Below are my final Saints special teams player grades for the regular season, ranked highest to lowest. My Special Teams MVP for the 2011 season is Thomas Morstead (for the 3rd straight season). Any surprises?

Thomas Morstead 3.48 (16 games graded)

Korey Hall 3.22 (3 games)

John Kasay 3.17 (16 games)

Courtney Roby 2.81 (7 games)

Jonathon Amaya 2.47 (5 games)

Below are my final defensive player grades for the 2011 regular season, ranked highest to lowest. My Saints Defensive MVP for the 2011 season is Jabari Greer.

Make the jump to see how every single defensive player graded out for the season. Then talk about whether you agree or not.

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My one big regret that will stay with me for a long time from this game will be Gregg Williams' decision to leave man coverage when trying to seal the game while sending the house blitzing with under two minutes left and 85 yards to go. Given the Saints' complete inability to stop Vernon Davis all game long, that decision was shocking. And of course, that decision also had dire consequences.

What's incredible is how well the defense played all game until four minutes left in the 4th quarter when they had an epic meltdown to completely piss the game away. What's so hard to stomach about those last two 49er drives that went for 80 and 85 yards respectively is they only had a measly 242 yards of total offense leading up to that point. That means the 49ers gained 41.5% of their total offense in the game in the final 4 minutes of the 4th quarter. Sickening. What was a heroic performance for three-and-a-half quarters is thus completely ruined by a complete failure at the end.

For the last time this season, here are your very final player grades. The GPA's represent the player's performance in the playoffs only (2 games)

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Reviewing this game one last time is truly painful but I feel it is my duty to close out by grading every game, true to form.

I will say the Saints, to me, lost this game on coaching. I think, offensively, the run to pass ratio was absurd. The Saints looked like the Lions a week ago offensively. I realize the 49ers are outstanding in run defense but the Saints never really even tried to attack them. Even down 17-0, the Saints got back in the game and the entire second half was close. 63 passes to 14 rushes is inexcusable in any football game, ever. We'll talk more about the defensive side of the ball when I grade that unit, but leaving Malcolm Jenkins on an island in single coverage against Vernon Davis was also insane.

In the end, I blame the coaches for this more than the players. Both Payton and Williams, the masterminds, had very bad days at the office. That doesn't mean the players won't get bad grades - some of them will - but I'd like to underline that they weren't put in a position to succeed. Particularly the safeties in pass defense and the offensive line.

Below are the player grades for the final time this season. Remember, the GPA's are for the playoffs only (so two games combined).

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Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson mostly embarrassed the Saints defensive backfield and there's really no other way to put it. Those two have done that to numerous opponents this year and I don't know how much shame you can put on this because Megatron is clearly almost impossible to stop.

Still, the defense was shredded and they did not perform well. They could have tackled better, the pressure (blitz or no blitz) was non-existent and the coverage wasn't good either. The saving grace was a couple of timely third down stops and a couple of crucial turnovers thanks to Mr. Jabari Greer.

This was the kind of game were a couple of defensive plays were going to make the difference. Still, with the crowd noise and the advantage of playing at home, I expected a better performance from the Saints defense. They'll face a completely different opponent next week that, if nothing else, is at least a little less explosive. I hope they show up and turn in a much better showing than what we saw in this game.

Below are the grades with reset GPA's to reflect the playoff performance as separate from the regular season.

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The first half of the Saints 45-28 victory over the Lions was stressful but the offense flipped a switch in the second half which eventually led to a comfortable lead. Most impressive was five touchdowns on their five first drives of the second half which put the game out of reach.

The Saints put together an impressive combination of effective running, top shelf blocking and explosive passing. Quite simply, this is the best offense in NFL history, I'm going to come out and say it. The statistics already prove it, but they certainly pass the eye test as well. Anyone who thinks this offense will struggle against the 49ers outdoors needs to have their head examined and is clearly in denial.

Below are the grades and remember, the GPA's reset as I keep the regular season grades separate from the playoff grades.

