It's official, the defense of the New Orleans Saints has improved significantly since last year, but that's not really something to be proud of.
The Saints' defense last season effectively set the bar at the floor, as they were ranked 30th in the league by the end of the season. That's probably why when Kellen Moore was brought on as the head coach, one of the first hires he made was Brandon Staley, a former defensive coordinator and head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Staley, who was hired back in February, hoped to turn things around right away.
"We're going to try to be flexible enough to be able to defend all the different types of offenses that you have to play against." He said at his introductory press conference. "We also want to be specific in the matchup; we want to make sure that we go into every game with a plan to win."
How far the defense has actually come since then, well that's a little bit of a different story.
For the 2025 Saints defense, "mid" has been the name of the game
A quarter of the way through the season, Staley hasn't quite accomplished his goal. Currently, the Saints defense is in the bottom half of the league, ranked 18th in the NFL. While that is an improvement from last year, the defense has yet to be the reason the Saints have won a game.
New Orleans has given up 821 passing yards and 475 rushing yards over the first four games of the season. While that's perfectly fine -- and average of just over 200 yards per game to opposing quarterbacks -- it's how many points they've given up this season that sticks out. So far the Saints have been sliced up for 121 points; that's the third most by any team this year, with only the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens having bigger bruises.
Not even last year's team gave up that much through the first four weeks (70).
The next offense that they'll be facing is one that's red hot: the New York Giants. They're coming off of their first win under quarterback Jaxson Dart, a first-round pick of theirs in 2025. Dart, according to himself, will be heading into this game with a chip on his shoulder, as the Saints passed on him back in April. "I’m just going to go play as hard as I can." He said earlier this week.
The Saints defense might have their hands full next Sunday, when the Giants come on down south. Kickoff is set for noon central time.