Welp, I suppose we've gotta quit crying about it and move on eventually, right? I suppose now is as good a time as any.

Mercifully, the reset button has finally been pressed, everybody's 0-0, and the Saints are now free to reclaim their rightful place in the ranks of the perennial championship contenders. High five! So the time has come to shake off the malaise of resignation and general negativity, and get back to what we here at moosedenied do best: being total fuckin' homers. And not a minute too soon, if I do say so myself. Bitching and moaning and predictions of DOOOM(!!!) aren't exactly our idea of fun.

Not that the concerns aren't genuine, because they are. To quickly recap the pessimistic outlook, it's anybody's guess as to how effectively Steve Spagnuolo is gonna be able to scheme the relative crappiness out of this here defense. We can hope all we want, but we really have no idea. Hell, we don't even have much to go on in terms of the degree to which the scheme is actually gonna be any different in the first place. It's not like Spags carries a reputation as some kind of defensive visionary. There's nothing revolutionary or even all that unusual about what Spags does. Pretty much standard-issue stuff.

We're pretty sure he'll blitz less frequently than Williams did, if only by default. But we have no idea whether or not that'll actually be a good thing. Most of us have convinced ourselves that "over-blitzing" was a big part of the problem. But who's to say Spags won't come to the realization that Williams's "blitz-happy ways" were less about "stubbornness" and more about the absence of any better option?

Another thing we're pretty sure of is that, at least in the short term, Spags is gonna have little choice but to play the hand he's been dealt. Because after Loomis re-ups with Drew, Nicks and Colston, there's not gonna be any money left over for any significant upgrades to the defensive roster. No first round pick either. And most of us have convinced ourselves that it's a pretty crappy hand.

So with nothing much in the way of radical changes, neither in the schemes nor on the roster, I'm not seeing a whole lot of legitimate evidence so far that we're in for much other than more of the same on defense this fall.

So let's do our duty as homers and see if we can't manufacture some.

First let's talk a little about Spags himself. Obviously I don't know the guy personally, nor do I know Gregg Williams personally. So I'm just going off my own observations from afar here. In other words, I'm mostly talking out of my ass. (Let's pause here for a second while the internet recovers from its collective shock and disbelief.)

But from "getting to know him" a little, via interviews and YouTube clips and whatnot, he sure does seem to be a whole different kinda guy than Gregg Williams is. A whole different personality, a whole different approach, a whole different mindset. And I've got a hunch that it'll mesh a hell of a lot better with the Saints' existing "culture" they've worked so hard to build than Gregg's did.

Gregg was more of a drill sergeant, a testosterone guy, a bombastic old-school hardass in the tradition of Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan. A rah-rah guy. A balls-out "motivator" type. Spags seems much more clinical, more cerebral. A details guy. A brainiac. A pragmatist, not necessarily married to any particular dogma. Whereas Gregg strikes as a "play harder" guy, Spags strikes as a "play smarter" guy.

Which might be precisely what this particular group of guys needs most right about now, especially given this regime's well-established predilection toward putting "smart guys" on the roster in the first place. Guys like Jonathan Vilma and Roman Harper. Drafting guys like Malcolm Jenkins and Cam Jordan. There doesn't seem to be any Ray Lewis style adrenaline freaks on this team, let alone the defense. A more measured, less boisterous approach might be just the thing to more effectively "coach these guys up."

Speaking of coaching guys up, Spags has been a position coach at all three levels of the defense. He's been a defensive line coach, a linebackers coach and a defensive backs coach. (By comparison, Gregg Williams has only been a position coach (linebackers) once, from 94-96 for the Oilers.) Spags also has a bit of a track record of coaching guys up who nobody had ever heard of. Lower round picks, undrafted guys, guys off other teams' practice squads and such.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the guy turns chumps into Pro Bowlers or anything like that. I'm not saying Spags is gonna turn Nate Bussey into Patrick Willis or any other such wizardry. But his track record does support the hopeful notion that he's able to take guys at the bottom of the depth chart and turn them into something better than they had been or were "supposed" to be, to whatever degree.

The example everybody usually points to is Justin Tuck. 10th pick of the 3rd round in 2005. Saw very limited playing time his first two seasons, starting only one game and posting only one sack. Spags shows up in 2007, and Tuck proceeds to post 10 sacks while seeing a lot more playing time, but still only starting 2 games. The next season, Tuck started all 16 games, posted 12 sacks, forced 3 fumbles, had a pick-six and made the Pro Bowl. Boom.

But there are several other examples of guys who might not have ever become Pro Bowlers, but achieved beyond expectations. In 2006 when Spags was linebackers coach for the Eagles, they drafted Omar Gaither in the 5th round. He started 5 games as a rookie and all 16 the following year. Safety Gibril Wilson (5th round) had arguably his best season in 2007, and safety James Butler (undrafted) blossomed into a starter that same year. Undrafted cornerback Kevin Dockery. Undrafted linebacker Chase Blackburn. Third round corner Bradley Fletcher. 4th round cornerback Justin King. Undrafted safety Darian Stewart. 7th round linebacker Chris Chamberlain. And on and on like that. None of those guys are gonna knock you over with the smell of their greatness, but they all improved under Spags and developed into better players than people expected, given where they came from.

