The New Orleans Saints saw some bright spots in their 16-10 loss Sunday to the Pittsburgh Steelers, most of which are gathered at the top of the leaderboard among the highest graded Saints in this game by Pro Football Focus.
Highest-Graded
- CB Kool-Aid McMinstry – 80.7
- WR Chris Olave – 73.9
- LB Kaden Elliss – 72.3
- WR Devaughn Vele – 70.1
- EDGE Chase Young – 69.1
Despite surrendering a touchdown to 6-foot-7 Steelers tight end Darnell Washington, McKinstry still led the team in qualifying graded players. Only wide receiver Barion Brown had a higher grade for the team, but he took only 12 snaps in the Paris match.
McKinstry otherwise had a strong game. With cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. starting opposite him, the boundary corners were asked to play up against the line of scrimmage much more often against Pittsburgh’s physical pass-catchers. That played into McKinstry’s strength of press coverage and physicality.
That shined throughout the vast majority of the game.
Olave, Elliss Vele and Young were otherwise bright spots throughout the matchup. It’s no surprise to see the four of them among the highest graded players. The Saints had a decent day through the air with few drops or miscues from the pass-catchers. Meanwhile, the edge defenders and pass rushers had a solid game applying pressure to Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in his drop-back scenarios.
Lowest-Graded
- OL Jeremiah Wright – 39.2
- S Jonas Sanker – 45.8
- TE Noah Fant – 47.7
- DL Colby Wooden – 50.1
- T Taliese Fuaga – 50.9
After impressing in his first test against the New York Giants, Wright struggled a bit more in his first career start. He was credited with allowing a sack, hit and pressure during his 41 reps against Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, there was no run game to be found behind the team’s offensive line.
The line struggled so much that the team had to take to the air in a fourth-and-goal from the one-yard-line because of the team’s faulty protection.
A talented offensive line in New Orleans has had a lot of trouble gelling and creating consistency this season, Wright appears to be another player impacted by the team’s inefficiencies in the area.
Fuaga also finished among the bottom five among qualifying players. His pressure numbers have been high this season. Often left on an island to fend for himself, pressure continued to get through, including a sack and near-fumble by Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt.
The team’s rushing defense was almost as bad as the team’s nearly historicly low rushing offense. Wooden, the defensive tackle that saw the most snaps in the game, takes the brunt of it with a low grade.
