Grading the Saints' Loss to Vikings: Just How Low Can this Team Drop?

Sign up for the daily Saints Newsletter by clicking here.

For the fourth time this season, the New Orleans Saints fell, this time to the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings, as the visitors made the Saints 0-for in their home games, 23-13. In a nutshell, the Vikings had their best day of the year offensively while New Orleans had their worst on offense.

Offense = F

For the second game straight, the Saints' offense has looked lost. There was no rhythm to be had. The running game was its usual anemic self, (55-total yards), but the normally reliable passing game hit a brick wall, gaining 87-yards. The offense could only manage a little over 20-minutes on the field, leading to a very tired Saints defense who spend aninordinate amout of time on the field.

Offensive Line = F

This unit has been the weak link of the offense this year, and it showed up in spades against a top-notch Minnesota front seven. No cracks were to be had in the running game. Their quarterback was pressured on almost half of his throws (46.2%), and sacked once. We talked about this group in last week's grading of their performance and what reasons there could be for their lack of production. This is not a good offensive line at all.

Quarterback = F

People can blame Tyler Shough's injured left hand if they'd like. If that is true, then he shouldn't have been on the field. This was, by far, the worst game of Shough's very young NFL career: 16-of-25, 87-yards, two interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 38.1.

Some of that can be blamed on him being new to the NFL and having to deal with the defensive work of Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who dials up some of the more evocative schemes in the league. Maybe it was Shough's injured left hand, which was gloved and had the last two fingers taped. No matter the reasons, Shough looked like a deer in the headlights for most of the game, audibling his team into offensive sets that did not work and having to run for his life way too often, which would partially be his fault for not being in the correct offensive scheme to beat the defensive one. Any way you put it, Shough had a horrible game.

Running Backs = C

We saw a better effort from Kendre Miller on Sunday, the best we've seen in his four years with the team. Alvin Kamara is a shadow of his previous running self. CJ Donaldson ran hard. You can run only so well when there are no holes for you to find (see the offensive line above). There were times where these backs did an outstanding job at helping in pass protection. There were a few times when they didn't. This group was our highest graded on either side of the ball.

Receivers/Tight Ends = D

This group has to do three things well: get open, catch the ball, and block on running plays. They did one thing well when given the chance: catch. When the ball ended up close to them, catches were made. But getting open was a chore. It was almost like they were a step slower than the Minnesota defensive backs. And blocking on running plays was its worst of the year. We believe the PFF grades that we will review later today will bear that out.

Not to kick players while they're down, but when Chris Olave catches the ball over the middle, we noticed he immediately ducks and rolls into a protective ball. If we had as many concussions has he has had, we'd probably do the same, but we wanted to point that out.

Defense = D

Though the Saints D gave up the most yards Minnesota has gotten this season, they also produced three turnovers, two in the red zone. Though we haven't looked at the PFF numbers yet, we believe the tackling improved from Monday night. The return of Carl Granderson made a difference for this group, just not nearly enough to offset the deficiencies.

Defensive Line = D

Grando is the main reason this group didn't get a failing grade. Granderson's 1.5-sacks and his relentless motor were noteworthy. However, allowing Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray to escape as often as he did led directly to big plays for Minnesota. And allowing another running back to reach the century mark (Aaron Jones Sr, 113-yards on 25-carries) is direct indication of a defensive line that does not get the penetration it should to disrupt the ball carrier.

Linebackers = D-

The play of Danny Stutsman drew some attention, but there were too many times he and Pete Werner were out of position on passing plays (not one pass defense between the two of them) and late to the tackling game. Though the two of them combined for 19-tackles, when your two safeties have almost as many as you do (17 between Justin Reid an Jonas Sanker) that means you weren't where you were supposed to be to make the plays. This was a very small improvement from last week, mostly because of the play of Stutsman.

Defensive Backs = F

This group befuddles us. How can a receiver be triple-covered and still make a touchdown grab? Instead of getting to the ball, it was like The Three Stooges were defending Justin Jefferson as the Saints defenders ran into each other, allowing Jefferson's homecoming to be successful. Once again, way too much cushion given to receivers, as defensive backs are giving up large swaths of land for wide outs and tight ends to roam.

Kicking Game = D

For the second week running, punter Ryan Wright rescued this team from a failing grade. The Tulane alum shot some rockets off his foot, his longest a 64-yarder. Meanwhile kicker Daniel Carlson missed an extra point. As we said yesterday, inexcusable. Punt and kickoff blocking was horrendous once again, and coverage was worse than last week.

Coaching = F

This was not a well-prepared unit. The offense had no answer for the Minnesota defense (we wonder why a mobile quarterback like Shough is not moving around more often), the defense gave up more yardage to Minnesota than they had in any game previous this year, and the special teams cannot block or pursue.

This looks to us like a coaching staff that has lost the attention of their players. Three straight losses in your own backyard is not a way to show the fans how important protecting your home turf is. Perhaps a road trip is just what the doctor ordered: a chance to regroup without the pressure of performing at home.

Or this is just not a good football team.

Saints Mailbag

Wednesdays, On SI Saints will answer your questions about what we see from our vantage point. To submit your thoughts or inquiries click here.

Add us as a preferred source on Google