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New Orleans – Three Performances of Note

Jordan Keeps Up the Pace

If there’s proof of what being a square peg jammed into a round hole can do to a player it’s Cameron Jordan. Removed from his poor fit as a 4-3 DE he has been a revelation in Ryan’s 3-4 schemes and is matching JJ Watt pressure for pressure this season. He didn’t get any sacks in this game, but notched a pair of hits on Cutler and three more hurries. Such is his confidence level within the new scheme that he actually made some of this happen from the 4-3 DE spot that he found so troublesome before. Jordan’s pressure, and that of Junior Galette (+1.6 pass rush), is critical for the Saints who aren’t generating much else up front and have been relying on bringing blitzers from the secondary to make up the shortfall.

Bad Day for Greer

Any time a receiver tops ‘two-bills’ you know there’s a corner somewhere on the opposing side that’s popping up with a bad grade and some ugly stats. In this game that player was Jabari Greer, but his troubles weren’t contained to Jeffery. He did give up 87 yards on four catches (and targets) to Jeffery, but he also allowed a catch to four other receivers and, all told, surrendered 128 yards and a touchdown from nine targets. Greer isn’t the most physical corner in the world and he was completely out muscled at times by both Jeffery and Marshall.

Best TE in Football

With Rob Gronkowski still struggling back from injury the crown as the league’s best TE is firmly resting on the head of Jimmy Graham. OK, so he still can’t block, but the Saints know this and don’t ask him to do much of it, instead taking advantage of the matchup nightmare he poses teams. Graham was targeted 10 times in the game and caught all 10, for 135 yards. He beat six different Bears defenders in coverage for those receptions as they cycled through their defense to try and find anybody that could match up with him. None could, and when Brees was looking for a key pick-up to keep the offense on the field he tended to go straight to Graham. You can’t blame him — throwing Graham’s way gave him a 118.8 passer rating on the day.

Profootball Focus

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