After an up and down performance from the Saints offense in New England last week, hopes were high for a slightly more polished (even by preseason’s standards) display as the Black and Gold visited Houston. Unfortunately, it’s fair to say things didn’t quite go to plan. As we do here at The BoiLa, we’ve now had chance to go back through the tape and have written up our analysis and thoughts regarding each individual’s performance below.

Before we get down to the detail though, we’ll kick things of with our shamelessly crude summary table which depicts the 12 players who we think have seen their stock rise or fall as a result of their performance in the Texans game. For those regular readers, you may notice that for the first time ever we were simply unable to find six performances on offense that justified a spot under the “Stock Rising” column. As such, this week (and hopefully for this week only) we’ve got 4 risers and 8 fallers:

To find out exactly why the Stock Watch is looking unprecedentedly bleak, then do read on for a more detailed breakdown of the Saints offensive struggles in Houston on Saturday night.

Quarterbacks

To ease us into what is going to be a fairly bleak rundown of disappointing individual performances in Houston on Saturday night, we’ll start off with one of the few positives, which was a steady and composed performance from Luke McCown. After two costly errors from #7 resulted in a negative12-point swing last week, we were keen to see a performance from McCown which would put any such murmurings regarding the decline of the long-time back-up to bed. It wasn’t exhilarating by any means, but what we did see from McCown was he consistently made the right decision despite often being under duress while working behind a misfiring Saints offensive line. The veteran played 54% of the Saints offensive snaps (41), as Sean Payton gave McCown an extended audition to prove last week’s transgressions were made more of early season ring rust than tangible decline. McCown emerged unscathed, completing 74% of his passes (14-19) and racking up a modest 118 yards.

In comparison to McCown, Garrett Grayson wasn’t quite as sure-fire – although it arguably wasn’t all his own fault. Entering the game in the fourth-quarter, Grayson led the Saints on their final three drives but was unable to spring an unlikely (and arguably undeserved) comeback. Grayson’s numbers (4-15, 50 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT) make pretty ugly reading, however watching the tape back we feel they don’t quite tell the full story. #18 was oft let down by his receivers, none more so than RaShaun Allen who dropped a well-thrown ball from Grayson to the right flat that should have seen the TE waltz into the endzone. The former Colorado State Ram also saw two completions scrubbed because the recipients (Manhertz and Lampman) couldn’t keep their feet in bounds, while his pick was more born out of circumstance (last play of the game) rather than being a truly bad throw or mental error.

On a more positive note, one thing we were impressed with though was Grayson’s clock management during the two-minute-drill (an area where the Saints have notoriously struggled in recent years). The second-year QB managed to pack in 11 plays during a 1 minute 47 drive which marched the Saints 66-yards down the field and almost into the endzone. Eventually it wasn’t to be, but it still highlighted to us that Grayson does have a solid football IQ and understands how to lead a potential game-saving drive (albeit against a third string Houston defense in a meaningless exhibition game). Overall, Grayson will likely be more frustrated than disappointed with his performance, but when looking at the way Saturday panned out for the respective backups, there’s no doubting McCown’s stock has risen while Grayson’s has taken a slight hit.

A few lines on the starter to finish up, as Drew Brees had a relatively rough time of it in Houston. Sacked, picked and putting up just 29-yards over three series, #9 found little rhythm during his 16 snap cameo. The pick admittedly wasn’t his fault – Brees threw to the spot where Michael Thomas should have been, but was unaware Texans linebacker Benadrick McKinney had the rookie WR in a very-borderline almost full nelson which meant the ball flew straight into the hands of cornerback Johnathan Joseph. Certainly not time for histrionics, but it would be nice to see a more vintage Brees back in the Dome on Friday.

