Tag: NFL Week 15

PFF: Saints’ former Pro Bowler looked like his old self vs. Commanders

PFF said one of the Saints’ former Pro Bowlers looked like his old self against the Commanders. Erik McCoy’s return has been badly needed:

The New Orleans Saints have two anchors along their offensive line, Taliese Fuaga and Erik McCoy. The veteran and rookie will push the offensive line into the future, and they both had standout performances against the Washington Commanders.

Fuaga has been on a string of stalling pass rushers. This is a return to form for McCoy, however, after coming back from a groin injury.

McCoy was the highest-graded center by Pro Football Focus in Week 15. There’s a large focus on pass rush when thinking about an offensive lineman’s performance. McCoy only allowed one pressure on 36 pass blocking snaps Sunday.

Pressure dropped when Spencer Rattler entered the game. Even when Jake Haener was in the game most of the pressure came from the right side of the line.

McCoy was particularly dominant in the run game. His 91.1 run grade was also the highest grade of all centers from last week’s action. That’s just one pressure allowed and a crushing performance in the run game.

The Saints best offensive lineman is getting back to his old self.

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Saints haven’t started the same quarterback vs. Packers in their last 4 meetings

Spencer Rattler will be the fourth New Orleans Saints quarterback to start against the Green Bay Packers in as many games:

The New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers are about to play each other for the fourth time in the last five years, and the Saints have never started the same quarterback in any of those matchups. This is indicative of life after Drew Brees.

Ironically, the Packers have been a picture of consistency at quarterback. They went from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. The Saints haven’t been nearly as fortunate post-Brees. While the Packers have found their quarterback of the future, New Orleans has struggled to find the quarterback of the present.

Brees started against the Packers in 2020. Since then, Jameis Winston, Derek Carr and soon to be Spencer Rattler have started against Green Bay.

Winston started in the 2021 season opener against Green Bay and relieved an injured Carr in 2023. He’s the only quarterback to play twice in this stretch, but he didn’t start both games.

Since Brees’ retirement, New Orleans has started eight quarterbacks: Winston, Trevor Siemian, Taysom Hill, Ian Book, Andy Dalton, Carr, Rattler and Jake Haener.

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Saints PFF grades: Best, worst players from loss to Commanders in Week 15

Who were the best and worst players from the Saints’ Week 15 loss to the Washington Commanders according to the PFF grading system?

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

  1. C Erik McCoy: 78.9
  2. TE Foster Moreau: 77.1
  3. WR Cedrick Wilson Jr: 74.6
  4. OT Taliese Fuaga: 72.6
  5. 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

  1. DE Carl Granderson: 87.0
  2. CB Shemar Jean-Charles: 84.9
  3. LB Demario Davis: 72.6
  4. 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

  1. TE Juwan Johnson: 43.5
  2. LG Lucas Patrick: 48.0
  3. RT Trevor Penning: 49.1
  4. QB Jake Haener: 54.5
  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

  1. DE Isaiah Foskey: 40.9
  2. DT Bryan Bresee: 50.0
  3. CB Alontae Taylor: 51.7
  4. CB Ugo Amadi: 53.3
  5. 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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Saints’ defense putting together some of their worst performances since 2015

The Saints defense has done well in the red zone recently, but they rank 30th in this key defensive statistic. It’s their worst showing since 2015:

The New Orleans Saints defense has been extremely hit or miss this season, as early on they were getting gashed on many different types of plays and struggled to maintain any resemblance of protection against the run. However, in recent weeks they have stepped up in not allowing points, but still giving up an obscene amount of yards.

This has been one of the killing points of the Saints’ defense this season, as they allow significant time of possession defensively due to their struggles against the run game and against third down scenarios.

As of the end of Week 15, the Saints rank 30th in yards allowed this season, behind only the Jacksonville Jaguars (5,549) and Carolina Panthers (5,407), where the Saints have given up 5,272. However, the intriguing part of this comes when you look at the point differential of these teams, where the Jaguars have a -114 and the Panthers have a -171, while the Saints have only a -3, showing how effective they are in the red zone.

Unfortunately, yards do matter however, especially when it comes to time of possession which the Washington Commanders dominated in the most recent game, where they held the ball for a whopping 40 minutes and 50 seconds to the Saints’ 19 minutes and 10 seconds.

