Did you know: The Saints currently lead the NFC in the Simple Rating System? And for a change, it’s not *all* because of Drew Brees and the passing game. The graph below shows how the Saints pass offense and pass defense have fared in ANY/A in each year since 2006. As a rule of thumb, you want the gold line (offense) to be a lot higher than the black line (defense); but despite Brees, that hasn’t always been the case.
As an aside, how remarkable is it that the 2015 Saints with such a historically bad defense still went 7-9?
Anyway, you can see that the pass defense is faring very well by Saints standards, similar to what New Orleans had in 2009 (13-3), 2010 (11-5) and 2013 (11-5). New Orleans is on a four-game winning streak, and all four games have been won in large part due to the defense:
- In week 3 against the Panthers, the Saints forced Cam Newton into the worst passing game of his career as measured by both AY/A and ANY/A (as I wrote here). He threw for just 167 yards with 3 INTs and 0 TDs on 26 pass attempts, and was also sacked 4 times.
- In week 4 against the Dolphins, the Saints pitched a shutout.
- After a bye, in week 6 against the Lions, the Saints defense scored three touchdowns! And while Detroit scored 38 points, 14 of those came on defense or special teams. So the Lions offense scored 24 points while the Saints defense scored 21; that’s a net of just 3 points allowed.
- Finally, in a 26-17 win on Sunday against the Packers – albeit a Brett Hundley Packers — the Saints allowed just 79 passing yards. In, like, the entire game.
So who is responsible for this sudden resurgence? Below are the top 15 defensive players for New Orleans in snap counts over the last four weeks, along with the percentage of snaps taken in those four games. For example, linebacker A.J. Klein has taken every snap, so he has played in 4.00 games:
| Player | Pos | Perc of Games | Draft |
|---|---|---|---|
| A.J. Klein | LB | 4.00 | Carolina Panthers / 5th / 148th pick / 2013 |
| Kenny Vaccaro | S | 3.98 | New Orleans Saints / 1st / 15th pick / 2013 |
| Marcus Williams | S | 3.94 | New Orleans Saints / 2nd / 42nd pick / 2017 |
| Ken Crawley | CB | 3.94 | UDFA |
| Cameron Jordan | DE | 3.55 | New Orleans Saints / 1st / 24th pick / 2011 |
| Vonn Bell | S | 3.09 | New Orleans Saints / 2nd / 61st pick / 2016 |
| Alex Okafor | DE | 3.02 | Arizona Cardinals / 4th / 103rd pick / 2013 |
| Marshon Lattimore | CB | 2.96 | New Orleans Saints / 1st / 11th pick / 2017 |
| Sheldon Rankins | DT | 2.95 | New Orleans Saints / 1st / 12th pick / 2016 |
| Craig Robertson | LB | 2.90 | UDFA |
| David Onyemata | DT | 2.01 | New Orleans Saints / 4th / 120th pick / 2016 |
| Tyeler Davison | DT | 1.94 | New Orleans Saints / 5th / 154th pick / 2015 |
| Trey Hendrickson | DE | 1.26 | New Orleans Saints / 3rd / 103rd pick / 2017 |
| Manti Te'o | ILB | 1.03 | San Diego Chargers / 2nd / 38th pick / 2013 |
| P.J. Williams | CB | 1.02 | New Orleans Saints / 3rd / 78th pick / 2015 |
Klein signed a three year, $15 million contract with the Saints this off-season after four years in Carolina; Okafor signed a 1-year, $2M deal this offseason after four years with the Cardinals; Te’o signed a 2-year, $4.6M contract this offseason after four years with the Chargers; and Robertson is in the second year of a 3-year, $5M deal after four years with the Browns.
But there actually is a good amount of talent on this defense: Jordan and Vaccarro were first round picks a few years ago, while Rankins and Lattimore were top-12 picks used by the Saints in the last two drafts. The Saints play a lot of three-safety formations, and used 2nd round picks on Williams and Bell the last two years to complement Vaccarro. Lattimore missed the Panthers game with a concussion, but along with Crawley, rarely leaves the field when healthy. That gives the Saints five talented and athletic defensive backs.
Can New Orleans keep this up? Bill Barnwell wrote some good thoughts on the Saints turnaround last week, and there are definitely reasons for optimism. Given how long the New Orleans defense has been the weakness of the team, it’s going to take awhile before I’m convinced. But there’s no doubt about how good they’ve been over the last month.