Our offensive and defensive player grades for the Saints much-needed victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers are now ready for viewing, along with individual snap counts and written summaries detailing the performance of every player.

On the back of three straight defeats, and with another tough match-up that looked decidedly shaky on paper, we saw the Saints only chance of victory in taking the game to the Steelers and instigating some kind of offensive explosion. In some ways the Saints did just that, but they also exceeded expectations in other areas on the way to securing an impressive road victory. All told, it makes for a set of player grades that are certainly easier on the eye than what we’ve grown accustomed to in recent weeks. There are still a few surprises (and slight disappointments) we’ve uncovered after watching the all-22 though, so read on for our full breakdown of what went on at Heinz Field.

For those of you viewing our Player Grades for the first time, our Player Performance Grading System uses a 9-point color-coded scale to produce an easy to understand visual indicator of the performance of each player on both rushing plays, passing plays and in the game overall. You can find a more thorough explanation of our grading system, along with diagrams of what exactly everything means, by clicking here.

As always, for ease of reference, our 9-point color-coded grading scale is pictured below:

Ok, onto the grades. (Please note, you can click on the grading chart for each individual position group to load a slightly enlarged version in a new window/tab).

OFFENSE

As an offensive unit, the Saints started slow on Sunday against Pittsburgh. After their first three drives of the game, the Saints had only two first downs, totalling just 42 yards on offense and unsurprisingly zero points. The blame for this could partly be laid at the doorstep of the offensive line, who started the game like they were yet to shake a hangover that has lingered throughout a rough few weeks. You could also say that the first 20 minutes of this road matchup were nothing more than a light sparring session employed by Sean Payton, utilised to allow the Saints opportunity to size Dick LeBeau’s “exotic” defense without risking that dreaded “road turnover”. Regardless of the reasons why however, the fact is that beyond the early tentativeness, the next six New Orleans possessions yielded 35 points. Basically, everything clicked for the offense from 9:47 remaining in the 2nd quarter.

The positional group that arguably needed the most improvement from Week 12 was the offensive line. In this game, it was the right side who achieved that quicker that the left, with Zach Strief shaking off his Dumervil-induced nightmare in doing a great job on Jason Worilds and Stephon Tuitt off the edge. Jahri Evans also continued his impressive form of late with a dominating performance over Cameron Heyward inside. Center Jonathan Goodwin deserves praise for what his best all-round grade since he suffered that high-ankle sprain back in Week 3. Some under-sized personnel groupings along the Steelers D-Line seemed to suit Goodwin, as Dick LeBeau struggled to find a way to get by without injured starting nose tackle Steve McLendon. Regardless of that though, here’s hoping Sunday’s promising performance is a sign of things to come for the under-fire Saints center.

Much of the success in the run game also came behind the same three offensive lineman mentioned above. However, a shout-out also needs to go to Bryce Harris, who, whilst briefly deputising for Terron Armstead at LT, actually made the key edge-sealing block on Mark Ingram’s longest rush of the day (31 yards). Ingram himself had a game that would look more at home alongside the majority of his 2014 collection, rather that bearing any similarity to what was a tough night against Baltimore. What was also important for The BoiLa on Sunday was the performance of Erik Lorig. The full-back had his best game lead blocking since re-joining the active roster, and it seems no coincidence that his snap count increased during this game as a result.

Now, everything mentioned in the above three paragraphs was obviously important, but there’s no doubt that the real stars of the show offensively for the Saints on Sunday were Drew Brees and Kenny Stills. Brees got into an incredible rhythm between the Saints 4th and 10th possessions, completing nearly 80% of his passes at over 12 yards per attempt, while tossing five touchdowns during that six drive period. The main beneficiary receiving-wise was Stills, who’s crisp route running and acceleration was too much for both William Gay and Ike Taylor to handle. As mentioned in his individual summary, Stills now leads all Saints receivers by some distance in nearly every category since Brandin Cooks hit IR. The Saints needed a wideout to step up following that bad break, and credit has to go to Stills for doing just that.

In a strong all-round offensive effort, the only real disappointing performance came from veteran Marques Colston. As you’ll have seen on The BoiLa, we’ve remained high on what Colston brings to this offense as an every down contributor, despite others saying that “he’s done”. However, we can’t deny his hands have let him down on occasions this season. The frustrating thing for me is that the “Quiet Storm” had been pretty much guaranteed to make those tough catches across the middle throughout his career, and even this year he’s made some circus grabs, albeit interspersed with some inexplicable drops as well. The ability is obviously still there as he’s still getting open regularly. The only thing I can deduce is that it must be a lingering mental issue plaguing Colston this season. Whatever it is, if there’s any way to get the “always reliable” version of Marques Colston to return down the stretch, it would be much appreciated.

