Don’t celebrate those Saints victories yet. The defense still has work to do.
Forgive please if I don’t gush over those three earthly Saints who wear the Black and Gold helmeted halos — Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas — but New Orleans has major problems on defense that need immediate attention.
Is there a good plumber in the house?
Why, you ask, because they are badly leaking points and yards after three games, and if they don’t fix the problems soon, they can kiss their Super Bowl LIII aspirations goodbye.
As in adios, bon voyage, sayonara, arrivederci and ciao to a second Lombardi Trophy, no matter how well Brees, Kamara, Thomas and the human version of a Swiss Army knife, Taysom Hill, play over the final 13 regular-season games.
Let’s put the 2018 Saints defensive edition in perspective:
▪ They currently rank last in a 32-team league in points allowed with 103 (34.3 ppg.) after yielding 48, 18 and 37 points to Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Atlanta. At this pace, they would oblitrerate the franchise’s single-season futlity mark of 476 points (29.8 ppg) set in 2015.
▪ They currently rank 30th league-wide in yards allowed with 1,263 (421.0 ypg.) after yielding 529, 327 and 407 yards against the Bucs, Browns and Falcons. The 2012 Saints defense was historically bad, yielding a league-record 7,042 (440.0 ypg.) in the absence of suspended coach Sean Payton.
▪ The Saints have allowed a league-high 10 TD passes through three games against QBs Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tyrod Taylor and Matt Ryan, putting the Black and Gold on pace to shatter the league record of 45 TD passes they surrendered in 2015.
▪ Through three games, opposing quarterbacks have a gaudy passer rating of 141.7 against the Saints. In 2015, opposing QBs set a league record with a 116.2 passer rating.
Ok, let’s attach some names to the problematic defense.
The secondary play has been horrendous, especially from cornerbacks Ken Crawley and P.J. Williams. Even reputed shutdown corner Marshon Lattimore can’t escape criticism, not after his performance in Game 1 against Bucs WR Mike Evans.
Heck, veteran Kurt Coleman, the free agent safety from Carolina who was expected to add experience to a young secondary, has been Missing In Action.
There’s been a lack of disruptive QB pressure other than DE Cam Jordan (4 of team’s 6 sacks) and linebacker A.J. Klein’s third-down blitz of Ryan during the final minute of regulation against Atlanta. Klein’s unimpeded pressure forced an incompletion and ended the Falcons’ hopes of moving into position to kick a game-winning FG.
In summation, I suggest Who Dat Nation should temper its enthusiam until the Saints defense starts behaving like a Super Bowl-caliber unit, if and when that moment comes.
Perhaps, we’ll see the transformation Sunday (3:25 p.m., CBS) against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J.
If not, then the Saints once again will need Brees, Kamara and Thomas to ride to the rescue.
Brian Allee-Walsh, a longtime Saints reporter based in New Orleans, can be reached at sports@sunherald.com.
This story was originally published September 25, 2018 at 12:26 PM.