The Saints didn’t put up as many points this weekend as they did in Green Bay, but they left Jacksonville with something much more important–their first road win of the season. As a result, the Saints reach the quarter pole of 2011 at 3-1, exactly where most coaches will tell you they want to be at this point.
PASS OFFENSE: B+
We’re spoiled, okay? Sure, Drew Brees threw for 351 yards and extended his streak of games with at least one TD pass to 31, passing Dan Marino to earn the third-longest streak of all time. Despite all the yardage, however, it was clear that the passing game wasn’t exactly right at times in the second half. Brees threw two interceptions for the second game in a row, which is a concern, particularly when that INT total is higher than that TD total in Brees’ stat line.
In other news, Jimmy Graham managed to somehow elevate his game once again, and at this rate will certainly force his way into the discussion of top TEs in the NFL. This week, it was 132 yards on 10 receptions, including a career-long 59 yard reception and another TD. To put this in perspective, if he replicates the season’s first quarter over the remaining three quarters, he will be looking at 96 catches for 1,468 yards and 12 touchdowns. How about some more perspective? The all-time record for receiving yards by a tight end in a season is 1,290 by Kellen Winslow, Sr., and the record for TDs is 13 by Antonio Gates (also in his second season) and Vernon Davis. The record for catches by a TE is 102 by Tony Gonzalez. Just sayin’.
RUN OFFENSE: A
This game looked a little different than the first three because for the first time, the Saints run offense outdid the pass offense, at least proportionally to what we’ve come to expect. The Saints have to be extremely relieved to see the running game be able to set the tone in a third quarter during which Brees was struggling.
The Saints stable of running backs put up a season-high 177 yards, and perhaps more importantly, an average of 5.2 yards per carry. Total yardage in a game can reflect as much or more the number of carries as their quality; that 5.2, though, shows the Saints running game was able to get winning plays and keep drives alive when the passing game was having some trouble. Mark Ingram got the bulk of the carries with 17, but it was Darren Sproles who really made them count, averaging 10.7 yards on his 7 carries to lead the team with 75 yards. He also averaged double-digit yards on his 5 receptions as well.
And how about Jed Collins with his first NFL touchdown?
PASS DEFENSE: A-
The rollercoaster ride continues for Who Dat Nation’s collective confidence in the Saints defense overall, and this week was one of the good ones. Granted, the Saints were playing a Jaguars team that came in averaging 9.7 points per game, but they’ll take the confidence at this point. The Saints held rookie QB Blaine Gabbert to 196 yards and a passer rating of 51.3. Other than a ridiculous 47-yard completion to Mike Thomas on a wide receiver screen, the Jaguars had no explosive plays (over 20 yards) through the air the entire game.
The pass-rush (the only consistent part of this defense) remained in top form, notching 3 sacks to bring the season total to 13, trailing only Philly and Washington (15 each) for most in the NFL. The Saints knocked down 8 passes throughout the game and never let Gabbert get into a rhythm. Patrick Robinson notched his first career interception (and we will give him a pass on whatever that run-back was supposed to be…let’s go with “Reggie Bush impression”).
RUN DEFENSE: A
The Saints came in prepared to face one of the games top rushers in Maurice Jones-Drew, and they lived up to the challenge. MJD’s stat line is rather misleading–his 84 yards on 11 carries looks to be a good average, but when you take out his 41-yard run, you end up with a very ordinary (for MJD at least) 4.3 yards per carry average.
Granted, Jacksonville fell behind 14-0 early so the run didn’t play a huge role, but that’s part of beating Maurice Jones-Drew. The Saints offense getting off to a fast start was essentially a part of the run defense this week. MJD’s 12 total touches (11 runs, 1 reception) is about half of what Jacksonville needs from him in order to put together a solid offensive day. Credit goes to the Saints on both sides of the ball for limiting his production.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B
This is one with some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that John Kasay is no longer perfect, having gone 3/5 on kicks in Jacksonville. One of the misses was over 50 yards, and neither ultimately ended up impacting the final score.
The good news is that teams are clearly scared out of their minds to kick to Darren Sproles, and rightfully so. He showed in the first game of the season what he can do, and teams haven’t tested him since. We saw this at the end of the Houston game when in the midst of the Saints furious comeback, the Texans punter basically just spotted the ball on his own 49 yard line and walked off the field, and we saw it again this week in the punting game as Jacksonville punter Matt Turk averaged a subpar 38.3 yards per punt. Thomas Morstead, on the other hand, averaged 58 yards. That’s how you win a field position battle.
COACHING: A
Kudos goes to the Saints coaching staff for adjusting during halftime after the Jaguars scored 10 points and made it a ball game. The Saints came out and established their dominance through the run, while Gregg Williams bore down and did what he does best–destroyed a rookie quarterback.
The Saints didn’t allow a point after halftime, while methodically moving into field goal range three times primarily via the ground game. You’d like to see touchdowns in those situations, and you can bet that that’s what the Saints are working on this week in practice.
BOTTOM LINE
The Saints are sitting at 3-1 a quarter of the way into 2011, tied atop the NFC South with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It wasn’t as pretty on offense as it has been the first three weeks, but it’s almost better at this point for the Saints to win in a different way just so they know that they can. This game should give them confidence in other areas besides Drew Brees, which is what will carry them through tough stretches of the season.
The next quarter of the season is a crucial one with back to back divisional road games, starting this week in Carolina and followed by a trip to Tampa Bay. Neither team is a pushover, but the Saints can certainly win both. If they make it through those two, they will have a chance for a 4-0 quarter with consecutive games against (currently) winless Indianapolis and St. Louis. How the Saints will gameplan for dual-threat Cam Newton will be the next great challenge.
