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Year after year after year.There is a deep rooted problem on the Defensive side of the ball.
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Year after year after year.There is a deep rooted problem on the Defensive side of the ball.
When you take an already bottom feeding defense and add the insane amount of injured starters, there really isn't anything that can be done.
Kikaha coming off his third ACL tear should not be viewed as someone who can contribute as a starter moving forward. The Saints need to do everything in their power to draft or acquire a true franchise type pass rusher in the offseason. Myles Garrett and others will generate lots of buzz as potential draft choices.
Rankins does not have a long injury history, but with him being a first round draft choice and already having a fairly significant lower body injury early in his career, the Saints should keep all options open in regards to how they manage the defensive tackle position moving forward. Jonathan Allen is one of the top draft prospects for 2017.
Ellerbe will flash when healthy, but like Kikaha, he also has an extensive injury history and is no longer a definite keeper for the future. The Saints could look to bring in someone through free agency who has less wear and tear.
Breaux has battled far worse than the current injury he is nursing. However, he'll also soon be 27. Far from old, but the Saints could definitely use a lockdown corner to compliment a pass rush that has hampered the defense for the better part of the last few seasons. Marlon Humphrey, Jalen Tabor, and Tre'Davious White are future corner prospects.
The injury bug has derailed the Saints start this season and most believe it is going to be a struggle to reach 7 wins. I see many Saints fans who have given up altogether. Not only on this season, but on what Payton, Brees, and Loomis can do for the franchise. Is the Super Bowl window closed? I don't believe so. But I also recognize that the Saints are not as close to being contenders as many of us believed prior to the start of the 2016 season. Even with a healthy Rankins and Kikaha, there are no guarantees that there would be enough added pressure to put the Saints into NFC title contention.
There is no easy solution for this season or next. It's easy to want to clean house after multiple losing seasons and I will not begrudge anyone who wants changes made. I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet. I believe Payton and Brees can make one more push with the right offseason and better luck with injuries.
On the other hand, check who's healthy, and ask yourself, why are they not making plays, especially up front? Why is there no pass rush? Cam's healthy. Fairley's healthy. Kruger's healthy.
you're missing the point entirely.
Lewis was cut because he wasn't healthy. but he was clearly going to start on the other side of Breaux had he been ready. So regardless of when he got cut, you're down a starter.
Which leads to Williams. So when he gets hurt, you're down 2 starters on defense, which leads to the horrendous Ken Crawley. But you're ok because Breaux will shut down half the field, right?
Nope because then Breaux breaks his leg in the first game. So now you're down 3 starters at CB, forcing you to sign guys off the street and play UDFAs way way way more than you should or hoped.
Ellerbe is super annoying, and at this point, needs to be released. However, multiple people said he was our best defender in camp and I can almost guarantee you that he'll be starting over Anthony when he returns. Which will be good because Anthony is terrible.
Rankins is a rookie, and we don't know how well he's going to do, but he was going to start. then he gets hurt and Davison, who is an excellent rotational guy, gets hurt leading you to start Jenkins. Was anyone shocked that he got absolutely gashed on the ground as soon as Jenkins had to play a major role.
players get worse, the further you get down the depth chart. that's how it works.
Ouch.As messed up as our secondary is, the Falcons preferred to attack our LB's despite Julio lining up in man coverage against an UDFA rookie.
As messed up as our secondary is, the Falcons preferred to attack our LB's despite Julio lining up in man coverage against an UDFA rookie.
except that this isn't true.
Julio led the Falcons in targets.
Ellerbe is a machine, nobody in the league can match his injury to tackle ratio.
I should not have read that while taking a sip of my Coke Zero
Right!
When I saw that Davison and Vacarro were added to the long list of players out this week my expectations for tonight dropped from "We can win this", to "I hope that we can outscore them". Davison and Vacarro are two very important cogs in this defense.
Besides having no Davison or Vacarro, there is no Breaux, P.J. Williams, Ellerbe, Wilson, Lewis, Kikaha, Rankins, or Swann on defense.
No Sneed or Armstead on offense.
Two undrafted rookie free agents and a guy signed off the streets starting at CB.
You cannot ignore so many unfortunate injuries. There should be no finger pointing otherwise. It's just a very unfortunate situation. No one is to blame.