will perform only as well as Ayodele and Ellis allow him to. If the Dolphins can consistently get blockers on Vilma, we’re in for a long afternoon. But if either Ellis or Ayodele can occupy double-teams, we’re in good shape.

I wonder if Williams will go to a base 3-4 in this game. That’s what the Ravens ran against Miami in the playoffs last year. The best thing about the Saints’ defense is that it’s so flexible the opponent never knows for sure what to prepare for. We can totally screw with their blocking schemes by showing them something they didn’t expect.

We played them last year in the regular season and the playoffs. They stuffed the hell out of the Wildcat, and our run game in general.

The differences this year are that our O-Line has improved tremendously since last year. We added Center Jake Grove and RG Donald Thomas, who is back from injury. This coupled with the fact that an entire offseason was devoted to it, and all the players have bought entirely into it.

Sparano has said that all the players love running the Wildcat in practice. In a press conference, Sparano said that if they stop running it, “the guys act like I took their candy bar away.”

That is the reason why it is better this year than last. I suppose the litmus test would be for the Dolphins to play the Ravens again and see what happens.

That what we’re looking at is two things:

1) The potential to get a terrible mismatch or bad “read” on a play that gives them a HUGE play (TD or long gain). This potential can be terrifying to us long-time Saints fans, or those who endured the sloppy tackling and lots of “turn tail and chase after the receiver/RB after he gets past/around you” style of defense of Gary Gibbs.

2) The ability to employ it on 3rd and short to keep drives alive and the clock ticking. Or, to have #1 happen on 3rd and short, after our D has played a good 1st and 2nd down and then gets burned big time. This was also a struggle of previous defenses – not getting the crucial stop on third down.

What it boils down to is playing well – staying in your spot and cleanly tackling the ballholder when he’s near you, which one might say is crucial to defensive success every week.

Maybe with GW now, we don’t need to worry about gap discipline, poor tackling, big plays, bad reads, etc., and this won’t be an issue. And I have no doubt about GW’s ability to scheme something that will stop the wildcat if everyone does their job correctly. And much moreso this year, I have faith that we have defensive personnel that can carry out a good defensive game plan.

But until we actually step on the field and actually play against whatever the Dolphins throw at us, we won’t know how it’ll go for us.

Based on this, we need the DL to tie up all the blockers, the LBs to swarm and tackle quickly, and the secondary to not bite on play action fakes, double routes, etc. Again, you could say this every week.

I think I will be really nervous every week until we’re not playing anymore. We have seen how good a team we can be, but we haven’t seen it sustained, week in and week out, no matter the opponent, over the long course of the season yet. Maybe we are that team. We’ll see.

GOEAUX SAINTS!!!!

Sell out on the run. When you see Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown both in the game, bring the house. Ronnie Brown has only attempted 2 passes all year, and only completed 1. Statistics don’t lie, and Miami hasn’t shown a willingness to pass out of the Wildcat. Even if they put Pat White back there, statistics show they are still much more likely to run the ball. Even when Henne lines up as a WR, who cares? They haven’t gotten him the ball in that position yet. Don’t respect an aspect of the game that they haven’t proven they are capable of executing. Throw the kitchen sink at them until they prove they can do something about it.

If Ronnie Brown attempts a pass and someone slaps him on the helmet after he throws, will they call roughing the passer?

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”…. enough said

Especially Harper. It’s very important that he tackles exceptionally in this game. But everyone keeps talking about stopping this “Potent New Orleans offense” by keeping it off the field. Why isn’t anybody talking about the Saints offense keeping this “Dangerous Wildcat” offense off the field. If we can sustain long drives early, wouldn’t that be the best way to stop it?

Help a guy out. Is Carney still going to handle the PK duties this week? Or is Hartley back in?

The Saints picked apart the Giants’ secondary with multiple-receiver formations and had great success on plays in which Drew Brees took deep drops from center. The Cardinals have better personnel at the wide receiver positions but their front five hasn’t been bulletproof.

This is from Yahoo Sports. Can you believe this crap? The Cards have better WRs? Did they even watch the Saints/Giants game? Sorry, I know this is a bit off topic, but I had to post it to let the Saints WRs know that I think they are THE best in the league.

is score fast , score often. Make every stop , turn over into a score . Put the Dophins behind the score and you kill the wildcat and turn it into a rug. All the talking heads with a few exceptions continue to make excuses for the teams that New Orleans trample under foot. Phil Simms Chris Collinsworth are idiots.