What went on at the Superdome on Sunday was quite incredible. It truly was a veritable feast of offensive football as the Saints and Giants served up 101 points, 1024 yards and 14 touchdowns between them. Most importantly for the Who Dat Nation however, by the time the 60-minute rollercoaster ride reached its conclusion, the Black & Gold had done just enough to come out three point victors. As usual, we’ve now watched back through every play of Sunday’s game on the all-22, compiling individual snap counts and analytical player grades for every Saint who featured. Read on to find out exactly what caught our eye.



For those of you viewing our Player Grades for the first time, our Player Performance Grading System uses a 9-point color-coded “temperature based” 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 easier to read).

52 points. 608 yards. 35 first downs. 34:55 time of possession. 7-11 third down efficiency. 1-1 fourth down efficiency. 2-2 red zone efficiency. Putting it in one sentence; the Saints offense was absolutely dominant on Sunday. Brees looked back to his 2011 best. #9 made nearly every type of throw imaginable as the Saints pulverized the Giants through the air. After completing 33% of his passes over 10 yards against Indy (5-15), Brees completed double the amount (10), at twice the completion percentage (66%), against NYG. Cooks, Snead and Colston racked up 272 yards and 5 TDs between them, while Ben Watson added 147 yards and a TD of his own. The Giants secondary and linebackers simply had no answer – and with good ‘ol “Spags” steadfastly sticking to his 4-man rush gameplan, Brees regularly had ample time to pick apart the various coverages time and time again.

Up front, the O-Line impressively kept Brees on his feet throughout the whole 60 minutes, surrendering zero sacks on the day. Lelito struggled at times when Robert Ayers moved inside on obvious passing downs – but that aside the “full strength” O-Line put in a second straight strong performance after being reunited in Indy last week. One underrated aspect of the Saints performance was they way they dominated at the line of scrimmage in the run game. In the second half especially, Spiller and Ingram were able to combine for 75 yards on 13 carries (5.8 YPC) – and this mainly down to the stellar work of the Saints offensive line – and in particular Tim Lelito, who completely overpowered Giants DT Jonathan Haskins on many running downs. From what we’ve seen in the past two weeks, this (finally) fit and healthy Saints offensive line is at last beginning to live up to the considerable pre-season billing.

Another factor in the resurgent run game of the last two weeks is most definitely FB/TE hybrid Michael Hoomanawanui – who once again graded positively in run blocking. After showing off his abilities as a lead blocking FB last week, “Hooman” did most of his damage blocking from an offset TE position this time round as the Saints ran almost exclusively out of the singleback/pistol/shotgun on Sunday. As we speculated last week, Payton/Loomis have indeed deemed Austin Johnson surplus to requirements, releasing the FB on Tuesday. It’s a shame for Johnson, who we had been impressed with last season before he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 8. Whether that injury has had a lingering effect on Johnson this term is not known – but there is no denying that the fullback’s impact and level of performance had diminished in 2015. As such, it’s hard to argue against the logic behind this latest roster move.

Last up, we can’t finish this summary without dedicating a few lines to Marques Colston. Last week, we (hopefully) suggested that Colston’s clutch 20-yarder to ice the game against Indy may serve as a much needed confidence-booster for the embattled wideout; a watershed moment that #12 could rebuild his season upon. If Colston’s performance against the Giants is anything to go by – it may well have done just that. Going into the game on Sunday, the veteran had totalled a lowly four receptions since Week 4’s victory over Dallas. Colston caught double that amount (8) against the Giants. The real test now, however, will be whether Colston can at least sustain a level of performance similar to Sunday going forwards. If he can, then the Saints can welcome back a dangerously savvy weapon at WR for the rest of 2015.

DEFENSE

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

It was a stern examination for the Saints defense on Sunday, as they largely struggled to slow down Eli Manning and the Giants offense. There were some intriguing statistical quirks – not least that the Giants only converted one third down attempt on offense on the day – but to suggest that the Saints defense “stepped up” would be misleading. They misfired for much of the day, especially in the secondary. The pass rush is what has really elevated the Saints defense in recent weeks, but it took a small step back against the Giants on Sunday. Cam Jordan was his usual disruptive self, however Eli Manning generally had time in the pocket for much of the day on Sunday. Although he faced hurries and pressures, he did a good job of either stepping up (through the lack of interior pass rush) or offloading the ball before the Saints defenders could get home. The Saints two sacks on the day came from a blown blocking assignment, where Ramon Humber was untouched to the QB, and an athletic hustle play from a grounded Kasim Edebali. Otherwise, the Saints pass rush (particularly on the interior) was average at best. Although the pass rush was average, it was the secondary that really let the Saints down, led by sub-par showings from Brandon Browner and Delvin Breaux. The OBJ matchup proved too much for Breaux, but one poor performance should not undo his exceptional rookie season to date. Breaux unquestionably remains the #1 CB on the depth chart at this stage, and should bounce back this week with a far more favorable matchup against the Titans. Behind him, Keenan Lewis seems to be slowly nursing his way back to full health and appeared (to us at least) to be a step quicker on Sunday. What is becoming increasingly clear is that the Saints secondary is suffering from having Brandon Browner as an “every down” defender, with refs keeping an even closer eye on #39. Although Browner’s coverage has improved (with Rob Ryan no longer leaving Browner isolated in deep coverage), the flags on #39 are simply too frequent. If Lewis can take a longer “pitch count” this week against Tennessee, it should aid the secondary. Browner certainly has a situational role in the defense, but seemingly not as an “every down” defender. On the ground, the Giants almost exclusively ran between the tackles on Sunday, which was intriguing given the Saints frailty on the edge defending the run. John Jenkins and Tyeler Davison were average, so it was left to Kevin Williams and the LBs/Safeties to step up against the run. Both Vaccaro and Byrd stepped up admirably, supporting a strong performance from Stephone Anthony at MLB. Although the Giants ran at over 4 YPC, the tackling was largely sound and the Saints did a good job of preventing yards after contact for the Giants RBs. Although Ellerbe was unquestionably missed at LB, the duo of Humber and Mauti did a solid job in the circumstances against the run. The difficulty on the day for the Saints defense was making that first contact – with Jenkins losing out in one-on-one matchups, there were relatively “easy” short gains for the Giants to pick up on the ground. There is no real alternative to Jenkins (or indeed Davison) at nose tackle, so the softness on the interior will be something that unfortunately looks set to linger for the rest of 2015 barring improvement from either player. Still, the Saints should be grateful that the Giants never really tested the Saints on the outside on the ground. Although New York churned along at 4 YPC, the number could have been considerably higher if they had tested the Saints on the edge.

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Missed our Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis from the first seven weeks of the season? You can check them out by clicking on the links below:

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

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

Week 3: Saints @ Panthers – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

Week 4: Saints vs Cowboys – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

Week 5: Saints @ Eagles – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

Week 6: Saints vs Falcons – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

Week 7: Saints @ Colts – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

And finally… be sure to give us a shout out on Twitter if you want to keep up to date with what’s going on with The BoiLa. You can hit us up on: @CrAwFiShBoiLa.