METAIRIE, La. -- Kenny Vaccaro said Monday that he still never got an explanation for why he was benched during Sunday’s 36-20 loss to the New England Patriots.
At the same time, Vaccaro appreciates that neither he nor the Saints defense as a whole has played well enough this year to prevent such coaching decisions.
The Saints (0-2) are on pace to shatter some of their own unwanted NFL records with 512.5 yards allowed per game, three TD passes allowed per game and an opponents’ passer rating of an astonishing 141.4.
“I’ve been here before,” said Vaccaro, who was also temporarily demoted late in the 2014 season. “When you don’t win, you don’t play, and you’re giving up 390 yards passing, emotional things happen.
“So I’m just trying to be professional, take it day by day, just trying to be a good pro, a good teammate. There’s nothing really else I can do. You know, I’ve been here through it all, through a thousand different members in the secondary, I’m still here standing. And I’m staying here until they don’t want me no more.”
Saints coach Sean Payton further explained the decision to bench Vaccaro Monday, saying that part of it was based on getting some snaps for second-year safety Vonn Bell, who was also demoted to a backup role this year behind rookie Marcus Williams.
“So that’s something that I made the decision on,” Payton said. “We gotta keep working with (Vaccaro’s) consistency and his alignments. And I think I know he feels like he can play better. But we’ll continue to get those guys work. He’s gonna be important to our success.”
Vaccaro admitted that he struggled with assignment errors in the Week 1 loss at Minnesota. He didn’t feel like he was making the same types of errors against the Patriots, although he was benched shortly after a defensive holding penalty, and CBS analyst Tony Romo pointed out what he believed was a zone-coverage error by Vaccaro.
Regardless, Vaccaro admitted that the overall defensive performance has been “embarrassing.”
“Especially when you put in all this hard work, all the success that we had in the preseason,” said Vaccaro, who also said the biggest issue for the Saints defense has been playing “undisciplined.”
“At all three levels. Things that didn't happen in the preseason are showing up all over the tape,” said Vaccaro, pointing to things like leverage, coverage assignments and gap assignments. “We've got to get it fixed. We're already 0-2. It's just going to be hard to come out of that hole.”
Payton and other Saints players identified several other issues that have plagued the Saints’ defense, as well.
The most glaring problem Sunday was the Saints’ inability to get off the field on third downs early. The Patriots started 5-for-5 on third downs -- all third-and-5 or longer -- including the touchdown passes to Rex Burkhead and Rob Gronkowski.
Payton also said there were too many explosive plays for the second week in a row. There wasn’t enough pass rush up the middle, allowing Tom Brady to step up and buy time in the pocket. And the coverage didn’t hold up well enough when Brady was under duress.
“To sum it up in few words as possible, we just aren’t executing,” said defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, who said it’s a series of “little things” adding up. “We aren’t doing everything we need to do to get the stops when we need the stops, we’re on the field too long, and the longer we’re on the field the more chances the offense has to attack you.”
“Am I surprised? Yes, I’m a little surprised,” new Saints linebacker/captain A.J. Klein said. “But at the same time it’s self-inflicted wounds and we have to be able to respond to it.”
Klein, however, insisted that the Saints aren’t as far off as the staggering numbers have indicated so far.
“Right now there’s early adversity. And you make a decision to overcome it or you lay down,” Klein said. “So we’re obviously making the conscious effort and decision to overcome it and move forward.”