23 points on the #1 defense in the NFL isn’t that bad. They moved the ball pretty well on a number of drives, too. Still, the offense had this game handed to them on a silver platter numerous times by the defense and they couldn’t close. In fact, they played a heavy hand in sabotaging everything late in the 4th quarter. The Saints finished with 73 yards on 21 carries (3.5 per) but the running game felt much worse than the stats. A 13 yard scramble on the final drive by Brees pads those stats a bit. It was surprising that despite an inability to run the ball the Saints were still able to make plays. This was Brees’ best game of the season for a while and he was on fire for most of it until his last 10 passes. Of those, one was intercepted, and the other 9 fell harmlessly to the turf. What a late game implosion by this unit. On to the grades…
Drew Brees: B- (2.56) Each game increases in difficulty as far as grading him. He started slow with a miss down the seam of a wide open Colston, an overthrown deep ball to Meachem, and then he went on a run of about 25 passes where he was virtually flawless. He was approaching A+ territory until a complete disaster of an end game performance. As stated his last 10 passes, under immense pressure with no one open, didn’t go well. But the interception was all on him forcing a ball and trying to do too much with the game on the line. We’ve been through this before. Sometimes it’s ok to punt and rely on your defense. Instead, he decided the burn the house down all on his own. Too bad, because this was otherwise a close to perfect performance. To me it’s not so much that he’s on a decline as that he’s snakebitten. He’s in a slump. Even when things are going well, he’s making major mistakes that are killing this team. He finished with 28 of 45 for 342 yards, 2 touchdowns, the interception and the 13 yard scramble. I’m sure many of you will argue he deserves much worse based on the turnover, but he did play very well overall in this game.
Mark Ingram: C- (3.00) It was nice to see him back on the field, but it was just hard for the Saints runners to make an impact as good as that Lions’ d-line was. He had 10 carries for just 16 yards, but at one point he had 6 carries for -3. When there was nothing up the middle he tried to bounce things outside a couple times which resulted in bigger losses. He also had 2 receptions for 13 yards. Not a very good performance.
Travaris Cadet: B (2.28) He’s been valuable in the passing game. He doesn’t create the mismatches that Sproles does, but he deserves credit for running good routes and showing good hands. He had 6 catches for 51 yards. Give him credit, despite his size, for holding up well in pass protection too. Despite the crew throwing flags of every single minor infraction they saw, they somehow managed to miss him getting closelined on a screen play. Wish we could have that one over.
Pierre Thomas: C- (2.78) He left, then returned, then left again with an apparent shoulder problem. He took some big shots in this game and didn’t have the kind of room to work with that’s customary. He finished with 4 receptions for 17 yards and 6 carries for 13 yards. I’m guessing his appearance next week is in question given the bumps and bruises he took in this one. He didn’t produce like he normally does in this game.
Khiry Robinson: C- (2.78) Of the backs he had the most success running with 3 carries for 26 yards. In fact, he led the team in rushing. Unfortunately he lost a fumble and was punished by not seeing the field much because of it. The Saints had full momentum before that turnover and in a game where the difference is 1 point, every mistake like that is magnified.
Austin Johnson: B- (2.50) His blocking was up and down. A few times I saw him take on a player at the point of attack and get pushed backwards. The running game as a whole was poor and Johnson is partially to blame. All that said he continues to give positives each week that solidify his place on the team, even with the return to health of Erik Lorig. He had a carry for 5 yards and a 13 yard reception where he scored by finding the pylon. He’s always doing little things here and there to benefit the team.
Jimmy Graham: D (2.61) I’m not going to fail him because he didn’t play enough to deserve that. Why was he dressed, though? He was affected by his injury and pretty much just in as a decoy. He’s clearly not healthy. He was targeted twice and grossly missed by Brees, but he also just didn’t look right. It seems pretty clear he would have been better off not playing and the Saints would have been better off too.
Ben Watson: D+ (2.17) He had one reception for 3 yards and didn’t give the team much of a boost as the “starter”. In fact, this would have been a poor and quiet for him if he was the backup.
Josh Hill: C (2.78) He had one reception for 8 yards. He had up and down blocking but was leaned one more than others and showed the most versatility.
Marques Colston: B+ (2.17) He had a drop early and was missed when wide open down the seam on the opening drive. The other negative was an offensive pass interference penalty that negated a big passing play to Thomas. That was the negatives that were significantly outweighed by the positives. At this point I think we can safely say he’s rebounded from his slump. Colston came up with catches to keep drives alive consistently. The absence of Graham seemed to ignite him. he finished with 6 catches for 111 yards. It was just like old times.
Kenny Stills: B+ (2.26) He finished with 5 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown, but most of it came on one deep ball where he got behind the defense and a perfectly thrown ball hit him in stride for a 46 yard touchdown. Aside from that he made some nice catches and showed better involvement than usual.
Brandin Cooks: C (2.56) The gadget plays seemed to be taken out of the experiment and instead he just gave a quiet performance as a receiver. He looked lost in a sea of blue jerseys and Brees didn’t seem to look his way much. He finished with just 2 catches for 23 yards. He was targeted another time but couldn’t get separation and the defender made a nice play. Too quiet of a game for the first round pick. He did however return a punt for 15 yards, which at this point feels like the winning lottery ticket.
Robert Meachem: D- (1.56) At this point I’m finding it impossible to justify why he’s on the field. He was targeted three times, all incomplete. One was a high ball in tight coverage at the end of the game on a 4th down play where he has a chance and he goes up in traffic and his ball skills just aren’t strong enough to make a play. He also got turned around and lost a deep ball that was overthrown anyway. His ability to make an impact in the passing game feels like it’s come and gone. Still awaiting some action for Joe Morgan and/or Nick Toon.
Terron Armstead: C+ (2.87) He had his hands full with Ziggy Ansah and while he gave up edge pressure he was able to keep his hands on him enough to avoid giving up a sack. His edge run blocking was not strong in this game. The pass protection was ok, just a tough opponent and less help because of the interior pressure.
Ben Grubbs: C (2.89) No push in the running game. Some of the draws worked better, but Nick Fairley was a tough assignment for him. His pass protection was ok but he gave up a lot of pocket push too.
Jonathan Goodwin: C- (2.72) One has to wonder if father time is catching up with him. He rolled his ankle again and unfortunately this season has been injury after injury for him. He must be commended for continuing to go out there despite being compromised. He was flagged for a hold on Suh, which was a good call, and he trouble blocking the big man at times. I just hope we can see him back fully healthy at some point again this year.
Jahri Evans: C+ (2.72) I’m sure he’s looking forward to facing tackles that are a step down from Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy. This was a better overall performance but it was still up and down. Suh is a handful and got lots of penetration. Still, Suh finished with a tackle and a defended pass. He didn’t get his usual push in the running game, though.
Zach Strief: B (2.72) Besides a hit on Brees late that forces an incompletion on the final drive, his play continues to be very steady. One of the unsung heroes of the offense so far this season.
Bryce Harris: C- (2.00) He stepped in for Strief briefly and was pushed back causing much pressure. Fortunately Strief returned quickly.
Tim Lelito: C (2.11) His blocking was ok overall, though the interior pressure got worse and worse as the game wore on. Having a healthy Goodwin would have been nice. Unfortunately it’s looking more likely Lelito will have to step in for a while. His shotgun snaps messed up Brees’ rhythm a couple times by floating in the air and he was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the end around to Stills. I still cannot for the life of me understand that call.
My Offensive Player of the Game: Marques Colston
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