New Orleans Saints defense reeling after another beatdown
By Cory Buck
The New Orleans Saints need some answers on defense. After getting run over for three of the first four weeks of the season, the team appears to be running out of answers to stop anyone save for a gimped Minnesota Vikings squad. Don’t blame the schemes being drawn up by defensive coordinator Rob Ryan though because the defensive players won’t hear of it. This one lays squarely on the guys whiffing on tackles.
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Dallas Cowboys running back Demarco Murray continued his torrid pace atop the NFL rushing list with a bruising effort against the Saints defense. At times he seemed to run into a pile of New Orleans defenders only to come out of the other side still running. It was for that reason that linebacker Curtis Lofton wouldn’t allow any talk about failure of the defensive scheme.
“What it comes down to is you gotta whup the man across the line from you,” Lofton said per ESPN. “And if you don’t do that, then you’re not gonna be successful. If you gotta man him up, then you man him up. If I gotta tackle the running back, I gotta tackle the running back. It’s plain and simple. There’s no magic schemes. You gotta whup somebody in front of you.”
Execution, or the lack thereof, is a simpler explanation for the Saints’ woes. They showed poor tackling form against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1 and they showed it again versus the Cowboys. Now at 1-3, the Saints must look within and focus on the details in order to commence the whuppings and get their 2014 season back on track.
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