The Saints passing game ranks as the best in the NFL in 2012, and quarterback Drew Brees and his plethora of receivers have led New Orleans to two consecutive victories heading into Denver.
Their running game and defense, however, are on the other end of the spectrum. The Saints rank last in the league in both categories.
But in the last two games, the Saints believe they have shown improvement in those areas, and will look to continue the upward trend on Sunday night against the Broncos.
Offensive balance is how the team looks to better the run game.
“Our run-pass ratio is a little bit out of whack,” Interm Head Coach Joe Vitt said in a conference call Wednesday. “We’re going to get back to a little bit more balance. We’ve got a good set of running backs with Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles and Mark Ingram, and we’re trying to get Chris Ivory to the active roster. Something we continue to work on is our balance.”
The Saints attempt to rush the ball an average of 20.3 times per game – tied for the least in the league – while throwing an average of 45.5 passes per game – the second-most in the league.
But quarterback Drew Brees said that rushing statistics can be misleading, and the Saints’ ground game has been more efficient than the rankings indicate.
Still, he wants to use better balance on Sunday night.
“You want to be able to rush the ball effectively enough to where it can open up opportunities in the pass game,” Brees said. “Certainly you want to throw the ball well enough that it can open up opportunities in the run game. You just want those to be as complementary as possible. We certainly didn’t start this season off doing that very well but I feel like we’ve made improvements over the last few weeks and that’s something we want to continue to focus on improving.”
On the defensive side of the ball, New Orleans has allowed the opponent to gain 465.5 yards per game. That’s where the return of Vitt, the Saints’ linebackers coach since 2006 and now interim head coach, will play its biggest factor.
“Let’s not kid anyone,” Vitt said. “I’m a defensive coach. We have a good offense and a veteran coaching staff that has been together here for a long time. We’ve got players that have played together for a long time. I want to try to do everything I can to be a part of the defense, and do my part to help get us better.”
Also touched on during the Saints’ conference calls was the status of tight end Jimmy Graham. The 6-foot-7, 265-pounder missed last week’s game after suffering an ankle injury on Oct. 7.
“Jimmy Graham today worked out,” Vitt said. “They called it a land-based workout for him. He did some running and he did some cutting. I think he feels better.”
Tags: Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham, Joe Vitt, New Orleans Saints, Week 8
Ok! So that’s what ‘Limited’ means for the Saints…
Hey guys just checking in,been a long time since I been on……….I’m happy where we are right now!!!!!!!!!
I Was wondering if the bloggers that want to talk to me would post their EMAILS,yours don’t work Strand!!!!!I don’t know what I’ve done to get treated so unfairly,but I’ll grin and bear it,btw…….GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S……..GLAD TO SEE BAY IS POSTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a lot of friends on here over the past 4 years,and I miss the Hell outta you guys!!!!!!!!
B.F.E.
B.F.E.! Rock on Bronc on!!!
Crazy day in the concrete jungle…
I’ll take the bait bay.. The NFL is a business. The teams are companies, and the players are assets. A GM’s job is to maximize the return on investment from their the assets. Wins and losses are how they are ultimately judged, not by the level of community service their assets provided for the local community. For this reason personal issues are often overlooked, it is what it is.
While Moreno has been a disappointment, albeit far from a zero contributor, the reality is he still carries a perceived value around the league. Immature I’ll give you, but still holds a certain value nonetheless. I don’t pretend to know what Elway is thinking, but if it were me, I’d continue to carry him as long as my roster would allow, and he would either fill in due to injury, or better yet serve as a bargaining chip come draft time to move up a few spots.
As far as DJ Williams, we must remember that players do not get paid if suspended, as it’s a breach of contract. Aside from bonuses, players get paid weekly for 16 weeks. Considering their annual salaries are only paid out over that short time period, those usually amount to hefty paychecks, called “game checks”, and DJ hasn’t received one since last year. So on the business side of things, the Broncos have a reserve LB, waiting in the wings, just itching to get back to work (to get paid), which is not costing them a penny until he comes back. It also doesn’t hurt that his job is to wreck havoc, and that he is probably seeing red with rage. I’ll buy that stock all day long at its current value.
It’s ashamed that Brooking ad Triavalon beat out Mays and DJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rock on Bronc on Cam!!!!!!!!!!!!
We will always be Bronco Bros!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OT…time to let DJ go bro…….he’s a lost cause…I know he is a great LB…..but he is a distraction for the team!
Besides Woodyard is just as good,imo!!!!!!!!!!
I know I will get banned again…….but if there is a good reason…..I’d love to hear it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m either going to be very right, or VERY wrong about DJ Williams, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! LOL
Although, I should be getting some odds on this one…
OT….I love DJ as a player……don’t get me wrong…..but he is in a lot of trouble…..I know a lot of teams don’t care about character players but the Broncos do!!!!!!!!!
We need a MLB………..Joe Mays sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Brooking at 37 beats him out,after we pay him 12 million dollars is a freaking joke 2 me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We need LBs that can cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
C’mon 2013 draft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course the trading deadline ain’t over yet………………..
