PFF Grades from Saints’ win over the Giants

Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

By Ross Jackson

When the highest grades given to a player following a win go to a bunch of players under the age of 28, that’s typically a great sign for a team looking to lean into its youth movement. That’s the situation for the New Orleans Saints as they exit Week 5 with their first win of the season as the team toppled the New York Giants 24-16.

Here are the top and bottom five Pro Football Focus grades for players that took at least 15 snaps in Sunday’s win.

Top 5

DT Bryan Bresee – 90.8
CB Kool-Aid McKinstry – 82.1
CB Alontae Taylor – 81.9
WR Rashid Shaheed – 80.4
QB Spencer Rattler – 72.6

All five of the top-graded players are 27 years old or younger. Four of the five are all still on rookie contracts and each of the five produced highly-impactful plays that lead to the team’s win.

Bresee had a brilliant punch out on Giants running back Cam Skattebo that was recovered by safety Jordan Howden and returned for an 86-yard touchdown. Rattler and Shaheed connected not only for an 87-yard bomb for a touchdown, but also a clutch eight-yard fourth-down pass in the middle of the field that helped to ice the game.

Taylor finished the game No. 3 on the Saints’ tackle list with eight total. He also had no missed tackles and four of his eight were considered “stops” or failures for the offense. He held pass-catchers to just five yards on three catches by immediately making strong plays at the catch point and a 77.1 passer rating as the nearest defender in coverage.

McKinstry brought in his first and second career interceptions on back-to-back defensive drives and a late pass breakup in the endzone on a fade attempt down the left sideline. McKinstry’s game earned him a game ball after the game from head coach Kellen Moore. Rattler received one, as well.

Bottom 5

OL Torricelli Simpkins III – 41.7
TE Juwan Johnson – 43.6
RB Alvin Kamara – 47.3
DT Davon Godchaux – 48.0
TE Jack Stoll – 50.4

Simpkins has received a lot of praise throughout the season for the way that he’s stepped in, so having some struggles against a very talented Giants defensive line shouldn’t be cause for alarm, though his 0.0 pass block rating will inspire some critiques. Simpkins is credited with letting up five pressures against New York, in addition to committing a penalty. Both guards were tested in this matchup, along with rookie tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. who all scored sub-60 grades in pass blocking, but the offensive line gave up no sacks in the process. So no need for alarm bells coming out of this one.

Though bolstering the performance on the line will be a point of emphasis as Rattler was under pressure for 38.7% of his dropbacks, per Pro Football Focus. Next Gen Stats charts the quarterback under pressure for 54.5% of his dropbacks because the analytics sites qualify pressures differently. In either case, it’s more than what you’d want for a young quarterback, even though he managed it well.

Johnson and Kamara never really got going in this game. The tight end dropped a pass in the right area of the field as the team was driving and Kamara had a drop in striking distance. They’ll each look to get back on the ball next week against the New England Patriots.