The Saints’ offense had about as horrific of a first half as I’ve seen them have in the Sean Payton era. Only an incredible score on a one on one fade jumpball by Jimmy Graham saved what would have otherwise been a 30 minute disaster. The score gave the Saints 10 points with mere seconds left in the half. The second half saw more success, but one has to be left with major regrets on the final drive. First the Saints called a timeout from the sideline on a play that very likely would’ve gone for a first down (kudos to Nick Underhill for pointing this out to me), then they took a sack on a blitz pickup that knocked them out of field goal range. That sequence of events ultimately doomed the unit and ultimately the team. Even an incomplete pass at that point gives Shayne Graham a shot at giving the Saints a 4 point lead, which probably would’ve been enough. Alas, the offense did just enough to make the loss heartbreaking, and when you consider the pick six they played a heavy hand in losing the game. And I will say, while I grade the players and not the coaches, the play calling deserves serious blame in this one. The Browns dared the Saints to run the football all game long and we still saw a 42-27 pass to run ratio. Sean Payton just can’t help himself. Sometimes even with Drew Brees at quarterback, you have to be smart enough to accept that you can score in other ways. Below are the grades. The letter grade represents the player’s performance in the game and the GPA in parentheses is the cumulative effort for the season.
Drew Brees: C (2.50) With the amount of success the Saints have had on the ground the last two weeks, it’s pretty alarming that Brees has been less efficient than usual. He hasn’t been bad, but he definitely hasn’t been great either. And when the Saints are running the ball this well you’d think that would help him operate at a higher level of dominance. He finished 27 of 40 for just 237 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception. He held on to the ball too long on several plays and cost the team three timeouts by not getting the snap off quickly enough. It’s hard to get past the pick six, even if he was slightly hit as he threw, which had a major impact on the game just as the Saints were starting to shift momentum back their way. He had no success going downfield and all of his completions were short to intermediary passes, mostly to Graham.
Mark Ingram: A (3.67) I blame the Saints for not letting him see the football more in this game. There’s really no excuse for it. He’s running the ball as well as I’ve ever seen him do it, he’s been largely unstoppable in two games, and he continues to be woefully under utilized. He had 11 carries for 83 games and 1 touchdown. He also had 3 catches for 21 yards. A monster game. For the second consecutive game he gave the team a late lead with a crucial 4th quarter score. Too bad it means nothing in the win column, Ingram deserves better unlike most guys on the team.
Pierre Thomas: C (2.67) He saw the ball less in this game but gave his customary effort. He had 16 yards on 3 carries and another 16 yards on 3 catches. All that said, his missed a blitz pickup up the middle on the Saints’ final possession and it caused the Saints to get sacked out of field goal range. That would end up costing the team dearly.
Khiry Robinson: B- (2.84) He had 8 carries for 31 yards and moved the chains on a couple short yardage carries. He also had a carry where he was hit short of a first down where he could have shown better physical effort. Overall he was a good change of pace that did the job he was asked, but he wasn’t nearly as impressive as Ingram.
Austin Johnson: B+ (2.50) Both carries went for first down, including one that caught the Browns off guard for an 8 yard gain up the middle. He had 2 carries for 10 yards and did an excellent job lead blocking. A much better performance compared to last week.
Marques Colston: D (1.67) This has to be the only time in his entire career he’s played a game without a single target. Brees literally didn’t throw the ball his way once. When you drop back to pass 42 times, that comes as a shock. One has to wonder how much the way the Falcons game ended affected Colston’s confidence, or Brees’ confidence in him. He did get involved in blocking, but he was a non factor to the highest degree. Too bad because the passing game really could have used him.
Kenny Stills: C (2.00) He got the “start” and in his first game back he contributed 3 catches for 25 yards on 4 targets. A pretty quiet involvement.
Robert Meachem: C+ (2.00) He had 3 catches for 37 yards and gave the team some valuable receptions over the middle in the second half. He dropped a back shoulder throw for a touchdown on what was Brees’ best thrown ball of the game, arguably. The Saints would score on that drive anyway, but that’s a ball he has to come down with. Unfortunately he catches only with his body, never well with his hands.
Brandin Cooks: C (2.84) Man, did he look fast on that end around. He had a 28 yard run which was his highlight, and he finished with 2 carries for 31 yards. As a receiver he wasn’t nearly as good this time. 3 catches for 17 yards on 6 targets. On punt returns he seemed quick to call the fair catch and the one return he did take he went all Reggie Bush and lost 2 yards.
Jimmy Graham: A (3.67) Along with Ingram he was the other guy that carried the offense on his back. The Browns put premiere cover man Joe Haden on him for much of the game and it did nothing to stop him. Graham was quiet for most of the first half and still finished with 10 catches for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns. He even had a couple of great run blocks. The only negative mentionable is that while the interception was thrown too high, Graham did have a shot at that catch. It would have been a tough one, so hard to blame him too much there. Both scores were incredible efforts.
Ben Watson: C- (1.84) His blocking is all over the place. While Paul Kruger’s lone sack was on Brees for holding on to the ball too long, Kruger was stood up by Josh Hill and rotated inside to Watson and blew right past him for the sack. Watching the tape he had some plays with poor lead blocks in the run game, and some great ones. He had 1 catch for 4 yards. He’s off to a slow start this season.
Josh Hill: C (2.34) He had a great tackle with Vinnie Sunseri in coverage on special teams, where he continues to be a great asset. His lone catch was for -1 yards and it was short of a first down, forcing the Saints to kick a field goal. His blocking was at times quite good in the run game.
Terron Armstead: B- (2.84) His false start turned a makeable 3rd and 6 into a 3rd and 11 that would ultimately make the Saints punt. I don’t know that there’s ever a good time to get flagged, but 3rd and manageable is definitely the worst. He did give up some edge pressure in pass protection but overall he held up well. He didn’t have quite the physical push you hope for but that’s still a work in progress. Overall Armstead played well and he’s a major improvement over Charles Brown a year ago.
Ben Grubbs: B+ (3.50) He gave up a little pressure in pass protection here and there but overall his play was solid. His run blocking was excellent. Despite being out for most of preseason with an injury, there seems to be no lingering problems. He’s playing well.
Jonathan Goodwin: B- (3.00) Overall like Grubbs he was solid. He did have one poor snap that bounced off Brees’ hand on the first drive and almost resulted in a fumble before Brees was able to secure it and throw it away. The ball was just slightly high but Brees could have caught it more cleanly. On the big Karlos Dansby sack he rotated over to help Jahri Evans with his man and left a gaping hole for Dansby to delay blitz into. That’s mostly on PT to pick up the blitzer, but had Goodwin recognized it quicker he could have possibly slowed down Dansby.
Jahri Evans: A- (3.84) Another dominant game in the trenches. He’s playing at his customary Pro Bowl level. The injuries that plagued him a year ago are a thing of the past. His run blocking seemed slightly better but he was steadily great at almost every task.
Zach Strief: C (2.34) He had his hands full with Kruger and while he never gave up a sack, he gave up a lot of pressure and a couple hits. He was also flagged for a false start once. A tough assignment, but not his best game.
Offensive Player of the Game: Jimmy Graham
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