Which should come in quite handy, because the Saints have a shitload of guys like that on their defense right now. Including a couple whose measurables compare quite favorably to guys like Tuck, Umenyiora and Kiwanuka, in fact. The cupboard might not be nearly as bare as it looked at times over the last couple of years.

Now before you even get started, superficial at best, inaccurate and/or meaningless at worst. I get it. DEs don't usually run 40 yard dashes in games. Similar in height/weight/speed/strength doesn't mean similar ability or similar potential for production. Skills, technique, etc. are a lot more important than the tale of the tape. All that good stuff. You'll get no argument from me on any of that. All I'm trying to illustrate is that there aren't really any physical shortcomings holding our guys back from being "coached up" to be like those guys.

Galette has produced more sacks per snap over his first two seasons than any of the Giants guys did. Jordan posted a higher "Approximate Value" (proprietary Pro Football Reference grade) than any of the Giants guys did in his rookie year.

We haven't seen anything from Romeus yet, but his production in college compares favorably to any of the Giants guys. And it's not like Pitt is much different from Boston College, Notre Dame or Troy (where the Giants guys matriculated.)

Now might be a good time to go ahead and re-state for the record that, yeah, we're cherry-picking here. Grasping at straws. We're being homers and manufacturing "evidence" that supports our hopes and dreams for the future. None of this stuff is even remotely rock-solid, but it's not completely without merit either.

All I'm saying is that the Saints have three young, hungry defensive ends who were productive in college, measure up physically, and two of them are already arguably ahead of the Tuck/Umenyiora/Kiwanuka curve in a handful of specific ways. And none of these guys have been "coached up" yet.

Say, remember La'Roi Glover? Of course you do, that guy was a total badass. 6 foot 2, 285 pounds of relentless inside pass rush. 5th round pick, released by Oakland after his rookie year in which he played in 2 games and posted a whopping 2 tackles. Signed by the Saints shortly thereafter, and the rest is history.

With that in mind, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to MITCH KING, BITCHES!

Oh sure, roll your eyes if you must. Just like you did when the Saints signed Glover. Here's what Scout had to say about him when naming him the 6th best undrafted player in 2009: 

“I wish I could put your heart into some of my players’ bodies.” While King might not exactly be Rudy, if he was about two inches taller and about 15 pounds heavier he might warrant top five overall consideration. Ultra-productive, he’ll never stop working and he’ll never stop trying to make plays. He’s not a true defensive tackle at the next level, but he could be a whale of a 3-4 end who’ll always make a team on hustle and practice production. The limitations are too great for him to ever become a star, but he could be a good starter if surrounded by big-time talent.

Sound familiar? (By the way, you might also be interested in #14 on that there list.)

Look, I'm not gonna sit here and proclaim the guy to be The Next La'Roi Glover, or anything like that. But this dude was the Big 10 Defensive Lineman of the Year in 2008. First-team All-American. 15.5 tackles for loss and 4 sacks as a senior. He's the same size and same weight as Glover was, but stronger and faster. (By the way, so is Tom Johnson. 6-foot-3, 288, 4 sacks for Calgary in 2010.)

Martez Wilson. Jonathan Casillas. Jo-Lonn Dunbar. Isa Abdul-Quddus. Johnny Patrick.

The Saints' defensive roster is chock full of guys who fit the "coach 'em up, Spags!" mold. I'm definitely not ready to go all Times-Picayune with it and tout these guys as some kind of gold mine of defensive talent. But it's not like the cupboard is completely bare either.

We've seen this regime pluck guys from obscurity and strike gold over and over again on the offensive side of the ball. And for a long time we've wondered why they can do that so frequently and effectively on offense, but can't seem to find anything much more than average on the defensive side of the ball. Well, what if they have, and we just don't know it yet? These things take time. And experience. And weight room work. And the right guidance.

And an opportunity. You never know when the next guy is gonna come from out of nowhere and blow some shit up until it happens.

Which might be the most exciting part of it all. Spags isn't coming in here carrying any misplaced loyalty to any of these guys. He's under no obligation to give a shit that Will Smith and Sedrick Ellis were first-rounders, or that Jonathan Vilma was really good right up until last year, or any of that stuff.

"Earn it." Every day. Doesn't matter where you came from or how you got here. It's been the mantra of the Loomis/Payton regime for six years now, and it's worked. At least on offense. It's about damn time the defense got another healthy dose of it, and I'm confident that they will. What do you think this defense might look like with a Pierre Thomas, a Marques Colston, a Jahri Evans and a Lance Moore on it? Spags has a history of making that kind of thing happen.

And if he can make it happen quickly enough, let's say with Junior, King or Johnson, and Wilson… well… jonesin' for a little cap space? I'm not nearly adept enough at math to tell you with any certainty how much the Saints might save by releasing Will Smith, Sedrick Ellis and Jonathan Vilma. But every dollar counts, right? Juuuuust sayin'. And I could be wrong, but I'm gonna go ahead and assume that while it might not exactly be a king's ransom, it probably wouldn't be insignificant. Enough to sign The Next Scott Shanle or maybe even a couple.

So the potential is there for the changes on defense this offseason to be a hell of a lot more profound than most of us consider realistic at this point. And I don't know about you, but I'll happily embrace all the change I can get. Throw it all at the wall and see what sticks works just fine for me. Worked pretty well on offense. Maybe the third time will be the charm on defense. Fingers crossed.