The New Orleans Saints have made their way to 5-9 on the season after a 20-19 loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 15. This loss leaves them on the precipice of being eliminated from the playoffs for the season, and ultimately with a decent shot of a solid draft pick.
As much as the Saints wanted to get back into this game, bringing it within a failed two-point conversion of winning the game, they fell short despite some strong individual performances on the team.
The PFF grades from this week coincide well with this fact, there are some players who had exceptionally high grades, and then it falls off to be about average or below average when you get beyond the players who performed extremely well. The Saints did not perform exceptionally well all around, and this is reflected in their respective grades.
Based on the Pro Football Focus grading system, here are the best and worse players from the Saints’ Week 15 loss to the Commanders:
Top 5 offense
- C Erik McCoy: 78.9
- TE Foster Moreau: 77.1
- WR Cedrick Wilson Jr: 74.6
- OT Taliese Fuaga: 72.6
- RB Alvin Kamara: 70.5
The Saints offensive line was very hit or miss in this game, but that was certainly not the fault of Erik McCoy or Taliese Fuaga, who both had outstanding games. McCoy came in with a whopping 91.1 run blocking grade, and Fuaga had a 90.9 pass blocking grade, with both players being near the top for the Saints. Cedrick Wilson Jr. managed a 83.0 run block grade on the day which is rather impressive as well. Kamara and Moreau both got on the list because of their contributions in the receiving game, with a 90.9 and 90.1 pass play grade respectively.
Top 5 Defense
- DE Carl Granderson: 87.0
- CB Shemar Jean-Charles: 84.9
- LB Demario Davis: 72.6
- DE Payton Turner: 71.9
T-5. CB Kool-Aid McKinstry: 71.3
T-5. LB Willie Gay: 71.3
The defense for the Saints graded out pretty well in comparison to previous weeks, especially Carl Granderson who played a total of 53 snaps and put together an 87.0 grade, leading the team. Shemar Jean-Charles was only put into the game late, with a total of 9 defensive snaps, but he was targeted once and forced a PBU so not bad all things considered. Demario Davis had an outstanding day as well, with 78 total snaps, 10 tackles, 2 pressures, a sack, and only 1 missed tackle in that span. Overall a very strong day from the defense up top.
Bottom 5 offense
- TE Juwan Johnson: 43.5
- LG Lucas Patrick: 48.0
- RT Trevor Penning: 49.1
- QB Jake Haener: 54.5
- WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling: 55.0
When I mentioned the offensive line having a poor day but it not reflecting on Fuaga or McCoy, it most certainly reflected on the others, as Lucas Patrick and Trevor Penning both had grades under 50, which indicates extremely poor play according to PFF grading. Juwan Johnson was also worth noting here, considering his drops throughout the game and generally a quiet performance from him even without them. Marquez Valdes-Scantling was an interesting one given his big-time second half reception to kick off the Saints offense, and PFF did list him as a 45.1 grade on passing downs, which is interesting to say the least. Jake Haener was relatively self-explanatory, not much to speak of offensively with him and shorted out the offense when he was on the field, taking only 21 snaps in the first half before being benched for Spencer Rattler.
Bottom 5 Defense
- DE Isaiah Foskey: 40.9
- DT Bryan Bresee: 50.0
- CB Alontae Taylor: 51.7
- CB Ugo Amadi: 53.3
- FS Tyrann Mathieu: 58.8
Some unusual suspects on the negative end of the PFF grading system from Week 15, with three of the five players being regular starters in Bresee, Taylor, and Mathieu. Unfortunately this mostly reflects on the first half of play, where the Saints defense had trouble stopping both the run and the pass, which negatively impacted those who got tied to those plays. Bresee had a down day compared to the past few weeks, with only 3 pressures and no sacks when most of the defensive line was producing, primarily because he seemed to be taking on double teams at a high rate.
Special teams
Special teams had a somewhat middle of the road day outside the top few players, with Shemar Jean-Charles (81.0), J.T. Gray (71.2) and Zach Wood (63.9) being the only three players with grades above a 61. Most of the team resided in the range of 60 to 61 in terms of grades, however on the other end, there were some players with sub-50 grades as well. Adam Prentice (43.7), Rico Payton (40.4), Isaiah Foskey (38.1), and Payton Turner (37.4) were those who ended up on the negative side of things for special teams, and ultimately that was primarily due to penalties or missed plays.
quarterback play
The quarterback play in this game was between Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler. As we previously mentioned, Haener had a 54.5 grade overall, and this was due to a 55.9 passing grade and a 57.9 rushing grade. Spencer Rattler graded out a decent clip better, coming up with a 69.0 overall grade and 68.4 passing grade. Funny enough, Cedrick Wilson Jr. came out with the best passing grade on the day, with a 74.6 offensive grade and 71.0 passing grade.
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