Saints vs. Broncos: Denver dominates in Sunday night win

Joel Dreesen failed to record a catch, so at least Tamme made more on an impact that his tight end counterpart.

Fantasy Impact: For those of you who thought Tamme was going to be a huge steal in this year’s draft, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case. He may provide some value in PPR leagues, but Tamme is tough to start until he proves he can be a consistent scorer.

Dave Cariello of SB Nation’s Saints blog Canal Street Chronicles was not really surprised by the poor defensive showing, but he was very disappointed in the play of the normally explosive offense:

After three straight dominant weeks passing the ball, Brees completed just 22-of-42 passes for 213 yards, two scores and an interception. The offense as a whole gained only 252 yards.

Sunday’s game was Colston’s first without a touchdown since Week 3. He has now had at least 10 targets in four consecutive games. Colston has four touchdown receptions over that span.

Fantasy Impact: Colston’s production was on the low end of what we have come to expect from him on roughly the same number of targets, so don’t fret that he had a relatively quiet night. He is still a solid weekly starting fantasy wide receiver as the favorite target within a prolific passing attack.

As the Mile High Report states, the game was won defensively as they made Brees struggle all night long. Brees was just 22 of 42 for 213 yards and two touchdown. He did, however, throw a touchdown pass in his 50th consecutive game:

Graham has now caught a touchdown in four of the five full games he has participated in this season. He has 20 receptions for 315 yards and four touchdowns on the season.

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Brees had thrown at least three touchdowns in four consecutive games prior to Sunday night. The outing was just his second game with under 300 yards passing this season.

Fantasy Impact: Brees’ output was his worst of the season, so it’s somewhat encouraging that a rock-bottom performance from the prolific passer is still OK by fantasy standards. He didn’t lose anyone their fantasy matchup this week. Of course, he didn’t win any, either.

The Saints managed just 252 yards of total offense in the game as the Denver defense stifled New Orleans for the majority of the game.

Fantasy studs and duds

The Saints quarterback is 13-for-25, completing just 52 percent of his passes, for 126 yards. To put that in perspective, Brees completed at least 65 percent of his passes in all but one game last season. Between 2009 and 2011, the Saints quarterback had just four games with a completion percentage of less than 60 percent. He’s done that twice already this season.

On the positive side of the ledger, Brees has a touchdown pass, his 300th touchdown pass. That puts him in pretty exclusive company, one of just seven NFL quarterbacks to reach that milestone. He is now tied with John Elway on the NFL’s all-time list.

Peyton Manning has completed 15 of 20 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns through roughly two and a half quarters on Sunday night. He’s facing little resistance as he continues to methodically lead the Broncos on huge drives down the field.

The Saints don’t appear to have any answer for the Broncos offense, and it looks like Manning is well on his way to bigger numbers.

Sunday Night Football is one of the largest stages for the National Football League, and with that, it carries high expectations of entertainment.

Let’s go through this progression:

McGahee also added one reception for 14 yards, taking the ball right down to the goal line where he would punch it in soon after.

The Broncos clearly want to establish the run game early on, so expect an impressive outing from McGahee tonight.

Graham has 25 catches for 252 yards and three touchdowns in the 2012 season. He had 99 catches for 1310 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2011.

Graham has 25 receptions for 252 yards and three TDs.

Fantasy Impact: Fantasy owners can breathe a sigh of relief. There’s no telling how effective Graham will be on a gimpy ankle, but he’s one of the best fantasy players in a scarce position, and is way too talented to bench.

New Orleans Saints

Denver Broncos

The decision to pull the plug on Tebow-mania and sign Peyton Manning has paid dividends on offense for the Broncos so far. Manning has thrown 14 touchdowns (forth most in the NFL) while being one of just three quarterbacks to achieve a quarterback rating of over 100 on the season. John Fox typically likes his offenses to rely heavily on the run game, but with Manning as his QB, it’s easy to forgive a struggling unit that is running the ball for just 93.8 yards per game, 23rd in the league.

Denver’s defense has also improved, allowing 30 less yards than it did last season. On the surface, the Broncos should be flying in 2012. However, a brutal schedule has led to their 3-3 record.

The Broncos and Saints last met on Sept. 21, 2008, with Denver winning 34-32 at home.

Sunday, Oct. 28, 8:20 p.m. ET