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Regardless of the yardage total they give up, you have to feel good about the defense only giving up 20 points or less in five straight weeks. With an offense like they have, that's more than enough to get the job done. The Saints did get gashed for an alarming 6.8 yards per carry, but they generated two turnovers and they limited the Panthers' effectiveness in the passing game. Seems like every week the Saints take away one aspect of an opponents offense and allow another to be successful, and in the end it usually translates into a sub-20 point output. I think I can learn to live with this. Below are the grades.

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For the sixth time this season and third consecutive game, the Saints offense broke the 40 point barrier. They also gained 617 yards, so needless to say the grades turned out pretty well from top to bottom. I'm sad watching this regular season come to an end but at least we get to watch this offense go to work again in the playoffs. Make the jump for the final grades of the 2011 regular season, and the final GPAs for the 16-game season.

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I'm starting to come to terms with this Saints defense. Once again they did a tremendous job against the run and I'm starting to become a believer that the interior is meshing well together. Stopping the run the last few weeks has come at the expense of giving up some massive passing yardage, but that tactic hasn't been yielding a ton of points given up...so I'll buy into it.

The Saints, by the way, have now skyrocketed to 10th in the NFL against the run based on their recent success, though their pass defense is a woeful 30th. Teams right now are moving the ball at will on the Saints in between the 20's, but they are stalling in the red zone and the most impressive part is that they are having a really hard time converting 3rd and shorts.

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While the night belonged to Drew Brees for breaking Dan Marino's record in the Saints 45-16 win over the Falcons, the group I want to commend after this masterful performance is the offensive line and the running backs.

The Falcons entered this game fourth overall in the NFL defending the run and the Saints positively manhandled them. The Falcons are fortunate the Saints had a passing record to achieve, because otherwise the Saints could have easily reached 200 yards on the ground, if not more.

There was simply nothing this statistically solid unit could do against the Saints' power running. Whether it was Sproles, Ivory and/or Thomas, it didn't really matter. Whoever was fed the ball was gashing the Falcons. Part of that was the runners for sure, but a huge part of that was the incredible blocking all night long.

The Falcons never stood a chance against the Saints' physicality, and that's what's most scary to me about this offense. We already knew Brees could throw, but if they can run the ball like this, too? Goodnight! 23 carries for 164 yards, or 7.1 yards per carry. Wow!

On to the grades...

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While 20 points is the most the Saints have given up in three weeks, this was by far their best performance of the three weeks. For the first time perhaps this season the Saints looked strong against the run, good at pressuring the passer and solid on the back end.

All in all, while the quarterback they were facing in Christian Ponder looked nothing short of abysmal, the defense's confidence has to be soaring after a solid performance like this. The Vikings passed for 102 yards, but that total was only at about 6 yards until the game got out of hand and the Vikings were able to total some garbage stats. Other than the shovel passes to Toby Gerhart and a short yardage run by Adrian Peterson, literally nothing worked against the Saints.

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Despite a sloppy start that included alarming mistakes, laziness, lack of focus and penalties, the Saints scored 42 points. The offense is that good. To be able to overcome some of the glitches and put up a point total like that is amazing.

Granted, they didn't exactly play the best defense in the world, but I think the most encouraging thing we saw was that this was one of the more comprehensive wins the Saints have had as a team. Right now Brees is so good I'm not sure the Saints can be beaten. The Monday night affair against the Falcons will be a huge test, but at this point in the season the Saints have to feel extremely good about their chances at a No. 2 seed, and perhaps a run at another title.

On to the grades...

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For the second week in a row the Saints defense gave up 17 points, which was good enough for a win, but made us somewhat uncomfortable in the process. This week, of particular note, was a very clear game plan to contain Chris Johnson. Mission accomplished in that department as he finished with just 11 carries for 23 yards.

The Saints secondary continues to get gashed, though, and this time they yielded 314 yards, most at the hands of a rookie quarterback, on just 18 completions. Something needs to be done about these explosive plays the defense gives up. It would be more tolerable if they were getting turnovers, but once again the Saints went a full game without getting one. Luckily the Saints aren't turning the ball over either.

