The Defense - Again, the Defense :(

[Bossman641]

For all the bitching about capers and the D, the players missed 18 tackles last Thursday. Tough to judge any scheme when you have basically a quarter season's worth of missed tackles in 1 game.

Oh ya, the Saints and their fundamentally sound scheme had 23 missed tackles last weekend.

[Fritz]

For all the bitching about capers and the D, the players missed 18 tackles last Thursday. Tough to judge any scheme when you have basically a quarter season's worth of missed tackles in 1 game.

Oh ya, the Saints and their fundamentally sound scheme had 23 missed tackles last weekend.

I have very mixed feelings about the root cause of the lousy, soft defensive performance. On the one hand, it seems to me that if you're on opposing OC, you'll do very well if you use a lot of misdirection. This game reminded me of the SF playoff game - players flowing one way, the ball going the other, and gaping holes for the guy with the ball. That, to me, is along the lines of a defensive coordinator's fault.

On the other hand, Capers seemed to put the defense in a position to make plays - how many times did you see Lynch get met in the backfield, only to have him run the guy over? Or how many times did you see a guy whiff on an arm tackle that would've kept Lynch to a two yard gain? How many times did Brad Jones fuck up what would've been a third down stop? How many times did you see a Packer defender not make the interception or not recover the fumble?

Surely he's teaching this shit. Please don't tell me he doesn't teach tackling. But the players are sucking at tackling and finishing plays. Why? We've been hearing about "fixing" this shit since 2011, and except for a brief stretch at the beginning of last season, there has been a stench on the defensive side of the ball.

I wonder sometimes if TT drafts guys that are too good of "Packer People." I don't want eleven thugs on the defensive side of the ball - that doesn't work - but I would like to see at least a couple guys that really bring it. Mean bastards. Like Wayne Simmons was.

I'm really disgusted with this defense. Really disgusted. I'm not giving up yet - it's only the first game, for gosh sakes - but so far this pattern of getting gashed and playing soft is just continuing, despite the changes supposedly made.