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Best and worst Pro Football Focus Saints player grades from Week 10

john sigler
·5 min read

So who can we blame for the New Orleans Saints’ Week 10 loss to the Tennessee Titans? And which heroes can we shout out for keeping the game close with a chance to win in the final minutes (or at least force overtime)? The analysts at Pro Football Focus are here to help with their Week 10 player grades, so here’s a quick look at the top five and bottom five ratings on both offense and defense:

Top 5 Player Grades on Offense

Harris remains the only receiver with a pulse, having accounted for 27.2% of the team’s passing yards in this game (and only 3 of their 21 completed throws). But it’s tough to get him more involved in the offense than he is already given his injury history and his three-game suspension expected to work its way down the pipeline soon. A 5-foot-6 receiver with availability issues can’t be your leading receiver each week.

Still, the Saints have gotten mostly-good play out of Siemian. With the exception of his two sacks in a two-minute situation before halftime he was competent enough to keep the Saints in this game. But his limitations are clearer than ever — he can’t make off-script plays or survive when his protection is broken down. Some of that is on his talent-poor supporting cast who aren’t able to step up when their quarterback is in a jam, either.

Hill’s workload increased slightly, but not by much. He’s only played 21 and 17 snaps in two games since returning from a three-week absence after a concussion and the Saints have really limited what he’s asked to do. He hasn’t seen many blocking assignments or short-yardage running plays. It sure looks like they’re trying to protect him after that dangerous brain injury.

Bottom 5 Player Grades on Offense

Ruiz had maybe his worst game in the NFL. He couldn’t keep his footing and ended up on the turf over and over again — whether it’s because Jeffery Simmons was throwing him down or Ruiz slipped and fell on pulling blocks across the formation. He gave up two sacks and didn’t have any answers for a quality opponent. How much longer can the Saints justify starting him?

McCoy had an uncharacteristically off game, too, but that’s more easily explained by all the help he was assigned to give Throckmorton in his first career start at left guard. The Saints found out in a hurry that they wouldn’t be able to run behind their interior trio against Tennessee, totaling just 18 rushing yards on 7 attempts for an average of 2.6 yards per carry. They averaged 4.9 yards per carry running in every other direction.

For those about to ask: tight end Adam Trautman ranked eighth-worst on the offense with a 54.4 overall grade.

Top 5 Player Grades on Defense

Roby was awesome in this game. He played exactly 28 snaps on defense for the third week in a row, rotating in and out with Paulson Adebo (who logged 37 snaps and a middling 63.5 grade) and was thrown at four times — without allowing a single catch. Two of those targets were dropped, one by wide receiver A.J. Brown and another by tight end Anthony Firkser.

Onyemata and Jordan were disruptive up front and played really well on running downs, but neither of them made much of a splash against the pass while combining for just three quarterback pressures (two of them from Onyemata). And as we’ve seen so many times, it doesn’t matter if you’re getting pressure or not if the quarterback is still completing passes and picking up first downs. They need to start generating sacks.

Bottom 5 Player Grades on Defense

The low grade for Davis feels phony. He was rated highly for his run defense and tackling in this game, but dinged for poor plays in coverage… where he was charged with allowing 2 receptions on 3 targets for 8 yards, neither of which converted a first down or scored a touchdown. It’s not like he missed a lot of tackles or drew a couple of penalties. Pro Football Focus missed the mark here unless I missed something big.

As for the others: yeah, Williams and Lattimore were beaten by some crossing routes along the inside of the formation, and Lattimore’s effort was just poor on the entire afternoon against a couple of inferior opponents. Maybe he should put his hand cast back on as a good luck charm?

And Heath played poorly on an extended red zone series in relief of Marcus Williams, who missed a few minutes while receiving attention from the training staff. Useful as Heath has been on special teams, the Saints are in trouble if he’s pushed into more snaps on defense.

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