The offense were able to move the football early but two turnovers killed chances at scoring. Their first touchdown was a gift from their defense inside the 5. The offense didn’t really do much until they drove 85 yards in under two minutes with no timeouts to score with 3 seconds remaining. The second half wouldn’t come much easier, but a 4th and 1 QB sneak by Brees couple with a score late to ice the game would be enough. Give the offense credit, when they got close they scored a touchdown. The balance was unheard of in the Sean Payton era, 37 runs and 34 passes. That’s despite the run game being relatively poor throughout. They did more than enough given the defensive performance, though. Below are the grades:
Drew Brees: B- (2.79) It’s hard to blame him on the first two drives that end in turnovers even though he goes down as responsible on the stat sheet. The pick was a drop by Stills that bounced up for a fluke pick. The fumble was a poor pickup by Lorig, who accidentally hit the ball with his hand to knock it loose. Brees would also fumble on the score before half but he alertly fell on that one. He finished 24-34 for 297 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He also had his trademark leap over the line on 4th and goal from the 1 for a touchdown. Despite more pressure than he’s seen all season he did a good job getting rid of the ball and he came up with clutch throws when his team needed it most. Despite the running game being poor he moved the chains with clutch completions on several third and longs. It wasn’t his best game by any means but with not much working around him he did a good job directing four touchdown drives with timely throws.
Mark Ingram: B+ (3.33) He rushed for 100 yards and 2 scores. In most cases that’s good enough for an A or an A+. But that was on 30 carries (3.3 yards per carry). The line just didn’t get much going in this one and he had to do much of it on his own. His first touchdown was a fantastic effort despite not great blocking. He was a mixed bag in blitz pickups, but had one great one that still resulted in a sack. He had one catch for 10 yards. He was a workhorse and played through a shoulder injury, so he deserves a lot of credit, but he wasn’t breaking tackles and dominating like he did against Green Bay.
Travaris Cadet: C (2.38) A quiet day despite being the #2 back. He finished with 2 carries for just 1 yard, one being a loss in the backfield. He also had 3 catches for 29 yards on 5 targets. Other than a nice play design that set up a 20 yard catch, he really didn’t offer much.
Erik Lorig: D+ (2.17) After a fantastic first game against the Packers, his lead blocking left a lot to be desired in this one. Twice he didn’t do a great job on blitz pickups, too, and once he poked the ball out of Brees’ hand accidentally to cause a turnover after doing a poor job of blocking Charles Johnson. The Saints averaged 2.8 per carry and that’s not going to cut it.
Jimmy Graham: A- (2.83) Bad shoulder and all, Graham came to play. Yes he shied away from contact and he still looks compromised, but he made plays anytime the offense really needed him to. It wasn’t his best game, but anytime the offense need a play he was there to help his team. He finished with 7 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown on 7 targets. Can’t to much better than that.
Ben Watson: C (2.25) Had an up and down game. He did have a nice weakside block on Ingram’s second score and he did a good job pushing Johnson upfield to get him out of the throwing lane on the touchdown pass to Graham. He finished with 1 harmless catch for 4 yards before getting blasted on a 3rd down short of the sticks. Not much of a factor overall.
Josh Hill: C- (2.67) Struggled to get open and finished with no catches on two targets. Didn’t produce much blocking.
Marques Colston: C+ (2.25) He came up with a beautiful back shoulder catch on a third and long to keep a drive alive. He was otherwise quiet with 3 catches for 36 yards on just 3 targets. I saw him wide open over the middle on a couple of plays and Brees just missed him.
Kenny Stills: C+ (2.38) He’s hard to grade because he had three awful drops, one which caused the interception. He seemed to drop the easier catches and make the tougher ones. Brees kept going to him, though, and he converted some big third downs too. He finished with 5 catches for 72 yards, he just needs to be more consistent.
Brandin Cooks: C (2.63) 2 punt returns for 2 yards and a number of fair catches where he possibly could have had returning room. He also caught one fair catch inside the 7 which I hate seeing. His punt return skills leave a lot to be desired. On offense he made some plays and looked pretty good. He finished with 3 catches for 38 yards. He was a little more quiet than usual, though.
Robert Meachem: B (1.76) He was targeted twice and both were big. The first drew an easy pass interference call in the end zone just before halftime to set up the Saints’ second touchdown from the one. The second was a big 25 yard catch that would set up the final touchdown. Give him credit, despite little usage he made the most of his chances and helped the team immensely.
Terron Armstead: C (2.81) His run blocking was disappointing. Numerous times the Saints attacked off tackle to his side and had nowhere to go. His pass blocking was better but this was not his best game.
Ben Grubbs: C (2.76) He was the most up and down of the line. He had some of the most notable blocks and some of the most notable mistakes. Not as clean and reliable of a game as we’re used to seeing from him.
Tim Lelito: C+ (2.33) He didn’t get enough push on running plays and he was pushed backwards a bit on passing plays but overall he held up ok. I will say his shotgun snaps were solid this week after looking a little floaty and off timing in previous weeks.
Jahri Evans: B- (2.79) Threw a nice block on the first Ingram score. In the run game he was probably the best but he too had some average moments. Give the Panthers’ d-line credit, they gave the Saints’ front trouble.
Zach Strief: B (2.75) For the most part he did a very good job on Charles Johnson. If there’s any question how underrated and valuable he is to the team, look no further than the right side of the line after he left with back spasms. He’s a leader and a solid player that is consistent and reliable.
Bryce Harris: D (1.67) Just not good enough. I’m not going to fail him because he came into a game unprepared, but it’s clear the Saints are not set up to suffer an injury at tackle. Few teams are. His fill in for Strief was close to a disaster. In Harris’ defense I think a week of practice with the 1s would have helped. It’s so much harder to come into a game cold when you haven’t been getting first team reps. A short prep week makes that even worse.
My Offensive Player of the Game: Jimmy Graham
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