Offensive Line

In the same vein as last week, we’ll start off the O-Line breakdown by highlighting the different groupings used in Houston on Saturday night:

Drives 1 & 2: Armstead (LT) – Lelito (LG) – Unger (C) – Peat (RG) – Strief (RT)

Drives 3-6: Peat (LT) – Lelito (LG) – Unger (C) – Kelemete (RG) – Strief (RT)

Drives: 7-11: Hills (LT) – Fullington (LG) – Allen (C) – Turner (RG) – Cheek (RT)

Straight away from the above you can see the Saints used less linemen this time round. After unconvincing showings against New England, Tyrus Thompson (OT) and Cyril Lemon (OG) didn’t make it onto the field this week in Houston. Disappointingly (for us at least), center Marcus Henry was also unable to garner any playing time. We thought the former Boise State starter looked solid during his 20+ snaps last week as others around him (and ahead of him) crumbled, so we’ll be interested to see if he makes it back onto the field against Pittsburgh on Friday. Defensive-tackle-turned-offensive-guard Kaleb Eulls again went without a snap for the second week running, and unless that pattern changes drastically you’d have to imagine it’ll be practice squad at best for the recent convert. Ex-Auburn Tiger Avery Young again didn’t make it onto the field as he remains on the NFI list.

Of the lineman who did feature in Texas on Saturday, regrettably Andrus Peat again caught the eye for the wrong reasons. After an uneventful (which is not a criticism) 13 snaps at guard, Peat then switched out to his “natural” position of left tackle – which also happened to coincide with things starting to unravel for the former first round pick. Jadeveon Clowney ran over Peat with a bull rush which resulted in a 14-yard sack of Brees, and then a 20-yard scramble from McCown was nixed due to Peat being forced to hold Clowney after being beaten on the outside. Play-by-play, Peat didn’t look quite as bad as last week at tackle and did mostly hold his ground, but as a tackle in the NFL you have to absolutely try to minimize those costly mistakes – and at the moment #75 simply isn’t doing that. As we mooted last week, guard is the only position where Peat has a realistic shot to make the Saints Week 1 starting lineup, and we’d expect to see more than 13 snaps from him in the interior against Pittsburgh this Friday.

Things could potentially be more precarious for Peat if any tackles or guards behind him on the depth chart were putting in consistent stellar displays – but we haven’t seen much of that either. Veteran Tony Hills has looked the best of the bunch at tackle, but he struggled in the run game against the Texans and was notably beaten by Clowney and Akeem Dent on Lasco run plays that were blown up for negative yardage. Joseph Cheek was given 44 snaps on Saturday to show what he could do at right tackle, but the undrafted rookie did not take advantage. We counted four hurries given up by Cheek while going up against fellow undrafted free agents Tony Washington Jr and Carlos Thompson. Cheek (along with Landon Turner) was also at fault for the sack on Grayson that should have ended the game but for a facemask penalty. Rounding it off at tackle, it was also reassuring to see Terron Armstead (13 snaps) back out there after beginning training camp on the PUP list. Zach Strief started the game across from Armstead, playing 32 fairly average snaps before subbing out shortly after halftime.

On the interior, it was an ugly day for Tim Lelito. Last week we highlighted our wish for the incumbent left guard to show signs of improvement in pass protection (while also reasserting our faith in his run blocking). This week however, Lelito was just decidedly off in both phases. DT Christian Covington gave #68 all kinds of trouble, convincingly beating the guard for a 3rd down hurry that forced a McCown incompletion, a Lasco run that was stopped for a loss, and a sack on McCown where the DT easily shed Lelito’s block and left a stepping-up McCown with nowhere to go. As said before, generally we actually like Lelito as a starter (especially what he can bring to the run game), but he’s going to need to show much more if he’s to nail down that starting spot for a prolonged period in New Orleans. Across from Lelito, and apart from one play where he was beaten by Devon Still on a run stuff, Senio Kelemete had another solid-if-unspectacular display. The versatile offensive lineman is again looking a solid bet to make the 53 as a backup guard/center. In between them both, Max Unger started at center and played 32 snaps. There’s no doubting Unger’s position as the anchor of the Saints offensive line.

