Saints fans, the whole nation; nobody last week was getting to hit the Sean Payton. The dance that was last year’s battle cry was nowhere to be seen inside the Superdome last Sunday because even though the Saints came out on offense looking as good as ever, the team was unprepared and lacked any respect for the opponent they had in front of them. Payton is a great coach but anytime another team comes out and shocks your defense for a record setting performance of 48 points, then that is on the coach because the team was just not ready. Perhaps the early expectations for the Saints was weighing too heavily on the minds of those playing defense in black and gold? Or maybe the tape is out on Dennis Allen’s defense and smarter coaches took advantage of them with the deep ball? I respect good coaching and using tape against the opponent, but I subscribe to that first notion. The Saints can do better.
Everyone in the Saints locker room is saying “prove them right” and that is a great mantra to have, but in knowing that you should be living up to a certain standard you set in the previous year, often times teams take brief steps backwards. Instead of proving them right, the Saints began the season playing a little too tight. The secondary was dialed in on one on one matchups and that caused players like Marcus Williams to miss cues from his teammates that they were passing receivers off to his deep third. The defensive line was consistently standing offensive linemen up and then did nothing with them. There was no shedding, no push into the backfield, and definitely no pressure on the quarterback whatsoever. If we are blaming the Saints defense for the slow start to the season, then it starts with the defensive line.
The Saints are that damn good. You do not score 40 points in Week 1 without already being a well oiled machine on offense. The problem in New Orleans has always been one dimensional and in a year when we think that problem has been fixed, the problem with the defense crept it’s ugly head into the beginning of a season once again. That is not to say it cannot be fixed though. The issues on defense are immediately fixable. Communication issues in the secondary are fixable. Getting hands up in passing lanes and being smarter with the strengths of linebacker personnel is immediately fixable. The best week of practice this season might have taken place this week for New Orleans since there were so many identifiable issues that absolutely have instant solutions.
Enter the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are the perfect opponent for the Saints to work their defensive kinks out on. The receivers for Cleveland are respectable and the quarterback is a veteran who can pick apart your defense if you just let him sit there against a zone. The Saints will be challenged to keep the top on their defense while stopping the run and a mobile/accurate quarterback once again. This is another chance for New Orleans to start their season off the right way and move on from the 48 point shocker against Tamps. Forget the Sean Payton this week. The Saints just need to hit the reset button so they can get by Cleveland and earn their first victory of the season.
– Alan Michael