Must apply same defensive pressure
In the last four meetings between the New Orleans Saints and the Chicago Bears the “Monsters of the Midway” from Chicago had the upper hand over the Black and Gold on the scoreboard.
That was not the case Sunday as the Saints defeated the Bears 30-13.
Against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1 quarterback Aaron Rodgers was rarely pressured by the oncoming Saints rush, but defensive coordinator Gregg Williams dialed up blitz after blitz against Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and sacked him six times.
It was a planned assault on the Bears passing game and their quarterback and it paid off big.
Former Slidell High School and Tulane University All-American Matt Forte’ had a strong game against the Saints, rushing for 49 yards on 10 carries and catching 10 passes for 117 yards coming out of the backfield. He was the only bright spot on offense for the Bears.
Saints cornerback Jabari Greer, who played his second-straight excellent game, said that is was controlled aggression that swung the pendulum in the direction of the Saints defense.
“Every game is a bit different, but Coach (Gregg) Williams wants to put heat on the passer and let him know we came to play in a physical manner,” Greer said. “But that aggression has to be under control. You have to play smart and not give up a big play because you just wanted to get in a hard shot. We played smart today, our defense put plenty pressure on Cutler and the Bears couldn’t control the tempo of this game with their rushing attack.”
The Saints also didn’t give up the big play on special teams.
In Devin Hester the Bears have the greatest return man to ever put on a pair of shoulder pads and helmet, but Sunday punter/kickoff ace Thomas Morstead did a great job kicking his punts to the sidelines. Hester only averaged 25.6 yards per runback and didn’t score.
The play of the Saints defense and special teams was the frontline story against Chicago despite another great passing effort from Drew Brees. With wide receiver Marques Colston out of the lineup tight end Jimmy Graham stepped up big.
Brees was 26-of-37 for 270 yards and three scores and tight end Jimmy Graham hauled down six grabs for 79 yards.
Bears All-Pro outside linebacker Lance Briggs says that Graham has the look of a future All-Pro in the league.
“Drew (Brees) was like he normally is out on the field, masterful, but the young tight end for New Orleans really played well,” Briggs said. “(Jimmy) Graham is a huge target, but he also showed excellent hands and he adjusts well to a pass off target a bit. He’s really something tough to bring down in the openfield.
“That’s all the Saints need is another guy to put the ball in the endzone”.
This Sunday the Saints play the “Greatest Show on Turf-Southwest Style” in the Houston Texans. This is the game on the early part of the schedule you can measure yourself by because Houston has an All-Pro caliber quarterback in Matt Schaub and a Pro-Bowl caliber halfback in Arian Foster. If Foster can’t go, former All-SEC and Auburn halfback Ben Tate is waiting in the wings after having rushed for more than 100 yards the last two weeks.
The Texans also have one of the elite pass catching tight ends in the AFC in Owen Daniels and in my opinion the best wide receiver in the business in Andre Johnson.
This could well be one of those shootout scoring affairs like you saw in the opening season game against the Green Bay Packers.
For the Saints to win against Houston their defense needs to come to play in the same aggressive fashion like we saw against the Chicago Bears.
In the NFL game being played today it is the real life video game you play on the television at home.
It’s all about scoring and just trying to make a few big plays on defense.
Be the first to comment