But something to keep in mind is this:
In 2011, we were this very disciplined, motivated, aggressive team who ran the football, played efficiently in the passing game, shut down the run, got turnovers, took the ball away and won ball games week in and week out. It was a special year for everyone who watched.
However, the sad downside of that team was that no matter how tough they were to play, they were banking on winning in the playoffs off of making absolutely no mistakes on offense, playing really tough defense, flipping field position, etc. It almost produced a super bowl berth, but unfortunately two untimely fumbles took that chance away.
Offensively that team was built to win a lot of regular season games, but not so much postseason.
So this year's team as frustrating as it is, is no better right now (worse on average), but with a few tweaks can easily be as powerful as 2012, maybe more. We're suffering from injuries, lack of cohesion on the OL, and a playbook philosophy that is not playing to our strengths/core identity.
But it CAN be fixed. I look at our opener against Dallas as to what this team could be offensively once we fully counteract all of these defensive coordinators (and stop stopping ourselves too
). That offensive showing highlighted our identity big time, and for a game 1 outing it was sick. I don't think all of it was Dallas playing like crap.And while some or many of you will debate me on the offense, can we all take a minute and revel in how good our defense is?
I'm blown away by the way Fangio has this team playing in general especially the secondary which has always been this frustrating albatross for us. In every Saints game we've played ('11, '12, '13) we have gotten better on a pure coverage standpoint each time. In '12 we really needed Justin & Aldon to get to Brees and still needed two pick 6s to beat them in a down year for them!
Last year, with less help from the offense and the team not playing as dominant in general we nearly beat them and controlled Brees better in a season where the Saints made the playoffs. I saw the NFC Playbook highlights and it was impressive what Fangio did in that game. I don't remember if Aldon played in that game, but the defense overall was good.
Only reason this game is a concern is because of pass rush and maybe no Willis/Bowman to cover Jimmy Graham otherwise this defense will travel to NO and shut down Brees quite effectively.
You gotta give credit to Fangio.......after that SB disaster (which I'm willing to give him a pass for and blame it more on Harbaugh for the lack of energy), the defense has gotten better the last two years. On paper, this can easily be our best ever D in this regime once our guys come back. Very exciting stuff.
Just gotta hope the team can pull out wins while slowly improving the offense, make the playoffs and we'll be a force again!!!!
