Panthers vs. Saints: Full Report Card Grades for New Orleans
The New Orleans Saints' disappointing 2014 season hit rock bottom Sunday, as coach Sean Payton's squad was soundly whipped by the visiting Carolina Panthers, 41-10.
New Orleans fell to 5-8 with the lopsided loss, which dropped the Saints further behind the division-leading Atlanta Falcons in the race for the NFC South title.
The defeat was the Saints’ fourth straight inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, which, a short time ago, was a venue that struck fear into opposing players and coaches alike. On Sunday, however, it served as a cutting board for coach Ron Rivera’s hungry Panthers to chop up Payton’s weak imitation of a playoff-contending football team.
Carolina entered the contest having lost six straight games, and the Panthers hadn’t won a game since an early October win over the Chicago Bears. That was 63 days ago. Carolina was a different team Sunday, however, and the Saints didn't bother standing in the way.
New Orleans got off to another bad start, as coordinator Rob Ryan's beleaguered defense yielded an 80-yard touchdown drive to Cam Newton and the Carolina offense on the game’s first possession.
The Saints subsequently turned the ball over on two of their first three plays, as Mark Ingram fumbled and Drew Brees tossed an interception. After the Panthers capitalized on both turnovers, New Orleans was in a 17-0 hole.
Carolina continued to pound away at the Saints' inept defense, while the New Orleans offense sputtered behind substandard play from its offensive line.
The Panthers led 24-3 at the half, and they never took their foot off the gas until midway through the fourth quarter when the game was well out of the Saints' reach.
Continue reading for full game grades for each New Orleans position unit from the Saints' blowout loss.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Drew Brees usually gets the lion’s share of the credit when the Saints offense plays well.
On Sunday, however, the unit was as ineffective as it’s ever been since Payton and Brees came to New Orleans, and for that, he deserves a heavy dose of the blame.
The Saints' No. 2-ranked offense had amassed a grand total of 84 yards and three points at halftime. Such a smidgen of offensive production would be considered less than satisfactory by every NFL team’s standards, but for Brees and the Saints, it’s unacceptable.
Accordingly, much of the blame lies with the field general. Brees completed 29 passes, but he threw a costly interception on an underthrown deep ball, which led to a Carolina touchdown in the first quarter. He was inaccurate for the vast majority the game, even on basic throws that he typically has no difficulty making.
There was a bigger problem at hand, however, for the highly decorated quarterback. From the start of the contest, Brees was out of sync with his receiving corp, which is never a good sign for an offense.
Granted, the Saints signal-caller received very little help from his receivers, and his offensive line was atrocious.
That doesn’t relieve him of his chief role in Payton’s offense, however, which is to push the ball down the field and into the end zone.
Brees wholly failed at his primary task Sunday, and for that, he receives a failing grade.
Grade: F
Running Back
2 of 10
The New Orleans running game was shut down Sunday, although it wasn’t necessarily due to poor running back play.
Ingram did cough up a costly first-quarter fumble, but the Saints were able to run the ball with some success, and they averaged 5.4 yards per carry. The problem was that they were unable to call many running plays.
New Orleans’ defense failed to get off the field against the Carolina offense in the first half, and this, in turn, forced Brees and the New Orleans offense into catchup mode.
Mark Ingram and Pierre Thomas both found running room at times, but it wasn’t enough to make a difference in this one.
The Saints were down 24-3 at the half, which ended their hopes for offensive balance and forced them out of their game plan.
Grade: D
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Against Carolina, New Orleans’ wide receivers and tight ends delivered what was probably their worst performance of the season.
Sure, Brees spread the ball to 10 different receivers and the Saints finished with 235 passing yards in the game. Statistics don’t tell the full story, however, as this group was quite bad Sunday.
Dropped passes were in abundance.
Poor, lackadaisical route-running led to little to no separation.
Star tight end Jimmy Graham wasn’t completely shut out of the action like he was a week ago, but he certainly wasn’t a major factor, either. Graham recorded his first catch in six quarters just before halftime, and he was pushed around and outmuscled all afternoon by Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis.
This position group’s most glaring shortcoming, however, was its general lack of intensity. There wasn’t much fight in anyone wearing a Saints uniform Sunday, but the New Orleans receivers stood out as black-clad beacons of indifference.
Grade: F
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
Out of all the subpar performances from New Orleans’ position groups, the offensive line may have turned in the worst.
The Saints’ inability to stop Carolina’s offense put them in an immediate hole, and they were forced to quicken their offensive pace while becoming more one-dimensional.
This allowed Carolina the opportunity to pin its ears back and get after Brees, and that’s exactly what Charles Johnson and Co. did. Terron Armstead, Zach Strief and the rest of the Saints offensive line were unable to provide adequate pass protection, as the Panthers often applied pressure with just a four-man rush.
Brees was hit six times and sacked twice, and he managed to avoid other potential sacks all game long. He was under constant duress, and this was a huge reason for his ineffectiveness in the contest.
Grade: F
Defensive Line
5 of 10
Defensive line was a position of strength for the Saints in their win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, but when the game was over Sunday, that seemed like ages ago.
