Saints Player Grades for Defense and Special Teams vs. Panthers

by saints-nation on Nov 10, 2009 6:00 AM CST Comment 20 comments

Bill Haber - AP

Below are the player grades for the defense and special teams vs. the Panthers.

Panthers vs Saints boxscore

Will Smith: B+ (2.79) Will Smith was partly to blame for the big touchdown run DeAngelo Williams had on the second play of the game. He had a clear shot at Williams, but tried to shove him instead of going for his legs/ankles to trip him up. Instead of slowing Williams down, he gave him a little boost to spring free. He made other mistakes against the run and was not at his best as he over pursued the edge allowing gaps. Otherwise, his pass rush was constant and overall fantastic. He finished with 4 tackles, 3 for losses (2 of those sacks) and a forced fumble at the biggest of times. He could have been credited with 3 sacks, but a bobbled snap by Jake Delhomme led to a Smith tackle and was ruled a running play. Smith has played the run better than in this game, but overall he's had a fantastic season. Half way through the year he's at 6.5 sacks, so he's on pace for 13, which would be a career best. He's already more than doubled his sack total from last year.

Charles Grant: B (2.29) Grant held his ground extremely well in this game and was never really pushed around at the point of attack. He was exceptional against the run disrupting the blocking schemes, setting up the linebackers and defensive tackles to make plays. Several of the running plays that went for losses were a result of Grant's leverage with runs coming at him. He finished with 3 tackles. His pass rushing was mediocre, but give him a lot of credit for playing fantastic football against the run.

Remi Ayodele: C+ (2.10) Ayodele was better than the last couple of games, but I still struggle to understand the coaching staff's fascination with him. On both of Williams' touchdown runs, Ayodele was wiped completely out of the play. He finished with just two tackles, but was better at holding his ground as the game progressed. I think he struggles more with double teams when Hargrove is in the game, which allows teams to be more physical because Hargrove isn't a great tackle on running downs. Ayodele seemed to have a lot more success with DeMario Pressley lined up next to him.

DeMario Pressley: B- (2.67) Nice adjustment by the Saints. Hargrove wasn't cutting it on obvious running downs early, so Pressley got a lot of playing time. As the game wore on, Pressley was essentially the "starter" on running downs, and Hargrove came in for him on passing downs. Pressley actually played a pretty good game. Ayodele's performance as mentioned improved almost immediately with him on the field. He held his ground and the Panthers' running game started to suffer with Pressley on the field. He finished with 2 tackles, including one very nice one for a loss.

Anthony Hargrove: B+ (2.48) Hargrove was manhandled early and not looking too good. As the game wore on, though, the Saints put him in positions better suited for his style of play, and he dominated. Hargrove would get an A if he didn't look so shaky against the run early. He finished with 3 tackles and two fumble recoveries, including one for a touchdown. The replay showed he was clearly down at the 1, so Hargrove was lucky the Panthers were out of timeouts and couldn't challenge it. He also did well rushing the passer and forcing early throws.

Bobby McCray: D+ (1.86) The only tackle he made was on a 3rd and short running play. On the play, Jonathan Stewart seemed stacked up short of the 1st down, but McCray pushed him forward to the ground to allow him to get the first down. Low IQ play from McCray, who should have recognized the situation and grabbed Stewart to pull him back rather than allowing him to fall to the ground going forward. McCray just isn't making plays this year, and has performed much worse than he did last year. His GPA as evidence, he has 7 tackles and 1 sack through 8 games. To McCray's credit, he did an ok job rushing the passer late and put one nice hit on Delhomme as he released the ball. Otherwise, another lame performance. I keep thinking sooner or later he's going to make a play for the Saints, but it hasn't happened yet.

Jonathan Vilma: B+ (2.96) Vilma had bad angles on a couple of running plays, including two 3rd and long running plays that allowed the Panthers to secure improbable first downs. Otherwise, he was all over the field as usual and played both fast and physical. 12 tackles, including 2 for a loss. He did miss a couple of coverage assignments on tight ends, most likely because the Saints were so committed to stopping the run.

