Saints are really going to miss Sheldon Rankins
The New Orleans Saints drafted talented pass-rusher Sheldon Rankins with the 12th-overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, with hopes of trying to fix their defensive woes. Ever since his fractured fibula injury that’ll keep him out six to eight weeks, their defense has been a mess in preseason play.
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Friday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers went to show just how bad they’ll miss him. While James Laurinaitis failed to make an impact and Nick Fairley took a step back after a solid pair of great starts, the defense allowed 342 total passing yards and three touchdowns in a 27-14 loss.
The Saints also looked bad against the Houston Texans starters in the prior preseason game, allowing Brock Osweiler to complete 12 passes for 124 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Will Fuller beat them for 73 yards and a touchdown on just four catches. Once again, it looks like teams will be able to pass deep on them.
One reason the Saints were terrible last year in stopping the pass was because their terrible pass-rush gave teams all day to throw. It’s a two-way street. So with Rankins not there to make an impact, the preseason has shown that it will be the same story in the regular season. Teams will have all day to throw and pick apart a secondary that has nobody reliable to defend against the pass.
New Orleans’ defense has finished among the top-three worst in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. So with a horrible showing in preseason, nobody should be surprised if it’s more of the same starting Week 1. Especially without Rankins, whose absense is going to hurt the team more than we originally thought.
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