It’s so sad to watch this team give up 16 points and just 3 in the second half and lose. Unbelievably the defense has given up a season low 16 points twice, and both of those times the team has lost. The defense deserves better, although maybe they’re paying for their sins of the past where the offense would score in the 30s and lose. They held the Bucs to 3.0 yards per carry, just 166 yards passing (without Vaccaro or Breaux for much of the game!) and kept Jameis Winston without a touchdown (run or pass) for the first time ever, college or pros. Don’t forget Craig Robertson was out too. Give an enormous amount of credit to Dennis Allen, too. The defense gave the offense so many opportunities to save this game. Below are the grades:
Cameron Jordan: A (2.87) So dominant against the run, he was stout all game. I wish he was rewarded more statistically this year. People will see he finished the year with less than 10 sacks and assume he wasn’t as good. That’s unfair because he’s been a beast all season and he’s a terrific all around player. He had 5 tackles and a half sack. A menace for the Bucs to handle all game long.
Nick Fairley: A+ (2.74) Unblockable for most of the game. He had 6 tackles and a sack. He was in the backfield constantly and a handful for the Bucs up front. I really hope he comes back next year on an incentive laden contract – because the performance based contracts clearly get the best out of him. He was strong against the run and maybe most impressive was seeing him pursue the play downfield and making tackles more than 10 yards from scrimmage. Awesome showing.
Tyeler Davison: B+ (2.58) Flagged once for holding – a lame call. Excellent against the run, he had 4 tackles.
Paul Kruger: B- (2.11) The least impressive of the starters, per usual, but he does get credit for the safety AND he goated a Bucs player into committing a personal foul. So it wasn’t all bad, and I thought he was good staying in running lanes. He had 2 tackles, his pass rushing was poor.
Kasim Edebali: C+ (2.03) Active and positive for the most part when he was in. Tipped a ball on an attempted receiver screen that resulted in an incomplete pass. He had a shot at Winston near the line of scrimmage at one point but his tackle attempt was too high. He had one tackle on a running play and his pass rush flashed a bit.
Sheldon Rankins: C (3.00) He wasn’t going to keep up this torrid pace forever. This was a quiet showing where he didn’t do as much. I wonder if his snap count went down a bit because of how well Fairley was playing. He had 1 tackle but didn’t show much of an interior pass rush in this one.
David Onyemata: B- (2.13) Shot the gap and was disruptive a couple of times. Finished with 2 tackles. Almost made a nice goal line play but Doug Martin slipped away for a score.
Darryl Tapp: C (2.39) Had a clear shot at Martin on the TD run, thanks to Onyemata’s disruption, and couldn’t make the stop. He had 1 tackle and a hit on Winston.
Dannell Ellerbe: C+ (2.83) He played a lot less in this game as the Saints seemed to favor the Anthony/Stupar tandem. When he did play, it was mostly as a pass rusher off the edge. He looked a little slow in coverage/pursuit. He had 6 tackles but only two were around the line of scrimmage, one of which was a run stuff. And up and down performance, but no major mistakes, and he flashed a little in pass rush.
Nate Stupar: C+ (2.36) Despite playing a lot, he only had 3 tackles, one which was an important stop on special teams. His coverage was pretty good. Didn’t show much run support.
Stephone Anthony: B- (2.00) His coverage needs serious work, no surprise there. But it was nice to see him on the field and I thought he got better and better as the game wore on. As it got more obvious the Bucs were running, he was active in stopping it. He led the team with 9 tackles, one of which was an impressive stuff near the goal line. Some of his issues from last year still exist, though – slow to react to the back on passes underneath, he got flagged for pass interference grabbing a tight end in the end zone (play was at the 1), and he was fortunate Sims caught a ball out of bounds down the sideline as he slipped. It wasn’t amazing by any means but Anthony was around the ball. He got pushed back and looked gassed at times, but he found a way to get around the ball/play. I’d like to see more from him.
Delvin Breaux: B+ (2.56) Before leaving with a shoulder injury, he gave up 1 catch to Mike Evans on 5 targets. Interestingly the defense didn’t really suffer from his departure – and he had a lot of help from Byrd – but his coverage was physical and solid overall. Flagged for a bail out PI on an underthrown ball. He had 3 tackles, including one run stuff. Hopefully he’s ok and can return next week, hate to see him get injured again.
Sterling Moore: B+ (2.57) The one play that stands out is a terrific break up in the end zone to keep the team in the game, great effort and break on the ball. He had 2 tackles and good coverage throughout, rarely tested.
B. W. Webb: B (2.39) Had to play Evans once Breaux went out. Got called once for holding when he played tight and physical. He also contested an incomplete pass downfield late to force a punt and give the offense one more chance. He had 1 tackle.
Ken Crawley: C (2.24) Came in late and gave up two first downs on 3rd down throws, making tackles both times. The coverage was pretty good, tough to come in cold and get attacked against guys like Brate and Evans and come out on top.
Jairus Byrd: B- (2.33) Missed a couple tackles but overall played well in coverage and in run support. His play has been steady and decent lately. He had 7 tackles and delivered a crushing blow to Evans to make sure a ball went incomplete.
Vonn Bell: B+ (2.58) Blitzed a lot, usually not that well, but he did share the half sack with Jordan. His coverage had good times and not so good – but giving him credit for being able to line up in the slot, sometimes against Brate, and coming out on top on occasion. Came close to a pick at one point. He was active and had 7 tackles.
Roman Harper: B- (2.06) I had written him off as washed up after the Falcons game. I’ll be the first to admit it. And while the personal foul penalty was stupid (and kinda lame), I thought he spent most of this game playing pretty well. He had 8 tackles. His blitzing wasn’t great as he was slow getting to Winston and slow in pursuit. He delivered a huge hit on Russell Shepard early and Shepard wouldn’t have another catch the rest of the game. He had good strength on run plays and even showed pretty good coverage. Maybe he can close out these last three games on a positive note to finish his career.
Wil Lutz: A (2.56) He did everything he was supposed to. He even got his squib to pop up, hit the returner, and go out of bounds at the 1 which was awesome. He was perfect on all three field goals with a long of 42. Seemed to get good lift. Kickoffs were not a problem in this one. Solid day.
Thomas Morstead: A (3.10) An average of 51.5 on 4 punts with a net of 47.5. The coverage on his punts was tested at times, but good. A very solid day for Morstead with one punt inside the 20. He now has the highest GPA on the team.
Tommylee Lewis: C (2.26) When is he going to learn to not take a kick out of the end zone on kickoffs? I don’t care if it’s 1 yard deep, the Saints never get to the 25. Just take the gift, pal. He had a 19 yard kick return and a 6 yard punt return. Looked comfortable fielding the ball, at least. His one really good return on a punt was called back. Played a few snaps on offense but was never targeted.
Sam Barrington: D (1.00) Negated a 16 yard punt return by Lewis late with an illegal block above the waist. The Saints started at their 20 instead of their 40 thanks to that.
Daniel Lasco: B+ (2.73) Good coverage from Lasco. It was nice to have him back. He stood up Hargreaves for a minimal return and he was one of the first guys down and disruptive on another return. I thought the coverage was good in this game and he had a lot to do with it.
My defensive player of the game: Nick Fairley
My special teams player of the game: Wil Lutz
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