Of the “outside bets” on the interior, the most impressive performance this week came from guard John Fullington, who we recorded no negative marks against during his 44 snap outing. Fullington showed a stoutness at the point of attack, often getting the better of whoever lined up in front of him. The two-year pro has bounced around the league since entering it in 2014, spending time on the practice squads of Green Bay, San Francisco and Arizona. As a player who also spent time at tackle in college, that kind of versatility could help Fullington’s roster chances if he’s able to put in subsequent strong performances. In contrast, a player who was looking to build on a previous strong performance was undrafted rookie Landon Turner. Sadly, things weren’t quite so positive for the left guard this time round. Turner started off adequately, but eventually gave up three QB hurries (Brennan Scarlett 3Q, Joel Heath 4Q and Dan Pettinato 4Q) and committed a costly false start penalty whilst the Saints lined up in the redzone. In a similar vein to last week, center Jack Allen again failed to impress, undermining his efforts further by committing two clumsy holding penalties. Both Turner and Allen again received bumper playing time on Saturday, so they must be doing something right on the practice field, but at the moment, in our eyes at least, neither has done enough during game time yet to cement themselves in the Saints 53.

As it stands, there are certainly 1 or 2 depth spots on the O-Line very much up for grabs (as well as some lingering doubts beginning to emerge about the make-up of the actual starting five). As such, it would certainly be refreshing to see some truly stand out performances in the trenches during Friday’s game vs the Steelers.

Tight Ends

It was another quiet outing for the Saints tight ends on Sunday. Coby Fleener, Michael Hoomanawanui and Josh Hill lined up for the majority of the contest, with Fleener arguably the most noticeable of the trio for both good and bad reasons. The free-agent acquisition was beaten off the edge by Whitney Mercilus while pass blocking, allowing the Texan a free hit on Brees that caused a fumble. However, Fleener did at least show willing in tracking back to the ball, eventually diving on it to recover the fumble on a play that was eventually scratched for a flag in the secondary. Hoomanawanui was again used primarily as a run blocker, receiving no targets in the passing game, while Josh Hill had his second consecutive quiet outing, being thrown to just the once despite leading the trio in snaps (21).

Out of the other Saints tight ends, Chris Manhertz appears to be the only one mounting an even vaguely plausible challenge to the roster spots provisionally occupied by Hill and Hoomanawanui. Manhertz has flashed good hands during his fleeting appearances this pre-season, again doing very well to hold onto a ball on Saturday while absorbing a big hit from Texans safety KJ Dillon. RaShaun Allen showed the opposite to good hands when he was unable to bring one in over the middle with Killon bearing down on him, while also dropping a guaranteed touchdown from Grayson in the right flat. Garrett Griffin, the other TE currently on the roster, remains sidelined by injury.

Running Backs

In contrast to the Saints first pre-season game where all six half-backs received multiple carries, only three (Mark Ingram, Daniel Lasco, CJ Spiller) got a chance to pound the rock against the Texans on Saturday. The result of those carries, however, was again uninspiring. After the Saints RBs combined for just 2.7 yards per carry against New England, that figure fell to a paltry 1.8 yards per carry in Houston as the Saints running game literally ground to halt. Part of the reason is no doubt due to a lack of holes created by an unconvincing O-Line display, but it certainly provided little to write home about for Ingram or Lasco who received the bulk of the workload. One somewhat tenuous positive was we did at least get to see a little more of Spiller, with his snap count rising to 13 this week – although he also admittedly have much to show for it.

Despite not running the football on Saturday, Travaris Cadet did still feature, lining up alongside the QB in the gun on passing downs and also split out as a wide receiver on occasions. Cadet was targeted twice in the passing game, hauling in one catch for 9 yards. Still, as part of a crowded backfield picture you’d imagine Cadet has to show a little more going forwards. One moment that may have helped his cause however was a second-consecutive fumbled punt return by Marcus Murphy. After muffing one out the sky last week, Murphy lost one when hit from behind by Brian Peters this time round on what would have been the Saints first possession of the ball game. Ominously for Murphy, he didn’t make it onto the field for a single offensive snap during the following 11 Saints drives – and you have to imagine he’ll be desperate to redeem himself against Pittsburgh on Friday (if afforded the chance…).

Tim Hightower was another half-back who didn’t have his number called on Friday, with the Payton instead choosing to use Lasco exclusively as primary back-up to Ingram. With Lasco impressing last week with his direct running style and this week with his hard graft on special teams, you have to wonder if Hightower’s place on the 53-man roster is becoming expendable. If Hightower again doesn’t see the field in New Orleans on Friday, we may well have our answer.

