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New Orleans Saints
Quarterback grade: Drew Brees, 82.5

Brees dissects Cardinals’ secondary

The Saints’ future Hall-of-Fame signal-caller was tremendous in this one, as the Saints dropped 48 points on the road against a defense that ranked first in terms of yards allowed per game—and in the top half in terms of points allowed per game—heading into Week 15. Brees did struggle against pressure, completing just three of eight attempts for a total of 18 yards and a 45.8 QB rating, but he spent most of the afternoon throwing from a clean pocket.

The Cardinals got pressure on Brees on just 21.6 percent of his dropbacks, which ranks as the fourth-lowest rate among all QBs this week entering Sunday Night Football, and he absolutely dissected them from a clean pocket, completing 34 of 40 passes for 370 yards and four touchdowns, good for a 138.5 QB rating when throwing without pressure. When the Cardinals tried to generate pressure by bringing an extra rusher, Brees punished them for it, completing 12 of 16 passes for 204 yards, three touchdowns, and a 156.3 QB rating against the Cardinals’ blitz.

Drew Brees vs pressure

Top offensive grades:

G Jahri Evans, 85.4

C Max Unger, 84.5

QB Drew Brees, 82.5

WR Brandin Cooks, 81.5

T Zach Strief, 80.4 Wow, thats like 12 out of 14 games this year)

Brandin Cooks has huge afternoon

Brandin Cooks had himself a day, proving once again that he’s one of the premier difference-makers at the wide receiver position. Cooks hauled in seven of eight targets on the afternoon for 186 yards and two touchdowns, with Drew Brees earning a 158.3 QB rating when targeting him. Up front on the offensive line, the Saints saw great games out of everyone to the right, including Max Unger from the center spot. Unger, Strief, and Evans combined to allow just four pressures between them in pass protection on the afternoon, while contributing positively (especially Unger and Evans) in the running game.

Top defensive grades:

DI Nick Fairley, 82.6

ED Cameron Jordan, 81.9

DI David Onyemata, 77.1

S Roman Harper, 74.1 (suck it haters!!!

CB Ken Crawley, 73.3

Fairley bounces back to lead defense

It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster season for Saints defensive tackle Nick Fairley, and after some sub-average performances in Weeks 13-14, he really bounced back nicely in Week 15. Fairley led the Saints’ defense with four total pressures—including one hit—on 33 pass rush attempts, and he also chipped in a stop (a stop is a solo tackle which constitutes as a loss for the offense, given the situation).

Cameron Jordan chipped in three more pressures—including a sack—and David Onyemata contributed two pressures on just 11 pass-rushing snaps. Ken Crawley allowed two of three passes targeted towards his man to be caught, but in an offensive shootout, he limited the production on those two catches to just 18 total yards.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-no-ari-grades/