DEFENSE

What a difference a week makes. In our review and grades last week, we flagged some serious concerns and trends about the defense that didn’t look like they were going away anywhere soon. Bad angles, bad coverage, bad tackling and most crucially bad line play. As if by magic, on Sunday (aside from the odd missed tackle on Leveon Bell) there was no sign of any such deficiencies. Despite Pittsburgh piling on huge yardage totals and 32 points (aided, it must be said, by garbage time yards and points), it was actually one of the most complete defensive performances from the Saints this year.

In many ways, in fact, Sunday’s defensive showing reminded us of the 2013 Saints D. And, much like that 2013 unit, everything started up front. In Pittsburgh the defensive line turned in one of its best collective efforts of the year against a good O-Line. Junior Galette, Tyrunn Walker and most impressively of all Cam Jordan absolutely terrorised the Steelers’ offensive line on the day. Back-up tackle Mike Adams was dominated by any Saint that came into his vicinity. We had flagged doubts over Adams in our preview as a key to the game, and it absolutely turned out to be the key in the trenches. Both Galette and Jordan victimised Adams in a way we had not seen since David Foucault in Carolina back in October. Rob Ryan clearly has an ability to scheme for and target weak links along opposing offensive lines. The line play was solid enough against a stern run blocking Pittsburgh O-line too, but it was the return of the pass rush that was the most welcome element of Sunday’s game.

It was a slightly more mixed day for the linebackers (again in keeping with the 2013 D!). Lofton had a subdued day, with David Hawthorne instead leading the team in stops. Hawthorne had an excellent game defending the run, but struggled mightily in coverage (predominantly mismatched on Leveon Bell). The Steeler running back added a large chunk of his receiving yardage in “garbage time”, but even before then there was very often easy yards to be gained over the middle for Roethlisberger. The problem for the Steelers was that Roethlisberger was under constant duress and found his accuracy wanting on numerous occasions. As such, although Lofton and Hawthorne’s coverage was poor (they gave up combined over 120 YAC on passes in their direction), the Saints weren’t punished as badly as they could have been for it.

The Saints’ secondary benefited hugely from the improved pass rush on the day. Rather than being asked to cover for 5, 6, 7 seconds on every down, the corners and safeties were able to play tight coverage safe in the knowledge that Big Ben would be forced to throw quickly after the snap. Keenan Lewis looked healthier than in the Baltimore MNF game, which is certainly encouraging as the Saints approach crunch time in the schedule. The main props must go to Patrick Robinson, though. P-Rob picked up the Antonio Brown assignment on Sunday and was excellent in coverage all day. With better hands, P-Rob would have had 3 picks. He was ably assisted by Pierre Warren on a number of deliberate “double cover” looks that the Saints worked into the scheme on Sunday. Saints fans could not ask for more from Warren since his move from Minnesota. He is becoming more and more familiar with the scheme and playbook and, if he can get his tackling tidied up, has all the attributes of a very good safety.

After his start to the season and unceremonious benching, many observers thought P-Rob would be nothing more than a nickel (or even dime) back for the 2014 Saints. A small but vocal number of fans even wanted number 21 to be cut. Since being dropped from the starting lineup, P-Rob has come back incredibly strong – first as a nickel back and now starting outside again. If he can maintain this form, the absolute key need in the secondary will be filled.

Saints fans should also remember that, in Pittsburgh, Rob Ryan’s defense was facing a top 5 offense. This makes their achievement of holding Pittsburgh to 15 points and under 300 yards (until garbage time at least) all the more impressive. That said, a lingering frustration for me about this defense is that it is just so hard to work out their identity. One week they completely fail to cover slot receivers. The next they completely fail to stop the run. And then the next they are generating constant pressure and making turnovers like a lethal 2009/2013 hybrid defense. There just does not seem to be much pattern as to which Saints defense will turn up week to week – the attributes of the opposition almost seem irrelevant at times!

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Do let us know what you think of these grades in the comments below, or you can holler at us on Twitter @CrAwFiShBoiLa. If you’re interested in the rest of our Saints player grades then be sure to check our Saints Player Grades Archive.

Divisional football returns now for the Saints, and at the BoiLa we’ll be turning our attention back towards the Carolina Panthers. For those that would like a refresher on the road game back in Week 9, then make sure you check out our Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis for it.

As always, we’ll be posting up our Offensive and Defensive Previews for the clutch NFC South matchup this weekend (hopefully a bit earlier than our Week 13 ones… apologies – it was a busy week!). To ensure you always get updated when something new is posted on The BoiLa then you can use the “Follow” option on our blog, or alternatively give us a follow on Twitter.