Too good to be true: Saints' win over Tampa Bay was fool's gold
Did anyone catch the name of the NFL team that upset the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-17 this past Sunday at sun-splashed Raymond James Stadium on the Left Coast of Florida?
The finger-lickin' good quarterback in the No. 9 jersey looked familiar, and the team drew an inordinate number of penalties (12) just like the one in New Orleans, but I didn't recognize the defense.
Who Dat?
Better yet, where has that New Orleans Saints bend-but-don't-break defensive unit been this season?
Seventeen points.
Two-hundred and ninety-one total yards.
Seven stops on 11 third-down plays, including the final one inside the final five minutes.
Bravo!
Again I ask, where has this New Orleans Saints defensive unit been this season?
And will it stick around for season-ending games against the Detroit Lions (4-9), Jacksonville Jaguars (5-8) and Atlanta Falcons (6-7)? All three are very winnable games if the defense that performed against the Buccaneers shows up on game day and plays complementary football, beginning Monday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
And while beating the Lions, Jags and Falcons (oh my!) would be the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig, at least the oink from an 8-8 team would sound better than piercing squeals from anything less. An 8-8 record still wouldn't be good enough to get the Black and Gold in the postseason but the fact is the 2015 Saints are not a playoff caliber team, at least not on defense.
One solid outing -- against a .500 team and rookie quarterback Jameis Winston -- doesn't change things. I'd go so far as to say the 60-minute performance against Tampa Bay is an aberration. Fool's gold. Fact is, until Rob Ryan's hand-me-down defensive unit under new DC Dennis Allen can bring more pass pressure, collect more turnovers, tackle better and quit making stupid mistakes/penalties, the Saints will continue to struggle as a team on a weekly basis.
This year and next.
Maybe the presence of veteran weakside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe does make a discernible difference. He was acquired from Miami along with a third-round pick for wide receiver Kenny Stills during the offseason. The Saints are 4-1 when Ellerbe's been healthy and able to stay on the field. He supposedly makes the defense whole or some such rubbish so I'm told.
In other words, Ellerbe does what he's paid to do, which is not the case for all members of the league's 31st-ranked defensive unit.
More players should follow their leader.
That sounds like a novel idea.
Brian Allee-Walsh, a New Orleans-based columnist for the Sun Herald, can be reached at sports@sunherald.com.
This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Too good to be true: Saints' win over Tampa Bay was fool's gold ."