Scout Report: Saints Vs. Cowboys

No air to Brees or Weapons vs. weapons should be the underlining theme to this game. The Saints and the Cowboys have the talent to jack up the stat sheet and light up the scoreboard.

We have Romo vs. Brees, Witten vs. Graham, Bryant and Austin vs. Colston and Moore and last but not least Murray vs. Ingram. It's literally a pick your poison with these two teams if you were a defensive coordinator. Luckily our strength and the Saints weakness is with the defense.

I'm not picking on the Saints but the mass majority of the teams that have a high powered offenses subsequently have poor defenses. Even in their super bowl run the Saints defense wasn't the best, however it was opportunistic. Opportunistic; the art of exploiting chances by immediate circumstances.

That is what our defense has been morphed into, we saw it last week playing the Steelers we saw it versus Philadelphia. Even through the hurdles of this season our patchwork defense has been opportunistic. Morris Claiborne is becoming a ball hock, yes this rookie is still brushing off of his "rookie" title but during the games versus Chicago, New York and Philly you can see him playing the ball.

People rag on corners nowadays about not tackling and how they don't properly tackle, how they don't "wrap up" however I have breaking new for you. Corner-backs are not supposed to be perfect tacklers. The primary goal of a corner back is to not let the receiver catch the ball, and what is the best way to stop a wide receiver from catching the ball...taking it away from him. Taking it away from the wide out, is the only way to ensure that he doesn't catch it. Taking the ball away or at least "going for the ball" is the only way not to get flagged during non perfect coverage. You can't hit a defenseless receiver, you can't touch a receiver after five yards from the line. Therefore taking the ball away is a corners only option. Taking the ball away is a skill most CB's don't have however it's the main skill you need to have in order to be successful at the position, this is something we are seeing out of Mo Claiborne.

The way I see it:

Special Teams, yes special teams will be critical. In a game like this where it could go down to ol' "the team that has the ball last wins" we can avoid that situation by having Harris deliver the ball to the offense on the 30 yard line or better (housing it). Also pressuring the Saints returning squad to try and do to much and forcing a turnover.

They say the only way to stop the Saints offense is to keep them off the field. Well with Murray, the War Horse, the game changes. I won't be redundant and say Murray make us a different team even tho its true. Not only giving Murray his 20 + touches but also using Witten to pick up small chunks of yardage will keep our defense

fresh and eat up the clock, 
clock time that Drew Brees needs to run his system. Shorting possession time forces the Saints to gamble with their plays and go away from their game plan.

Keys to the game:

1. 5 total penalties. (both sides of the ball)
2. 3 turnovers by the defense. (One pick, Two fumble recoveries from the Yung swarm)
3.  3 sacks. (Yung Swarm calling you up again)