The Saints defense has been a fearsome bunch over the last 3 games. What has gotten into the Fleur Di Lis D, that has allowed one touchdown in 12 quarters while giving up less than 282 total yards and has created a total of 9 takeaways in that span?
“I feel like we got disrespected as a whole,” Saints safety CJ Gardner says. “The D-line isn’t receiving as much credit as they should, but we don't care. You just see what they can do up front.”
Folks outside New Orleans have definitely learned the name Trey Hendrickson. The defensive end has 9.5 sacks and is currently tied for the lead in the NFL with Myles Garett of the Cleveland Browns.
The pressure from the entire d-line has helped speed up the clock in opposing quarterbacks’ heads, causing them to rush and make poor decisions, which the back-end has been capitalizing on.
“The linebackers and DBs, we felt like, we had to do our job. We got tired of being talked about,” continued Gardner Johnson. “There’s talk saying that we can’t cover, we can’t run, we can’t do this, players getting a little too old. And, we’re just tired of all that. Just ready to go out there and shut people up and do our job. That’s my job focus, and I hope that’s my teammates' focus. Do your job.”
The team’s been putting in work all-around. New Orleans has won seven straight and own an 8-2 record, which has them atop the NFC.
A three game road trip awaits, with the first stop being 4-6 Denver. Gardner-Johnson and the rest of the Saints defense will look to take advantage of a Broncos squad that is the 6th worst scoring offense averaging 20.6 points per game and have 23 giveaways, (17 interceptions, 6 fumbles lost) which is the most in the NFL.
