METAIRIE Kurt Coleman Jersey Stitched , La. (AP) — Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore said he’s heard the term “sophomore slump” applied to him early this season.The 2017 Defensive Rookie of the Year sounds certain his critics will have to eat those words as the season wears on.But he also agrees the numbers haven’t been pretty for New Orleans’ pass defense the past few weeks, and as one of the stars of the secondary, he has to answer for that.“We’ve been doing some stuff out of character,” said Lattimore, referring specifically to mistakes in technique and ineffective communication among defensive backs.“We’ve just got to get on the same page and do certain things, like, together. And once we figure that out, we’re going to get it right. But it’s just got to start with playing with more swag. That eliminates everything. Playing with that confidence and going out there and getting it done.”New Orleans, which visits the New York Giants this week, ranks 30th against the pass, allowing 336.7 yards passing per game.Even more concerning to Saints coach Sean Payton is that the Saints rank last in the NFL in yards allowed per pass attempt, a result of some of the deep passes they’ve given up in all three games.There were touchdowns passes of 58 yards to Tampa Bay’s DeSean Jackson and 50 yards to Mike Evans in the opener; Tyrod Taylor’s 47-yard, game-tying touchdown to Antonio Callaway in the final minutes of a Week 2 matchup with Cleveland that the Saints ultimately pulled out; and a 75-yard scoring pass to Atlanta’s Calvin Ridley in Week 3.And those are just the scoring plays. Other deep throws produced big gains either on catches or pass interference penalties.Altogether, the Saints have yielded 45 or more yards on six different pass plays — one of them due to pass interference called on cornerback Ken Crawley.“If there’s only two things happening — a pass interference or completion — and there’s no interception opportunity Youth Patrick Robinson Jersey , then teams are going to take multiple (deep) shots more and more and more,” Payton said this week. “I don’t like the fact that we’ve had one takeaway after three games.“There are a handful of things that need improvement fast.”Saints defensive backs took no issue with Payton’s criticism.“It ain’t like he’s not telling the truth,” Lattimore said. “They see they can go deep and get a positive play out of it. I’d do the same thing playing us. But we’re going to turn it around. We’re going to get it right. I’m not really worried about that.”Safety Vonn Bell said he saw Payton’s expressions of concern as motivational.“We’ve got to change that — stop the deep balls, keep everything in front, make them throw the check-downs and get off the field,” Bell said.“And we’ve got to change that on the back end. Challenge accepted. Go out there, step up to the challenge and my cat don’t catch it. That’s all you got to do and we’ve got each other’s back.”And the improvement will have to come without top nickel back Patrick Robinson, a veteran acquired from Philadelphia in free agency who was placed on injured reserve after injuring his ankle last week.Giants veteran quarterback Eli Manning sounded hesitant to read too much into the small sample size of failure New Orleans’ secondary has put on video during the season’s opening three weeks — particularly because New Orleans has gone up against elite receivers such as Evans, Jackson and Atlanta’s Julio Jones, not to mention Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.“They’ve just gone against a couple of high-powered offenses that have good receivers and guys have won some battles,” Manning said.“They do a lot of different looks on defense, so we have got to be prepared for all of them and make sure we can hold up and hopefully give our guys some opportunities to win those one-on-one battles.”The Giants present the Saints with the challenge of covering another elite receiver — one who is all too well known in his native New Orleans. That would be Odell Beckham Jr., who went to the same high school as the Mannings before starring at LSU, and who had nine catches for 109 yards in New York’s victory over Houston last week.“Got to bang him up. Got to hit him. Got to get him frustrated Patrick Robinson Jersey Stitched , get him out of his game,” Bell said.If the Saints can’t slow down Beckham, expect Manning to be the latest to try his hand at the deep ball against the Saints.Notes: Saints rookie defensive end Marcus Davenport (hip) and linebacker Manti Teo (knee) both missed practice on Thursday. Left guard Andrus Peat was limited by his sore ankle. CHICAGO (AP) — Maybe it was the absence of all those high-powered offenses on byes.Perhaps it was the jitters for some younger teams, particularly their quarterbacks: Deshaun Watson, Mitchell Trubisky and Lamar Jackson.Or maybe defense actually still has a place in the NFL, especially in the playoffs.The most points anyone scored during wild-card weekend, when only Dallas won at home, was 24 by the Cowboys. In total, 145 points were scored, an average of 36.2 per game. The Chiefs averaged 35.3 all by themselves this season.As Nick Foles — St. Nick in Philly for his clutch work as a relief pitcher and, oh yes, as a Super Bowl champion — observed following the Eagles‘ 16-15 comeback escape in Chicago : “Our defense really kept us in this game. It was a hard-fought defensive battle tonight and we were able to come up big in the end.”Or as coach Anthony Lynn noted following the Chargers‘ 23-17 win at Baltimore in which Los Angeles forced three turnovers and held the Ravens to 229 total yards, 90 on the ground: “Our defense was outstanding. We held that team down to 100 yards rushing. No one has played that team the way our defense played today. I was really impressed with the way our defense stepped up.”All the winning defenses will need to step up a few more rungs next weekend. Consider that aside from the Chiefs scoring 565 points this season, the Rams got 527 Youth Jermon Bushrod Jersey , the Saints 504 and the Patriots 436. All of them will be at home.The Colts (11-6) head to Kansas City (12-4) on Saturday, followed by the Cowboys (11-6) at the Rams (13-3). On Sunday, the Chargers (13-4) are at the Patriots (11-5), while the Eagles, who lost 48-7 at the Saints during the season, finish off the divisional round at New Orleans (13-3).While the NFL loves to tout all the scoring records set during the 2018 season, all of the yards gained and general wide-openness of weekly contests, when it comes down to deciding who winds up in the conference title games, maybe the guys trying to stop those video-game offenses will have a say.It’s unlikely that any of the wild-card victors can win a Super Bowl without being balanced. The Eagles will need to play far better defense in the Big Easy or Drew Brees will have, well, an easy time picking apart a secondary playing mostly backups. The Chargers likely will require more than 24 points to succeed in Foxborough, where the Patriots had the NFL’s only unbeaten home record this season.Dallas needs more offensive imagination and another huge performance against the run to win at L.A. Only Indianapolis, which was superb on both sides of the ball at Houston, displayed enough of the formula needed to get the conference championship game.Then again Jermon Bushrod Jersey Stitched , the Colts must slow down All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes and crew at Arrowhead Stadium.“We’re not worried about who’s on the other side,” said Colts rookie linebacker Darius Leonard, himself an All-Pro. “We always talk about whoever’s playing on the opposite side is gray matter. So we’re always talking about doing what we can do and controlling what we can control, and that is going out, playing each play, play by play and going from there.”What about the four teams coming off byes? Which ones are best suited to come up with a solid defensive showing?The two most suspect are the Chiefs and Rams. Sure, KC averaged all those points weekly. It also yielded 26.3, including 43, 54, 29 and 38 in its losses, and the 421 points opponents scored by far were the most any playoff team surrendered. The Rams allowed 384, easily the most of any NFC postseason qualifier; L.A. had seven games in which it allowed at least 30 points.New England also can be vulnerable on defense even though it’s been stingy at times when it comes to giving up touchdowns. The Patriots aren’t a force in the pass rush and against quality quarterbacks the linebackers and secondary have had trouble in coverage.New Orleans probably has the most well-rounded roster, with some standouts on defense to accompany Brees and All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas and the terrific running back duo of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram.And don’t think defense won’t be needed through the rest of January and into February.