Jo-Lonn Dunbar: B+ (2.78) Do we even let Fujita start when he's healthy? Seriously, this young linebacker is just getting better and better! Dunbar is terrific against the run, and VERY physical. The only drawback is he's very aggressive so he sometimes contains poorly and lacks discipline. Those are things, by the way, that Fujita excels at. He had 8 tackles and played a very good game. I'm glad the Saints decided Dunbar was a better option than Troy Evans. Physically there is just a huge difference between the two. I think Dunbar could be a viable starter for the Saints in the future.

Scott Shanle: B- (2.79) Nice to see Shanle bounce back from what I considered his worst performance of the season. He finished with 4 tackles. He still got pushed around and cleared out of some running plays where he could have had an opportunity to make a tackle, but he showed off some terrific coverage skills against the Panthers.

Jabari Greer: B (3.46) You'll notice that Greer has the highest GPA among the Saints through 8 games. I know this might not be a popular call (with Brees and Sharper having great seasons), but my vote for team MVP half way through the season is JABARI GREER. He went out with what is apparently a groin injury. He finished the game with just 2 tackles, but consider Steve Smith's stats: 4 catches for 64 yards. Never has Smith been so limited against the Saints. The Saints need this guy, badly, so hopefully he's not too banged up.

Tracy Porter: B+ (3.25) Porter was awesome yet again. He forced a BIG fumble to get the Saints back in the game early. Unfortunately Brees threw an INT in the red zone to negate the big play. He was physical, helpful against the run, and pretty good in pass coverage. He finished with 7 tackles and was all over the field.

Randall Gay: B (3.00) Gay came in for Greer and gave medium passing gain once, but otherwise did a reasonably good job. He came blitzing on one play and was able to deflect a pass Delhomme tried to get to Jarrett. He helped his teammates on gang tackles and finished with 3 total. If Greer has to miss a game, I feel ok about Gay holding down the fort, provided it's temporary.

Malcolm Jenkins: B- (3.11) Jenkins was once again a standout on special teams. Nothing was bigger than the ball he downed at the Carolina 2, which ultimately led to the Hargrove touchdown. Jenkins filled in for Gay in the nickel slot when Greer went down, and was VERY fortunate not to get flagged for pass interference on a big 3rd down play late in the game. He finished with 2 tackles and showed some need for improvement in pass coverage. Clearly, though, he's the Saints' best playmaker on special teams. I really believe he needs to be groomed as the heir to Darren Sharper.

Pierson Prioleau: B- (2.84) Prioleau was good in pass coverage the few times he played. He also did a terrific job of recovering the fumble forced by Tracy Porter earlier in the game. He jumped on top of the pile and somehow wrestled the ball away from Panther linemen. Sidenote, I forgot to grade Prioleau last week, but I retroactively gave him a B because he had 5 tackles and played well.

Roman Harper: A- (3.25) The only thing negative I can say about Harper was the pass interference call that got flagged for where the tight end caught the ball anyway. By now we all know that playing pass defense isn't his forte. He was assigned to play in the box all game and help limit the running game of Carolina. After a bad start, he finished with 12 tackles including 4 for losses. He was fast, active and all over the place. Anytime the Saints made a good play against the run, I saw Harper involved. Consider that the Saints fell down 14-0 with about 7 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Carolina would only score 6 points the rest of the day. Give Harper a lot of credit as he was a big reason the Saints were able to turn this game around.

Darren Sharper: B+ (3.21) Sharper, per usual, was extremely good in pass defense. He also had 9 tackles and had two terrific open field tackles (once on Smith and once on Williams) to stop the Panthers from getting huge gains. Delhomme tried to throw a slant pass to Smith near the end zone which Sharper read perfectly and almost picked off. The only negatives were a stupid personal foul hitting Steve Smith out of bounds to give the Panthers 15 yards, and a HORRIBLE angle on the long touchdown run by DeAngelo Williams. That's twice in two weeks now that he's allowed a breakaway run for a touchdown by taking a bad angle on the runner. He just doesn't have the recovery speed anymore to make up for mistakes like that, so once again while Sharper is terrific the Saints were victimized by his limitations.