I thought this was the best interior defensive line play we've seen from the Saints all season, but the coverage continues to under perform. 10-3 sure feels nice, though, and the playoff berth allows us all to start rooting specifically for seeding. Regardless of how bad the Saints play defensively, the reality is I'll take it every time if I'm offered a 17 point output. Every single game.

On to the grades...

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The Saints offense put up 22 points and if you had told me before the game that would be their total output, I would have been fairly pessimistic. In the end, though, considering how flag happy the officiating crew was, 22 points was about as much as you could hope for.

Still, you can't help but feel like the offense left points out there thanks to a combination of poor discipline and lack of execution in the red zone. As much as I fault the players at times for making mistakes, I thought the play calling in this game was often questionable.

Most bothersome was the 3rd and 7 pass play on the Saints final offensive series that was almost intercepted and stopped the clock with 1:45 left. The Saints should have run the ball there since the Titans had no timeouts and they would have given the ball back to them deep in their own territory with well under a minute left. Instead, they gave us the scare of a lifetime. While the execution was poor, I just don't understand throwing the ball to Chris Ivory, a player who hasn't caught a pass all season, in that situation. If you're trying to kill the game, that's not the way to do it.

I was also annoyed by the fact that Pierre Thomas ran for 10 yards on the very first play of the game but only saw one other carry for the remainder of the first half. The team's refusal to run is fine, but you would think they'd at least attempt to do so a bit more in sub 40 degree temperatures against a team that can't stop the run.

Instead the pass to run ratio was 47 to 26. I realize the penalties forced their hand a bit but the play calling has to be more balanced. The Saints, after all, are a very good running team, they just happen to be better at passing. On to the grades...

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One would assume a strong performance if you went into the Lions matchup knowing the Saints defense would give up 17 points. Sadly the defense was largely atrocious.

I will commend the Saints for carrying out the defensive gameplan. Perhaps you can't really blame the players for staying true to that gameplan. It was simple: stop the run and double team Calvin Johnson all game long. For the most part they did both. What was left, though, was boulevards for the Lions' other playmakers to run through.

The Saints took their chances playing man coverage and trusting their pass rush and neither delivered. The Lions took advantage from a yardage perspective mostly due to the Saints limitations in both areas. In the end, the team yielded 17 points to an elite offense, so maybe the gameplan worked.

Ultimately, I think the gameplan worked more because of the Lions killing themselves than the defense actually doing much positive. Right now the Saints can't generate a pass rush, they're mediocre at stopping the run when they apply themselves despite the mammoths they signed inside, they drop just about every opportunity to kill the other team's drive and they're underperforming in man coverage which is supposed to be their strong suit.

All of the negativity aside, I still believe in this defense. Sure, I'd prefer an elite pass rusher, better linebackers and a defensive back that can catch, but this unit has played well at times this season and with the best offense in the NFL they don't need to be the best defense, they just need to be pretty good. In this game, they just didn't live up to my somewhat limited expectations. On to the grades...

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Based on how well the Saints offense performed Monday night, the defense and special teams could have completely mailed in this game and it still would have turned into a win. At times, the defense did mail in their performance.

Before the game, Jonathan Vilma said the key would be to stop the run, making the Giants one-dimensional so they focus on getting good pressure on Eli Manning. The team was successful at controlling the line of scrimmage, but they got almost no pressure. What resulted was a boatload of passing yardage yielded, though much of it came in garbage time in the 4th quarter.

Again, the bottom line is it didn't really matter how the defense (and special teams) performed in this one because the offense put up 49 points and the team was never going to lose this game.

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When your offense puts up 49 points and gains 577 yards, a lot of people need to be playing well. Needless to say the grades are going to be good all around. Very, very good.

Quite simply the Saints did whatever they wanted against the Giants. I feel like in the Payton era we've seen maybe four times a season where the offense fires on all cylinders and cannot be stopped at all. This was one of those nights. Drew Brees led the troops with yet another masterful performance. Make the jump for the grades.

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As far as I'm concerned, there's no need to look any further than the 4th and 1 overtime play. That stop was a season-defining moment and a reference point for the rest of the year. Say what you will about the struggles of the defense this year, that moment turned boys into men, figuratively speaking.

