October 13, 2009

Against the Raiders we showed that good things happen when we put all three phases of the game together, offense, defense and special teams. There’s still room for improvement but overall I think we played a heck of a game. We came out fast on defense, had some three-and-outs and put pressure on the quarterback. We played the run well and really shut them down.

Still, I think we could do a better job of tackling, and we did let up a few big runs.

We have our toughest game of the season up next with the Saints in New Orleans. Against Drew Brees everything has to go hand in hand for the defense because he gets rid of the ball quick and on target. The D-line has to get pressure, even if we can’t get sacks we have to harass him and keep him in the pocket. The linebackers have to stop the run and take care of their assignments and the D-backs have to do a good job in coverage.

With Brees, if a D-back is just a couple yards from the receiver, he’s going to complete that pass.

One goal is to stop the run to make them one-dimensional. That will give us more control out there. The Saints have a solid offensive line as a group, and obviously a quarterback who’s been throwing for a lot of yards the last couple years. They can run the ball and they’ve got an old friend at tight end in Jeremy Shockey and we call know what he can do. It’s a potent offense across the board.

Any time you face a team like that in their home stadium you have to play flawless. The last couple weeks we played good football, but not flawless.

I know Shockey’s going to come out with something to prove. Anytime you play a former team it gets you fired up. He still knows a lot of guys on this team, so there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to come out and give his best effort.

I’m really looking forward to going to New Orleans. I’m going to have a lot of family going there to see me play. It’s about a 3-hour drive from Pensacola, so it’s a good opportunity to have them come out.

Fred Robbins is a defensive tackle for the New York Giants. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.fredrobbins98.com.