The Saints pulled off the upset, but who did PFF crown on both sides of the ball?
You have to give the New Orleans Saints credit. At this point, nobody would blink an eye if the Saints lost the remainder of their games while on their way to a high draft pick, but the team showed fight, and their win over Tampa Bay makes things very uncomfortable for the Bucs and their spot in the NFC South. The conditions were rainy, but the Saints fought through it all, and rookie quarterback Tyler Shough continues to make his case to be the future of the franchise.
Here are the highest and lowest graded offensive and defensive players, according to Pro Football Focus.
Offense: TE Juwan Johnson (84.1) & TE Taysom Hill (26.9)
The tight ends bookend this list. Johnson hauled in all four of his targets for 38 yards and an 84.9 receiving grade. The real story of the day was the play of Shough. The signal caller was the second-highest graded offensive player at 83.7. The Saints attempted 20 passes and Shough connected on 13 of them for 144 yards, but it was the quarterback's big scramble that set the Saints in motion.
Other contributors include Kelvin Banks (79.9), Foster Moreau (76.8), and Chris Olave (72.6).
On the flip side, Taysom Hill was a complete non-factor on offense with two carries for negative one yard and a fumble. Hill earned a 34.3 rushing grade and a 17.2 fumbling grade.
Defense: LB Peter Werner (84.9) & DL Jonah Williams (42.3)
Three tackles, a pressure, a hurry, and a defensive stop helped Werner finish as the highest-graded defender on Sunday. As far as coverage goes, Werner finished with the second-highest coverage grade at 81.2. CB Alontae Taylor finished with the highest coverage grade at 82.1 to go along with his interception and PBU on six targets.
Some other Saints defenders who graded out highly were DL Nathan Shepherd (78.3), FS Terrell Burgess (77.9), and LB Chris Rumph II (77.8). Shepherd totaled two pressures, two QB hits, three tackles, and three defensive stops. Burgess finished with an 80.0 tackling grade, which was right behind fellow safety Jordan Howden for the team lead.
Jonah Williams finished with the lowest grade on 23 snaps. The defensive lineman added a defensive stop and a tackle, but was the second-lowest graded run defender at 45.0. Fellow defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard drew an unfavorable grade at 44.6 and finished with a 46.6 run defense grade.