Another week down. Another potential game-winning drive falls short. Another loss. As usual we’ve graded each player’s performance, providing a full written analysis and individual snap count for every Saints player who took to the field in Week 3 against Carolina.



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 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.

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

OFFENSE

Editor’s Note: Click on each individual table below to open a full-sized version in a new window/tab (it makes them much easier to read).

The performance Luke McCown put in on Sunday was quite extraordinary on first watch. It didn’t get any worse on second viewing. And even looking back at the performances of all visiting QBs to Bank of America Stadium in recent years, McCown has pretty much eclipsed them all. As stated in our grades, the last road QB to complete more than 30 passes and throw for over 300 yards in the same game was Matt Ryan back in Week 14 of 2012. If Brees is to be out for a prolonged period, Sunday at least served as a much needed confidence booster to say the Saints season isn’t quite dead with McCown at the helm – even if they are now in a three game hole.

Part of the credit for McCown’s impressive performance under center should also go to the O-Line, who mostly put in a stellar performance in pass protection. Strief bounced back after a tough outing against Tampa, while Armstead built on a strong performance last week with another steadfast showing. Unger had his strongest showing in the Black & Gold, and Kelemete also deserves credit for slotting into an offensive line that for large parts of the game kept the Carolina pass rush very quiet. Tim Lelito was the weakest link in this regard, with Kawann Short giving him particular trouble. But even with Lelito’s struggles, the Saints held the Panthers D to just seven hurries, one QB hit and a very dubious sack awarded to Shaq Thompson when Luke McCown scrambled out of bounds. To put this into context, the Panthers had averaged 12.5 hurries, three QB hits and three sacks per game through the first two weeks of the season.

Run-blocking wasn’t as successful, although watching back the tape there wasn’t any particular weak link in the Saints “front-5”. Running lanes were hard to come by, but that was as much down to the Panthers willingness to play 8 in the box as it was due to any great inefficiency from the O-Line. Ingram especially ran hard on the day. If you rewind 11-months to late-October 2014, Ingram ran the ball 30 times at 3.3 yards per carry as the Saints drew plaudits for the way they ground the Panthers into submission. He actually ran at 3.6 yards per carry on Sunday. Robinson had a tougher time of it as the Panthers swarmed him on the majority of his touches. The usage of Spiller this week (14 snaps) was surprisingly scarce considering he was “full go” in practice all week. With Payton saying yesterday he needs to find a way to get #28 more involved, we’re expecting a heavier workload and snap count for Spiller against Dallas.

As far as the wide receivers are concerned, it was almost a mirror image of the performance the group put in during Week 1. Colston struggled with drops, Coleman went AWOL after a promising play early, and Cooks showed flashes but seemed a passenger out there for long periods of the game. The one difference from Week 1 to Week 3 is the rise in playing time, prominence and production of Willie Snead. Cast your minds back to Week 1 and Snead played just 18 snaps, was targeted just twice on the day and made 1 grab (albeit a beautiful 63-yard catch and run). Fast-forward to Week 3 and Snead’s snap count has more than doubled, while his 7 targets was only one behind Brandin Cooks on the day. In contrast, Brandon Coleman’s snaps are going the other way, decreasing from 58 in Week 1 to just 34 out in Charlotte. Following another less-than-stellar showing from Coleman in Week 3, it looks like Snead may have already leap-frogged the “training camp stud” on the depth chart.

As for Colston, let’s just hope he finds a way to roll back the years…

DEFENSE

Editor’s Note: Click on each individual table below to open a full-sized version in a new window/tab (it makes them much easier to read).

The Panthers offense, with its “zone read” elements, presented a unique challenge for the Saints D this week. After a few early hiccups, the Saints D actually fared very well against the zone-read, holding Newton to 33 yards rushing and avoiding giving up big chunks on the ground. The Saints held Panther running backs to just 74 yards on 22 carries – well under 3.5 YPC – an admirable effort. Indeed, the Panthers offense had almost all of its success on Sunday behind the arm of Newton as a conventional “pocket passer”. The Saints allowed Greg Olsen and Ted Ginn Jr to combine for over 220 receiving yards (with nearly half of those yards coming on two pivotal deep balls against Brandon Browner). It was those “easy” yards, mostly against Rob Ryan’s soft zone coverage, that made the difference in an otherwise tight game.

In the trenches, the Saints interior line was solid but unspectacular on the day. Having been manhandled by the Bucs interior O-Line the week before, the Saints shifted Tyler Davison into the starting lineup and gave #95 an extended outing. It was not necessarily a surprise, given Jenkins’ struggles, but Davison largely failed to take advantage of the opportunity and doesn’t seem ideally suited to the NT role. It was DT Kevin Williams who performed best on the interior line this week, but the NT position seems set to be a constant “?” for the Saints this season.

At the DE positions, it was a mixed showing from the Saints. Akiem Hicks was subdued after his benching last week, meekly playing a hybrid DE/DT role. He was yet again outplayed by impressive rookie Bobby Richardson, who continued his strong start to 2015 (albeit with a curiously reduced snap count). Cam Jordan, Hau’oli Kikaha and Kasim Edebali largely failed to generate consistent pressure this week, but conversely did a good job of containing Cam Newton. There was no playing time in Charlotte for pass-rushing DE Obum Gwacham after his energetic Superdome debut – although the “dual threat” of Cam Newton may have had something to do with that. Still, there were unquestionably occasions where Newton had far too much time in the pocket this week, with very little edge rush. The Saints took advantage of the Bucs “turnstile” OTs in the Superdome in week 2, but still look one-dimensional against stronger offensive lines.

At linebacker, it was a relatively average performance from the Saints on Sunday. Stephone Anthony missed 5 tackles last week on route to a disappointing grade against the Bucs, but he bounced back (somewhat) this week. He had a forgettable first half – marred by mistakes against the “zone read”, soft coverage and bad angles – but in the second half, #50 seemed to be hitting his stride and starting to “put it all together”. Encouraging signs. At WLB, Humber and Hawthorne split snaps evenly this week, with both performing adequately. It would not seem that either has done enough to threaten Dannell Ellerbe for playing time when he returns, though. Hopefully the stability of Anthony/Ellerbe will yield some more positive – and consistent – linebacker play.

Although other position groups were mixed, it was without doubt the secondary where the Saints D lost the game on Sunday. Brandon Browner had a day to forget, being torched by the Panthers for nearly 150 yards. We had flagged that Browner looked worryingly slow against both Arizona and Tampa, but Carolina were the first team to truly “test” Browner in the Saints scheme… With disastrous results. Everything we’ve seen to date suggests that Browner is a liability when playing “off” coverage without safety help, and Carolina proved it. Worryingly, Browner is also giving up too many penalties (he currently has 5, the most amongst all active CBs in the league). #39 looks better when playing press man-coverage near the goalline, but between the 20s he now has a constant “target” on his back. Conversely, Delvin Breaux was about as “shutdown” as a CB can be on Sunday, giving up 0 receptions and going stride for stride with the assorted WRs he faced. Breaux fits the Saints scheme far better than Browner, and should form a homegrown starting duo with Lewis on the outside if “West Bank” can return against Dallas. Credit should also go to CB Damian Swann this week – who performed exceptionally in the nickel back role. #27 looks like a fantastic piece of drafting by the Saints in round 5. Indeed, based solely on performance, it is becoming increasingly unclear where Browner fits when Lewis returns. Both Breaux and Swann seem far better suited to Ryan’s scheme.

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If you missed our Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis from the first two weeks you can check them out by clicking the links below:

Week 1: Saints @ Cardinals – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

Week 2: Saints vs Bucs – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

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