At fullback, John Kuhn and Sione Houma again played a half each. Neither had much joy as a lead blocker, but Kuhn was the only one to touch the football – converting a 3rd & short with a 3-yard gain up the gut. Kuhn is undoubtedly top of the depth chart at FB at the moment, but with Austin Johnson back at practice this week, it’ll be interesting to see how the snaps are distributed on Friday night. After all, Coach Payton does have previous when it comes to carrying two fullbacks…

Wide Recievers

If you needed any further confirmation on who’s a lock at wide receiver for the Saints in 2016, you got it on Saturday night when Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead didn’t even suit up for the game – presumably in an effort to give those behind the consensus #1 and #2 on the depth chart time to shine. With Cooks and Snead resting, and Michael Thomas having put in a breakout performance last week, one player who certainly needed to grasp that “time to shine” with both hands was Brandon Coleman. There’s no doubting Coleman was given the opportunity this week, acting as the Saints de-facto “WR1” for almost the entire four quarters, he lead the offense with 54 snaps and was targeted over twice as many times as any other receiver (10). Frustratingly, the production from those 10 targets was unquestionably mixed. Coleman ended up with 6 catches for 43 yards, with the two longest (16 and 14-yarders) coming on well run out routes where he manipulated his coverage well to enable him to catch the ball in space.

However, at 6-foot-6 and 225 lb, someone of Coleman’s size really has to be able to do more than catch the ball in space – and this was again where he came unstuck on Saturday night. The first glaring example of this was on the play where Brees found Coleman 25-yards downfield in between the two Houston safeties. The ball landed perfectly in Coleman’s hands, but as the safeties converged on him, Quintin Demps made contact and the ball popped right out. It wasn’t a massive hit, but it was enough to dislodge the ball clean out of Coleman’s grasp. The play was originally ruled a fumble on the field before being overturned as an incompletion. Either way, it wasn’t good enough. Later, and on a clutch redzone 3rd & 6, Coleman got both hands on a pass from McCown but again couldn’t hold on after a hit from Kevin Johnson. #16 had a big chance on Saturday to effectively book his place as the Saints WR4 for 2016, but instead he’s arguably left Who Dat Nation with many more questions then answers.

One player who is indeed making a strong challenge for that WR4 spot is Tommylee Lewis. The WR wasn’t quite as involved as last week, but he still made a few eye-catching contributions which included showing off some sharp moves after the catch to beat first-string Texans CB Jonathan Joseph and covert on a 3rd & 8. His best catch came on another 3rd down conversion, hauling in a 16-yarder on a comeback route and showing great awareness to get both feet in bounds and ensure the Saints moved the chains on a 3rd & Long. Lewis was also used as both a punt and kickoff returner, which again does no harm to his chances of sneaking his way into the 53.

Of the other wide receivers, it was a quiet night for former-Buckeye Michael Thomas, who didn’t produce the fireworks to match last week’s showcase. All-told, the Texans covered Thomas well, with their secondary able to key in on him without the threat of Cooks and Snead stretching the field. Of the other WRs, RJ Harris and Jake Lampman both got some fourth quarter playing time, but didn’t make much of an impression. One play that did catch our eye however was a very impressive 17-yard catch that Jordan Williams-Lambert made whilst getting lit up by 3rd year safety Eddie Pleasant. It certainly was a case of showing Coleman how it’s done, and at 6-foot-3, 228 lb, Williams-Lambert has a somewhat similar frame to his undrafted free-agent counterpart. In reality, it was only one catch in preasaon garbage time – but we’ll certainly be keeping an eye out to see if #81 makes it onto the field on Friday. One final wideout nugget to finish, after receiving playing time in New England, both Reggie Bell and Jared Dangerfield didn’t see the field in Houston, which may not spell greatness for their roster chances.

That wraps up our summary and analysis on the Saints offense in preseason Week 2, but do check back on The BoiLa before Friday’s game to check out our defensive stock watch and analysis from Saturday’s game in Houston.

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