Saints' Defensive Effort Against Vikings Doesn't Indicate Long-Term Improvement

Opponent	Points	Total Yards	Rushing Yards	Passing Yards	Sacks	Turnovers
Falcons	37	568	123	445	1	1
Browns	26	324	122	202	1	0
Vikings	9	247	59	188	2	0

New Orleans head coach Sean Payton was literally screaming for an improved defensive effort after the first two weeks of play. The Saints responded with a strong showing during the team's 20-9 victory Sunday in the Superdome over the Minnesota Vikings.

A flawed Vikings offense deserved more credit for the Saints' improvement on defense, though, than any type of legitimate progress made by defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. 

While it appears there has been steady improvement from the Saints defense, it's directly attributable to the level of offense the team faced. 

The Falcons are the NFL's No. 1 offense, while the Browns are Pro Football Focus' highest-graded offense (subscription required). 

The Vikings fall on the other end of the spectrum. Minnesota is currently ranked 29th overall in yards per game. Neither its running attack nor its passing game is ranked better than 24th in the league. And the Vikings only average 16.7 points per game. 

Simply put, the Vikings offense is one of the NFL's worst, and the Saints defense benefited from its inept play. 

It started with preparation for Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel. Minnesota's starting signal-caller simply doesn't threaten a defense vertically. His average of 5.99 yards per attempt is 28th among quarterbacks. The Saints could sit on routes and not worry too much about being threatened deep while he was in the game.

Cassel then broke his foot in the second quarter, according to NFL Network's Albert Breer, which gave the Saints an opportunity to prey on rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

Minnesota's first-round pick is talented, and he is eventually expected to be the face of the franchise, but he didn't receive first-team repetitions during the week to get him properly prepared for the Saints. 

Ryan turned up the heat on the first-year signal-caller, and Bridgewater was under constant pressure. The quarterback responded well, but he wasn't able to finish drives. Unlike Cassel, Bridgewater was able to exploit a couple matchups and complete passes of 41 yards to running back Matt Asiata and 30 yards to veteran wide receiver Greg Jennings. The rookie was still sacked twice as the Saints amassed 17 quarterback hurries. 

A surprise appearance from an untested rookie quarterback wasn't the Saints' only favorable matchup. 

Some guy named Adrian Peterson didn't play. 

While Asiata is a fine backup, he's a far cry from the best running back in the NFL. Peterson's current predicament was simply another added advantage for the Saints. 

Asiata managed 35 rushing yards on 12 carries. 

Outside of wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, the Vikings lack weapons on offense. The Saints planned accordingly by holding Patterson to four catches for 61 yards. 

Another major mismatch developed between outside linebacker Junior Galette and Vikings left tackle Matt Kalil. The third-year blocker and former fourth overall pick continues to disappoint this season, according to Pro Football Focus.

Galette took full advantage of Kalil and played his best game of the season. The outside linebacker finished the contest with a sack, a quarterback hit and six quarterback pressures. It was a dominant performance after a slow start to the season.

In total, the Saints allowed the Vikings into the red zone twice and only surrendered six points. It's the type of effort against a lowly offense that should be expected, not lauded. 

"I think the thing that was encouraging is the red-zone defense, the opportunities of forcing them to settle for field goals," Payton said after the game. "That's huge. That's one thing we did when we were playing well last year and we did it today."

But the coach wasn't entirely thrilled with the team's defensive effort: 

"

I thought we corrected some of the things we really spent much of the week working on from an emphasis standpoint. I thought we tackled better. I thought offensively in the second half we got a little slow, a little sloppy and we had some minus plays. These are things we are obviously going to have to clean up. Third down numbers offensively seemed good; defensively, we still want to work on improving that.

"

Two areas still need to be addressed if the Saints defense hopes to play at a much higher level for the rest of the season. 

Despite added pressure against the Vikings, the Saints didn't force a turnover. They only have one through the first three games. Even during last year's complete turnaround under Rob Ryan, New Orleans was in the bottom half of the league in causing turnovers. It's one of the primary reasons the team went out and signed All-Pro safety Jairus Byrd to a six-year, $54 million contract during free agency. Byrd, in turn, forced a fumble during New Orleans' opening contest against the Atlanta Falcons. Neither the Cleveland Browns nor the Vikings coughed up the ball in recent weeks. 

Also, the Saints need to make a permanent decision at cornerback opposite Keenan Lewis. Patrick Robinson, a former first-round pick, was burnt regularly through the first two games, and he was demoted in favor of Corey White. In fact, Robinson was only on the field for one defensive snap against the Vikings.

An undrafted free agent, Brian Dixon, served as the team's nickelback and was on the field for six snaps. 

White and Dixon need to step up in their new roles, or Ryan needs to increase his usage of three-safety looks as the season progresses. 

A true test for the Saints defense will come Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas running back DeMarco Murray leads the NFL with 385 rushing yards, and the Cowboys offensive line can be overwhelming at the point of attack. 

Jason Garrett's squad also has the weapons to threaten the Saints downfield in Dez Bryant, Jason Witten and Terrance Williams. 

Retribution could be at hand for Ryan, who previously served as the Cowboys defensive coordinator before he was fired, and Payton will learn what he really has in this year's defense. Until then, the Saints are still 1-2, and their defense is ranked 24th overall in total yardage despite a solid outing against the Vikings.

Salary numbers courtesy of Spotrac.com. Brent Sobleski covers the NFC South for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.