Week 1 is in the books for the New Orleans Saints. They’ve defeated the Atlanta Falcons on the road in a massive fourth-quarter comeback, and everything is in order. The record books are set. The game tape is up for review. And the initial player grades have been filed at Pro Football Focus. Let’s see who PFF named the best and worst Saints players from this game:
Top 5 players on offense
- WR Jarvis Landry: 84.7
- QB Jameis Winston: 79.6
- RT Ryan Ramczyk: 77.2
- LT James Hurst: 75.7
- WR Michael Thomas: 73.5
It’s no surprise to see Landry on top of the list, and it’s a credit to Winston’s ability to overcome adversity and bounce back from three really rough quarters and play well down the stretch. It is a little surprising to see Hurst up here given his struggles out on the edge. Falcons edge rusher Lorenzo Carter got the better of him early and often, and Atlanta also found success in sliding defensive tackle Grady Jarrett out wide against him. Thomas would have had a higher grade if he and Winston hadn’t looked so rusty early in the game, but we’ll take it.
Top 5 players on defense
- FS Tyrann Mathieu: 79.2
- LB Demario Davis: 71.4
- DE Marcus Davenport: 65.9
- CB Marshon Lattimore: 65.4
- DE Cameron Jordan: 63.3
So this is interesting. Mathieu did so much to help the Saints pass defense confuse Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota by lining up all over the place, disguising their coverage assignments and clouding his vision. He also showed up big in tackling in the open field (one unfortunate hit from Cordarrelle Patterson notwithstanding). Davis was reliable as ever. It’s kind of confusing to see Davenport and Jordan grading so well. Neither of them made an impact as pass rushers, and Atlanta’s success running the football is largely due to the defensive line failing to plug holes up front.
Bottom 5 players on offense
- TE Adam Trautman: 39.9
- RG Cesar Ruiz: 46.3
- RB Mark Ingram II: 49.9
- LG Andrus Peat: 50.5
- RB Alvin Kamara: 54.2
Yeah, not many surprises here. Trautman has been eclipsed by Juwan Johnson as the team’s top tight end (playing 45 snaps on offense against Trautman’s 25), which is wild. Ruiz was repeatedly beaten upfront and overmatched by Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. Ingram ran well but fumbled inside New Orleans territory at a really bad time, and it took a while for Kamara to get going. Atlanta defended him well.
Bottom 5 players on defense
- DE Payton Turner: 29.7
- DT Christian Ringo: 32.0
- DT Shy Tuttle: 41.9
- DE Carl Granderson: 45.5
- DB P.J. Williams: 46.6
Turner’s biggest moment on defense was a neutral zone infraction penalty that got him pulled out of the game. He hasn’t carried over the momentum he built in training camp, which is really disappointing. Ringo was called up from the practice squad before this game to help reinforce the run defense but didn’t make a positive impact, which to be fair was the case for most of the defensive line. The Saints are much thinner up front than they’d maybe like to admit.
Special teams and other notes
Defensive end Payton Turner had the highest special teams grade (92.8) on the team, which was helped by his small sample size. He only played 7 snaps in the kicking game, all with the field goal block unit, and the pressure he brought to deflect the would-be game winner in the game’s final seconds brought in this sky-high grade.
Other Saints players who received high grades on special teams include linebacker Pete Werner (76.7), who made a tackle on the punt return unit, and safety J.T. Gray (66.4), who also recorded a tackle while playing with every kicking unit except for the field goal kicking squad.
Some other stats of note:
- WR Jarvis Landry forced three missed tackles as a receiver and tied WR Michael Thomas for the team lead with four first-down conversions
- RB Alvin Kamara forced two missed tackles as a runner and another as a receiver
- QB Jameis Winston was under pressure on 12 of his 40 dropbacks, completing 4 of 6 pass attempts for 39 yards and converting a pair of first downs. He took 4 sacks and threw the ball away once
- CB Bradley Roby was thrown at 8 times, yielding 6 receptions for 70 yards mostly to Falcons WR Drake London (2 catches for 24 yards) and WR Olamide Zaccheaus (2 catches for 22 yards)
- S Justin Evans was thrown at 5 times but allowed just 1 catch for 5 yards
