MVN - Most Valuable Network

Saints Defense Leading the Charge in Playoff Push

Making its presence felt in perhaps the most vital game of the season, the Saints defense came alive Sunday. 

In yesterday’s ultra-important, playoff-chance-improving win, the Black-and-Gold defense forced two critical turnovers, giving the offense the field position it needed to get past a gritty Cardinals team.

Middle linebacker Scott Fujita played inspired football against Arizona, posting 10 total tackles and two sacks.

It wasn’t individual efforts though, that propelled the Saints to the 31-24 win.  It was team-based contributions.

When the defense took the field with 9:00 minutes to go after David Patton’s fumble, I, like I’m sure the rest of the watching populace, knew Kurt Warner would march the Cardinals down the field for the tying touchdown score. 

Why was I so confident?  Because those kinds of things just seem to happen to the Saints.  When you root for a squad that has only 8 winning seasons out of 40, you tend to expect blown leads and 4th quarter collapses. 

Not this time, though.  Thanks in part to two great individual defensive plays by Antwan Lake and Kevin Kaesviharn, New Orleans halted the Arizona drive and essentially iced the game.

Kaesviharn showed an ability to do something on that third down play that I didn’t realize the Saints knew how to do.  He broke up a pass.

Coach Payton has found something in Kaesviharn.  It seems like when Kaesviharn — let’s just call him KK — stepped into the starting free safety spot vacated by injured Josh Bullocks, the Saints defense immediately improved.

I think it has a lot to do with how KK approaches the game.  The Saints brought him in from Cincinnati as a free agent in the offseason because the guy knows the game of football. 

He’s not the best athlete on the roster and he won’t blow you up on a crossing route like Roy Williams or John Lynch, but he understands assignments and coverages.

KK puts himself in the right position to make plays because he can anticipate what the defense is going to do.  He relies on his brain more than his athleticism.  That’s something Josh Bullocks could never do. 

Sometimes understanding the game can help hide any physical imperfections you might have.

Roman Harper is another guy whose emergence as a playmaker has sparked this Saints defense.  He’s got two picks in two games – both off of deflections.

You may say he’s getting lucky, but I say he’s getting good.  Sure, he’s been the fortunate recipient of a few tipped balls, but that shouldn’t take away from his playmaking skills. 

He’s learning to read and react quickly, enabling him to get himself into the right position at the right time. 

Right now, the Saints still lean on their offensive to win games.  Drew Brees is gathering momentum and starting to play some great football. 

Don’t sleep on the defense though.  They paved the path to victory yesterday against Arizona and they could be called upon to do again soon.  Which may not be as scary as it sounds anymore, because I think they’re getting better every day.     
    

   
 

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.