Grading the New Orleans Saints' defense vs. the Falcons
 

Even though the Atlanta Falcons finished with 469 yards, this outing was the New Orleans Saints' defense's best of the season. They held the Falcons to 35 yards rushing, were able to put consistent pressure on Matt Ryan and Scott Shanle and Malcolm Jenkins combined for the game-sealing strip and fumble recovery for a touchdown. Cornerback Jabari Greer had an especially strong performance both in run support and coverage. He finished with a team-high 10 tackles. Defensive end Junior Galette caused problems for the Falcons' offensive line and looks like he's becoming an impact player.

What grade do you give the defense in the Saints' 45-16 win over the Falcons?

Grading the New Orleans Saints' defense vs. the Falcons - New Orleans Saints Football NFL News - NOLA.com

Whatcha got?

A

They played a great game, couple miscues here and there but overall a great performance, when our drives stalled in the 4th quarter they kept the falcons to a FG or less, and a Defensive TD made it even better

Defensive line stopping the run, short yardage situations, and putting pressure on skid britches: A
Defensive secondary covering the zone: C
Matt Ryan kept throwing succesfully to the same spot in the secondary and we made no adjustments to close the seams.

Junior,Junior,Junior. The D's front 7 looked really good and so did the secondary, they tackled well, wrapped up well and hit everything that come across the middle, I loved it. Junior is starting to get closer and closer to what we thought he can be. Ellis, yes Ellis had a play in particular I liked last night on the RB., if he can get it together I think we will be set up front. J. Patrick also looked good, sound hard hitting and tackling. I gave 3 fleurs only because of the amount of yards given up but I thought they played exceptionally well. Sound defensive performance.

It was Ramon Humber, not Scott Shanle, who forced the fumble, by the way...

Our defensive line is starting to look rather good, especially the tackles. The secondary looked pretty good, though it wasn't perfect by no means. I'm hoping that turnover that we forced will be contagious the next couple of weeks and we start capitalizing on mistakes.

The one thing that looks like it has been solved is our tackling. We are swarming the ball and wrapping up pretty good.

We're looking like we are a Superbowl contender.

You know, throughout the season I've been sort of skeptical of Cameron Jordan, but I'm absolutely loving the rotation that we are throwing out there with Junior and Jordan. I think Jordan's pass rush skills will get better with an offseason under his belt, but I really like how they are handling that position right now.

I also think Jordon will get better with his pass rush, Junior also. It would be great if we didn't have to worry about that position for a long, long time.

Galette - Wow, he's developing nicely
Greer - solid
Humber - Where the hell did he come from?
Harper - Anyone notice how much more he's playing zone coverage?
D-Line - Good game, especially versus the run
GW - looks to have dialed back the exoctic and frequent blitzes.