NFL Grade 10: Unstoppable saints get an "A +" for victory in the eruption, the Patriots get an "F" for defeat

The scoreboard operator in Cincinnati should probably ask for a bonus this week, as the Saints had a serious job on Sunday in their 51-14 win over the Bengals.

With this win, the Saints have now won eight straight games, representing the longest streak of wins in the NFL. Although New Orleans had great victories in its series, this one was perhaps the most impressive because it arrived on the road against an AFC playoff opponent in a situation that had all the qualities of a trap match.

If we learned one thing about the saints during this period, it is that their offense is on the verge of stalemate. If you try to remove a weapon, they have three other weapons to replace it, and the worst for opposing defenses is that Drew Brees knows how to use all the weapons in his arsenal, as he has proven against the Bengals.

In the first half only, Brees was playing with the Bengals defense as he led the Saints to a touchdown of the five possessions of their first half. On the first score of the Saints game, Brees threw a perfect seven-yard shot at Michael Thomas, who was pretty well covered by William Jackson of Cincinnati. Unfortunately, good coverage does not mean anything when you play against the Saints.

Of course, Brees is not content to touch the receivers, he also loves passing passes to his opponents, and he played a lot against the Bengals. Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara have a total of 104 passing yards against Cincinnati, including 28 on a touchdown by Ingram.

Do you know what Brees did in the first half? He showed his skills in the two-minute exercise. After Marcus Williams chose Andy Dalton to prepare New Orleans with the ball on the 18-yard Bengals line with eight seconds to play, Brees went to work and it only took him a while. a game to charge the Bengals.

It's a surprise that the Bengals' defense even showed up for the second period after Brees split them for the first two quarters of the match. Brees was nearly perfect in the first half, scoring 18 out of 20 for 214 yards and three touchdowns (Brees threw for a total of 265 yards). With those three touchdown passes, Brees now has 508 points for his career, placing him in front of Brett Favre for the second time ever.

Brees would probably have scored 508 touchdowns from the Bengals defense if the Saints had not gone down in the second half. With the Saints at 48-7, coach Sean Payton decided to let Teddy Bridgewater play the fourth quarter.

The Saints are officially the scariest team in the league right now and we give them an A + for their dominant victory over the Bengals, and you know what, we're also going to give the dashboard operator an A + also.

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New Orleans 51-14 on Cincinnati

It's hard to say what was most impressive in this match: a Saints defense that completely shut down the Bengals, or a New Orleans attack that equaled the team's franchise record in terms of points in a match on the road. Drew Brees had 265 yards and three touchdowns, while leading the Saints to score points in the eight possessions he had on the field (six touchdowns and two goals). Alvin Kamara (two touchdowns) and Mark Ingram (104 yards rushing, 54 yards rushing) also scored with a back over 100 yards. Defensively, the saints harassed Andy Dalton: They fired him four times and forced the Bengals quarterback to launch two interceptions.

We put as much effort into writing this note as the Bengals in this game, so they only get that sentence.

Chicago 34-22 against Detroit

After letting Matthew Stafford get sacked 10 times in week 9, things did not improve for the Chicago Lions offensive line. For the second week in a row, Stafford was destroyed when the Bears sent him off six times. Things got so bad for Stafford in this game that he actually seemed to be waiting to be fired every time he touched the ball.

The Bears ground game was slowed down by the Lions, but that did not matter because Mitchell Trubisky was on fire. Trubisky had 355 yards and three touchdowns in a game where the Bears led 26-0. Allen Robinson had his biggest day with the Bears, the former Jaguars catcher who had six passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns. The total number of yards was higher than Robinson's in his last three combined games (91) with the Bears. Rookie wide receiver Anthony Miller also exploded, totaling 122 yards and a touchdown. The downside in this A- is for Cody Parkey, who might have had the worst chance of a kicker in the history of the NFL. Parkey missed two extra points and two placements, but the difference is that all four kicks hit the right and missed.

Washington 16-3 over Tampa Bay

The Redskins were beaten with multiple injuries before the game started, but that did not stop them from winning a nasty victory. The Redskins have generally perfected the defense of "bend but not break" in this game. On the one hand, they allowed the Bucs to go into the red zone five times, but on the other hand, they restricted Tampa to zero touchdowns. One day when Tampa missed two placements, Dustin Hopkins went for the Redskins scoring 10 of his 16 points.

