Demario Davis knows what it’s supposed to look like.
For much of his time with the New Orleans Saints, he has been an integral piece in one of the NFL’s stingiest run defenses. From 2018, when Davis signed, through the 2021 season, the Saints finished as one of the NFL’s top five run defenses annually.
Which has made what has happened this season difficult to swallow and understand.
“I don’t think you can play good defense in this football league without being a really good run defense,” Davis said. “We’ve got to find a way to get that done at all three levels. Whether it’s alignment, assignment, technique, getting back to the fundamentals.
“I think the encouraging thing is we’ve played good run defense here for a long time. We know how to do it; we’ve just got to find a way home.”
New Orleans is very far from home right now.
Through seven games, New Orleans is allowing 146.7 yards rushing per game and 5.4 yards per carry on the ground. It’s been a dozen years since the Saints have allowed this many yards rushing through seven games, and the 5.4 ypc through seven games is the worst mark in franchise history.
If the Saints are going to turn it around immediately, they will have to do it against a Los Angeles Chargers team that is as committed to the run as any.
While Los Angeles’ ground attack has lost considerable steam since putting up 395 yards in its first two games, it still ranks No. 7 in the NFL in the percentage of offensive plays that feature runs (49.2%). The Chargers will almost certainly go into Sunday’s game looking to stress what has been a weak spot for the Saints.
“Obviously, they’re committed to the run game … they scheme things up pretty well,” Saints coach Dennis Allen said. “So it’ll certainly be a test for us.”
After playing on Thursday last week, the Saints were afforded some additional time to look at themselves and try to isolate the root cause behind their biggest issues. Much of Allen’s attention has been focused on stopping the run.
Allen said he’s seen consistent issues cropping up that have led to the struggles. In particular, he pointed out that the communication hasn’t been good enough, the execution hasn’t been good enough, and all three levels of his defense have not been able to get off the blocks.
In other words, it has been an all-systems failure. Pre-snap, execution of the scheme and play-making all have been suboptimal.
The run defense has been especially bad during the five-game losing streak, as the Saints have allowed at least 139 yards rushing in four of the five losses. The one outlier came when they allowed Atlanta to average 5.9 ypc on just 15 rushes.
Since Week 3, New Orleans has allowed 901 yards on the ground, the most in the NFL in that span. The Saints have allowed 26 runs of 10 or more yards this season, which is seventh-worst in the NFL, and all of them have come during the five-game losing streak.
The tackling was a major concern after a Week 6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 13, when the Saints missed 15 tackles, according to Pro Football Reference. The tackling has been an issue throughout the losing streak, with the game tape littered with missed opportunities for defenders to make plays in space.
But, as Allen said, the issues go well beyond whiffed one-on-one chances.
The Saints are yielding a whopping 2.62 yards before contact this season, according to Next Gen Stats. That's the worst in the NFL this season, and it’s on track to be the most allowed by an NFL defense since the 2018 Seattle Seahawks (2.64).
That statistic alone should reflect the defensive line’s play against the run. There’s also this one: The secondary has made more tackles on opponent run plays this season (96) than the defensive line (85) and is responsible for just as many tackles for loss (five) as the defensive line.
After the Broncos — who entered last week’s game averaging 107 yards on the ground — ripped off 225 yards against the Saints in Week 7, Allen started his comments about the run defense with the play up front.
“We have to do a better job at winning the line of scrimmage,” Allen said. “That’s where it all starts. We have to do a better job of getting off the blocks, and we have to do a better job of tackling. I guess as coaches and players all alike, we’ve got to figure it out.”
That issue falls on everyone, including players such as Davis, who have been part of stout run defenses in the past.
The veteran linebacker has not been playing up to his usual standards this season. A review of the explosive run plays has shown Davis missing tackles in space, leading to chunk gains, or being out of position and leaving a void to be exploited.
Getting the run defense fixed — or, in Davis’ words, finding a way home — will require a lot of wrongs being made right.