If you had told me the Falcons rushed for 150 yards on 21 carries, it would have felt quite ominous. Kind of surprising they threw the ball so much with success on the ground like that. But regardless of the yards, the Saints gave up only 21 points to a highly potent offense, recovered 3 fumbles for turnovers, had 5 sacks and had a huge 4th down stop on downs. This was the best performance of the season for the defense when you consider the degree of difficulty. The Saints were not stellar top to bottom but they were anchored by several monster performances. Here are the grades:
Cameron Jordan: A+ (2.72)
Off the top of my head this feels like maybe the best game of his career. He got some stat padding plays late but it’s deserved based on his performance throughout. Really nice to see him get rewarded. I think Jordan played like a man very deserving of his new contract in this game. His run defense was solid as always. He rushed the passer very well and did a terrific job in pursuit of not losing containment on the hard play action bootlegs. He was constantly in Matt Ryan’s face putting pressure on him to quickly get rid of the ball. He finished with 6 tackles, 3 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. And while he got the help of a botched snap he was in on the 4th and 1 tackle. A monster performance.
Bobby Richardson: C- (2.73)
Nice to have him back after the hip injury but he was clearly not 100%. Despite playing a significant amount he was largely stonewalled, save a couple of decent pushes up front in pass rush. I noticed he did a poor job closing gaps in run support.
Kevin Williams: C+ (2.17) He showed good leverage and technique to beat his man but didn’t have his old athleticism once in the backfield. He struggled to finish plays but disrupted running lanes at times and redirected Matt Ryan a handful of times. He finished with 1 tackle.
John Jenkins: D+ (2.28)
His job is eating space and creating opportunities in run support. It didn’t happen.
Kasim Edebali: B+ (2.28)
He came up with two big plays, a sack and a batted pass on 3rd down to force punt. More sub contributions like this from him are critical.
Kaleb Eulls: C- (1.67)
At one point I saw him in coverage 12 yards down the field. What is going on there? He had a quiet game as a sub but didn’t contribute anything meaningful. I was hoping to see more from him these last couple games.
Travaris Barnes: C- (1.87)
Played a handful of snaps and made no impact. I noticed him get stuffed trying to rush the passer. The Saints are rotating a ton of guys waiting for someone to show something but it’s not really happening.
Tyeler Davison: C (2.22)
To me he’s the best of the no name reserves. I saw him get push. The run defense needs work but his bull rush on pass rushes does work from time to time.
Stephone Anthony: C+ (2.33)
Good at times in coverage but he guessed wrong and left massive lanes for Devonta Freeman to run through too many times. He finished with 6 tackles but it was an average performance.
Dannell Ellerbe: A (3.00)
He was all over the field. His coverage, pursuit and physicality was much more prevalent than I expected. He lead the team with an enormous 14 tackles. His strip of Tevin Coleman inside the Saints’ 10 undoubtedly saved a touchdown making it one of the biggest plays of the game. He separately recovered a fumble inside the Saints 15 on a bad snap saving them from another score. He was beaten a handful of times in coverage which is why I don’t give him an A+ but he was truly fantastic and always around the ball in this game. Hopefully he doesn’t miss time with that injury because he looks great.
Hau’oli Kikaha: B (2.78)
A decent game though he can thank Cam Jordan for the sack. He finished with 7 tackles and jumped offsides once. He bit hard on play action fakes, struggled in coverage and left massive cutback lanes at times. There’s a lot of feast or famine to his game right now as he learns. But he’s great in pursuit.
Ramon Humber: B (2.78)
Came in after the Ellerbe injury and racked up a ton of garbage time tackles over the middle on short passes. He did a good job stopping plays from being bigger gains with sound technique. He finished with 4 tackles, including 3 in a row on 3 plays at one point. Nice job coming in as a sub.
Brandon Browner: B- (1.83)
He was good and physical against the run. He did ok in coverage but he was beat by Jacob Tamme for a nice gain and he was beat by Roddy White on a crossing route for a touchdown. If he’s left on an island and has to run with anyone it just doesn’t work out. He came up with a huge turnover, though, for the second straight week with a fumble recovery on Ellerbe’s strip. He finished with 6 tackles.
Delvin Breaux: A (2.83)
Primarily responsible for Julio Jones after the Saints got gashed on bootleg play actions against their zone early, he shut down the star receiver. Jones finished with 6 catches for 93 yards but most of it came early and Breaux locked him down as the game wore on. This guy is a keeper. He finished with 3 tackles.
Keenan Lewis: C+ (2.33)
Played very little in this game and looked gimpy at times. He doesn’t seem ready to be back. Give him credit for trying to gut it out, though. He finished with 2 tackles and got beat on a short throw to Roddy White but gave him a nice lick. Looking forward to having him back healthy soon and starting. Paired with Breaux that duo could be incredible.
Kyle Wilson: B- (2.00)
Played a good amount filling in at both nickel and safety. I was impressed by his coverage and Ryan never really tested him.
Brian Dixon: B- (2.78)
Put a nice hit late on Terron Ward on a 3rd down pass short of the sticks. Solid job closing in on the short throw and finishing the play there. Gave a positive contribution on special teams too.
Jairus Byrd: C- (2.00)
I was disappointed in his play this game. He didn’t really make a jump on a few dangerous throws by Ryan. He finished with only 3 tackles and wasn’t nearly good enough as the last line of defense against the run. Still waiting to see what the Saints paid all this money for.
Kenny Vaccaro: B (2.83)
Finished with 5 tackles including one for a loss against Freeman. His coverage was solid and his strong season continues. I know Brian Pavek wants me to sing his praise and I have to say, Vaccaro looks like his old rookie self this year. A really good sign moving forward.
Zach Hocker: D (2.28)
He finished 1 for 3 on field goals with misses from 51 and 48. The miss from 48 in particular was awful, where he badly hooked it after his technique broke down. Simply just not good enough. He did make 4 extra points and a 31 yarder. He only allowed one kickoff to come out of the end zone on a weird squib. His job security is very low at this point and I wonder if it’s possible he’s kicked his last game. I wish the Saints had kept Dustin Hopkins.
Brandon Fields: D (1.00)
Man, I miss Thomas Morstead. Fields is just not getting it done. His net on 4 punts was a woeful 33.5. I can’t imagine after his two terrible games that there’s not another unemployed punter out there that can do better. He had one punt for a touchback and one pinned inside the 20. His gross average was 43.8. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of him and Morstead will be good to go a week from Sunday.
Marcus Murphy: C (2.11)
Quiet day with no kickoff opportunities. He had two punt returns for just 12 yards.
Michael Mauti: A+ (3.50)
Not only did he have the sick punt block, scoop and score to make the score 14-0, he also had two tackles on special teams. It was surreal how reminiscent of Steve Gleason that all was, especially against the Falcons in the Dome.
My Defensive Player of the Game: Cameron Jordan
My Special Teams Player of the Game: Michael Mauti
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