Not wasting any time, let’s get right to this!
Offense
Passing: C-
Jimmy Graham let the Bucs know that a cheap shot wouldn’t slow him down.
This was hopefully the worst performance out of the passing game all season. Aside from Jimmy Graham, no one was spectacular through the air. Drew Brees struggled mightily this week, much to his own fault and also to that of the offensive line. First off, Brees through two very bad interceptions. The first one was on a throw to Lance Moore that should have never left Drew’s hand. It’s unclear whether Brees didn’t see Dekoda Watson or he just thought he could squeeze the pass in. To be honest, I’m not really sure which one is worse. Regardless, the interception set the Buccaneers up with great field position, leading to their only offensive touchdown. The second interception was just flat out awful. Brees looked like he forgot what colors the Saints were wearing and delivered a strike to the chest of Buccaneer linebacker Mason Foster. Foster, of course, made a fabulous return and cashed the pick in for 6 points. Thankfully, Brees made up for it on the final drive of the game. His 31 yard pass to Marques Colston to set up the game winning field goal made up for his poor decisions. The decision making was where he struggle this week, after struggling with accuracy in Week 1. As for the wide receivers, they combined for only 6 catches on the day. Colston had four of them, while Kenny Stills and Lance Moore both added one. We expected whoever Darrelle Revis was on to be covered for most of the day, but the other receivers have to be able to beat a rookie corner-back, such as Johnathan Banks. Darren Sproles provided a bit of relief out of the backfield, but he couldn’t do much after the catch, finishing with 6 receptions for 36 yards. Brees was also sacked 4 times for 26 yards, as the offensive line struggle yet again. He was clearly uncomfortable in the pocket as the line failed multiple times. If not for a questionable unnecessary roughness call on Adrian Claybron, Brees would’ve been sacked 5 times and would also have a lost fumble. After stepping up to avoid pressure, Drew held on to the ball for way too long and scrambled right in to a blindsided hit from Clayborn, but the defender’s head hit too high for the referee’s comfort.
Rushing: D-
Even after a mirror-like performance of last week’s rushing attack, I chose to bump the grade down a bit more for one specific reason. Their goal-line fail. After a second Jimmy Graham touchdown was ruled down at the half yard line, the Saints ran a 1st down passing play that was well covered, forcing Brees to throw the ball away. New Orleans then ran three straight running plays and the offensive line was manhandled by the Bucs. The Saints sacrificed 3 points in a game where points proved very valuable, almost costing them the game. They finished with 20 total carries for 75 yards. Pierre Thomas led the way, turning his five carries in to 29 yards. Mark Ingram could only muster up 20 yards on 8 carries. I feel like a broken record and I know that many disagree with me, but Ingram’s struggles are not all on him. I’ll get more in to his situation as we preview next week’s game, but as for Week 2, he didn’t have any holes to run through.
Saints
Jimmy Graham
Graham was absolutely fantastic on Sunday. He was easily the one bright spot on the offensive side of the ball. His 56 yard touchdown was actually his least impressive play of all of his highlights, considering it was busted coverage leaving him wide open. He made play after play and even proved to be tough to tackle. After a few of his catches, he broke tackles and picked up some tough extra yards. The play that was most significant could have resulted in a big problem for the Saints, but Jimmy is one tough man. After an incomplete pass down the middle of the field, Ahmad Black blasted Graham straight in the head on one of the dirtiest plays you’ll ever see. It was clear that Graham had not caught the ball, but Black lowered his head and drove himself straight in to the tight-end’s helmet. It was certainly scary at first, as his arms flailed out to his sides and he stayed down for a few seconds. It didn’t take Graham long to gather himself, get to his feet, and give Black a piece of his mind.
Marques Colston
As I mentioned earlier, Colston and the other wide-receivers were mostly invisible for most of the day. He makes this list solely based on the terrific catch he made on the final drive to win the game. Drew put the ball in a great spot, but Colston made a great out-stretched, fingertip catch as he was falling to the ground. It was very reminiscent of his touchdown catch last week vs. Atlanta.
Sinners
The Entire Offensive Line
Once again, the offensive line played poorly. This week, not only did they not run block well, but they allowed a lot of pressure on Drew Brees. Around the end, up the middle, you name it, they struggled to keep Drew Brees on his feet.
Defense
Passing: A-
The pass defense was easily the best aspect of the Saints’ win on Sunday. They held Josh Freeman to 9/22 for 125 yards, with 1 touchdown and 1 INT. The secondary was much better in coverage than they were in Week 1. The pass rush did not provide as much of a consistent push as they did last week, but they still got to the backfield a few times. They only sacked Freeman one time, but that one time produced what is known as the “trifecta”. Cam Jordan made the sack, stripping the ball from Freeman and Junior Galette came up with the recovery. A little later, Malcolm Jenkins came up with an interception off of Freeman for the Saints second turnover of the game. As good as they did play, I kept them at A- because of three specific plays that come to mind. The first, actually didn’t count, but it was still disappointing. Freeman was under pressure and launched the ball high in to the air, where not only did Kenny Vaccaro allow Vincent Jackson to make the catch, but he couldn’t even hold on to make the tackle, letting Jackson jog 20 yards in to the end zone with no one else around. Thankfully, the play was called back due to illegal formation, but Vaccaro will need to be able to defend that better if the Saints are to put faith in him in one-on-one coverage. The other two plays were both completions to Jackson on the Buccaneers’ final drive. First, the Saints had a chance to force a Tampa Bay three and out, but on 3rd and 9, they allowed Jackson to make a catch for 20 yards, extending the drive. Jackson had another 18 yards catch on that same drive, that put the Buccaneers in to Saints territory. Thankfully, none of the plays ended up costing the Saints, but they are plays I’d like to see them clean up.
Rushing: B-
Once again, the numbers don’t show how well the Saints run defense played. Doug Martin finished with 29 carries for 144 yards. He had two big runs that totaled about 50 yards, so factoring those out, the Saints allowed him to 3.5 yards per carry. Again, it all counts, but to get a clear understanding of the big picture, it’s necessary to look at it this way. Martin is a very good running back who plays behind a good offensive line and feeds on getting bunches of carries throughout the game. The Saints run defense did a very good job in key spots, holding Martin to a lot of minimal gains.
Saints
Malcolm Jenkins
Jenkins’ interception in the 3rd quarter was as textbook as it gets for a free-safety. Playing over the top, he read Freeman’s eyes and broke on the ball as soon as the quarterback cocked back to throw it. He timed his break perfectly and stepped right in front of Vincent Jackson to take the pass the other way. It was a play that showed the potential everyone saw in Jenkins when he was moved to safety and it was hopefully a sign of things to come in this new defense.
Cam Jordan
Once again, Jordan was in the backfield in both pass rush and run defense. He came up with the sack and forced fumble on Freeman and also added 5 tackles. He is proving to be a tough man to block for offensive tackles, as he ranks 1st in the NFL in QB pressures with 12. According to Pro Football Focus, he is the 2nd ranked 3-4 end behind only J.J. Watt. He is getting better and better and we can only expect more of the big plays from him.
Sinners
None
Kenny Vaccaro was the only player that came to mind, but I couldn’t justify putting him on here based off of one play that ended up not counting. The entire defense played great football and seems to be 100% buying in to Rob Ryan’s scheme.
That’ll do it for Week 2, folks. See you later this week as we discuss what the Saints will need to do to get to 3-0 as they welcome the Arizona Cardinals.
Who Dat?!