Hey B F E, sorry to hear about your troubles big guy, but you did cross the line on many Friday nights though and even so you would usually be big enough to apologize the next day, kids do read these blogs as some of the 12 year olds who have been on here attest, hence a conflict of interest for the administration. They probably would love to have kept you like so many bloggers do but they have warned you multiple times from what you’ve told us, I guess eventually it got to be one too many…
As far as sharing my e-mail on this site I’m sorry to tell you it’s an absolute no-no for me since some folks like the one who crucified Cooper for his weight and his fishing here last year are unstable enough to possibly launch an all out cyber war on my e-mail if they were given a chance.
BeastFromdaEast reminds me of the Letdamansmoke handle, my all time favorite, LOL.
And Tsunami, well worded and well thought out comment as is usually the norm with you and since I have decided to spend very little time arguing others’ opinions, I will be short:
About Moreno, got the value argument, but if it is so and I actually don’t believe he has any btw, at least in a trade, I would think teams will just wait until he is either released or becomes a free agent before they even take a shot at him, I could be wrong, but nonetheless if your value argument holds water then the management is absolutely doing themselves zero help not showcasing him.
About DJ; I-N-T-E-G-R-I-T-Y, that’s all I’ll say about that. Even so I was running businesses for twenty years and understand fully the value of money and investment, there comes a time when integrity needs to overtake all of that, specially in a situation such as a professional football where a team’s morale can turn on a dime.
Bottom line I think the management has handled both situations extremely poorly and continues to do so. Unlike the way you usually sound I personally don’t think every time something goes array up top that it can be reasonably explained as to why they did this or that. No one is perfect, not even the Denver Broncos management, I’m sure Elway would be the first one to tell that to anyone.
But I honestly don’t really care about any of that, it’s their team and their dime, just having fun with stuff that seems as obvious as the nose on my face.
We gave Mays a $12M deal over 3 years. Football contracts are deceiving, as only the gauranteed money really matters. Mays only has $4.5M gauranteed, so we could cut him at anytime and will only owe him $4.5M, including what he’s already earned. It’s brutal how football contracts work, when you consider baseball contracts are all fully gauranteed.
DJ is a marginal player at best, not a good one. He is just dumb off the field. seriously dumb.
WW has been much better and is a much better dude off the field.
Mays is a good dude. A really good dude but sadly not a stating MLB. I really like him but his play leaves much to be desired.
Let Brooking start. look for someone in the offseason for MLB.
Bay…I don’t care if you care too share your Email bro……many do…I know I messed up many times…but have seen many mess up more than me and still be on the blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I respect you Bay…..but if you don’t wanna share your personnal email after 4 years…I guess you’re not as big a friend as I thought!!!!!!!!!!!!
B.F.E.
muddigger70@yahoo.com is my personnel Email address if you wanna Email me!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOODNIGHT BRONCOS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
B.F.E.
Ughhh… Just wrote a reply, and it didn’t post for some reason.. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow
PS.bay…..just Email me personally,,,,,,,you don’t have 2 share it with everybody…if you don’t want too!!!!!!!!!!!
I was only supposed to be banned for a partial season………Mr.Caldwell……..what’s up with that???????????
B.F.E…….ONE OF THE ORIGINALS……………………LET ME BACK IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I cant come back after tonight………………remember my Email address….especially strand,tlcat,F.T.R. and RBF1,and OC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and anybody else I forgot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry figured I’d sneak that one in there in the middle of the week(hump day)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Madden said dj willams was the only player he knew that could come straight out of high school, to the nfl . So a lot of u should fall back dj is a beast everybody makes mistakes.
I’m with OT on Knowshon, I believe He has value in the League. Especially to TEAM’s like pittsburg, grennbay, or detroit. TEAM’s that are despirate for a running back.
Come On JE, Make a Deal ! ! !
TIME OF POSSESSION ! ! !
GO BRONCOS ! ! !
GREENBAY, lol!
Guess who is back? My prediction for dat saints game (see what i did there?) is Broncos win 37-31 with von miller getting a sack/safety and showing us his new sack dance.
B F E, nothing to do with you, not sharing the e-mail on HERE is the thing I can’t do. You’ve been here long enough to remember DynamicDave three years ago, he was basically the main voice of the blog back then, while doing that he alienated a few bloggers to no end (sounds like me, must come with the territory, lol) and after sharing his e-mail here he got infected with viruses on his computer time after time until he finally moved on to work for a sports blog reporting on the Broncos, but the bad person(s) followed him there with their viruses and he got so tired of getting infected he ended up quitting the whole thing, hope he didn’t die or something because unlike me he was never heard from again.
You have to be careful these days. Those infections are hard to get rid of.
B F E, I feel your pain. I’ve been there…outside looking in…not being able to chime in!
Moreno really hasn’t performed all that great and wouldnt really have much trade value. Keep him as a backup and replace him during the off season. GOBRONCS!