The defense had a very up and down game. The drive right before the half and the drive to start the second half were absolutely horrible beyond words. If you bottled up those two possessions where Jameis Winston looked like the second coming of Fran Tarkenton, I’d say that defense would make even Steve Spagnuolo blush. If you took those drives out and the 14 points that went with them, the Saints held the Bucs to 12 points or 4 field goals. Granted they were gashed for 139 yards rushing but they did much better against the run in the second half. Granted the Bucs shot themselves in the foot with some poor red zone passes and a number of god awful penalties. And granted, they were given an absolute gift of a turnover when Doug Martin decided to cough up the football untouched. Better offenses would have lit up this Saints defense for a lot more points. But you can’t really pin this loss on them. They battled, they had good moments and they gave the offense a chance to win this game. Special teams, on the other hand, was somehow even worse than the offense. Here are the grades:
Cameron Jordan: B+ (2.83)
His stats were better than last week, so he did a better job being an impact guy, but I didn’t think he was as active. His run defense was good, though, and he was definitely one of the better guys on defense. He finished with 3 tackles, a sack and a big fumble recovery. He seemed to get better as the game went on.
Akiem Hicks: C (1.50)
As oppose to last week I can confirm he actually played and at times showed hustle and pursuit. He finished with 1 tackle but played the run ok at times. Still not enough.
John Jenkins: C- (2.00)
As the game wore on he played less and less. He just didn’t eat enough space. He finished with 2 tackles but left some big lanes open.
Kevin Williams: C+ (2.00)
Like Jenkins he started off real slow but like Jordan he got better as the game progressed. He played a big part in a lot of those run stops late. He finished with 2 tackles.
Kasim Edebali: A- (2.84)
An active and impressive performance from Edebali. He got pressure on Jameis Winston a handful of times and was a useful sub that gave precious effort. He finished with 4 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.
Bobby Richardson: C+ (2.50)
He was flagged once for holding. I’ve watched the replay a couple times and I don’t understand the call. He played a lot as a pass rusher and even as a run defender. He was better than Jenkins despite being smaller. He’s had a big role in this rotation. He finished with 2 tackles.
Tyeler Davison: C (1.84)
Played limited snaps and held his ground well but didn’t make an impact one way or another.
Obum Gwacham: D+ (1.33)
Came in for pass rushing situations and was blocked with ease. He did get one hit on Winston but was otherwise a non factor.
Hau’oli Kikaha: B+ (3.00)
I thought his run defense was better than his pass defense. I hope he gets better at consistently getting to the quarterback and I’m still hopeful. What was most encouraging was his coverage sack where he has the football IQ to rip the ball out and create a big turnover for the Saints. That’s his second forced fumble in two games. The guy is a football player and I’m glad the Saints have him. Really encouraged he’s only going to get better. He had 7 tackles, a sack and the forced fumble.
David Hawthorne: C- (1.34)
Ronde Barber and Chris Myers on the telecast mentioned that Dannell Ellerbe was close to coming back next week. All I can say is I sure hope that’s true. Hawthorne was in a position to make plays several times and just came up short. He had 5 tackles. His coverage continues to be a liability. I will say I did like his help in run support when Doug Martin was getting tackled to finish off the play.
Stephone Anthony: C+ (2.33)
He finished with 7 tackles, including one for a loss. At times you see explosions of potential that make you realize how special he can be. At others he takes bad angles in pursuit or makes mistakes staying in his gap to limit a big run. I think that’s what we’re going to get from Anthony for a while until he acclimates to the NFL. Some flashes of exciting ridiculous ability and some mental miscues. It’s basically the exact opposite of Curtis Lofton. Like with Kikaha I’m really looking forward to seeing his progress.
Ramon Humber: B+ (2.67)
I made him my special teams player of the game because he had 2 tackles in coverage. That’s pretty much all it takes because of how awful that unit was. He was actually very helpful in run support, though, and he was ok in coverage. He finished with 6 tackles.
Brandon Browner: C (2.00)
He had a nice physical pass breakup on a big 3rd down play to get the defense off the field. He had 3 tackles and some good coverage on Vincent Jackson for the most part. Jackson had 3 catches so you have to feel good about that. As expected Browner had a couple penalties, though, none worse than a deep ball where he was very badly beat and flagged for a no questions asked blatant pass interference in the end zone that set up an easy Buc touchdown. I have a feeling his already suspect speed is affected by that injury.
Delvin Breaux: B (2.34)
He was on Mike Evans most of the game and Evans finished with no catches. That alone is probably deserving of an A+. Unfortunately that’s not the only man he covered. He was beat to a deep ball to Louis Murphy where he appeared to lose the ball in the lights and just stopped running with the receiver. You’ve probably seen the gif by now circulating the internet, it’s pretty embarrassing. If you’re going to lose the ball, at least find the receiver and stay in pursuit. That was horrible. Otherwise, he was very good in coverage. He had one tackle.
Damian Swann: B- (2.84)
He finished with 4 tackles and a nice blitz where he hit Winston. He was beaten once by Louis Murphy but otherwise had pretty good coverage and I was impressed by his physical run support.
Kyle Wilson: C (1.67)
He had 1 tackle. Played little, nothing too notable in coverage.
Kenny Vaccaro: B- (2.50)
The roughing the passer penalty was total bogus. He put good pressure on that blitz and another, but what else are you going to ask your defender to do? He led the Saints with 9 tackles. he was very physical. In coverage he was beaten a couple times by Austin Sefarian-Jenkins – so it wasn’t a perfect game by any means, but I thought he played pretty well.
Kenny Phillips: B (3.00)
He was really laying wood out there. This guy can hit. He misplayed the touchdown pas to Jackson, which was too bad, but otherwise he had a really good game. I’m not sure Rafael Bush would have done any better. He had 8 physical tackles, can up pretty well against the run, and was not bad in coverage.
Zach Hocker: F (2.17)
Since I’ve done these grades I think he’s the only player that’s ever gone from an A+ to a F in a week. He missed a 42 yard field goal at a critical time and he had an extra point blocked. Horrible performance. Sean Payton punted instead of trying a 52 yard field goal on the opening drive which speaks to his confidence in Hocker. Meanwhile, Dustin Hopkins made his 46 yard kick with the Redskins.
Thomas Morstead: C- (2.00)
Punting from out of his own end zone he shanked a punt off the side of his foot that set up the Bucs for great field position. He averaged 43.8 yards on 4 punts, including one punt he dropped inside the 5. He did allow Bobby Rainey to hurt the Saints in the return game. One short kickoff was returned for 37 yards and 3 punt returns went for 34 yards. His net was a lowly 35.25. Not good enough.
Marcus Murphy: D- (1.17)
He dropped a punt inside the 10 and was very fortunate to fall back on it. He also took out a kickoff and was tackled well short of the 20 on a 23 yard return.
Don Jones: C- (2.17)
Flagged once. The whole reason he’s on the team his is “good” special teams play.
Joe Morgan: C+ (2.33)
He had a penalty on offense which hurts his grade a little bit but he made a nice catch on a punt inside the 5 to pin the Bucs deep.
My Defensive Player of the Game: Kasim Edebali
My Special Teams Player of the Game: Ramon Humber
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