Despite a tough start to the season all around, the New Orleans Saints certainly have some young playmakers that are making big strides.

Sunday's 31-19 loss to the undefeated Buffalo Bills was a much closer contest than many anticipated, with the Saints holding their own up until the final few minutes of the fourth quarter. Sure, there were plenty of mistakes made on both sides of the ball, but the team that took the field looked much different than the team that was smacked 44-13 by the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3. 

Most importantly, quite a few younger players stepped up and made the big plays when necessary... and this week's Pro Football Focus grades highlight that. Here are the best and worst performers of the week, with a minimum of 20 snaps played. 

Highest-Graded Offensive Player: RB Kendre Miller

Miller is really beginning to standout as a go-to guy for the Black and Gold to backup star running back Alvin Kamara, as he broke free for 65 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries.

The third-year player was the highest graded player on offense by a long shot: his 82.8 overall grade was his best of the season by far, and he improved in every individual metric as well.

Miller's pass blocking grade of 79.1 was a complete turnaround from his 28.7 grade last week, and he broke 90 for the first time this season in any category with a 90.7 pass grade. While he struggled with run blocking, his grade of 59.4 in that area was still around average. 

Lowest-Graded Offensive Player: TE Jack Stoll 

There have been highs and lows for Stoll to start the season... and this week was certainly a low.

Stoll's overall offensive grade of 44.0 was roughly 10 points worse than the second-lowest performance of the day: Chris Olave's 54.3. The tight end scored a pass grade of 57.2, a pass blocking grade of 37.2 and a run blocking grade of 45.0, putting him in the below-average range in just about every category. Despite catching his lone target for seven yards, Stoll couldn't do enough away from the ball to help his teammates find success. 

After a really impressive two weeks against San Francisco and Seattle, it's tough to see Stoll fall back to where he was in Week 1. We'll see if he can bounce back next week, or if his two strong games were a bit out of the ordinary. 

Highest-Graded Defensive Player: S Jonas Sanker

Sanker is only a rookie, but he's already giving his all to the Saints.

The safety had plenty of miscues and key missed tackles early in the matchup against the Bills -- and don't worry, that's reflected in some grades -- but he rebounded well with an impressive interception snag, three pass breakups and five tackles. 

Sanker recorded a defensive grade of 85.0, putting him nearly 20 points higher than the next closest player. His coverage grade was even higher than that, coming in at 87.0. That doesn't mean everything went perfectly for Sanker, as he posted a measly 25.2 tackling grade and a slightly below-average run defense grade of 50.8. Still, it's refreshing to see a young player working his tail off to help his defense. 

All in all, it's a promising sign for one of the franchise's youngest players. 

Lowest-Graded Defensive Player: LB Pete Werner 

Werner continues to underachieve for New Orleans, and he's becoming a major liability on defense.

The linebacker posted an overall defensive grade of 45.9... unfortunately for him, that's been right around his average so far this year, barring a solid showing in Week 3. His inability to wrap players up was evident in his 27.8 tackling grade, and he was consistently below average in run defense (49.8), pass rush snaps (52.7) and coverage (53.9). Absolutely everything that could've gone wrong did go wrong for Werner, and he looked lost on the field. 

There's not much else to say about Werner at this point. As a veteran, he's simply got to get better, or the Saints have to accept that this is his ceiling.