Saints Fire Steve Spagnuolo and Ken Flajole
Posted by
Mejdy Jabr
on
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Via Pro Football Talk:
Saying that this is "shocking news" is certainly not an understatement to anyone who followed the Saints closely in 2012.
There were, reportedly, anonymous Saints who complained about the scheme, but to any attentive observer, it was widely known that the scheme was never an issue; it was the lack of proper personnel in place.
Initially, I could come up with no proper explanation for why such an irrational move would be made on the part of Sean Payton and the Saints organization. It's classic scapegoating. Pat Robinson sucked, so fire his coach. The defense as a whole gave up over 7000 yards, so just get rid of the d coordinator.
Well, I can't explain the Ken Flajole firing, but when we Spin It, it's easy to see why Spagnuolo had to go, even if you're a fan of his scheme:
New Orleans will not be able to acquire many new players this year, and they are no longer looking to do so.
Another season of mediocrity will not be tolerated. The loss of Sean Payton gave the Saints a pass, but in truth, the problems that they had on the defensive side of the ball would not have magically gone away with Payton on the sidelines.
With the team currently in salary cap hell and missing a second round draft pick (Thanks again, Rog), there was no way that Loomis could have given Spagnuolo all that he needed to improve upon what was, statistically, the worst defense in NFL history.
Going from the 4-3 to the 3-4 is also indicative of the Saints trying to work with what they have rather than making acquisitions. Cam Jordan proved to be great lined up inside in various personnel packages with Tom Johnson in the 4-3. If Will Smith goes, I'm not sure who will replace him, as Sedrick Ellis will, hopefully, be gone and somebody else's problem, and I'm not sure how well suited a pure pass rusher like Junior Gallette would be as DE in a 3-4 alignment. I think he'll be used more in 3rd and long scenarios, so the d line might be a unit that the team will have to address in the draft.
New Orleans currently have no shortage of linebackers, and if they can somehow keep Vilma, they'll be able to line him up as an Inside Linebacker with Lofton and put David Hawthorne as an OLB.
While I would have certainly preferred to see Spagnuolo stay, it just was not in the cards. I'm sure everyone will have an opinion about it, probably falling to one or the other extreme of loving vs. hating it, but I think it's important to recognize that it's more circumstantial than anything. Sean Payton wants another ring, and he was smart enough to have the foresight of seeing that Spags' scheme could have worked out in 2014, but it was destined to fail in 2013.
Sean Payton is back as the Saints’ head coach, and his first act is to fire his defensive coordinator and reshape his defense.
The Saints have announced that Payton fired defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and secondary coach Ken Flajole, and that Payton wants to shift to a 3-4 defense.
“I personally want to thank Steve and Ken for their contributions during what was an unprecedented 2012 season,” Payton said in a statement released by the team. “Philosophically we are changing our defense to a 3-4 alignment and right now is the best time to accomplish this transition.”
Spagnuolo replaced Gregg Williams as defensive coordinator a year ago, after Williams left for St. Louis — and before the news broke that the Saints had previously run a bounty program that would result in Payton being suspended for 2012 and Williams being banned indefinitely. Now Payton is back and Spagnuolo is out.Okay, normally, I have foresight in regards to these things. I think most of us do.
Saying that this is "shocking news" is certainly not an understatement to anyone who followed the Saints closely in 2012.
There were, reportedly, anonymous Saints who complained about the scheme, but to any attentive observer, it was widely known that the scheme was never an issue; it was the lack of proper personnel in place.
Initially, I could come up with no proper explanation for why such an irrational move would be made on the part of Sean Payton and the Saints organization. It's classic scapegoating. Pat Robinson sucked, so fire his coach. The defense as a whole gave up over 7000 yards, so just get rid of the d coordinator.
Well, I can't explain the Ken Flajole firing, but when we Spin It, it's easy to see why Spagnuolo had to go, even if you're a fan of his scheme:
New Orleans will not be able to acquire many new players this year, and they are no longer looking to do so.
Another season of mediocrity will not be tolerated. The loss of Sean Payton gave the Saints a pass, but in truth, the problems that they had on the defensive side of the ball would not have magically gone away with Payton on the sidelines.
With the team currently in salary cap hell and missing a second round draft pick (Thanks again, Rog), there was no way that Loomis could have given Spagnuolo all that he needed to improve upon what was, statistically, the worst defense in NFL history.
Going from the 4-3 to the 3-4 is also indicative of the Saints trying to work with what they have rather than making acquisitions. Cam Jordan proved to be great lined up inside in various personnel packages with Tom Johnson in the 4-3. If Will Smith goes, I'm not sure who will replace him, as Sedrick Ellis will, hopefully, be gone and somebody else's problem, and I'm not sure how well suited a pure pass rusher like Junior Gallette would be as DE in a 3-4 alignment. I think he'll be used more in 3rd and long scenarios, so the d line might be a unit that the team will have to address in the draft.
New Orleans currently have no shortage of linebackers, and if they can somehow keep Vilma, they'll be able to line him up as an Inside Linebacker with Lofton and put David Hawthorne as an OLB.
While I would have certainly preferred to see Spagnuolo stay, it just was not in the cards. I'm sure everyone will have an opinion about it, probably falling to one or the other extreme of loving vs. hating it, but I think it's important to recognize that it's more circumstantial than anything. Sean Payton wants another ring, and he was smart enough to have the foresight of seeing that Spags' scheme could have worked out in 2014, but it was destined to fail in 2013.
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