By Jeff Duncan | NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Quarterbacks
Drew Brees shook off a slow start, including an interception on the game's first snap, to complete 28 of 38 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns. His passer rating of 103.1 was impressive. Brees was masterful in the pocket, avoiding the Eagles' rush with crafty footwork to buy time so he could find open receivers against the Philly zone coverage. Time and again, he riddled the Eagles on third down, going 6 for 6 for 96 yards, including completions of 22, 21 and 20 yards to Michael Thomas. Brees admitted he underthrew Taysom Hill on a post route in the third quarter. Otherwise, his final three quarters of work were nearly immaculate. Brees mercilessly picked on rookie cornerback Avonte Maddox, repeatedly targeting him in coverage for key completions. Hill, meanwhile, made a couple of nice runs out of his read-option package and threw a beautiful scoring strike to Alvin Kamara that was negated by a holding call on Andrus Peat.
Grade: A
Running backs
The going was much tougher this time around for Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara as the Eagles' stingy front 7 got after the Saints up front. Kamara finished with a hard-earned 71 yards on 16 carries while Ingram added 53 yards on 9 carries, including a big 36-yard run in the fourth quarter. The Saints needed the ground game to set up their play-action passing attack and Ingram and Kamara delivered a solid combined 168 yards from scrimmage.
Grade: B-plus ...
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