John Carney: A- (2.67) Can't say anything bad about Carney. He did his job. He hit a 40 yard field goal right down the middle to give the Saints a 23-20 lead with under 5 minutes to go in the game, which was clutch. He was 3 for 3 on field goals and 3 for 3 on extra points. He doesn't get an A because he made me nervous, twice, by barely making chip shots just inside the right goal post.

Thomas Morstead: B (3.08) Mixed bag for Morstead. His first kickoff of the game barely made it past the 15, and he had a horrendous punt that was not only short but got a tremendous Panthers bounce. That punt ended up being 22 yards. Still, none of his 3 punts were returned and Carolina had no success returning kickoffs. With the game on the line, he got much better. He had two kickoffs deep in the end zone for touchbacks, preventing a Carolina comeback attempt from getting good field position. His biggest play has a very high monster punt that went 48 yards down to the Carolina 2 yard line, where Malcolm Jenkins downed it.

Courtney Roby: B- (2.71) Roby was good on coverage, forcing a fair catch on Morstead's first punt. He was disciplined and downed kickoffs deep in the end zone. He took one out and was able to get past the 20. He averaged 23 yards on 2 returns, so nothing special there but no mistakes either.

Defensive Player of the Game: Roman Harper
Special Teams Player of the Game: John Carney

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Comments

Agree with everything but Sharper

Come on you got to give him a break he did take a bad angle but he had to come from the otherside of the feild and come on Porte or Greer was right there too and Sharper was till closest to catching him.So I agree bad angle but to say anyone would have caught Williams right there if follish.

I also beleve as I stated before there was no way Jake wasn’t gonna hold onto the ball.He knew that he wasn’t gonna throw a pick if he would have they would have lost all momentem.The best way to beat us is not throw it,they used the best and to me most effective tactic to me.Sharper should get a A just for scaring the he’ll out of the Car team to where they wouldn’t even throw it on 3rd and long with the lead .

I give the whole secondary a A+ cause they scared the hell out of everyone except Steve Smith of course that dude anit scared of nothing.In my 30 years of football ive never seen a team so scared to throw the ball (and not have a rookie QB in and even then i’m not sure)

Take that one in WHO DATS teams are actually scared of us.This is a great D guys we take the QB out we take their best rec out then all we have to do is stop the run

by darshiva420 on Nov 10, 2009 8:00 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I also disagree...

I don’t believe the personal foul was Sharper’s fault. On the replay, Smith clearly saw the hit coming and stepped out of bounds at the point of impact, followed by a temper tantrum to draw that flag.

by jack_casse on Nov 10, 2009 9:13 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

That late hit call was pitiful. Smith was running down the sideline, and got hit at the same time he took his first voluntary step out. Don’t know how you’re supposed to defend that, if what Sharper did was a foul.

What you have to do is to turn his little body over so that when he does get it, he lands on his head and he doesn’t come back in for a while." -- Gregg Williams on Steve Smith.

by FuSoYa on Nov 10, 2009 9:52 AM CST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Roger that

S.Smith has a knack for that stuff, he knew where he was going, Sharper had some momentum behind him and the push was kinda waist high, hard to pull up. Wasn’t a Hammer job.

You think you know, and you don't know, and you never, ever will.-Jim Mora Sr.

by metryman on Nov 10, 2009 5:04 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah...in the replay, it looked to me like

Sharper launched the “late hit” before Smith even stepped out of bounds. If you tiptoe along the sidelines, then that’s what happens sometimes – you get jacked up.

And later in the game, it seems to me (highly scientific, I know) that a Saints player got jacked up out of bounds in a worse way than Sharper hit Smith, and it wasn’t called…oh well.

"In the end, the bread was in the pudding." -- Bobby McCray

by HansDat on Nov 10, 2009 8:26 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Can we let Marvin Mitchell...

go? He maybe good on ST, but the past two games hes been in on the defensive side of the ball, hes gotten used. Maybe, i dont recall correctly but I don’t like seeing RBs and TEs running past him and his confused body language.

"For us, there is no spring... only the smell of fresh wind before the storm."
-Conan of Cimeria

by tlsk1066 on Nov 10, 2009 9:57 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

good recap...

thank you

by TigerPaw on Nov 10, 2009 9:58 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I'm glad you caught that missed tackle by Will Smith on first Williams run

I noticed that too last night while I was re-watching the game.

