With win number one under the Saints’ collective belt, it’s a bit tougher to find people for the Sinners category this week. Still though, we take a look at three players who excelled this week and three who struggled. Your week 2 Saints and Sinners. . .
Saints
Roman Harper: After a terrible outing in the playoffs last January followed by a flat debut in 2011, Harper was starting to look like a weak link on defense. It looks like all he needed was some homestyle fan support, as he rebounded in a big way in the Saints home opener. Harper notched 7 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 2 additional quarterback hits, and a forced fumble en route to becoming the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week.
Devery Henderson: Henderson proved his first 100-yard game in week 1 was something to be expected by following it up with a 103-yard performance in week 2 against Chicago. Henderson’s 79-yard TD in the second quarter gave the Saints the lead they needed for Gregg Williams to be able to lay the hammer on Jay Cutler all throughout the second half.
Jimmy Graham: Graham continues to improve his performance week in and week out, tallying 6 catches for 79 yards, second only to Henderson. Graham is a big reason why the Saints offense retains its versatility even when the running game struggles. It’s also pretty fun to watch safeties and linebackers repeatedly bounce off of Graham when they attempt to tackle him.
*Look, Drew Brees belongs on this list, but how much higher can this guy’s stock really go?? For the sake of variety, if nothing else, I gave some other guys some love this week. I’m not saying these guys don’t deserve it because they absolutely do, but it just feels weird not to mention Brees after he posts a 118.1 QB rating against a solid defense.
Sinners
Shaun Rogers/Aubrayo Franklin: Okay, let me lead with the fact that in this game it was tough to find players who performed poorly. But I will say this–of the Saints 51 total tackles in the game, only 13 of them were made by the defensive line. That tells me that Matt Forte was getting to the second level a whole lot, and I don’t think he was going to the edge every time. Rogers and Franklin, the Saints supposed new mammoths in the middle, accounted for three total tackles, and zero–I repeat, zero solo tackles between them. I understand that defensive tackles aren’t going to light up the stat sheet, but for a 350 pound freak athlete and a guy who was supposedly the top DT on the free agent market this year, I think it is reasonable to expect more from these two.
Mark Ingram: Did I mention I’m really having to reach here? I think Ingram has all of the promise in the world, and I look forward to seeing him hit his stride. His fumble in the fourth quarter was inconsequential in this case, but in a situation where the Saints are only up a touchdown and trying to drain clock with the four-minute offense, a fumble at that point in the game could be costly under another set of circumstances.
Cameron Jordan: The Saints front office gave the rookie a vote of confidence by releasing Alex Brown despite Will Smith’s suspension, and he showed up in this game with one total tackle and zero solo. This speaks to the Saints tackling issues, and I think we can expect to see this front seven tighten up as the season moves forward, especially with the return of Smith this week. In a game against a porous offensive line that gave up six sacks, however, you’d really like to see Jordan, the first-rounder, get in on one of those.