Moments before that, of course, the defense was gashed on a drive that almost went 95 yards in under two minutes with no timeouts, to cost the Saints the game. But while the defense gave up huge chunks of yards at times, the red zone defense came up big by keeping the opposition from getting in the end zone. That happened for the second straight week, just in time for crucial NFC South rival matchups.

This defense will never be confused with one of the best, but we're starting to see improved linebacker play, stronger showings from Roman Harper and better run defense. That should be good enough to win games with an offense like this. The coverage units happened to be pretty good, too.

Oh, and then there's the kicking game...outstanding as usual. I keep waiting for this Kasay experiment to blow up in the Saints face but his performance continues to be incredibly reliable. Garrett Hartley who? Make the jump for the grades.

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I'd love to gush over how awesome the offense was, but they had numerous opportunities to kill this game and they simply didn't. The offense settled all too often for long field goals when their drives stalled. The team's inability to convert third and manageable was most maddening in this one, though the lack of success running the ball certainly didn't help move the chains either.

The offense made some plays, no doubt, but the big plays came most often from the defense and special teams in this one. Luckily for the Saints John Kasay converted on a number of long kicks I didn't expect him to hit, to help turn inefficient drives into points. The 16 carries for 41 yards was lame, and the 43 passes to 16 rushes is hardly a semblance of balance.

But what I found most positive about this game was Drew Brees only getting hit twice, no sacks and, most importantly, no turnovers. The Saints offense avoided all major mistakes, and ultimately that's why they won the game. Make the jump for the grades.

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This was an incredibly solid performance by the Saints defense as they kept the Bucs out of the end zone until late in the 4th quarter. Anytime the Saints can hold someone to 16 points you have to feel extremely confident about their chances of winning the game at about 99%.

I told Ralph Malbrough prior to the game that Jo-Lonn Dunbar playing at 'mike' may actually be an upgrade to the defense in this matchup because the Bucs were clearly going to run and Dunbar's specialty is his physicality in the trenches. In turns out the Vilma injury that held him out may have been a blessing in disguise. I'm not saying I prefer Dunbar to Vilma by any stretch, I'm just saying I like having Dunbar in the middle when it's against a smash mouth football team.

I will also say the Saints were extremely fortunate that Josh Freeman's accuracy in this game was by and large atrocious. He did not play a good game and I was not impressed by his showing at all. Not trying to take anything away from the Saints, who did a great job defensively, but does Freeman ever throw the ball downfield? I mean ever? To me he always settles for the underneath route and allows his safety valve to pick up tons of yardage to pad his stats. Maybe that was by design against the Saints because they blitz so much.

Nonetheless, below are the grades which point out a very solid performance by the Saints.

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The offense got off to a destabilizing start with John Kasay's first field goal attempt hitting the upright. I had painful memories of how the Rams game started last week when I saw Kasay miss that kick. This game couldn't have been more different, though.

The Saints committed to the run, were physical in the trenches and they dominated the line of scrimmage. Most notable was the 195 yards rushing at 7.0 yards per carry. Everyone contributed to that cause: Ivory, Thomas, Sproles and even Brees.

Each of the last two week's games started the same way: a Kasay miss. But the team responded in completely different ways to it. It wasn't a flawless performance by any means, but it was good enough to get a win and it was best when it mattered.

The biggest surprise to me in this one was what a difference the return of Zach Strief made. While I do think that helped a tremendous amount, I think it was less about his personal play and more about the increased focus of the offensive line. No doubt having a more consistent player at right tackle helped the overall performance, and most encouraging was the increased sense of urgency and energy that the team played with.

Let's just hope we see the same thing again next week because it's another must-win in Atlanta.

Make the jump for the grades!

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Overall it's hard to fault the defense too much for what transpired in Sunday's game. Stopping Steven Jackson was the one poor demonstration, but otherwise they got good pressure and rendered A.J. Feeley mostly useless. Poor tackling, lack of speed sideline to sideline, inability getting off blocks and mental mistakes were all still showcased in this game, though, so there's a lot to repair. Still, 21 Rams points were either scored or set up by miscues elsewhere, so even with Jackson gashing the Saints' D at will it's hard to point fingers at them too much. The Special Teams performance was horrid. By far the worst showing of the season. Besides Morstead there wasn't a lot of positives. On to the grades...

