This defense is lost. It’s a combination of effort, lack of talent, poor commitment, character and more. How else can you characterize what was put on the field AT HOME against a struggling NFL offense? There is no other way to put this: they should be ashamed. I don’t know that I remember Spagnuolo’s units playing this poorly. It was certainly in keeping with that. You’ll have to forgive my brief write ups below, frankly I’m putting too much effort into this given the effort they put out on the field.
Cam Jordan: C (2.49) He finished with 5 tackles. He played the run ok and his pass pressure was poor. He was flagged for a personal foul for shoving Cam Newton in bounds. One of the worst judgement calls I’ve seen from a referee all season. If you can’t hit a quarterback as a runner in the field of play, I guess you can’t touch them at all?
Junior Galette: F (2.21) Before leaving with a knee injury he had zero tackles. Most notable was how horrific his play against the read option was. He lost containment leaving a gaping hole for Cam Newton to expose. He did return and finished. He made no impact after singing his own praise so highly earlier this week. I’ll be really disappointed if he’s elected team captain again next year. Put simply, Will Smith in his current condition would’ve fared better in this game.
Akiem Hicks: C- (2.23) He finished with 3 tackles. I’m not sure what’s wrong with his arm but it seems to be affecting his power/leverage.
Brandon Deaderick: C+ (1.78) He finished with 3 tackles. He made more of an active contribution than we’re used to seeing from him.
John Jenkins: C (2.34) He finished with 3 tackles, including a nice tackle around the line of scrimmage on both Newton and Jonathan Stewart. Those were nice, but he didn’t control the interior by any means.
Kasim Edebali: D- (1.93) His pass rush was a complete non factor. He did have 3 tackles but this grade is due to the “Martez Wilson Special”. With the Panthers lined up to punt, he jumped offsides on 4th and less than 5. Unforgivable.
Tyrunn Walker: C+ (2.26) He finished with 3 tackles playing in sub packages. He played the run pretty well but his interior pass rush didn’t make an impact.
David Hawthorne: D+ (2.33) He fell down in coverage on Mike Tolbert to allow a big gain and that was foreshadowing of how he’d play. He finished with 5 tackles and a defended pass but too often he was on the turf not making the play.
Parys Haralson: C (2.39) He finished with 4 tackles including one for a loss. He had a couple of good run stuffs but was blocked out of other plays and was slow in pursuit.
Curtis Lofton: C+ (2.69) He led the team with 17 tackles. 17! His coverage wasn’t great on the tight ends, particularly Olsen, but he did a good job of staying in it when many others seemed to quit. He didn’t have a great game by any means but the high tackle total is eye popping. Off the field he seems like the only guy on this side of the ball that handles himself with professionalism and maturity.
Ramon Humber: C (2.27) He finished with 3 tackles, one which was a nice hit on special teams. Defensively he looks lost.
Keenan Lewis: C (2.51) He momentarily delayed a touchdown with a nice tackle of Greg Olsen short of the end zone. He was beaten on big passing plays to Kelvin Benjamin twice on the opening drive, including once for a touchdown on a play I thought he was going to make. Otherwise he covered the deep ball well but he came up lame on his bad knee late. He finished with 2 tackles. Read my comments on Ball below for the touchdown pass to Olsen.
Corey White: C+ (2.03) A quiet day where he finished with 1 tackle. He wasn’t victimized in coverage.
Patrick Robinson: C (2.33) He was beaten on a handful of throws, including a third down. He finished with 5 tackles and his coverage was average. He also made a nice tackle on Olsen 1 yard shy of the 1st on a 3rd down play.
Pierre Warren: C+ (2.00) His play recognition on running plays (and some passing plays) leads to really bad angles. That led to some breakaways. That said, he tackled better, showed some physicality and even made a couple plays on the ball. This was much better. He had 8 tackles and 2 defended passes.
Kenny Vaccaro: C+ (2.00) He finished with 5 tackles and 1 defended pass. He played better than most but made little overall impact.
Marcus Ball: D (1.75) On the touchdown pass to Olsen it’s hard to know if Lewis is supposed to pick him up or if Ball blew is assignment. Based on the way Lewis reacted to Ball, throwing his arms up, I’m going to guess the mistake was made by the rookie.
Shayne Graham: D+ (2.80) He missed a 42 yard field goal. In a dome, that can’t happen. He was also barely good from 37 tucking it just inside the right upright. His lone extra point wasn’t good by that much either.
Thomas Morstead: A- (3.08) He was 3 for 3 on kickoffs for touchbacks. He averaged 44.0 yards per punt on 5 punts, 42.6 net, with one inside the 20. The Panthers’ return game was shut down, he did his job. He’s passed Mark Ingram as the highest GPA on the team.
Jalen Saunders: A- (2.56) Only regret here is he didn’t take one to the house. He represented the team’s best shot at getting into the end zone. He returned 3 punts for an average of 22.7 yards, two of which were big returns setting up the offense in excellent field positions. Clearly he’s earned his roster spot and should rightfully be in the mix for next year. I haven’t seen a player produce a return like that for the Saints since Darren Sproles in his early days.
Brian Dixon: B+ (2.07) He made a beautiful open field tackle to shut down a punt return and he was always the first man down with coverage units. He also played in coverage and did a decent job, breaking up a pass and drawing a personal foul penalty from Kelvin Benjamin.
My Defensive Player of the Game: Kenny Vaccaro
My Special Teams Player of the Game: Jalen Saunders
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