Week 5 Saints Snap Counts and Observations

A closer look at the snap counts for the Saints from their Week 5 win over Washington, with some observations from the game.

Author:
John Hendrix
Publish date:
Oct 11, 2021 10:06 AM EDT

The Saints improved to 3-2 on the season after a hard-fought win over The Washington Football Team on Sunday. New Orleans is going to enjoy their bye week and looks to recover in a big way by getting some key players back for Week 7's matchup against the Seahawks. Here's a closer look at the snap counts from the 33-22 win, as well as some observations from the game.

Alvin Kamara had a stellar game for the Saints and was a huge reason why they got the win.

Offense

Calvin Throckmorton, James Hurst, Ryan Ramczyk, Jameis Winston, Cesar Ruiz - 56 (100%)
New Orleans went 4-of-11 on 3rd Down while running 55 total offensive plays. They held the ball for 23:34 as opposed to the 36:26 that Washington had the ball. They netted 369 yards on offense, picking up 98 on the ground and getting 271 in the air. Jameis Winston was sacked twice on the day, but overall the offensive line was able to hold together for the most part. Winston finished 15-of-30 for 279 yards, tossing 4 touchdowns and a pick en route to a 108.2 rating. He also had 6 rushes for 26 yards. He ended up having 2 fourth quarter touchdown passes. He also had a sack/fumble courtesy of Chase Young. On his pick, it looked like Andrus Peat might have stepped on his foot, which might have caused him to not be able to fully step into the throw and get Taysom Hill. However, Winston took full ownership of the turnover.
Andrus Peat - 50 (89%)
Peat went out for several snaps, but was able to return. Will Clapp went in for him, while Landon Young was used in Jumbo sets.
Alvin Kamara - 49 (88%)
Kamara was a lot more active in the passing attack, and Jameis Winston said after the game that he wanted to get the ball to him more. Kamara finished with 16 carries for 71 yards and a 23-yard rushing touchdown while adding 5 catches for 51 yards and a score on 8 targets in the receiving department. Getting Kamara going is never a bad thing, and this helped the Saints tremendously.
Adam Trautman - 48 (86%)
Trautman caught both of his targets for 43 receiving yards. The biggest one came in the final quarter on the Kamara touchdown drive where he had a 32-yard reception following the Winston sneak on 4th-and-1. He's had a relatively disappointing start to the year in the stats column, but this was good to see.
Marquez Callaway - 46 (82%)
Callaway was targeted 8 times and hauled in 4 catches for 85 yards and 2 touchdowns. The first was the Hail Mary one at the end of the half, and he said that he is supposed to be the guy that gets the tipped balls. He had great positioning, and Washington wasn't ready for it. On the second touchdown, Callaway attributed the tight end and wide receiver for the picks to get wide open.
Kenny Stills - 40 (71%)
Stills was targeted 5 times on the day, catching 2 balls for 17 yards. We'll see how long he hangs around on the active roster with Tre'Quan Smith and Michael Thomas expected back. However, he's done a nice job so far for New Orleans.
Ty Montgomery - 25 (45%)
Montgomery didn't register any stats, but was key on a downed punt. Just a few plays later, Taylor Heinicke was picked off by P.J. Williams. Special teams matters.
Garrett Griffin - 17 (30%)
Alex Armah - 16 (29%)
Will Clapp - 11 (20%)
Taysom Hill - 9 (16%)
Hill caught one pass for 11 yards and was targeted twice. He took a vicious shot to the head that left him down on the field for a little bit. However, Hill sat up and then took a cart ride to the locker room. We'll see how bad the concussion was, but he gets to rest up.
Chris Hogan - 8 (14%)
Devine Ozigbo - 7 (12%)
Juwan Johnson - 6 (11%)
This was the first time we've really seen Johnson not be a factor at all. Some of that could have been because of the way the game unfolded.
Dwayne Washington, Deonte Harris - 2 (4%)
Harris only caught one pass, but it was a big one for a 72-yard touchdown bomb from Winston. He left the game with a hamstring injury, however. He did post something on Twitter from his account, so hopefully it's nothing serious. He's been their most consistent receiving threat this season.

Defense

Malcolm Jenkins, Marshon Lattimore, Demario Davis - 83 (100%)
Jenkins finished with 7 tackles (5 solo, 2 assisted). Davis finished with 8 total tackles (5 solo, 3 assisted) and had a sack, 3 QB hits, and a tackle for loss. Lattimore only had one solo tackle, but ended up having 6 pass breakups on the day. He's truly playing at a high level.
Pete Werner, Marcus Williams - 82 (99%)
Werner had a career-high 13 tackles on the day. He's certainly played well and is showing a lot of people what the Saints saw in him. It'll be interesting to see how his playtime is handled when Kwon Alexander returns.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson - 77 (93%)
Cam Jordan - 67 (81%)
Jordan had 4 total tackles (3 solo, 1 assisted) and finished with a QB hit, tackle for loss, and a pass defense. This was one of his better games of the season, and hopefully we start to get some sacks from him down the stretch.
Paulson Adebo - 61 (73%)
Whether it was intentional or not, Adebo saw some of his snaps go to Bradley Roby. There was nothing wrong with him physically, but some of the drives had him on the sideline behind Dennis Allen. Adebo had a key pick near the goal line to prevent Washington from getting any points.
Shy Tuttle - 45 (54%)
Tuttle had a big PBU on the 2-point attempt when Washington made it 27-22.
Tanoh Kpassagnon, Montravius Adams - 37 (45%)
Kpassagnon had 4 total tackles (3 solo, 1 assisted) to go along with 2 QB hits and a pass defense. Adams had 3 tackles (1 solo, 2 assisted) and one was a tackle for loss. He also had a pass defense, and on the day, the Saints had 12 of them.
Payton Turner - 36 (43%)
Malcolm Roach - 34 (41%)
Carl Granderson, Albert Huggins - 31 (37%)
Granderson had 2 QB hits and notched the other Saints sack.
Bradley Roby - 20 (24%)
Roby was rotating in at corner for Adebo some. Last week, Roby got all the snaps that P.J. Williams normally would get. We'll see how this keeps working as the Saints get healthier.
P.J. Williams - 18 (22%)
Williams had the interception after Washington was pinned deep. Taylor Heinicke shouldn't have thrown that ball, but Williams was in perfect position to make the pick.
Kaden Elliss - 6 (7%)

Special Teams (Top Reps)

Blake Gillikin should be NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, and there's not much else to say. Sean Payton gave him a game ball for his performance, and used 'outstanding' four times when talking about him. If there was one sore spot, it was the missed extra points from Cody Parkey. He shouldn't be around long.