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I'm not going to spend much time writing an intro here. For lack of a more polite term, this was a complete &%#$ show. If I could point to one reason for the epic failure of the offense, it would be horrendous play by the offensive line. The interior wasn't physical on passing plays and the exterior pass blocked as bad as I've ever seen them do it. Chris Long practically stopped the Saints' highly potent offense all on his own. Brees played poorly, but I think that can also be traced back to the lack of protection he was getting.

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The Saints defensive backfield gave up 97 yards passing to the Colts in this game. That is a shocking number. Literally under 100 yards. The pass defense throughout was outstanding.

The run defense got gashed at times but the numbers look worse than actuality. Take back the two huge runs (42 by Delonte Carter and 24 by Donald Brown late) and you're left with just 89 yards on 21 carries. That's still not great, but it's a lot better than yielding 155 yards rushing at 6.7 yards a pop.

It's hard to be too alarmed by the statistical lopsidedness of the effort, though, when the end result is a 7 point total. If the Saints defense can hold teams under 20, they will win pretty much every time with almost no exceptions.

This was a tough one to grade because there were so many three and outs that there just wasn't much tape to review. Consider the Saints ran 73 offensive plays vs. just 45 for the Colts. That means the Colts were on offense roughly 38% of the time.

This wasn't about one player putting up a huge sack total, or one guy notching double digit tackles. It was about a unit consistently getting stops. How weak the opponent was played a big part in that, no doubt, but the execution by the defense should be applauded. Make the jump for the grades.

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Safe assumption when you score a franchise record 62 points that there's going to be a lot of good grades. So many guys played so close to perfect in this game it really is a joy to watch the game film.

It's not often you see a performance with hardly a mistake. It really was a complete effort on offense, defense and special teams, and when that happens sometimes you get a 62-7 blowout. Too bad they couldn't save some of those points for another game.

The GPA's across the board are going to get a nice boost after this one. I gave out three A+'s for the first time ever, and the worst grade was a C+, also a record. Make the jump for the grades.

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Poor tackling, an inability to cover tight ends, no pressure on the quarterback and leaky run defense. Does that sound familiar? Yep. The 2011 version of the New Orleans Saints defense strikes again.

I don't see how I can really put it any more politely than "not good." They gave up 26 points, so there's that. But they also gave up 420 yards of offense, got no turnovers, got no sacks and yielded 4.7 yards a carry. The word "atrocious" comes to mind.

In fact, the Saints can thank Josh Freeman for not being all that good overall with the low point total. He threw terrific passes on both touchdown tosses, but beyond that he was largely inaccurate and non-threatening. I'm really starting to wonder if this unit is going to put it together this year. Below are the... gulp... grades.

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Well, I think it's fair to say that was the worst offensive performance of the season to this point. The Saints combined their lowest point total (20) with their highest turnover total (4) in one game this season. That's not typically going to yield much success against any opponent.

The lack of success can be summarized in many ways: sloppy play, risky passes, poor blocking, no success running the ball, ugh, I think it's time to stop. I don't know how much of this I can stomach but for better or for worse, here are the grades.

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I thought this was an atrocious performance by the Saints defense. I'm sorry, but I just wasn't impressed. If their pursuit, tackling and ability to get off blocks continues to stay at this level, I just wonder how far the Saints can go in the playoffs.

The offense right now is better than 2009's version, I firmly believe that, but the defense is much worse. They are not playing well (and please spare me the good performance against Blaine Gabbert). The performance against the Bears was solid, but beyond that I am worried about this defense.

I will say, the officials really helped keep a number of those Cam Newton drives alive with questionable flags. The front four's ability to get pressure was non-existent. The linebacker play, once again, was a real weakness. It wasn't all bad, though, as the interior of the defensive line showed up at times.

Below are the grades.

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