You can’t be overly displeased with the offense putting up 24 points on the #2 defense in the NFL but you can absolutely condemn them for the turnovers. That’s been a problem that’s reared its ugly head all season long. The offense can live with regrets on how it handled the overtime period as they had multiple chances to win the game. Not taking care of the football has been this team’s biggest issue. As the defense improves week to week, ball security has yet to be improved. Lots of blame to go around in this loss on this side of the ball, unfortunately, with a slew of mental errors. Too bad, because the offense did produce beautifully at times against this outstanding defense. Below are the grades. As always, the letter grade is the player’s performance in the game and the GPA is the cumulative effort for the season.
Drew Brees: D+ (2.63) Another very hard game to grade for Brees. He made a lot of plays and put his team in a position to win by leading them to a touchdown and a 24-21 lead with under 2 minutes to go. That should have been enough. Alas, the 49ers forced him into one more fatal turnover. He finished 28-47 for 292 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and a lost fumble at the end that would seal the Saints’ fate. The reality is that when you lose 27-24 in overtime and you’re responsible for 3 turnovers, one which ends the game, you don’t deserve a good grade. The Houdini act on the second touchdown was incredible and of course he had great moments. But the interception into triple coverage before halftime, the game ending fumble, the first pick, and the overthrown deep ball to a wide open Kenny Stills all added up to be just enough to help the 9ers’ cause. He also had 2 carries for 7 yards. The grade is admittedly very harsh but the negatives outweigh the positives when your team loses and you’re responsible for three turnovers. The turnovers have to stop.
Mark Ingram: A (3.44) In the end the Saints probably didn’t lean on Ingram enough. That seems crazy to say when he finished with 27 carries for 110 yards, his third 100 yard rushing performance of the season. He also had 3 catches for 19 yards. He’s shouldering a heavy load right now and it would be nice to see PT or Khiry come back soon to give him a lighter workload. Once again he ran with great toughness, especially in the second half. He did get stopped on some short yardage carries, though. He continues to have a monster season.
Travaris Cadet: C+ (2.37) He finished with 2 carries for 9 yards, one being for a nice first down. He also quietly had 3 catches for 18 yards. As many snaps as he saw in obvious passing situations, I’m surprised he didn’t make more of an impact. He does deserve a lot of credit for an incredible blitz pickup on Antoine Bethea, and he actually returned 4 kickoffs for an average of 24 yards per. Not amazing, but better than usual as three of the four got past the 20.
Erik Lorig: B (2.44) A solid contribution blocking in the run game. He also caught one pass for a nice 14 yard gain, showing good after the catch ability. Much better than the Panthers game.
Jimmy Graham: A (2.96) Whenever the Saints called on him he came up big. He finished with 10 catches for 76 yards and 2 touchdowns. The two scores were obviously huge, but beyond that there were countless third down conversions in traffic with the game on the line. He did have one drop and an offensive pass interference call on the last play of regulation when he scored what would have been his third touchdown on a Hail Mary. I think the call is weak but the defender did a good job of selling it. He looks back from the shoulder injury and should continue to make his usual impact moving forward which is great to see.
Benjamin Watson: C+ (2.26) He had a target in the end zone that he really should have come up with. He finished with 1 catch for 13 yards where he showed good effort and physicality after the catch. He also blocked well in this game. A decent performance but I would have liked to have seen him come up with that tough touchdown catch.
Marques Colston: C- (2.18) He finished with a very quiet 2 catches for 36 yards on 4 targets. Although one was on a huge 4th down conversion on the Saints’ last scoring drive. Without that play the Saints don’t have the chance to win so he deserves credit coming up big there. Unfortunately he dropped a deep ball where he had a good 3 yards on the defender. That’s a catch he makes in his sleep. His struggles continue as he finds ways to hurt his team each week it seems like.
Brandin Cooks: A- (2.74) In the first half he was the Saints’ entire offense. He was able to hit on two deep balls. The first finally made a play that got the offense jump started despite the ball being underthrown. He showed great skill in tracking the ball and going up to get it at the highest point. He finished with 5 catches for 90 yards and a touchdown, but the 49ers were able to really quiet him in the second half. His lone punt return was for 4 yards and that remains a poor fit for him.
Kenny Stills: C (2.33) He dropped a ball on the opening drive and Brees stopped looking his way after that for a long while. He was targeted on a deep ball where he roasted the defense but the pass was grossly overthrown. He finished with 3 catches for 26 yards, all in overtime on short outs.
Terron Armstead: B- (2.79) He held up pretty well against Justin Smith overall. He did give up three hits on Brees and some pressures, but no sacks. He was by no means dominant.
Ben Grubbs: C+ (2.82) His pass protection wasn’t as solid as usual. Brees didn’t often have a clean pocket to step into, which either forced him to throw off his heel or sit back in the pocket exposing himself to edge pressure. His run blocking was up and down.
Jonathan Goodwin: C- (2.57) Overall his run blocking was good but clearly he’s a bit rusty. His pass protection was solid, too. But he made two mistakes, once moving too soon on a snap count, and once botching a snap that turned out to be harmless. He also had a decent shot at recovering the Brees’ fumble but was beaten to the ball under the pile. Hard to blame him there.
Jahri Evans: B+ (2.85) The best lineman on the day in my opinion with some physically imposing push on the interior, particularly as the game wore on.
Zach Strief: C+ (2.70) Considering he was a game time decision and he was clearly banged up this week he deserves a lot of credit for going out there. He held up pretty well overall and deserves a lot of credit for his one on one block on the touchdown pass to Cooks where he bought Brees time. Ahmad Brooks, his main assignment, only hit Brees once. Unfortunately that once was the forced fumble that would basically end the game. Strief did give up edge pressure a few times but most of it was harmless and Brees did a good job most of the game avoiding sacks. His run blocking was fine.
My Offensive Player of the Game: Jimmy Graham
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