Pierre Thomas dives in to the end zone for his second touchdown.

Just another week, just another win and dominating performance from the defense. You can essentially ignore the last 8 points that Chicago scored, because the Saints were playing a soft prevent defense, as opposed to what they did all game. We talked about Vaccaro’s blunder on that drive, already, but still, the Saints were sitting back. It all worked out in the end and the black and gold sit at 5-0. It’s now that time to look a little deeper and point out the positives, while we pick on a few negatives.

Offense

Passing: A-

Yet another incredibly efficient game from Drew Brees. Although he failed to break 300 yards passing for the first time in his past nine games, he did produce his most precise outing to date. His 29/35 passing was good for an incredible 83% completion percentage. That’s even outstanding against a team like the Jaguars, much less the talented defense of the Chicago Bears. The crazy part of about his great game, is that he only completed 3 passes to wide receivers. That has been the trend for the season so far, but 3 wide receiver receptions is by far the lowest total of the season. Regardless, it still worked out well and the offense was able to do the job without the running game. 

Rushing: F

Oh, the running game. This game was bad enough that I couldn’t even give it a D-. In past weeks, at least one player was able to average over 4 yards per carry. Not this week. Who did have the best ypc, you ask? Jed Collins. The fullback. Yeah, enough said. They averaged 2.4 ypc as a team and simply could not do anything at all. Jay Cutler’s 12 yard rush was longer than any of the Saints’ four ball carriers’ longest carry. I pointed out on twitter constantly throughout the game, how New Orleans lost a ton of yardage on second and short runs. I can think of at least three times that they lost 3 yards or more on 2nd down. They lost 7 on one 2nd and 1. They weren’t even trying to do anything fancy. It was a simple run play that blew up for a 7 yard loss, forcing a 3rd and 8. It’s unacceptable and sooner than later, it will catch up and bite them.

Saints

Drew Brees

No surprise. The 83% completions is just sick. I also failed to mention earlier that he did not throw an interception for the 2nd straight game. That, along with the one takeaway, now has the Saints at +6 in turnover differential. Brees continues to find open receivers that initially look covered. He’s one of the best in the league of throwing his man open and he did it a lot on Sunday.

Pierre Thomas

Let’s go ahead and clear this up off the bat…he’s not here for his running plays. Considering the struggles on the ground for the entire offense, I’m giving Thomas the benefit of the doubt and saying that there was nothing he could do about that. Now, about his contribution in the passing game. The Chicago native was the star of the offense, catching 9 passes for 55 yards and 2 touchdowns. Both of his TDs were beautiful in their own right. The first one was a simple flat route that upon completion looked to be dead to rights. Not only did he fight through a tackle, but he fought through an illegal horse-collar tackle and stuck the ball across the goal line. It was tremendous persistence and was certainly appreciated by his team and fans. The second touchdown came on one of the most patented plays that the Saints have come to have success with. Out of all the running backs in the league, I truly believe that Pierre Thomas runs the screen pass better than any of them. His field vision and slipperiness make it a near lock to pick up at least 10 yards. We can’t leave out the job done by Jahri Evans, Brian de la Puente, and Ben Grubbs, but Pierre runs it to perfection. His 25 yard touchdown on the screen right before half proved to be the decisive score.

Jimmy Graham

Lather, rinse, repeat. Same ole story here. But wait, he didn’t score, you say? It doesn’t matter. He had 10 receptions for 135 yards and just simply continues to embarrass defenses. Charles Tillman couldn’t even defend him. If you haven’t heard, he’s on pace for around 120 catches, 1900 yards, and 120 touchdowns. That’s just plain stupid. Not just stupid for a tight end, but for anyone on the field. Sorry for the slang, but it’s my only way of describing it. He’s unbelievable and although I know they will, I’m going to say it anyway…PAY THE MAN!

Sinners

Offensive Line

I would have loved to leave them off of here due to their pretty good job of pass blocking, but the run blocking was so bad that I couldn’t. It’s unfortunate that while it’s great to see Brees and Graham’s names on the “Saints” list every single week, having to put the entire offensive line on the “Sinners” every week is sad. I’d like to believe that it will get better, but considering that they are healthy, what could possibly change things?

Kenny Stills

The rookie is here for one reason and I’m sure that anyone who watched the game knows why. The horrific drop he had late in the 4th quarter very well could have costed his team the game had it been closer. He had no one within 10 yards of him and the ball was right in his hands. Luckily, it happened in a game that was essentially locked up, so he got away with a freebie to learn from.

Defense

Passing: B

Although none of their games this season have been bad, this one is right behind Week 1 for their worst performance. That says more about how good they were in Weeks 2-4, than anything. I was a little disappointed with Jabari Greer’s inability to slow down Alshon Jeffery and the pass rush didn’t get to the quarterback as much as they have been. The defense as a whole had 3 sacks, but they were all on blitzes. Give Rob Ryan credit for calling those plays early in the game to get to Jay Cutler, because it certainly got things started on the right foot. New Orleans did do a fantastic job of shutting down Brandon Marshall for just about all of the game. He caught a touchdown after the big play to Jeffery late in the game, but he was non-existent other than that.

Rushing: B-

The defense as a whole played pretty well-rounded on Sunday. The big lead at halftime forced the Bears to throw a bit more and get away from the run. Matt Forte had minimal success, but not enough to make a difference. That, along with shutting down Marshall, were the keys to stopping this offense.

Saints

Curtis Lofton

This guy just continues to quietly lead the defense. He lead the team with 9 tackles, including 8 solo tackles. What that means is he’s getting the ball carrier on the ground without any problems. That’s not saying that gang tackling isn’t sometimes a good thing, but when Lofton has a man in his sights, he’s putting him on the ground. His vision from the middle linebacker position is uncanny and he’s been one of the biggest additions to this team. Although Cam Jordan and Junior Galette have been phenomenal, Lofton is my early defensive MVP of the team, especially if you factor in last year.

Kenny Vaccaro

Part of me had a tough time putting him here, because of that blunder on the deep play to allow Chicago to claw a little closer (pun intended). I put the disappointment of one play aside and realized that he played another fantastic game otherwise. He was second in the team with 6 tackles (all solo), a sack, a tackle for loss, a pass defended, and a QB hit. He was everywhere once again and truly played great for 58 minutes of the game.

David Hawthorne

With every week that passes, Hawthorne is getting better and better in this defense. His production this season is certainly what was expected last year when he was brought in from Seattle. He has been fantastic at his inside linebacker position and is using his great lateral movement to make his way in the backfield. He had 5 solo tackles of his own to go along with a sack and 2 tackles for loss.

Sinners

Jabari Greer

Greer had a tough time defending Alshon Jeffery throughout the day. Jeffery’s last big catch came against Vaccaro, but most of the other ones were with Greer in coverage. Greer consistently struggles against big, physical receivers and is clearly declining. Offensive line and corner back will certainly be big team needs come this off-season.

Week 6

The 5-0 Saints now travel to New England to face the 4-1 Patriots. The Patriots are coming off of their first loss of the season at the hands of Cincinnati, but are always tough with Tom Brady in charge. It should be a fun game and I’m very excited to break this one down. See y’all later this week!

Who Dat?!