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by Saintsational on Nov 10, 2009 10:10 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, looked like the Jiggy Man thought it was 2 hand touch

seen that replay several times now and if you can get your hands on someones body you can reach for their legs/ankles? He’s having a good yr. I ain’t mad at him…

You think you know, and you don't know, and you never, ever will.-Jim Mora Sr.

by metryman on Nov 10, 2009 5:08 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Hell if nothing else grab his shirt and try to slow him down for your “buds” to come help you.

by FriarBob on Nov 10, 2009 9:42 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I was thinking the same thing

And maybe Fresh Prince thought Jazzy Jeff was coming in from the other side and would hit him low to jack him up. I’m completely overusing “jacked up” tonight – I LOVE THAT PHRASE right now.

Which reminds me, does anyone else enjoy that feature they do on Monday Night Countdown “C’mon Man!”? I dig that big time whenever I watch it.

"In the end, the bread was in the pudding." -- Bobby McCray

by HansDat on Nov 10, 2009 8:30 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Both are great, what tookem so long?

we been talkin like that in N.O. all our lives. Side note: did anyone catch the 09 Poker championship this week with the 21 yr. old and the Maryland lawyer w/ The Saints Lids (hats) pretty good exposure there?

You think you know, and you don't know, and you never, ever will.-Jim Mora Sr.

by metryman on Nov 10, 2009 10:43 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Randall Gay

I think Gay’s grade should be a B-. I noticed on a few running play that he just took poor angles and attempted to many arm tackles. He was fairly solid in pass coverage but his tackling has to improve. I like the guy, heck he even shook my son’s hand before a game last year. Good guy and good player but I hope he improves on his tackling techniques. By the way, my voice left me Sunday night. That dome was loud and I paid for my contribution to it with a sore throat and loss of voice lol.

by narco301 on Nov 10, 2009 11:27 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

all i have to say is

porter and greer are awesome, and have been playing lights out all year.

by DrewBreesManCrush on Nov 10, 2009 12:12 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Hopefully Greer's injury isn't too serious

by AKAY47 on Nov 10, 2009 12:24 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I think Pressley turned the defensive game around

it seemed like we were getting manhandled and pushed off the ball until Pressley came in. And, as a result, I guess you can give Hargrove a B something, but it appeared to me he was getting so outplayed early on that he had a lot to do with the Saints getting down 14-0. And clearly there was a need for an adjustment. He made some plays later on, but I expected more from him vs. the run. I guess he will do better vs other teams who aren’t so good at running the ball and I guess we now know why Big Sed starts when healthy, but all in all he would have had a grade of D if you take away his TD which seeemed like a bad call. I like him as a player and person, just being honiest here,

"Indecision may or may not be my biggest problem" - Jimmy Buffett

by Philinwood on Nov 10, 2009 1:29 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

A minus for Carney b/c he made u nervous

Funny, Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger on that one, I’m nervous,think we’re all nervous even on PAT’s with that guy…..LOL

You think you know, and you don't know, and you never, ever will.-Jim Mora Sr.

by metryman on Nov 10, 2009 4:58 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

looks good

i don’t agree with your conclusion that Jenkins got lucky with not getting a PI called on him. He seemed to have his hands straight up in the air and his head turned around. Thought it looked good to me.

Superbowl bound!!!...I know! do you?! Go Saints!!

by skinnykinney on Nov 10, 2009 6:50 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Oh man, i saw it completely differently. I was SHOCKED he was not called for P.I.

I think he was damn lucky on that one. That non-call was HUGE…

"They're ready to be like 'Same Old Saints'" - Roman Harper, on each of the New Orleans Saints vanquished foes of 2009

by Hollywoo! on Nov 10, 2009 8:53 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

gotta like how the D played

and especially how many tackles for losses we had this game. it’s a product of the same thing that gives up huge 60+ yard touchdowns, but i like that aggressive style of defense. and it seems to be working—we’re still winning games by an average of 3 scores (16.1 ppg), and in large part that’s due to a defense that actually scores points. which is nice.

by jful on Nov 10, 2009 9:18 PM CST reply actions 0 recs