They say it’s better to be lucky than good, and if that’s the case then it’s a good time to be in the Big Easy right now. New Orleans was able to squeak out a win thanks, in part, to the Cleveland Browns’ kicker Zane Gonzalez (who has since been released after reportedly fighting injury) being Mr. Unreliable. However, let’s not let the faltering of a single opposing player take away from the improvement that was shown by the defense.



For two weeks, opponents have targeted the young Saints’ defense with quick release passing concepts to negate the pass rush and put added pressure on the secondary. While the defense was unable to overcome some of these concepts in Week 1, there was visible improvement in Week 2. Michael Thomas and the offense gave up two turnovers early that put added pressure on the defense, who responded by only allowing 106 net yards in the 1st half and 327 overall.



The Good: Pressuring the...