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New Orleans Saints

Quarterback grade: Drew Brees, 87.1

Despite being the oldest starting QB in Week 1 at 37 years old, Brees showed he’s still among the league’s top signal-callers. He was near-perfect throwing between the numbers, going 17-for-19 there, and connected on three of his four deep (20-plus-yard) passes, including dimes down the left sideline to Willie Snead and Brandin Cooks. When not under pressure, Brees finished with a 142.4 passer rating, versus a 63.9 rating when the Oakland rush did get to him. But that only happened on 16.3 percent of his dropbacks, the lowest rate of any QB this week, through the end of Sunday.

Top offensive grades:

QB Drew Brees, 87.1

WR Willie Snead, 82.5

RT Zach Strief, 80.3

C Max Unger, 79.7

WR Brandin Cooks, 78.5

Cooks and Snead make big plays downfield

While Brees looked as formidable as ever, his standout performance came with the help of some of his pass-catchers, notably Willie Snead and Brandin Cooks. Snead especially looked ready to build on an above-average 2015 season after hauling in all nine of his targets against six different defenders in primary coverage, for 172 yards and a touchdown. A fumble (following a 43-yard reception) was his lone blunder on the day. Cooks likewise made multiple big plays downfield, scoring on two of them, including a 98-yarder – his only reception in three targets against Raiders CB Sean Smith.

Among the other players that stood out on the Saints offense were two newcomers, rookie receiver Michael Thomas and tight end Coby Fleener, although their play was notable for different reasons. Thomas has clearly cemented his spot as the team’s third WR entering the season, as his 55 snaps were only seven less than Cooks and actually more than Snead. All but four those came on the outside, where he hauled in all six targets for 58 yards, including an impressive catch and run at 5:36 of the second quarter. Conversely, Fleener struggled, catching just one of four passes that went his way, while grading negatively as a run-blocker, where he surrendered a pair of stops.

Top defensive grades:

S Kenny Vaccaro, 86.1

DT Nick Fairley, 82.0

DT John Jenkins, 77.2

DE Darryl Tapp, 71.5

CB P.J. Williams, 70.5

Saints’ rookie corners struggle in second half

With cornerback Delvin Breaux limited to 24 snaps due to injury, much of the second half featured Oakland taking advantage of the Saints’ inexperience behind him, notably rookies DeVante Harris and Ken Crawley, who played 60 and 47 snaps, respectively. The two combined for five missed tackles and allowed a catch on 10 of 12 targets, with Crawley especially struggling. Oakland QB Derek Carr finished with a 143.8 passer rating on eight throws into Crawley’s coverage, the highest of any Saints defensive back.

Second-year cornerback P.J. Williams fared slightly better in his first regular-season action. He finished with an average grade in coverage after getting his hand on the ball at 11:07 of the second quarter for a pass defense, something neither of his aforementioned teammates managed, although Williams otherwise allowed 99 yards on four catches (eight targets).

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Oakland Raiders

Quarterback grade: Derek Carr, 84.1

It was a solid opener for Oakland QB Derek Carr, who led three fourth-quarter touchdown drives to bring the Raiders back from an 11-point deficit. He was more solid than spectacular, and slightly more conservative than his counterpart Drew Brees, only attempting passes of 20-plus yards twice, although he connected on both plays. But he was nevertheless effective, ending the game with just two negatively graded throws, and neither of those misfires put the ball at serious risk.

The most notable difference in Carr’s play came when the Saints sent extra rushers. He finished with a 125.2 passer rating on plays with four or fewer rushers, but against the blitz he often looked panicky in the pocket, regardless of whether there was actual pressure. That’s interesting, given he graded far better when blitzed in 2015 than against a standard rush.

Top offensive grades:

LG/LT Kelechi Osemele, 86.7

QB Derek Carr, 84.1

LT/RT Donald Penn, 82.6

FB Jamize Olawale, 80.9

C Rodney Hudson, 76.2

Osemele bounces back from rough preseason

Oakland’s offensive line had a big day, particularly left guard Kelechi Osemele, whom the team spent big money on in free agency. Osemele spent 51 snaps at left guard, and 24 at left tackle following an injury to Menelik Watson. In that span he surrendered a single pressure, but was even better in the run game, particularly against Saints linebacker Craig Robertson. Robertson bested him for a stop twice in the game, but otherwise the Raiders dominated the matchup, with Osemele sealing him at the second level multiple times, including on the team’s 75-yard touchdown run at 8:38 of the fourth quarter.

Top defensive grades:

S Keith McGill, 85.3

ED Bruce Irvin, 82.2

LB Ben Heeney, 78.1

ED Khalil Mack, 76.5

DE Denico Autry, 75.7

Another one of Oakland’s free agent acquisitions – edge rusher Bruce Irvin – had a strong showing on defense, and even bested Khalil Mack, who was quieter than expected but still above-average. Irvin finished the game with a defensive stop and four total pressures, including a sack-fumble on the opening drive of the game, setting up his team with prime field position. Otherwise, much of his impact came in the fourth quarter — he landed consecutive hits on Drew Brees, although the first was nullified by penalty, taking away an impressive inside move against Saints star left tackle Terron Armstead. His second pressure against Armstead was also nullified later in the quarter, which he won outside.


https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro...saints-grades/

Crusader

I am slightly surprised to see two DTs with such high grades considering the trouble we had to stop the run. When I saw Jenkins on the field he seemed to be hustling thou.

K Major

The Pass rush is simply not there.

lee909

There isnt enough depth at DT. Only Fairley is a pass rusher and you cannot expect him to be able to keep fresh enough with the amount of snaps he has to take.

Really worried about this Breaux injury

ChrisXVI

I was very impressed by our O-Line. For all of the freaking out about that being a weakness it's nice to put that to rest.

CheramieIII

Those big runs were to the outside off tackle and if not for that 75 yard run they would've only rushed for 92 yards. Not bad!

We need to control the big plays more. DA needs to calm those guys down. On the winning drive by Oakland they got life from the refs twice on suspect pass interference calls. Those weren't interference. 2 2 point conversions will never happen to us again, NEVER!

The Raiders scored 25 points in the final 18 minutes and this will never happen to us again, NEVER!

So all in all our defense played better than last year but that's not saying much at this point.

Golf and sex are about the only things you can enjoy without being good at them.
Jimmy Demaret

lee909

Thought the refs were poor alround. We benefited from a couple of dodgy PI call too

Danno

True, the big 75 yard run looked like someone missed something. No LB in the hole, DT's both charging outside. Amazing how 1 play can sway peoples opinion so drastically. Without that breakdown, we held them to 3.6. per carry.

Its the DE's that failed to show up Sunday.

K Major

So did J Byrd. MIA in the middle of the field.

lee909

The defense was good through 3 quarters but at the death the fact we had UDFA out there showed. I do not like this soft coverage we have fallen into for the past few years when in the lead. I know being aggressive can lad to big plays but this soft rubbish just leads to easy catches and teams rolling forward. Just keep being aggressive and force them into making plays not giving them easy outs

Could do with more depth at DT as Fairley is the only pass Rushing DT out the three main guys and its too much for him on his own.

"Two receivers to the left, Garcon to the right. Manning in the shotgun, puts Collie in motion. Looks in his direction...it's picked off! It's picked off! It's Tracy Porter again! He's runnin' free! He's gonna go all the way!