Regarding A.J. Hawk's defensive pass interference.

Check out the rule here .




(a) Hawk was playing the ball and did not restrict Sproles from catching the ball.
(b) Hawk went over the shoulder of Sproles
(c) Hawk did not grab any arm.
(d) Hawk did have his arms in front of the receiver restricting the receivers ability to catch the ball, because he knocked the ball away!
(e) Hawk did not cut off the receivers path.
(f) Hawk did not hook the receiver.


Defensive players have as much right to the path of the ball as eligible offensive players.




From the angles I seen, it was a blown call, kind of like not ejecting Charles Woodson for the upper cut.

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It was a rough outing, for sure, against one of the best offenses in the league, but they made some big stops to redeem themselves. They forced a couple of field goals, and the stop at the end was awesome. The D-line came up big when it needed to--Raji, Pickett, and even Wynn. The LBs did not seem to have a great day, especially the interior LBs. As others have noted, Hawk made a fantastic game-winning play, only to have the refs take it away from him. Shields looked bad on several plays, which worries me a little because he looked bad in the preseason too. I hope he's not becoming complacent.

As for blitzing, I thought they blitzed a lot, but seldom got home with the blitzes. Playing coverage didn't seem to work very well either. New Orleans has an amazing offense--almost as good as ours!

A couple of plays that stand out:

1. The defense being totally ready for the Saints to pass on 4th and 1 at the six-yard line in the third quarter.

2. Jarrett Bush coming in for Tramon Williams near the end and being tested on the first play, and deflecting the pass in the end zone.

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I've watched and re-watched and seeing it now it appears he hits the back of Sproles head before he knocks the ball. But is that really what was called and if so is that really enough to make that call? It was still a fucking heads up play, imo.

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Dan Patrick said this morning that from his vantage point on the 17-yard line, he thought it was a good call, but having seen subsequent replays, he believes it was a blown call.

I don't know how people can say this defense performed well when there was a gaping hole in the middle of the field, usually with no defenders within 10 yards of the wide-open receiver(s), on almost every play. Henderson averaged almost 17 yards a catch. The defense may have stopped the deep bombs, but they were getting chewed up the entire game.

It never should have come down to the goal-line stand, in my opinion. One questionable call (the touchback) and one dreadful call (the pass interference) helped set that play up. Of course, it would have helped if the defense had stopped a single long pass on that route.

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The defense gave up 27 points to one of the three best offensive teams in the league on opening day after not playing a full game for nearly six months. Hardly a time to get too critical or excited over their performance.

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The Saints moved the ball pretty easily against the Packers at times, but I think the defense really showed itself in the redzone. How many times did the Saints make inside the Packers' 20? I could be off but I count 7. The defense turned away the Saints 4 out of 7 times. 3/5 is a terrible red zone percentage (.42). The guys on defense stopped them when it really counted, in what McCarthy calls 'adversity plays/moments.' 3/7 redzone against what is one of the most high powered offenses in the league ain't too shabby.

At least this guy  seems to think it was 3/7.

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I don't understand how that pic is a response to my post.

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Come now.. they suck.. don't look at the opposing offense and their play calling and play designs.. it just that as a defense we suck.

Don't pay attention to match ups the Saints forced.. don't pay attention to the islands Peyton placed the safeties on, forcing them to commit one way or the other and Brees executed the pumps, his eyes and his feet.

Nope the defense just sucked.

Jones only got one pass thrown his way.. he sucks.

Shields got isolated with the deep help getting sucked in and he gave up a score.. he sucks.. never mind the couple plays in which he was in the receivers hip pocket.. one in the endzone.

Collins comes up to make a stick and Williams happens to have his arm engaged.. but somehow that is Collins fault for making a stick.. he must suck.



It is notions like such that drive me bananna's.. not taking into account the elements of the game, but boiling it down to a simple label.. "they sucked."

](*,)

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It depends.

Randy Moss and Charles Woodson are Hall of Fame players. So is Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

Now someone who is young like Brees or Rodgers, it's no guarantee yet. I do think Rodgers could retire the greatest QB of all-time. However, his resume if he decided that he wants to be a professional bowler instead of this football nonsense tomorrow, is too small. Same with Brees.

Now back to topic.

Did our D suck? Yes, it did. Denial that our D sucks is, well, denial. Two things though:

1) Brees was hot. You can't cover perfect passes.

2) Ds for the first 3 or 4 weeks this year will be ugly because of the contract disputes. It's easier to run an O than a D.

We might see a lot of high scoring games in the NFL for the first month. If you're not scoring 110 points in fantasy, you're gonna lose. That's just how it will be for the first month. It will be ugly, and it won't be just us. It will be everyone.

It will be time to [aiee] if we're still looking like this by the Falcons game.

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