In what may be the oddest offensive day in NFL history, the Buccaneers totaled 501 yards, but scored just three points. It was the smallest number of points scored in an NFL game by a team that had accumulated more than 500 yards of offense. If you're wondering how this statistical line could possibly happen, here's how: The Buccaneers have entered the 30-meter Washington line. six time and left with only one goal in the field. The other five possessions resulted in two fumbles, one interception and two missed goals.

Tennessee 34-10 on New England

The Patriots failed in all phases of the match in this defeat with a poor performance of their attack, their defense and even their special teams. The return of Sony Michel (11 races, 31 yards) did nothing to trigger a ground game of the Patriots who scored only 40 yards. Defensively, the Patriots had no answer for a Titans attack that had scored for his first three goods. The 24-point margin makes the game tied for the Patriots' second-biggest loss since 2003 in a match where Tom Brady begins.

Titans coach Mike Vrabel has spent eight seasons playing for the Patriots and this has been shown because he really knew how to attack them. The Titans beat the ball in this match with 36 attempts that led to 150 yards. When Tennessee can move the ball to the ground, it opens the way for Marcus Mariota. Mariota had 235 yards and two touchdowns and is now 11-0 in career when the Titans totaled 35 or more staves in a game. Most of Mariota's yards went to Corey Davis, who had seven passes for 125 yards and one touchdown. Defensively, the Titans stifled Tom Brady, sent him back three times and kept him under constant pressure.

Kansas City 26-14 on Arizona

Someone in Arizona eventually received the memo that David Johnson was to receive the ball more often. In his biggest game of the season, Johnson touched the ball 28 times and scored 183 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Chandler Jones amassed two of the five bags from Arizona while the Cardinals forced Patrick Mahomes to record his lowest pass total of the season (249 yards).

For the first time this season, the Chiefs' defense may have surpassed his attack. Not only did the chiefs fired Josh Rosen five times – with two of those coming from Chris Jones – but they also chose it twice, which resulted in one of Kansas City 's three touchdowns. Although the Chiefs' offense was under control for most of the match, Tyreek Hill still managed to rack up huge numbers with 137 total yards (117 receiving yards, 20 yards rushing) and two TDs. reception.

Buffalo 41-10 on the New York Jets

It seems that all the bills needed to solve their offensive problems consisted of playing the role of a quartermate who had not started the game for two years. For his first game since 2016, Matt Barkley shredded the Jets defense for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Although he has been on the team for less than two weeks, Barkley apparently had enough time to develop serious chemistry with Robert Foster (three catches, 105 yards) and Zay Jones (eight catches, 93 yards). yards, a touchdown). Barkley received serious help from a hasty Bills attack of over 200 yards (212) and a Bills defense that limited his opponent to less than 200 yards (199) for the second. consecutive week, marking for the first time since 1999 a defensive shot by Bills that off.

This game has been a disaster from start to finish for the Jets. On the one hand, their attack was defeated three times on each of the first four goods of the team. After getting their first game of the game midway through the second quarter, Josh McCown celebrated the event by launching a few interceptions later. McCown has only amassed 135 yards and has been sacked three times. The Jets' 199-yard mark marks the first time since 2013 that they have been below 200 yards at home.

Cleveland 28-16 in Atlanta

Forgotten their offensive in the red zone, the Falcons must work on their offensive play from the 1-yard line. The Falcons virtually lost that game early in the fourth quarter, having had three chances to hit the ball in the end zone from the 1-yard line. Atlanta failed all three attempts and got zero points. The Falcons attack was basically a disaster all the second half with two turnovers, two setbacks and a failed conversion of the 1 yard line. Defensively, the Falcons conceded 211 rushing yards, which is the maximum that the team has lost in a match since 2014.

If we downgraded Brown's 2018 project now, we would give him an A + after the way their rookies played against the Falcons. Nick Chubb had 176 yards, including a 92-yard touchdown in the third quarter that set the franchise record for the longest period of points. Chubb also had three passes for 33 yards and one touchdown. The first pick in the NFL draft also had a memorable day. Baker Mayfield completed 17 of 20 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns. Mayfield completed his first 13 assists and did not start incomplete until the second half. It's almost as if Todd Haley was holding back the Browns' offensive because the unit looked much better since being fired.