Who knows if this really has had a major impact overall, as the offense has been a key factor in why the Saints have been such a net negative team this season. But regardless, it is eye popping, considering the Saints have not ranked this low in the yards allowed category since 2015.

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Why didn’t Saints dress out veteran DL after activating him from injury?

Why wasn’t Tanoh Kpassagnon available against the Washington Commanders after being activated from the PUP list? Darren Rizzi has answers:

The New Orleans Saints defensive line had an outstanding day against the Washington Commanders in Week 15, putting together an 8-sack performance with 25 pressures as well. With that said, they did so without the aid of Tanoh Kpassagnon, who is recovering from his torn Achilles and has been making strides in practice, getting ever closer to playing once again.

However, despite practicing fully leading up to this game, he was not active, and interim head coach Darren Rizzi shared some context as to why, telling reporters afterwards that it was more about the game plan than Kpassagnon’s health. He says the veteran defensive lineman is ready to play.

Clearly the gameplan was correctly set up, as the pass rush was enormously successful. Getting depth back along the defensive line is always a bonus however, especially a veteran who knows what he’s doing. Kpassagnon has 3.0 sacks in 3 games against the Green Bay Packers (the next Saints opponent), so we will see if he gets included for the Week 16 game instead.

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Losing in Week 15 did not help the Saints’ 2025 draft position

Losing to the Washington Commanders didn’t even come with a silver lining of a better pick in the 2025 draft. Here’s where the New Orleans Saints slot in:

The New Orleans Saints are in somewhat of an ugly position when it comes to competing for the NFC South division lead, as they sit at 5-9 with a less than one-percent chance of making the playoffs. However, the positive in most cases like this would be the notion that they may have improved their draft stock by losing in Week 15…well in this case it did not.

The Saints came into week 15 marked down for the No.10 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and after the loss, they remained in that slot which unfortunately did not improve as many of the struggling teams lost as well that week. As of the writing of this article, the current draft order goes as follows:

  1. Las Vegas Raiders (2-12)
  2. New York Giants (2-12)
  3. New England Patriots (3-11)
  4. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-11)
  5. Carolina Panthers (3-11)
  6. Tennessee Titans (3-11)
  7. Cleveland Browns (3-11)
  8. New York Jets (4-10)
  9. Chicago Bears (4-10)
  10. New Orleans Saints (5-9)

Fortunately for the Saints, they are the only 5-9 team in the NFL right now, so a win would not immediately drop them off the map of having a decent pick still. In addition, a win from the Jets or Bears and a loss from the Saints would move them ahead, as the Saints have the tiebreaker of a lower strength of schedule, meaning they’d get preference for a better pick in a tie. We will see how these final three weeks pan out for the NFL, but the Saints could end up with a top-10 pick when all is said and done.

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The moment the Saints decided to change quarterbacks may surprise you

Spencer Rattler started the third quarter on Sunday, but knew the Saints made the decision before halftime. This moment could be remembered for a long time:

The New Orleans Saints changed from Jake Haener to Spencer Rattler in the second half against the Washington Commanders, but the decision was made before halftime.

After the game, Rattler revealed quarterback coach Andrew Janocko informed him of the decision with about 30 seconds left in the second quarter. That would be shortly after the Saints’ last possession of the half

Darren Rizzi and Klint Kubiak didn’t need to deliberate during the intermission. While it wasn’t lengthy discussion, it also wasn’t impulsive either. The lethargic offense required a spark, and they felt that spark was a change at quarterback.

It was a gambol from Rizzi, one that certainly paid off. Rattler provided a spark that kept Matthew Hayball off the field for the final 30 minutes. It’s a decision we could be talking about for a long time.

That moment could have changed the trajectory of not only this season, but also the trajectory of Rattler’s season. If you really want to take a wide view of the situation, this could be a pivotal moment in Rattler’s career. That may sound dramatic, but a lot of it depends on how Rattler takes advantage of the moment.

The Saints taking a chance on a young quarterback as your Week 1 starter next year shouldn’t be out of the question. That role could be Rattler’s if he closes the season strong.

It takes a lot to get to that hypothetical, but there’s so much uncertainty in New Orleans it’s hard to consider a quarterback other than Derek Carr starting next season as a stretch. Why not Rattler?

