WhoDat!656

Seems like he has dropped more than three passes in games before...

METAIRIE, La. -- Jimmy Graham had another quiet day in Sunday’s 41-10 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Only this time, the New Orleans Saints’ standout tight end had himself to blame as much as the defensive game plan.

Graham dropped a career-high three passes, according to ESPN Stats and Information, and had two other potential catches broken up as they hit his hands.

Graham finished with only three catches for 25 yards -- two of which came in “garbage time” in the final two minutes. He had another catch nullified by a penalty.

Graham was officially targeted 10 times, though two of them were throwaways by Drew Brees under pressure.

The Panthers played good, physical defense against Graham, with standout linebackers Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis and safety Roman Harper each breaking up at least one pass. But they didn’t use many double teams on him.

And Saints coach Sean Payton didn’t let Graham off the hook.

“I think overall, he like the rest of the guys on offense, there were things that you look at the tape and you think ... we've got to be better at. We've got to be able to handle some balls that are thrown our way,” Payton said. “And sometimes it's going to be tight and sometimes it's going to be bumped. That's part of the deal.”

Graham hasn’t spoken to the media since Sunday’s game.

Drops haven’t been a season-long issue for Graham, who was credited for only two all season by ESPN Stats and Info before Sunday.

And Sunday’s game played out much differently than the game at Pittsburgh two weeks ago, when Graham wasn’t targeted once. In that game, the Steelers used a heavy dose of double coverage on Graham, and the Saints made them pay with touchdown passes to five different receivers, 162 receiving yards for Kenny Stills, and 122 rushing yards by Mark Ingram.

Overall this season, Graham’s production is a bit below expectations -- mostly because the Saints haven’t been able to get him or any of their receivers open deep down the field on a consistent basis.

Graham is on pace for 84 catches, 855 yards and 11 touchdowns. The catches and touchdowns are typical -- but the yardage is down significantly.

The shoulder injury that Graham suffered in Week 5 doesn’t appear to be an issue with his ability to catch the football or with his snap counts. Although Graham admitted this past Friday that the shoulder has “really held me back at times” as a blocker, he has still put up some big games since suffering the injury. He had 31 catches and six touchdowns during a five-game span from Weeks 8-12.

New Orleans Saints TE Jimmy Graham sets career high in drops - ESPN

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Beastmode

When he's targeted in double digits we will likely lose. It's almost a given. I'd like to see Payton start spinning defenses around and leave him in as a blocker for much of the game. Bet he starts getting wide open.

CharityMike

If he can't do everything he needs to do, IR him. If he continues to drop balls and he can not block because of his injury, then why is he still playing? The decoy thing is not the answer.

WhoDat!656

Worked against the Steelers.

Rugby Saint II

Everyone came back soft from training camp.

ChrisXVI

Jimmy's already 28 and he's always hurt... His decline isn't too far off. I'm not being an alarmist or anything like that but Father Time is gonna hit him hard in 2 or 3 years.

WhoDat!656

Graham was put in a pink room at training camp...

Jimmy Graham not happy with training camp room covered in pink wallpaper - NY Daily News

Danno

He's not always hurt and 28 years old is an NFL players prime. His current contract expires when he's 31.

Ashley

Trade, cut, ir, bench. I'm sick of making excuses or look to move guys around. The dude ( and this whole team) needs to play at the level they are getting paid to do.