Indianapolis 29-26 on Jacksonville

After wearing the Jaguars throughout the 2017 season, we begin to feel that the defense of Jags is now the weak link in this team. Despite 320 yards and two Blake Bortles touchdowns and a huge Leonard Fournette match (109 yards, two touchdowns), the Jags lost this one because their defense could not stop the Colts. Indy scored a touchdown on four of his first five possessions while the Jags quickly fell behind on 29-13. The Jags did in fact commit only one offensive mistake in the match. The latter arrived late in the fourth quarter when Rashad Greene lost a fumble, while Jacksonville was trying to create equality or take the advantage.

The Colts' decision to sign Eric Ebron begins to look like one of the most underrated movements of the 2018 off season. The former pick of the first round, which had only scored 11 touchdowns in four seasons in total with the Lions, now has 10 touchdowns with the Colts as a result of a three-game match against Jacksonville. Ebron not only caught two touchdown passes, he also ran into another. Andrew Luck 's winning streak continued as he racked up 285 yards and three touchdowns. The total of touchdown means that luck is just the third quarterback in the history of the NFL to launch for three touchdowns or more in six consecutive games.

Los Angeles Chargers 20-6 on Oakland

It's a good thing that Melvin Gordon is in good health because he carried the Chargers attack to Oakland. Gordon only played his second game since Week 7 and totaled 165 yards. He had a 93 yard rushing performance and 72 yards with a touchdown touchdown. Defensively, Isaac Rochelle collected 1.5 of the Chargers' four bags in the match. The Chargers' defense was not perfect in this match, but they kept the Raiders out of the end zone, marking the first time of the season that the Chargers held their opponents without touching.

The biggest problem the Raiders had on Sunday was that their offense completely collapsed each time they penetrated deep into the Chargers' territory. The Raiders penetrated inside the 25-meter line four times in this match and the disaster hit each time, while Oakland only totaled three points over the four possessions. A Raiders practice ended when the team failed with a fourth goal and a goal from the starting line. Derek Carr lost a fumble to the Chargers '21-yard line, and the third ended because Carr made the awful decision of JETER À GARDE a pass in the fourth game of the Chargers' 19-yard line. The Raiders play in the red zone and are so bad that they sum up their nightmarish season.

Green Bay 31-12 above Miami

The Dolphins' special teams were a resounding success in Green Bay with a blocked punt and a false punt that was eliminated for the fourth time. Unfortunately for Miami, they just were not as good in the other two phases of the game. The attack returned the ball twice, including an interception by Brock Osweiler in the third quarter which allowed the Packers to easily equip themselves. As for the Dolphins' defense, they fought in the red zone: the Packers made four trips in this part of the field and scored one touchdown on four possessions. The Dolphins entered Sunday's game with the ninth best defense of the NFL red zone.

Aaron Rodgers was the most important player for the Packers offense, but the offensive midfielder Aaron Jones. Jones wrapped the Dolphins defense for 145 yards and two touchdowns in just 15 runs. The Packers' defense suffocated Brock Osweiler with six different players picking up a bag. The defense also imposed two turnovers, including a break-in on Miami's initial possession after the Dolphins drove to the 14-meter Green Bay line. The Packers have been unbeatable at Lambeau Field this year. Including victory over the Dolphins, the Packers are now 4-0-1 on the season in home games.

Los Angeles Rams 36-31 on the Seahawks

With an average of 108 yards rushing, Seahawks rookie Rashad Penny led the Seattle attack that devastated the Rams to 273 yards and, surprisingly, Seattle's was lost. We say surprisingly because the loss of L.A. was the first time in franchise history that the Seahawks lost a game in which they ran more than 250 yards. Before Sunday, they had been 12-0 in reaching that mark. The Seahawks made only one big mistake in this game, that's when Russell Wilson lost a fumble in the fourth quarter. The turnover led to a Rams touchdown that gave LA a 36-24 lead.

Aaron Donald continues to be an unstoppable machine. The defensive lineman collected 2.5 of his team's four sacks while the Rams exerted steady pressure on Russell Wilson for much of the four quarters. Donald was not the only star to win the Rams: Jared Goff (318 yards, two touchdowns), Todd Gurley (160 yards total, a touchdown) and Brandin Cooks (109 yards total, one touchdown on the ground) have all been very successful. games at the attack.