The NFL’s top-three leaders in passes defensed all play for the New Orleans Saints. Head coach Dennis Allen boasts a deep secondary, having invested a lot of time in drafting and developing talent behind Marshon Lattimore. They’re going into Week 4 with more pass breakups than anyone.
Here’s how the top-five shakes out in passes defensed:
- 7 – Alontae Taylor
- 6 – Marshon Lattimore
- 5 – Isaac Yiadom, Denzel Ward
- 4 – Nine players including Stephon Gilmore, Darius Slay, and Patrick Peterson
It’s a big step up from last season when Taylor led the Saints with 11 pass breakups (ranking 24th around the league). Tyrann Mathieu had the second-most passes defensed (8) and Paulson Adebo was third (7). A big part of their success this year has been Taylor and Lattimore playing at a high level, but a change on the coaching staff also warrants praise. New secondary coach Marcus Robertson has done a great job preparing his players for these opportunities to make a play on the ball, particularly backups like Yiadom who found themselves thrust into a starting role.
As a team, the Saints have already intercepted four passes in three games after picking off just seven of them in 17 games a year ago; they’ve broken up 26 of those passes thrown against them compared to 67 last season, a difference of 8.7 against 3.9 breakups per game. Hopefully that trend continues while the offensive coaching staff continues to figure things out.
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