Riding a 3 game losing streak, the 4-7 Saints made a welcome return home this week knowing that only a “W” would maintain their faint hopes of making the postseason. The problem – the 11-0 Carolina Panthers were on deck. It all started brightly enough for the Black & Gold, as they raced into an improbable 14 point lead on the back of two (equally improbable) defensive turnovers. Unfortunately, Carolina amassed 41 points over the next 3 quarters to prevail by 3 in yet another heartbreaking Superdome shootout. The defeat leaves the Saints at 4-8 and, effectively, done for the year. Attention over the next 4 weeks will now inevitably turn to the draft, to free agency, and to “who should stay” and “who should go”. Read on below for our full analysis of how the 2015 Saints teased us again this week, before ultimately letting us down – and this time for good.

A quick heads-up on our status here at the BoiLa too. Unlike the 2015 Saints, we’re not quite done for the year yet! We’ve stocked up our booze cabinet and will be keeping up our weekly breakdowns over the holiday season until the bitter end – albeit with a likely late Wednesday or Thursday upload rather than the usual Tuesday.

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).

On the whole, the Saints offense can be proud of their efforts against what is a strong Panthers defense. The Saints only had the ball for 23 minutes of this game, yet still managed to put up 334 yards and score four offensive TDs – that kind of effort is not to be sniffed at. The effectiveness of the Saints offense started in the trenches, with the O-Line doing “just about enough” to provide Brees a consistent pocket to throw from. Andrus Peat, going up against Kawann Short (who previously victimized Lelito at the LG spot earlier in the season), was particularly impressive. It was certainly encouraging to see the rookie look solid against elite opposition after a tough outing in Houston just seven days previously. Unger and Armstead also picked up their first positive grades since Week 8. Admittedly Brees did have to move around and show off his savvy pocket presence at times, but overall #9 was kept upright and given every chance to succeed by the five men in front of him (at least once Payton stopped tinkering with the O-Line).

When Brees was hitting his targets in this game, the Saints offense looked borderline unstoppable. On the Saints go ahead drive in the 4th quarter for example (capped off with a 9-yard Ingram TD run), Brees marched the offense 88-yards down field in just four minutes, completing 4-4 for 48 yards (and adding a 12-yard scramble of his own too). The Panthers defense simply had no answer at times when Brees & Co got in rhythm. Unfortunately, Brees couldn’t keep up the same intensity throughout the 60 minutes, and was slightly off on a number of throws where he wasn’t under particular duress (the force to Watson for a costly pick a prime example).

Early drops from Cooks and Colston aside, the Saints receivers put in a just about adequate performance for their QB on Sunday. Brandon Coleman especially was a factor throughout the game – putting in by far his best shift in the Black & Gold. Whether Coleman can now build on this and continue to be a factor (especially when Snead returns) remains to be seen – but it was at least encouraging to finally get to a stage where August’s “Training Camp hype” now at least has a small shard of “on field” justification. Watson put in a solid stint, and even Josh Hill made some rare positive contributions after being hidden in the wilderness for much of the 2015 campaign.

Among the running backs, the main story-line from Sunday is likely the news that Mark Ingram has since been shut down for the season with a shoulder injury. Whether this is more symptomatic of the Saints now irretrievable 4-8 record rather than a particularly troublesome ailment for Ingram is open for debate – but we still wish him well in whatever recovery is needed and look forward to him coming back fresh in 2016. Ingram is one Saint you can’t criticize for lacking of effort and heart out on the field – and has been one of the rare consistent performers throughout 2015. If one “positive” can come out of this Ingram injury however, it’s that we may finally get to judge whether CJ Spiller really does have anything left in the tank or not. With Ingram assuming more and more of an “every down” role in recent weeks, Spiller has become little more than a glorified (and very highly-paid) water boy. With Ingram now out, it’s likely Spiller and Hightower will split the bulk of the carries. Another interesting nugget will be whether Marcus Murphy gets any playing time on offense from hereon out with the Saints 2015 post season hopes now six feet under.

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).

Another week, yet another backward step for the much-maligned Saints defense, as the Panthers amassed nearly 500 yards on route to 41 points and an unlikely comeback W. The defeat was particularly galling as the Saints had started so well on the defensive side. They blanked the Panthers in the first quarter and, until rookie sensation Delvin Breaux left the game with a hamstring strain at the end of the opening period, had completely neutered the Panthers’ dangerous offense in every phase. Indeed, at the time of Breaux’s departure, the Saints led 14-0 and had held the Panthers to 28 yards of offense on their first 11 plays with an INT and a fumble. It’s obviously too simplistic to blame the breakdown that followed on the departure of one player, but the secondary’s struggles in Breaux’s absence were ruthlessly exploited by Cam Newton. It only served to further underline Breaux’s importance to this defense – without him, the Saints looked vulnerable every time Newton dropped back to throw.

