Black and Gold X's and O's | An Analytical Review of the Saints' 2008 Defense

This is officially the last time I am going to write about how much the Saints defense sucked in 2008. Please, if I ever speak of this again, I give you permission to throw things at me, shout at me, boo me, etc, etc.

But it does not take a genius to figure out the Saints defense was horrible last season.

A quick review of each game shows the areas the team was bad in, and leaves large opportunities for growth.

Week One vs. Tampa Bay - Win

The Saints only gave up 20 points in this game. But a closer look at the stats tells a bit of an ugly story.

Tampa ran the ball 19 times for 145 yards. That's good for an alarming 7.6 ypc. As a defense you'd like to give up about half that.

However the pass defense was pretty good, as Tampa had to throw 41 times in order to gain 221 yards through the air. Additionally, Scott Fujita ended the game on an interception.

The Saints gave up 18 total first downs, but surprisingly only four were picked up on the ground. The pass rush netted two sacks for 15 yards lost.

Finally, Tampa was a combined 2-for-13 on third and fourth down. The defense got off the field.

This was by far one of the defense's best games of the season, as they really only gave up 13 points (Brees threw a pick-six to Phillip Buchanon).  

Week Two @ Washington - Loss

Coming off an emotional and clutch performance in week one, the Saints defense fell back to earth in week two, as it gave up an inconceivable 455 yards of total offense to the Washington Redskins. They gave up 25 first downs and they blew a nine-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Believe it or not, there were a few positives for the Saints from this game. Washington only converted two of their six red zone trips into touchdowns.

And the third down defense limited the Redskins to 3-for-11 on conversions. Once again the Saints defense got to Jason Campbell twice, for negative 15 yards.

The Saints gave up 149 yards rushing (4.8 ypc.) which is a huge improvement from 7.6, but still not the number needed to be a good defense.

Week Three @ Denver - Loss

This was probably the most frustrating game of the season for me.  Of course that was partially because I lived with a Broncos fan and never heard the end of it, until Denver's epic collapse.

In truth, the defense wasn't as bad as the score makes it seem they were. They gave up only 20 first downs, 105 yards rushing, and 264 yards passing, for a grand total of 369 yards.

What hurt the Saints defense most in this game was bad field position, a few key penalties, and third-down conversions.  Denver converted on six-of-10 of those chances.

The rushing ypc improved to 4.4, which is still not great but certainly an improvement. Unfortunately, no Saint ever recorded a sack on "The Douche" Jay Cutler. However they did have an interception and a safety.

These numbers make me rethink my statement I made in Monday's column that this loss was on the defense. In reality, it was on the bad start and the kicking game.

Week Four vs. San Francisco - Win

From a numbers standpoint, this was one of the best defensive games the Saints have had in recent memory, despite the 17 points they gave up.

They sacked J.T. O'Sullivan six times!!! Those sacks combined for 36 lost yards. Even more impressive, they picked off two passes in the game.

They also gave up fewer than 100 yards on the ground for the first time in the season. And, they held the 49ers to 3-for-10 on third down.

It was a very good defensive game in the dome for New Orleans.

Week Five vs. Minnesota - Loss

In this game, the Saints did the unthinkable—they shut down Adrian Peterson. Unfortunately, they forgot this isn't the 1920's and teams are allowed to throw the football down the field.

While New Orleans held the Minnesota ground attack to an amazing (for any defense) 1.7 ypc, they allowed the Vikings to gain almost six yards per pass attempt, plus gave up a few huge first downs on penalties.

Minnesota was only five-for-15 on third down's, but they always came in clutch situations. Gus Frerotte was sacked one time, but didn't lose any yards. In actuality, the defense wasn't even that bad from a numbers standpoint, they just gave up the big play at the wrong time.

Week Six vs. Oakland - Win

Another great performance by the defense. It's too bad the Saints couldn't play Oakland, Tampa Bay, San Francisco, or Detroit every game. If they could they would've had an all-time great defense a season ago.

New Orleans gave up only 12 first downs and three points in the game. Oakland averaged a much more acceptable 3.9 yards per rush, and again fewer than 100 yards total.

JaMarcus Russell was sacked twice for a loss of 18 yards and the Raiders recorded a net of 141 passing yards on the afternoon with one interception. In fact, they averaged 3.8 yards per pass attempt.

Let's just say if your average running attempt's are higher than your passing yards, and they're both below four, then that is officially a horrible offensive game.

Week Seven @ Carolina - Loss

I think we all realized that the string of three straight games holding the opposition under 100 yards rushing was going to come to an end. And it did in a big way.

One-hundred and forty-three yards later, the Panthers walked off the field with a convincing victory over the division rival. They only averaged 3.9 ypc., but the fact they ran the ball 37 times made up for their averages.

Even more painful was Carolina's 7-of-15 (46 percent) third down conversion rate. The Saints defense simply couldn't get off the field. It didn't help that they only brought Jake Delhomme down one time for a loss of two yards.

All in all, a disappointing effort after three consecutive better-than-average outings.

Week Eight vs. San Diego - Win

Despite the win, this week eight game didn't do a lot to improve the confidence of the defensive unit. Sure, they picked off a pass to end the game. But in between that time and the rest of the game, the unit was not very good.

