Saints Have Lost Their ‘Old Magic’ And Found Trouble

The Roller Coaster Defense

Sep 20, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson (83) catches the ball to score touchdown in front of New Orleans Saints safety Kenny Phillips (28) during the second quarter of a game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

I’ve seen the argument last week and this week about the defense stepping up and playing hard which I’ll admit they have…in spurts.

Gone are the consistently dominant defenses that we were used to seeing going back to the Gregg Williams era.

While they weren’t perfect, they seemed to play a whole lot faster with more sound tackling and a secondary that used to be filled with the likes of Jabari Greer.

Now the defense is filled with young players still learning their way in the NFL and some older players that are looking to hang onto their career or try for a desperate comeback.

Two players that were counted on to help the defense, safety Jarius Byrd and linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, have yet to see the field and it’s anybody’s guess when they will.

The hype surrounding cornerbacks Brandon Browner and Delvin Breaux is slowly fizzling especially after Sunday’s game with Browner being flagged for obvious penalties, like diving through a receiver in the endzone, are mistakes a rookie would make and not a highly prized free agent.

Sep 13, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; New Orleans Saints cornerback Brandon Browner reacts with a thumbs up prior to the game against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

I’ve been trying to cut Breaux some rookie slack because he does have potential, but the video of him today aimlessly looking for the football like he’s going to intercept it AFTER receiver Louis Murphy already caught the ball is downright embarrassing.

While the defensive line did do a better job than they did last week, they should have had a field day against a rookie quarterback in  Jameis Winston and the Bucs suspect offensive line.

The lack of execution is evident at times as receivers seemed to mysteriously be uncovered in the Saints secondary and running backs easily slip through the grasp of multiple defenders for the Black and Gold.

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