Watching these Championship games..... (1 Viewer)

[BIGPOPPA]

you really see how bad our LB's and DB's are. These guys just looked so much better than ours. Even though Al Harris got owned by Plaxico. Man, that guy looked like Jason David against Burress.
We really need to beef up our defense in the off-season. I'm a firm believer in the saying, "Defense wins Championships!"

 

[kooldak]

As was eloquently stated by someone else in another thread, that used to be the case. But with the advent of FA, not so much anymore.

That said, we need to have a complementary defense to enable our team to play from the lead, much like Indy does. That doesn't mean that we have to have a top 5 defense, although that would be nice.

But if we get even a mediocre D out of our off season acquisitions, then this team will be excellent.

 

[MrVoodoo]

I agree Kooldak... it doesn't have to be a great defense, but one that lets our offense win a game even when the offense is struggling. Right now it's a "hope to slow em down" defense and I don't know if it's all due to the players or to the defensive playcalling, but something needs to be done. It's easier when looking at the offense to say "that was a bad call," than it is to look at the defense and say the same thing.

 

[StChadwick]

All I could think about during the game was that the Saints were playing in that same game last year

 

[Nevimeister]

Watching the Giants front 4 showed me just how much we're overpaying for Charles Grant and how Will Smith needs to earn a new contract

 

[HoustonSaint68]

Yes, as much as I hate to say it, it would have been really ugly if the Saints had been on the field with any of those 4 teams yesterday.

 

[Waymer]

Watching the Giants front 4 showed me just how much we're overpaying for Charles Grant and how Will Smith needs to earn a new contract

Watching them yesterday? They really didn't perform that great yesterday, or outside of the last quarter of the Dallas game. I'm not saying they aren't elite, because there is no doubt that the players they have there can get to the QB on any given play, but they had no sacks yesterday and didn't force that many hurries or knockdowns outside of limited occasions.

 

[Paul]

All I could think about during the game was that the Saints were playing in that same game last year

Yep, me too.

 

[BIGPOPPA]

I'm not saying we need a Top 5 Defense either. I agree that a Defense that is stout enough to compete with the top Offenses is enough. We can't continue to get into shooting matches every week. You don't have to have the BEST Defense to win a Championship, but you need a better than mediocre. As much as I hate to say it, Charles Grant, Mark Simoneau, Jason David, Hollis Thomas, among others, have only played mediocre at best. As I've said before, I believe Fujita was the only one who played better than average on our Defense this past season.

 

[Scorpius the Allfather]

I'm not saying we need a Top 5 Defense either. I agree that a Defense that is stout enough to compete with the top Offenses is enough. We can't continue to get into shooting matches every week. You don't have to have the BEST Defense to win a Championship, but you need a better than mediocre. As much as I hate to say it, Charles Grant, Mark Simoneau, Jason David, Hollis Thomas, among others, have only played mediocre at best. As I've said before, I believe Fujita was the only one who played better than average on our Defense this past season.

How could you even forget McKenzie? Let alone put someone else as doing better then he did? McKenzie was by far our best man on D up until his injury, which was Week 16.

 

[BoNcHiE]

Charles Grant and Hollis Thomas have been mediocre at best? They had one down year. Both are great players and have proved such.

 

[Trey W.]

why do people praise Will Smith and come down on Grant? Is it because of his contract? Smith didn't do a whole lot more than Grant this year, even with Grant hurt. I'm not saying Smith isn't a great DE but so is Grant. I'm hoping since we will have a new D-line coach he can get them into shape and teach them a few things. I honestly believe Gibbs's scheme is hampering our DE's. If you notice they take huge angles out very wide to get to the QB. You never see them stunting or anything, it's just the same wide angle around everytime.

 

[artisr69]

After watching those games we can use Hobbs and/or Florence through FA .

 

[kooldak]

I'm not saying we need a Top 5 Defense either. I agree that a Defense that is stout enough to compete with the top Offenses is enough. We can't continue to get into shooting matches every week. You don't have to have the BEST Defense to win a Championship, but you need a better than mediocre. As much as I hate to say it, Charles Grant, Mark Simoneau, Jason David, Hollis Thomas, among others, have only played mediocre at best. As I've said before, I believe Fujita was the only one who played better than average on our Defense this past season.

Your opinion of what is mediocre and mine are evidently quite different.

My definition is moderate, ordinary, so-so. We didn't play that well. IMHO, many of those you mentioned as having played mediocre actually played poorly. As an example, no way can I consider the play of our secondary as a whole to be mediocre. Nope, they played badly. Exceptions exist (MM), but as a whole - no where near mediocre.

That same thing can be said of almost every defensive position.

Our D ranked 26th in total yards and 25th in points allowed. Mediocre would be closer to 16th. Mediocre would be an improvement. A top 15 D would be wonderful.

So, again, if we had even a mediocre D, we would be an excellent team. We have a long ways to go to become mediocre on D.

Now -
In this day and age of FA, it is a rare team that has an excellent D and an excellent O. Not enough money, not enough talent to go around. If we want to have an excellent D, the kind that win championships, we would need to dismantle our O and build our D instead. Not going to happen. Our big money and real talent is already in our offense.

But that is fine with me. Today some teams win with D, some teams win with O. We are built to be an offensively driven team. That is why I used the term "complimentary defense". Not my term. One used by Payton and Brees.

It shows the direction that this team is going. We are going to continue to be an offensively driven team. We are going to put our money and resources into our O. The defense will be "complimentary". That means that our D is going to be of a level that will allow our O to win games. We're not there yet. But if we can build the D side of the ball to be "complimentary" or mediocre, then it will be sufficient to allow us to win games with Brees, Colston, Bush, and Co.

As always, JMO.

 

[GermanSaint]

I'm not saying Smith isn't a great DE but so is Grant. .

hmmm smith ISN´T a great DE ... as a GREAT DE you have to give the offense instant pressure , creating some turnover , heck do a tackle for loss here and there ... he is solid ... no one i would gibe top 5 money, especially with so much needs on DT , LB and CB.

isn´t it funny that his production went down year after year , when howard left and he wasn´t a situational passrusher anymore ?