Saints Snap Counts and Observations from Week 15

The Saints played a fairly complete game against the Giants on Sunday, and that type of football could go a long way with just a few games left.

It hasn't happened a lot this season for the Saints, but when it has, it's a beautiful thing to watch them put together a complete game. New Orleans had a convincing 24-6 win over the resurgent Giants in their final home game of the 2023 calendar year. Here's a closer look at the snap counts from Week 15 with some observations and notes from the game.

Offense

Dec 17, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receiver A.T. Perry (17) is tackled by New York Giants cornerback Adoree' Jackson (22) during the second half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Saints offense finished with 296 total net yards (87 rushing, 209 passing) and held the ball for 33:27. New Orleans finished 2/2 in the Red Zone and has been 9/10 over the past three games. They also finished 6/12 on 3rd Down. The Saints have moved up to 17th on 3rd Down (38.27%) and are 21st in Red Zone (52%). This could not be more important to keep that going with a handful of games left.

• Andrus Peat, Cesar Ruiz, Erik McCoy, James Hurst, Landon Young - 62 (100%)
  Overall, the offensive line did really well. The lone sack wasn't on them. The protection was pretty good for Derek Carr all day. Landon Young did a great job filling in for Ryan Ramczyk, and who would have thought that Andrus Peat would be so strong at left tackle for the team? Peat might be their best offensive lineman this season, and that's saying something. 
• Derek Carr - 59 (95%)
  Carr arguably had his best game in a Saints uniform, finishing 23/28 for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns for a 134.8 rating. The 3 touchdowns were a season-high for Carr, and New Orleans is now 5-0 when he has 2 passing touchdowns or more in a game. There was only one throw that could have ended badly with it going to the flats to Foster Moreau with a Giants defender in a position to potentially pick it off. Overall, he showed a lot of patience at the line of scrimmage to diagnose a complex defense, and if he can play this way for the final games, then he will do a lot more than win back fans.
• Foster Moreau - 45 (73%)
  This was the fifth game of the year where Moreau has played in over 40 snaps for the Saints. It's at least 50% of the offensive work or more in each contest. He's the guy who does all the dirty work, but has been a little more active in the passing game lately. He caught 3 of his 5 targets for 13 yards.
• Lynn Bowden - 37 (60%)
  Bowden was targeted 5 times and caught 3 passes for 31 yards, which included a long of 19. He returned kicks on the day too. He's the team's best blocker for sure. I remember receivers coach Kodi Burns telling me that he has 'that dog mentality in him' and has been a real big part of the running game.
• Rashid Shaheed - 36 (58%)
  Shaheed's return was a welcomed sight. He caught 3 of his 4 targets for 36 yards, including a long of 19. There was a lot of respect for him by the Giants defense, but Shaheed made some big plays and New Orleans also tried to get him on the deep ball a couple of times. His return work on punts was solid too.
• Alvin Kamara - 32 (52%)
  Without Olave, Kamara became that much more important to the Saints offensive attack. He carried 16 times for 66 yards (4.1 yards/carry) and caught all 5 of his targets for 44 yards. He has to be at the top of his game down the stretch for New Orleans to succeed.
• Jamaal Williams - 29 (47%)
  It wasn't quite the impact from last week for Williams, but he finished with 8 carries for 24 yards and caught a lone target for 2 yards. He's normally rock solid in blitz pickups, but he absolutely got beat on Carr's only sack.
• Juwan Johnson - 27 (44%)
  Johnson was one of the many veterans Dennis Allen challenged personally this week, and he responded. He only caught 2 catches for 38 yards, but one of those was a 23-yard touchdown to put the Saints up 14-6. It hasn't been an easy campaign this year for Johnson, but it's good to see him and Carr connect on a play that we've been waiting to see all year.
• A.T. Perry - 26 (42%)
  Perry had 2 catches for 34 yards, but none was bigger than the 3rd-and-16 conversion in the 4th Quarter. He made an outstanding catch and had a great individual effort to get the first down. We've said it plenty, but the Saints really like him and his future can be really bright.
• Keith Kirkwood - 25 (40%)
  Kirkwood cracked the end zone for the first time since 2018 (Cowboys). He's absolutely one of the best stories inside the locker room. Sometimes you never know how many injuries and things a player has dealt with until they say it, and he's a prime example of it.
• Marquez Callaway - 13 (21%)
• Taysom Hill - 12 (19%)
  Considering how the Saints had success on offense without Hill being a factor on the stat sheet at all was pretty impressive. Perhaps it was less work coming off of the foot injury, but he had just two touches for minimal yards. Hill also missed a wide open Lynn Bowden after wanting something deep. That's a throw that has to be made.
• Max Garcia - 11 (18%)
  Trevor Penning is really seeing a fall here. He wasn't the jumbo guy ahead of Landon Young and now the veteran Max Garcia is ahead of him. That's concerning for sure, but both Garcia and Young did a formidable job. 
• Adam Prentice, Jimmy Graham - 10 (16%)
  All Jimmy Graham does is make an impact when his number is called upon. Sometimes it's about heating up at the right time, and that's what Graham is doing. He scored in his third straight game and finished with 2 catches for 9 yards. Again, he has to keep playing.

