been a major weakness for years. It is just too easy to convert third downs against Saints D because of that. As we've seen even mediocre and rookie QBs can hit those passes.
The Saints have not valued speed at OLB and it's quite frankly baffling.
 
The most frustrating thing for me this season is not being able to see the duo of Fairley and Rankins on the D line. I think Rankins could have had a huge impact on these close games so far.
 
Sterling Moore has really caught my attention. He played great against the Giants -- aside from a bogus PI call, he was really solid on OBJ.
He seemed to do well against the Falcons in a game where very little went right. And then he really came up big on that deep pass deflection on 3rd and 22. He was catching up on the play to fill the zone gap and skied with his arm extended and disrupted the ball just enough to force an incompletion.

If he keeps holding steady, when we get Breaux back, we'll be in good shape on the corners.
 
When does Underhill's contract expire?

We need to make sure to lock this dude up long term. You think we don't have any depth at cornerback? Look at the depth in beat reporters! Literally no one even close to Underhill's coverage with the local stations/papers.
 
Underhll trying to act like he knows more about football than Pete from the gym. Pete has already established the defense is better off without KV.


Hopefully he wasn't taking a shot at swimmer after reading his multiple threads. I would fear for his safety. Hopefully he knows Swimmer has a large entourage with him at all times, they all fit on 1 bicycle, and can all stalk you from behind the same tree. Rob Ryan was so afraid of him he was willing to throw away his career to get away.




Back to the defense.

People wanting Ellerbe gone need to wait until Nick gives his input on how the D performs with him in there. I would keep him as long as he wants to be here. Would prefer he come back behind a younger player, but you can't easily replace what he brings. Ellerbe can go in a game and stop the bleeding before it gets out of control. Even Vilma playing his last game on 1 leg made the dedense better. We were happy to get rid of all the gets. because they were holding back promising youngsters. Now I wish they had all old vets backing up every position.
 
I've been saying this since preseason. We do not have guys that can play zone defense in the secondary. For whatever reason, DA should be running strictly man and mixing up coverages based on man assignments. I know secondaries like to run zones as there is less running, but we just can't let a QB sit in the pocket and wait for a receiver to sit underneath in an open zone. Please please please continue to be aggressive playing man defense.
 
Underhll trying to act like he knows more about football than Pete from the gym. Pete has already established the defense is better off without KV.


Hopefully he wasn't taking a shot at swimmer after reading his multiple threads. I would fear for his safety. Hopefully he knows Swimmer has a large entourage with him at all times, they all fit on 1 bicycle, and can all stalk you from behind the same tree. Rob Ryan was so afraid of him he was willing to throw away his career to get away.




Back to the defense.

People wanting Ellerbe gone need to wait until Nick gives his input on how the D performs with him in there. I would keep him as long as he wants to be here. Would prefer he come back behind a younger player, but you can't easily replace what he brings. Ellerbe can go in a game and stop the bleeding before it gets out of control. Even Vilma playing his last game on 1 leg made the dedense better. We were happy to get rid of all the gets. because they were holding back promising youngsters. Now I wish they had all old vets backing up every position.

The problem with Ellerbe is that no matter how much better the defense would be with him in the lineup, we can't rely on him to be in but a handful of games with his injury history. If that changes, I'm all for him being here.
 

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