If there was one position group that offered any semblance of consistency for all four quarters this week, it was the defensive line. The D-Line’s task on Sunday was made tougher (on paper, at least) by the absence of NT John Jenkins. #92 has had a disappointing campaign and struggled in the “run stuffing” NT role that Rob Ryan tried to pigeon-hole him into. With Jenkins unavailable, the Saints turned to back-up DT Tyeler Davison in the NT “1-tech” role. The rookie did not disappoint. Davison put in his best performance as a Saint as he made plays both as a gap-stuffing run defender and as a pass rusher. In fact, it doesn’t seem much of a reach to suggest that Davison has officially started a late season “position battle” at NT. He was undoubtedly aided by strong performances from the ever-consistent Cam Jordan and Kevin Williams. Indeed, the interior defensive line held Carolina to just 28 yards on their 13 rushing attempts between the tackles. Unlike against Houston, where soft play in the trenches made it too easy for the Texans to pick-up easy chunks and points, the D-Line made the Panthers work for every yard on the ground. The boxscore shows Carolina with 175 yards rushing on 34 carries, but on the vast majority of downs the Saints defensive front won the battle. 92 of those 175 yards came on 4 specific plays where lapses and/or missed tackles in the second level created easy running lanes. The Panthers gained just 87 yards on their remaining 30 carries – a hugely impressive feat against a dangerous dual-threat QB like Cam Newton.

With the defensive line performing well, the linebackers finally had some room to operate without hindrance from second level blockers. Unfortunately, the group didn’t really take full advantage – although it was an improved performance in comparison to recent weeks. Anthony was energetic and could not be faulted for effort, but his coverage frailties were exposed again as Newton beat him several times for dreaded “chunk” plays over the middle. He had (yet another) new partner at WLB in the shape of James Anderson – and to his credit Anderson probably outplayed the Hawthorne/Humber/Dunbar/Mauti platoon that preceded him. It was hardly “Kuechly and Davis”, but the “Anthony and Anderson” tandem did a solid enough job. From our perspective, it was also reassuring to see that Allen was willing to “roll the dice” in search of a solution to the ongoing WLB-problem. Alongside Anthony and Anderson, Hau’oli Kikaha looked closer to 100% this week and was given more chance to rush the passer. #44 should hopefully be “full go” against the Bucs this week, and will be keen for a repeat of one of the best performances of his young career, having dominated the vulnerable Tampa O-Line in week 2.

The defense was unquestionably hindered most this week by a sub-par performance from the short-handed secondary. As soon as Breaux left at the end of the first quarter, the Saints were left with a CB duo of Browner and Dixon on the outside, and Wilson in the slot. Given the Saints apparent depth at CB at the start of the year, it was a sorry state of affairs. After a solid start with Breaux, when thrust back into the “CB1” role, Browner looked utterly exposed. He had benefited from safety help against Houston, with Allen happy to rely on Breaux’s island coverage opposite. As soon as it became apparent that Breaux was “gone for good” after halftime, the Panthers adjusted their gameplan to isolate Browner against their speedy WRs. #39 was lucky to escape with just 2 TD’s against him – he was one Ginn drop and one Newton overthrow away from having 2 more to his name. Alongside him Dixon struggled with his tackling, allowing Carolina free yards that the Saints couldn’t afford, and a Wilson lapse gifted Ginn a 45 yard TD. Things got even worse when Dixon picked up a late second half injury, thrusting special teamer Chris Owens into the game at crunch time. Owens was immediately targeted by Cam Newton to set-up (and score) the game-winning TD. Props can go to Kenny Vaccaro at least, who continued his impressive 2015 campaign with yet another solid display in the secondary. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for his safety partner Jairus Byrd, who was a passenger for much of the game again. Dennis Allen needs to find a way to get Byrd into position to make plays. In his present role, Byrd seems to be nothing more than the equivalent of having a $12,000 a year insurance policy on a banged-up $500 car.

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Missed any of our other Saints Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis articles from the 2015 season? You can check out each week 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

Week 8: Saints vs Giants – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

Week 9: Saints vs Titans – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

Week 10: Saints @ Redskins – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

Week 12: Saints @ Texans – Player Grades, Snap Counts and Analysis

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