New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Re-Focused: Panthers @ Saints, Week 17

New Orleans– Three Performances of Note

Acknowledging the Offensive Standouts

With 13 offensive players grading in the green, there’s plenty of positives to talk about and not nearly enough space to give every player their due credit, so we’ll focus on the best of the best offensive performances. The offensive line earned our second-best Pass Blocking Efficiency rating this week and only Brian De La Puente graded negatively run-blocking. Carl Nicks (+4.6) was the standout with a perfect game in protection and made some dominant plays in the run game. He was ready to punish Panthers defenders from the start and laid two Panthers on their backs on the third offensive snap for New Orleans. Watch as Nicks throws Ogemdi Nwagbuo to the ground at the line of scrimmage before getting out in front of the screen pass and mauling James Anderson (-3.6) over with apparent ease and you can’t help but be impressed. Fullback Jed Collins (+4.2) also made a key block at the second level on that play as he enjoyed his best game this year. He cemented his top ranking among fullbacks in terms of blocking by keeping Carolina linebackers away from the ball-carrier on more than a few runs and was rewarded with his second touchdown reception of the season. Drew Brees (+6.5) hit all of his targets with success, but Marques Colston (+4.1) stood out with 145 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches, making some impressive grabs along the way.

Robinson Poised to Break Out?

While the Saints’ offense continues to operate nearly flawlessly and gets all the attention with their record conquests, the defense has some nice storylines of its own, including the progression of second-year cornerback Patrick Robinson (+3.0). He’s had his ups and downs as all young players do, but the ups have outweighed the downs, especially lately. Robinson has graded in the green in each of the last three games and he has collected half of his four interceptions in that span. He’s yielded a combined 25 yards while being targeted 14 times over those three games. Against the Panthers he gave up three catches for only eight yards. You’ve probably already saw his toe-tapping interception in the end zone in the highlights, but that wasn’t the only play he made. At 8:45 in the third quarter Stewart moves out wide for a quick wide receiver-style screen pass, but Robinson recognizes it immediately and wraps him up for a four-yard loss immediately after Stewart catches the ball. He also made a big play on 3rd-and-six later in the game when he brought Steve Smith down in the open field for a mere 1-yard gain. Robinson is playing his best football right now so it will be interesting to see how he is used against Detroit in the Playoffs.

Invisible Defensive Line

With three 300+ pound linemen who see regular playing time, it’s not very easy for the Saints’ defensive line to go unnoticed, but that’s exactly what happened. Far too often large bodies were pushed around by a single offensive lineman, making the Saints’ weak linebacker unit look even worse as Carolina blockers routinely got to the second level on running plays. Sedrick Ellis and Aubrayo Frankin were completely missing on the stat sheet, but neither of them played more than 19 snaps. More concerning was Shaun Rogers’ (-1.2) performance as his sole contribution to the stat sheet in 26 snaps was a missed tackle. Tom Johnson (-1.2) was the only defensive tackle to even make a tackle. On the edges, Cameron Jordan got his first career sack and should have had two, but on the other side Will Smith (-3.4) struggled. Smith got pressure only once in 27 snaps rushing the passer and was either forced out of position or took himself out of position on a few run plays. The Saints are already lacking in pass rush and need Smith to be in better form against Detroit.

Full article.
Re-Focused: Panthers @ Saints, Week 17 | ProFootballFocus.com