Wow. What a game and if you, like me, are pretty stoked after such a thrilling matchup, perhaps you’ll excuse some rather excited rhetoric in this report.
After staying on the defensive side of the game last week, I decided to look to the other side of the ball and after three and a half minutes of the first quarter was regretting my decision. On a sideline go route, Jimmy Graham, my “Focus Point” for the day, banged his head and left the field injured to various calls from the commentators about concussions and how he may not return. Was this the flaw in my plan?
As it turned out, Graham returned on the next drive and played a fairly pivotal role in what, at the moment at least, appears to be one of the best playoff games ever.
Even with the injury, Graham played a slightly higher percentage of snaps than usual; the 59 plays he was in for equated to 72% as compared to his season average of 70%. In many respects, this was because the Saints as good as abandoned their running game. Whether this was as a result of the early injury to Pierre Thomas or more likely a somewhat pessimistic conviction that using their backs would play into the 49ers hands, who knows? The result was a huge amount of throwing and little to do by way of blocking (in fact Graham was on the field for only three running plays) so let’s get straight into that passing display.
As usual, Graham lined up in a variety of positions on his 56 passing plays. He was split out from the line of scrimmage on 34 of them (60%) and in a two-point stance for all bar seven (88%), so to the earlier question I raised on Twitter: “tight end or wide receiver?” in this game he was very much the latter.
As for his actual receiving, well … up until his last TD, he was held in check by the 49ers' secondary. He was policed by many people in a combination of coverages including both zone and man-to-man, but by the end he had almost become Patrick Willis’ responsibility alone. In essence, it boiled down to this: if he ran an out or hook, from any position excluding wide left or right, Willis had him locked up, but as soon as he ran a go and he was targeted the results were obvious. Two targets, 80 yards, and two touchdowns. It wasn’t that the All-Pro inside linebacker was poor–on both occasions he had reasonable coverage–but he just didn’t have the athleticism to turn while running full speed that Graham did and, in my opinion, not a linebacker playing would have had differing results.
The rest of his receiving yardage accounted to a rather insubstantial 23 yards on six targets with a bad drop as he didn’t secure the ball properly with Willis closing. This isn’t great reward for 47 snaps and that also needs to be taken into account when considering his performance.
Highlight Plays:
The two touchdowns are obvious candidates particularly as in any other game the last one would have been a game-winner, but how about the block downfield that de-cleated Tarrell Brown and sprung Darren Sproles for his go ahead TD.
Areas of Concern:
The drop was bad, but when he was left into block, it was just as well the passes were quick because you got the distinct impression that if Brees was going for a seven-step drop he’d have been sacked just about as he got there. To put it kindly, he didn’t look very robust.
By the Numbers:
Snaps: 59 (72% of all plays)
Running Game: Three snaps – nothing of note.
Passing Game: 56 snaps – seven pass blocking, 49 on routes. Targeted eight times at an average depth of 9.3 yards with five receptions for 103 yards and two touchdowns. He dropped one pass.
In Summary:
Generally held in check, but when he was targeted deep, he made plays. Perhaps not quite as good as the highlights and the numbers will suggest but still unlucky to be on the losing side.
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