Good overall game today. The first team O scored 17pts with a vanilla package on one of the top Ds in the league. You know Coach Payton gained a new perspective sitting out last year, taking notes on every game, and is implementing what he saw into his offense. But he's not going to show much in the preseason. The defense is still a work in progress. Although they gave up nearly 150 yards rushing and over 5 yards a carry, they did limit the first team Houston offense to just 16pts and made them kick FGs instead of TDs on 3 drives deep into Saints territory. Would still like to see the running game improve, which I think it will (Ingram averaged 6yrds per carry and Thomas had 4.8). With the battle going on at WR, I think we threw more today, just to see if anyone could separate themselves, which Andy Tanner did as mentioned by CS. As for the D, they can give up as many yards as they want, as long as they keep teams from scoring or holding them to FGs. They don't have to be perfect. We went 7-9 last year with the worst defense in the history of the league, so if they can just be average, we'll be a great team. I'll be in the dome in 2 weeks watching them kick some dirty bird ass. WHO DAT!!
I was at the game today. Overall the starters looked great. Vacarro is a ball hawk. Can cover and tackle and has excellent football instincts. My huge concern is that the second and third team defensive backs and linebackers were absolutely terrible. They looked very lost out there. Lining up wrong. Wrong substitutions. Poor coverage and tackling. It was a mess. The only saving grace is that the Texans offensive backups sucked just as much. What they did do well was goal line and red zone. But I guess that's why they're backups. On a different note, the new scoreboard/big screen inReliant us absolutely amazing.
Looks like it. We have the wrong personnel for the scheme Ryan is running. Plus a lot of them just aren't very good. Just one outstanding D lineman and one really good LB would make a world of difference.
They won't be the '85 Bears for sure, but they won't be the 2012 Saints either. As previously mentioned, as long as they're in the Top 20, we should be ok. I thought the starters played decent after they settled in from the first 2 drives. I realize that Foster didn't play, but the Texans were a playoff team last year and had the best record in the league for a while and our starters beat their starters, so hopefully that's a good sign.
Ryan isn't tied to any scheme, that's the beauty of it. We've been running plenty of pure 4-3 plus all kinds of exotic looks based off a 3-4 like the play today you today where every down lineman lined up on the left of center. That's Ryan, not tied to any scheme and always inventing new schemes. It's beautiful. I'm excited about defense this season (I'm hoping to finish #25 at least)
That's exactly right. We ran as much 4-3 today as we did 3-4 as well as other looks. And besides, Ryan isn't going to show all of his blitzes in the pre-season. Matt Ryan was sacked 5 times by the Titans the other night, so the Failcons look vulnerable on the Oline. I'm hoping Ryan cooks up something special for them.
He showed very little in the way of blitzes yesterday. And Galette will make a big difference in our pass rush.
I like Ryan's aggression but the Saints just don't have the horses to be a top notch defense. I think another year of FA and drafting will be enough to put them in a position with the offense to have a legitimate shot at the SB. We'll see. I hope they prove me wrong.