They gave up 22 first downs, which isn't horrible, but more importantly allowed the Chargers to convert five of their 12 third down attempts (41 percent). Almost as important, they never brought down Philip Rivers.

The Chargers running game average 5.0 yards per attempt, and the passing game 8.5. But, the Saints managed to prevent the Chargers from scoring touchdowns on three of their six red zone opportunities.

It wasn't the Saints best defensive game, but it was a little bit better than many people realize.

Week 10 @ Atlanta - Loss

In addition to giving up 34 points, rookie quarterback Matt Ryan made the Saints defense look silly. He shredded the Saints secondary as he helped the Falcons fly to 10.8 yards per pass attempt. Generally, it requires a Brees to have that kind of silly number.

The Saints held the vaunted ground attack to 3.1 yards per carry, although they still had 113 yards rushing. They also gave up a rushing touchdown and two through the air.

They were unable to sack Ryan or intercept him. In fact, they were unable to get him off the field, as he helped his team convert 5-of-11 third down attempts (45 percent).

Week 11 @ Kansas City - Loss

While the Chiefs managed to gain 21 first downs, they were largely ineffective versus the Saints defense when trying to throw the football.

They averaged a measly 4.9 yards per pass attempt. And that is after the four Saints sacks are included.

Third down wasn't so kind to them either as they were 5-for-14, although they did pick up two-of-three fourth downs.

The running game worked, at a 5.2 ypc rate. However, in red zone and goal-to-go situations, the Saints held half of the time.

While this was certainly not the best defensive game of the season, it was not a bad one for New Orleans.

Week 12 vs. Green Bay - Win

It comes as little surprise that one of the highest scoring games in 2008 would produce bad statistics for the defenses. While New Orleans held the Packers to 29 points, the other numbers weren't so pretty.

One of the most telling numbers is 10-for-17. That is the third down conversion ratio for the Packers offense...a gaudy 58 percent.

However, New Orleans managed to hold the Green Bay rushing attack to 3.5 yards per carry, and shockingly 5.4 yards per pass attempt. Also impressive were the three interceptions and two sacks the defense racked up.

So perhaps this wasn't such a bad defensive game after all, at least for the home team.

Week 13 @ Tampa Bay - Loss

Without even looking at the box score, I predict this will be one of the five best defensive games of the season for New Orleans.

And the numbers confirm this to be true. Jeff Garcia was even worse than inaccurate.

Frankly he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, as he completed just 9-of-23 passes on the rain-soaked day. New Orleans displayed a pass rush with four sacks and they only gave up an amazing 3.9 yards per pass attempt.

Tampa Bay did have more success running the football, and stuck with it a little more than in week one. This time they gained 149 yards, good for 4.4 yards per carry.

But New Orleans' defense did a wonderful job of getting off the field, as they allowed Tampa to convert only two of their 13 third down conversions. However, they did give up the only two fourth down attempts that Tampa tried.

All in all, a pretty impressive showing from the Saints defense in this one.

Week 14 vs. Atlanta - Win

Despite losing the war, Matt Ryan again showed himself to be a very good quarterback in this game. He threw for 315 yards and averaged 9.5 yards per attempt. He did however, throw one into the arms of the Saints.

But he was never sacked, and he helped his offense convert seven of 12 third downs.

Luckily for the Saints, they held Atlanta to 99 yards rushing, and an impressive 3.3 yards per attempt. While Atlanta scored 25 points, the Saints did a good job of taking Atlanta out of their comfort zone by shutting down the run.

Week 15 @ Chicago - Loss

Despite losing in overtime, the Saints defense played pretty well in this game, save for a costly penalty at the end of the game.

They held Chicago to 2.6 yards per rush. Also, Chicago only managed 4.1 yards per pass attempt. Additionally, they picked off two of Kyle Orton's passes.

However, they only sacked Orton once and they did allow Chicago to convert five of 12 third downs.

There is a belief that ultimately a good defense (or offense) does what it has to in order to win. In this case, the Saints didn't do that on either side of the ball, so to call this a good performance would be an inaccurate statement.

Week 16 @ Detroit - Win

Do I even have to look up the stats for this one?

Well, I'll do it anyway.

New Orleans gave up only 15 first downs, 126 passing yards, and 129 rushing. Detroit did manage 4.8 yards per carry, but they had fewer yards per pass at 4.5, which is awful.

Also, the Saints recorded two sacks and picked off two passes. And they only gave up seven points.

This rivals the Oakland game as the best defensive performance.

Week 17 vs. Carolina - Loss

The Saints gave up 23 first downs in this game and a ridiculous 234 rushing yards and 5.6 yards per carry.

They only sacked Delhomme once and never picked him off. Worst of all, the Carolina passing game was superbly efficient to the tune of 11.6 yards per pass attempt.

If that wasn't bad enough, they allowed Carolina to convert exactly 50 percent of their third-down attempts, and they tried twelve of them.  Do the math.

Summary

The Saints were not as bad defensively if you were to look at each game. However, numbers are not everything.  Wins are the only numbers that really matter.

You can take what you want from these statistics. Personally, I take them to mean the Saints were not quite the 23rd-best defense. But I also know they were not as good as the numbers might indicate.

Either way, the key for the Saints in 2009 is going to be consistency. These highs and lows are understandable, but need to end. If they do, then we've got a shot.

Until next week, Geaux Saints!