Saints Defense Becoming Skilled at the 'Art of Suffocation'
Suffocation. According to the official Webster's Dictionary, the word 'suffocation' is defined as "the state or process of dying from being deprived of air or unable to breathe". While it's a word that's normally used to describe a person that's stopped living due to a lack of air, it's also the perfect term used to describe the recent overall performance of the surging New Orleans Saints defense.
That's because the much-maligned unit this season through the team's first 7 games, has become the impetus for the franchise's current success; which has now reached 5 consecutive wins after last Sunday's victory over the Chicago Bears.
Guided by defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, the Saints defense last week limited the Bears offense to a jaw-dropping 17 yards rushing yards on 7 total carries, and forced the Chicago coaching staff to abandon the running game. It was just the 9th time ever in the Saints 53-year team history that they held a team below 20 yards rushing in a single game.
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Additionally, the Saints defense has limited opponents to less than 100 yards rushing for 4th straight games; dating back to their 12-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at the Superdome in Week #4.
That makes the 9th time in franchise history that they've held an opponent to less than 100 rushing yards in 4 consecutive weeks since the 1989 Season, a feat accomplished by none other than the legendary "Dome Patrol" led by linebackers Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling, Vaughan Johnson, and Sam Mills.
Taking that interesting little fact into consideration, it's safe to say that perhaps this year's defensive squad is becoming quite skilled at the "art of suffocation".
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"The front seven has been tremendous", Saints linebacker A.J. Klein told reporters in the locker room after the victory over the Bears at the venerable Soldier Field in Chicago. "The D-line, (the) linebackers working together, working within the scheme".
To Klein's point, the Saints defense hasn't allowed a running back form another team to run for over 100 yards in a game for 33 straight games; a streak that dates all the way back to near the middle of the 2017 Season. And that's strictly a statistic that indicates just how well the unit is shutting down the running game. It doesn't even cover the notable improvement of the Saints secondary.
Led by #1 CB Marshon Lattimore and strong safety Vonn Bell, the Saints secondary has been sensational in recent weeks at defending the pass; and in that contest against the Bears they limited 3rd year Bears QB Mitch Trubisky and the Chicago passing offense to a meager 235 total passing yards, with their longest reception by a wide receiver going for 28 yards.
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In a League that's geared towards high-scoring and the proliferation of the passing game on offense, that's a remarkable feat in this day and age of the NFL.
"When a team becomes a little one-dimensional like that, then you're able to rush the passer and really play to one element of the game instead of two", Saints head coach Sean Payton told reporters in the post-game press conference with media.
"I thought one of our keys in that game (the win over Chicago) was trying to neutralize a good running back in (Bears RB Tarik) Cohen and a couple of good receivers, eliminate the 'big play' and then also take the ball away. We had two takeaways, (and so) I was very pleased how we played defensively".
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"We played a great game", Klein added. "Obviously, the last two drives (when the Bears scored 2 late TD's near the end of the game) and everything that happened towards the end skewed some of our numbers a little bit."
"But I think overall, the preparation of this team has been outstanding, the focus has been outstanding. I think that everyone is taking care of their bodies. I think we're just in a good place and moving forward, we want to keep that momentum going".
Klein's comments could be taken as a bit of foreshadowing, given what still lies ahead for the 2nd half of the current season as the team makes its push towards earning a spot in the Playoffs and hopefully makes a run at their ultimate goal; which of course is getting to and winning the Super Bowl next February.
Next up for New Orleans on the agenda is a game this upcoming Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, a team that has averaged 29 points per game during their current 3-game winning streak utilizing the brand new "Air Raid" offensive scheme employed by 1st year Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
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Kingsbury's scheme is being run by Cardinals rookie sensation QB Kyler Murray, who has grown more and more comfortable with the new scheme with each subsequent game.
But given the performance of this surging unit, one has to imagine that the youngster Murray — who won the Heisman Trophy at the University of Oklahoma under the same offensive concept — and his Cardinals teammates will be more than hard-pressed to repeat a similar performance this Sunday at the Superdome.
Especially against a Saints defense that is becoming quite skilled now, at the "art of suffocation".
