Vaccaro Benched, How Many More Chances Should He Get?

New Orleans Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro struggled in week one and was part of the defense that made, goofy sleeve wearing, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford look like a pre-neck surgery Peyton Manning.

He's part of a defense that has allowed, an astounding, 777 passing yards through the first two weeks of the NFL season. We know the Saints have had sub-par defenses over recent years but 777 yards in two games is historically bad. We're talking, worst in franchise history bad and early on there were some very below average teams that played in New Orleans.

The big, explosive plays have been the ones that have hurt this defense the most. To put it a little bit more into perspective for you, here's some numbers that Saints fans are not going to want to see. Their opponents are 14 for 16 with 398 yards on any and all passes thrown 15 or more yards down the field.

Now, back to Kenny Vaccaro more specifically. Coming into this season he had talked of taking that quantum leap in his career to become a Pro-Bowl caliber safety. Unfortunately, we've seen the ups and downs, mostly downs so far this season and it culminated this past week with being pulled against the Patriots in the 2nd half.

"I took full responsibility [for last week's struggles]. I had bad eyes on a couple plays, and I took responsibility for that. I didn't know that was gonna overflow into this game until all of a sudden I was out," said Vaccaro. "Listen, I've been here for the last four years, and we haven't played up to par on defense. And I understand how it goes. Obviously I've got to be better in my preparation, gotta be more consistent."

Vaccaro is 26 years old, if this season continues down the path it's going, the trade rumors are going to be spreading more like wildfire. Maybe this benching by Sean Payton, mid defensive series, will be a good thing for Vaccaro. Maybe it'll push him and the defensive unit a little bit harder to fix some of the defensive lapses we've seen so far this season.

I think as long as Vaccaro comes in this week of practice with a good attitude, works his butt off, and doesn't let the fact that he got benched negatively affect him he'll continue to get a chance. The recent demotion should motivate him and in terms of the trade rumors he's said that he understands that this league is a business, the rumors shouldn't affect him.

"I didn't understand this game what happened at all. But at the same time, I take full responsibility for that and just gotta keep on, gotta keep pushing."

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