Saints defense building confidence, trending upwards on road to improvement (1 Viewer)

Dan in Lafayette

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Saints defense building confidence, trending upwards on road to improvement

By Herbie Teope, NOLA.com



There is a noticeable change of attitude on the New Orleans Saints defense.

Defenders swarming to the football have become a common sight throughout training camp and two preseason games.

And the unit's growth provides optimism the Saints will showcase a much-improved defense in 2016.

"I laugh and I smile every day on my way home just knowing that we are better than we were last year, you know, by far," cornerback Delvin Breaux said. "I just always think, we just got to continue getting better, got to continue playing fast and aggressive, and have that mentality that we're not going to get beat."

The Saints defense was beat a lot during in 2015 en route to a second-straight 7-9 campaign.

New Orleans languished at or near the bottom of the league the past season in numerous statistical defensive categories, including points allowed (32nd), total defense (31st), total yards allowed (31st) and passing yards allowed (31st).

But how the first-team unit fared through two preseason games in limited action shows just how far the defense has come with swagger and confidence under defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

MORE -- NOLA.com
 
Defense is looking really good, do we even have a glaring weakness on D anymore?
 
Defense is looking really good, do we even have a glaring weakness on D anymore?

I love that you have to say things like "Experience" or "Er. Some guys could get hurt again? I mean, they were hurt before."

I mean, I'd settle for an average defense.

It gives me shivers to imagine if our defense turns out to be good.
 
Defense is looking really good, do we even have a glaring weakness on D anymore?

A touch thin at CB simply because of experience, maybe?

I can't think of anything else. LB is stacked. DL is good, with more middle pressure then we've ever had under Payton. Safeties are stacked.
 
It is only pre season so I am not quite ready to 'drink the coolade' but I have been very encouraged by the progress the defense has made this year. It is obvious to me that they made some solid choices to shore up the woeful defense we have seen in the last few years. Laurentitis, Stupar, Robertson, Fairely, Rankins, Bell and some of the other rookies are going to contribute this year. It is like night and day when contrasting last years defensive group with who we have on the field this year. We now also have depth, youth and athleticism which has long been missing from any Saints defense in recent years.

I don't believe we can get into the top ten in defense this year, but I will be very happy with a 15 or so ranking, particularly if we see the same high powered offense that Payton annually produces. While I remain concerned about the OL, I do believe that Payton and the offensive coaches will find a way to scheme around our obvious shortcomings. I also will not be surprised if we don't pick up a starting guard via a late trade or FA pickup of a decent starting veteran.
 
If you look at the history under Payton, about every third or fourth year, we have a decent (to even above average) defense. After two seasons at the bottom, we're due!
 
If the way our offense played against the Texans is any indication of how our season will be, the Defense will have to be great. The offense really regressed in the 2nd game.
 
Regression is likely when your two best WRs aren't playing and your LT, who is probably your best OL, is on a pitch count. Also, Brees played one series versus NE. No question that the offense versus Houston was awful, but to say that they regressed is difficult to justify when the two situations were so different. All that said, the offense in general does not look very good so far.
 
Before we count our eggs...we should consider that our defense has played a Saints offense that has significant o-line issues and has struggled this preseason...a Brady-less Patriots team...a weak Texans offense. Let's see how they do against better competition. No question they are better than last year.
 
From the article (Highlights added by me.):

"Well, the attributes also arrive with a dose of reality from veteran linebacker James Laurinaitis.

"Quite frankly, two preseason games of playing well isn't enough kind of body of work to judge where we are," Laurinaitis said. "We have to keep aiming for perfection. We just got to keep grinding, evaluate ourselves hard and I think really as long as our guys, individually, are your hardest critic when you put the tape on, we'll continue to strive to get better." "

and

""I like the direction that we're headed," Allen said. "I don't think you can ever sit back and feel like you've made it or you're in the right position. I like the direction we're headed, but we still got a lot that we got to work on, a lot that we got to get better at, and, really, a short period of time to do it."

Allen points out the difficultly surrounding proper evaluation of his defense until the Saints begin playing contests that matter. "
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If the way our offense played against the Texans is any indication of how our season will be, the Defense will have to be great. The offense really regressed in the 2nd game.

How can you come to the conclusion that the offense regressed with so few snaps in that 2nd game? There was very little there to make that assumption.
 

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