The Saints failed to record a sack against the Panthers' heavily maligned offensive line. In fact, they didn’t so much as lay a single hit on Newton, and he continually made plays to keep the chains moving.
Nose guard John Jenkins was a total non-factor, and he was taken out of plays on far too many occasions.
Ends Akiem Hicks and Cam Jordan didn’t fare much better, although Jordan actually displayed some fight during a first quarter scuffle with Newton in the end zone after a Carolina touchdown.
Brandon Deaderick and Tyrunn Walker were also unable to make any impact, as the Panthers offensive front had its way from start to finish.
Grade: F
Linebacker
6 of 10
Curtis Lofton racked up 17 tackles on the day, but his play wasn't exactly praiseworthy. The inside linebacker was out of position on a number of plays, including Jonathan Stewart’s 69-yard touchdown scamper in the early moments of the third quarter.
Still, Lofton was the best of the bunch on Sunday.
David Hawthorne was repeatedly wiped out by Carolina blockers, while Parys Haralson, Junior Galette and the outside ‘backers continually demonstrated an inability to defend the read-option dive play.
The end result of these poor individual performances was 271 rushing yards by the Panthers at a rate of 6.8 yards per carry.
Such gaudy numbers speak for themselves, and this group’s grade wasn't very hard to figure out.
Grade: F
Secondary
7 of 10
The Saints defensive backs have turned in worse performances this year than what they delivered Sunday, and yet they were still below average.
When a quarterback is as on-point as Newton was, a secondary will usually struggle. The Saints certainly struggled, and they were as bad defending the run as they were the pass.
Greg Olsen was Newton's top target with 10 catches, as Kenny Vaccaro struggled to keep up with the veteran Panthers tight end.
Free safety Pierre Warren, who was on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad just three weeks ago, displays nice range and athleticism on a weekly basis, but his run defense was tainted with poor tackling angles and an overall lack of physicality.
Cornerback Keenan Lewis had another solid showing, as he locked up with Kelvin Benjamin and held his own against the big Carolina rookie. Lewis' effort on a bad knee that's clearly bothering him was admirable, and his performance is the only thing that stopped this unit from getting a failing grade.
Patrick Robinson was beaten for short and intermediate passes with regularity, however, which is on par with his body of work for the season.
This group wasn't awful Sunday, it was just bad.
Grade: D
Special Teams
8 of 10
As a team, the Saints turned in a horrendous showing Sunday, and special teams was a big part of it.
With New Orleans down 17-3 in the second quarter, Shayne Graham missed a very makable 42-yard field goal. The Saints desperately needed points at that moment in the game, and he wasn't able to deliver.
Another crucial blunder occurred in the third quarter, when the Saints had just stuffed Carolina to force a punt on 3rd-and-2. New Orleans was flagged for a neutral-zone infraction on the punt, however, and the Panthers offense was allowed to retake the field. Carolina eventually scored on the nearly six-minute drive, taking a 38-3 lead in the process.
If there was a silver lining for New Orleans, though, it was marked improvement in the punt return game. Jalen Saunders is filling in nicely at the spot for the injured Brandin Cooks, and Sunday, he demonstrated why the Saints signed him when Cooks went down.
The normally abysmal New Orleans punt return game suddenly sprang to life with Saunders back deep, as the rookie ripped off two returns of over 30 yards and provided New Orleans with good field position on both occasions.
Still, it wasn't nearly enough to save the Saints, whose special teams units struggled Sunday.
Grade: D
Coaching
9 of 10
The Panthers were a motivated football team, and they were exceptional in a number of areas.
Having said that, there's no reason for a team to perform as poorly as New Orleans did. This ultimately falls on the head coach.
Sure, fingers could be pointed at Rob Ryan, whose defense yielded nearly 500 yards and 41 points. The Saints defenders never demonstrated any competency in defending the zone read, and they allowed Newton to rumble his way to 83 rushing yards to go with his productive passing performance.
The blame, however, goes beyond Ryan and falls at the feet Payton.
The Saints head coach sent an ill-prepared, unmotivated squad onto the field Sunday, and there's no excuse for his team's awful showing.
Grade: F
Final Grade
10 of 10
With five minutes left in the third quarter, the New Orleans Saints trailed by 35 points in their own building. This was the largest home deficit for a New Orleans team since 2003, and it signaled a low point for Payton's club this season.
Against the Panthers, the Saints offense was a shell of the unit that lit up the Steelers in Pittsburgh just a week earlier, while the New Orleans defense was as soft as cotton at all three levels. Even the special teams play was substandard.
With the once-feared Superdome turning into a place where struggling offenses come to work out their kinks, it's apparent that this Saints teams needs major work, and its problems likely aren't fixable this season.
The fact that New Orleans is still in contention for a playoff spot is a matter of good fortune, but it shouldn't fool anyone. These Saints don't resemble a playoff-caliber team in any way. If they turn in more performances like Sunday's, however, they won't have to worry about that.
Final Grade: F
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