ChrisXVI

New Orleans Saints
– The right side of the Saints’ offensive line, G Jahri Evans (-0.5) and T Zach Strief (+3.8), posted a clean sheet in pass protection, charged with no pressures allowed.

– CB Damian Swann (-1.2) gave up catches on seven of the nine balls into his coverage for 100 yards and a touchdown. Three of those and 65 yards of the total went to Cardinals’ TE Darren Fells (-0.8).

– 26 of QB Drew Brees’ (+1.1) completions were aimed shorter than 10 yards downfield, including 12 behind the line of scrimmage. The Saints’ passing game largely stayed underneath Arizona’s coverage and collected 78 percent of their passing yards after the catch.

Top Performers:

OT Zach Strief (+3.8)
G Tim Lelito (2.5)
DE Cameron Jordan (+2.4)
S Kenny Vaccaro (+1.8)
HB Mark Ingram (+1.6)

Arizona Cardinals
– Going just one-of-six on deep balls, QB Carson Palmer (+3.5) did the majority of his damage in the intermediate range (10-19 yards downfield), where he connected on six of seven passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns.

– S Tyrann Mathieu (+2.7) was used all over the defense (11 snaps as a box defender, eight as a wide corner, 39 over a slot receiver, and 15 aligned deeper) and produced a varied impact (batting two passes when blitzing, securing seven tackles, and logging four defensive stops).

– With OT Bobby Massie suspended and rookie OT D.J. Humphries not ready to take the spot, the Cardinals got a mixed bag from current starter OT Earl Watford (+1.8). Charged with a hit and three hurries (and a -1.2 grade) as a pass blocker, Watford did good work in the run game (+2.8), particularly when pulling or getting to the second level.

Top Performers:

QB Carson Palmer (+3.5)
S Tyrann Mathieu (+2.7)
G Ted Larsen (+2.0)
T Earl Watford (+1.8)
LB Kevin Minter (+1.7)

Danno

Surprised by the Swann grade. I thought he played better than that grade indicates.

ChrisXVI

That's the first thing I thought as well. I suppose giving up 7 of 9 passes into your coverage for 100 yards and a TD isn't great though. I think we were just highly impressed by his physicality. I think it boils down to this: Breaux needs to be less physical before the ball gets there and Swann needs to tighten up his coverage but keep the physicality if the catch is made. I think we have two very promising CB's in these two.

Crusader

That's the thing with the PFF grades thou, they don't always match what you think you saw. A lot of times they make me go back and re-watch parts of the game.

ChrisXVI

Danno

I read that 2 of those completions gave him the grade.

One was the pick play where the TE ran for 60 yards, and the other was the TD play where Palmer had about 12 seconds to find somebody.

K Major

Not sure if anyone noticed but I saw nice hustle out of Lelito yesterday.

nola_swammi

the td wasn't his fault, if you give any qb over 7 seconds chances are they will burn your top db, plus he look like he was in zone on that coverage to Brown

ChrisXVI

You're absolutely right. It's a little unfair to Swann, but such is the flaw in PFF's grading system. That's why they aren't gospel truth. We saw what we saw and Swann looks like an absolute stud!

Rugby Saint II

The O-line was solid. That's good to see. The team looked better than we played obviously.