Darren Rizzi on trick-play TD: ‘What a great play, what a great pass, what a great call’

Darren Rizzi was impressed with the Saints’ trick-play touchdown: “What a great play, what a great pass, what a great call”

The New Orleans Saints had a very difficult time moving the ball against the Washington Commanders in the first half, and even moreso trying to put points on the board. However, in the second half, they found a spark of life and managed to score on a trick-play touchdown pass. Spencer Rattler threw over to Cedrick Wilson Jr, who flung a high-arcing pass 21 yards to Alvin Kamara for a one-handed touchdown grab.

It was enough to impress interim head coach Darren Rizzi, who praised everyone involved with it — Wilson on the throw, Kamara on the catch, and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak for drawing it up and trying it out at practice last week.

This pass was Wilson’s first since 2021, and interestingly enough, he is actually 6-for-6 on completions for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns to 0 interceptions, worthy of a 158.3 passer efficiency rating (the maximum) and a 99 or above QB rating in every season he has thrown a pass. At the collegiate level, he also was effective, completing 4 of his 5 pass attempts in two seasons for 130 yards and 1 touchdown to 0 interceptions.

He was a strong passer at the high school level, too. Per Nola.com’s Rod Walker, Wilson completed 142 of his 239 pass attempts for 1,973 yards and 22 touchdowns in his senior season. The dual-threat had not seen a ton of opportunities for the Saints this season, but after that throw, he may see the field more often to run some more trick plays every now and then.

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Saints’ playoff odds are down to less than 1% after Week 15 loss

According to ESPN’s playoff picture, the Saints have a less than 1% chance of making the playoffs, but they are still technically in the running:

The New Orleans Saints desperately needed a win in Week 15 to keep their playoff hopes not only alive, but feasible. However, the Saints fell to the Washington Commanders on the last play of the game, as they failed to convert a two-point conversion, which led to a 20-19 loss and a now 5-9 record.

This put the Saints in a deep hole that is essentially insurmountable, and while it is statistically possible for them to make the playoffs, it would take scenarios that are well out of their hands in a lot of cases.

According to the updated ESPN model showing the playoff odds for every team, the Saints are the lowest ranked among the still possible teams, with a less than 1% chance of making the playoffs, winning the division, or making the Super Bowl.

The Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and Carolina Panthers were all eliminated from contention this week, leaving the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles among the teams that the Saints are competing with.

The path to the playoffs for the Saints is generally a simple one when it comes down to it, but not particularly favorable. They would need to win out, and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to lose out first and foremost. Additionally, they would need the Atlanta Falcons to lose at minimum two of their next three games, as the tiebreaker between the Saints and Falcons would go the way of the Falcons regardless of outcome from here on out.

If these three things occur, the Saints would make the playoffs at 8-9 over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 8-9, as the Saints would win the tiebreaker for divisional record (as they would have to beat Tampa Bay in this three game span regardless) after a tie in the head to head tiebreaker for the season.

So, while this is an extremely improbable scenario, the simplicity of it makes it seem more possible than something like needing four other teams to win or lose specific games like previous seasons. We will see if any of this is still possible after Week 16, as it could all fall apart by then pretty quickly.

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What’s next for Spencer Rattler after Week 15 performance?

Spencer Rattler impressed against the Commanders, and now he needs to display consistency on his improvements:

No one would have batted an eye if the New Orleans Saints had lost to the Washington Commanders by a large margin, and they were on the way to that outcome in the first half. It was only a 14 point deficit, but the Saints’ offensive struggles made a comeback feel unrealistic.

Everything changed when Darren Rizzi made the switch from Jake Haener to Spencer Rattler.

Rattler led the Saints to four consecutive scoring drives and nearly to an improbable comeback victory. He looked more confident in this game than he did the first time we saw him. Haener versus Rattler has been an ongoing debate this year, and Rattler seemed to have the edge earlier in the season.

The first few starts for Rattler didn’t go well, but he’s clearly learning from his mistakes.

One half of football isn’t enough, though. What’s next for Rattler? The next step is to see him put it together for a full game.

The rookie doesn’t need to blow you away, but what you saw from Rattler against the Commanders was big throws under pressure, playing safe, but not tight, and a comfortable feel in the pocket.

If Rattler starts next week, you should look to keep those attributes as a net positive.

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