Position Breakdown against the Falcons.

[gotsmart?]

Hi, So i'm a member of SR.com, new to this forum. I'm not trying to troll, just wanna discuss some NFC south. After all, I think that we can all agree we're in one of the better divisions in football right? Before I start I just wanna say that one of my best friends is a Panther fan, so using the "I'm not racist, I have friends that are..." logic here I go:

So yes, we had issues all around on defense. Mostly in the running game. Injuries made our starting DT position a revolving door and OLB has always been a weekness for us since ex panther Sam Mills led the best LB corp of all time, the dome patrol. But secondary is not a problem on our team. Jabari greer is quickly becoming a top 5 corner and porter isn't nearly the shutdown but he makes big plays (against favre and manning). When those two were hurt Sharper's age was exposed; he's a ball hawker, but he no longer has the quickness to cover on his own.

When Greer and Porter were hurt we had Gay (a career backup witht he patriots and us with about a million rings lol), Malcom Jenkins (a very talented but slow futer FS) and were pulling Mike Mckenzie and Chris Mcallister from the street (yeah they'er not with a team now).

Jabari Greer will become a household name soon. He was the guy who stopped TO from having a catch and ending his insane streak. He's a true shut down corner.

But if we need to compare stats, Jabari Greer. only 46.9% of the times Jabari greer was thrown at in coverage was that pass caught last year. That's 4th in the entire NFL (revis was first of course). The overall QB rating against him was 52.3 which is 6th in the nfl. He only allowed 1 TD all year when he was in coverage.

Tracy porter allowed no TD's when he was in coverage. he's also in the top 10 of opponent QB rating. He's around 23rd of percentage caught against him. that's pretty good numbers for a guy who is getting more balls thrown his side with Greer being a shutdown corner.

Link: http://profootballfocus.com/by_position.php?tab=by_position&season=2009&pos=CB&stype=r&runpass=&teamid=-1&numsnaps=25&numgames=1

The problem is beyond that. Gay does an admirable job but nothign special. Malcom Jenkins is a FS. but we did draft a CB and with how we blitz he will be important. I truly believe we have one of the better CB tandems in football.

So off topic i'm sure but just off the top of my head (admittedly with no stats to backup) I would have to say about the saints players against Carolina:

QB - Saints (i think he's the best in the NFL)

RB - Carolina (I love pierre but you guys use RB much better than we do)

WR - Saints (I just think we're incredibly deep)

TE - Saints (shockey needs to stay off the cough medicine though)

FB - Saints (and i say this mostly because Heath evens is a passing threat. I'm not even sure if you guys still have hoover, he was a great blocker)

T - our RT went to the probowl and LT also went to the probowl (shhhh he's overrated but will you give us a first round pick for him?) so I'm not gonna guess here.

G - Saints Jhari evans is probably the best guard in football, and he's young

C - Panthers - idk who you guys have but trust me he's better

DL - With you guys losing peppers there's question marks and we only upgraded by getting rid of Charles Grant and getting alex brown so i would have to go sainst (yes homer i know)

LB - Yeah vilma is great in coverage but I have to go carolina here

S - Not sure who you guys have but sharper will probably age fast and Jenkins is not ready yet so won't comment.

CB - Saints, above reasons

K - I want to go push here, but leaning panthers. Hartley made huge kicks and was great last year but I feel like he's too young and kickers can go off the handle. Kasay has made me cry so many times

P - Push - Morestead is playing great on kickoffs also

Sorry for the lengthy post but wanted to get off on the right foot. Hopefully we can discuss with a level head. But if you guys think I'm really trolling feel free to delete me.

good analysis, overall I agree with you. the saints have a fairly young team, but have had a few years to pull things together... which = SB. Young overall, but with a great vet leader in Brees. Hard to mess up with that formula. What Carolina needs, on Offense, is a strong leader. One of the reasons our young D is doing so well is that Beason is a natural leader and in his 4th year, he commands the youngsters on the D. Other than Smith, the offense doesn't have that take charge leader. That is what is needed to bring these young offensive players together and mesh.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

The two best CB's in the division.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/12272/ranking-the-nfc-south-cornerbacks

Pat Yasinskas' opinion: worth resurrecting a long dead thread over.

[Dpantherman]

I really don't see how Greer and Porter are so much better than Marshall and Gamble. Sharper did most of the work in that secondary. Gamble has more experience than any of them, and has been consistent. Marshall to me is almost just like Porter, because if they get the int, they can easily run it to the house.

[MadHatter]

Pat Yasinskas' opinion: worth resurrecting a long dead thread over.

If you read the article, he clearly stated that he would put Gamble at the top of the list if it had not been for the loss of Peppers....assumes no pass rush from the Panthers.

Based on how the DLine has looked, I think the secondary will be top notch.

ANY DB is going to suffer with no pass rush.