Saints Are Now In 'Best of Three' Series

Defense

Dec 17, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New York Giants and New Orleans Saints players react after a play during the first half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

It was a fairly impressive defensive display against a hyped up Tommy DeVito. They were able to bring him back down to earth and really limit the big weapons the Giants had in Saquon Barkley and Darren Waller. The New Orleans defense allowed 193 total yards (60 rushing, 133 passing), while allowing just two conversions (2/16 - 12.5%) on 3rd Down. The Giants averaged 3.2 yards/play and DeVito was sacked seven times on the day. The Saints defense will certainly be tested against the Rams, but they've played extremely well over the past two games.

Dennis Allen said some of the veteran, older players were challenged last week 'to step up and be at their best when their best is required'. 

Allen said, "I think a lot of those guys took that as a personal challenge and I thought you saw some of our veteran players really step up and play at an exceptionally high level. I think Demario (Davis) obviously was one of those guys. The first part of that game, I thought he was all over the place and I thought he played really well in the game."

• Jordan Howden, Paulson Adebo, Alontae Taylor, Demario Davis, Tyrann Mathieu - 62 (100%)
  Davis had a killer day to remember and set the tone early for the defense. Dennis Allen said he was one of the veterans who  He finished with 10 total tackles (8 solo, 2 assisted), a sack, quarterback hit and 2 tackles for loss. He might have been their best player on the field, or at least certainly looked like it. Taylor was right behind Davis with a couple others with 6 tackles (4 solo, 2 assisted), including a tackle for loss. There were some stops he made that were textbook for sure, even the one that drew an unwarranted flag for playing football. Howden and Mathieu had relatively quiet days on the stat sheet, which isn't a bad thing at all.
• Isaac Yiadom - 61 (98%)
  Yiadom finished with 3 pass breakups to go along with 3 total tackles (2 solo, 1 assisted). He was involved in the Tommy DeVito going to the ground play that led to a scuffle. He's playing exceptionally well without Marshon Lattimore in the mix, and at this rate he might get paid a good bit on the market. 
• Carl Granderson - 51 (82%)
  Granderson picked up another sack on the season to bring him up to a team-high 7.5.
• Pete Werner - 45 (73%)
  Werner also had 6 total tackles on the day (3 solo, 3 assisted). 
• Bryan Bresee - 37 (60%)
  Bresee continues to be a huge spark for the interior rush and is living up to a lot of the first-round hype as a rookie. He had two sacks and obviously had a nice celebration to follow his first one.
• Zack Baun - 34 (55%)
  Baun keeps being a part of the 3rd Down rush packages, and you can see that he's excelling there. Why it took so long to put him there is beyond me, but better late than never.
• Nathan Shepherd - 30 (48%)
• Tanoh Kpassagnon - 29 (47%)
  Kpassagnon had a career-high three sacks on the day to go along with his 6 tackles (5 solo, 1 assisted), which was tied for second on the team behind Davis. He had 4 quarterback hits and 3 tackles for loss and was disruptive all game. That interior rush with him and Bryan Bresee is coming along.
• Lonnie Johnson - 23 (37%)
  Johnson got hurt towards the end of the game and it's a knee injury. He's considered week-to-week at this point. He was in the locker room after the game with a brace on his leg.
• Khalen Saunders - 22 (35%)
• Cam Jordan - 21 (34%)
  Jordan's reps decreased from last week and was blanked on the stat sheet. The sub rush packages are starting to see more Baun in them.
• Kyle Phillips - 9 (15%)
• P.J. Mustipher - 7 (11%)
• Johnathan Abram - 2 (3%)
  We'll likely see him on Thursday night with Johnson injured.
• Nephi Sewell - 1 (2%)

Special Teams (Top Reps)

The Saints got two really big kicks from their rookies. One of them came via a 50-yard field gaol from Blake Grupe and the other was a beautiful punt by Lou Hedley that was downed inside the 10-yard-line. Making the big kicks when it matters most is what the Saints have to have in the final three games. The return of Rashid Shaheed also brought a boost to the punt return game.

• J.T. Gray, D'Marco Jackson, Zack Baun, Lonnie Johnson - 19
• Ty Summers - 18
• Nephi Sewell - 17
• Johnathan Abram - 15