Who was the Saints’ breakout player vs. the Giants?

The New Orleans Saints topped the New York Giants 14-11 on Sunday afternoon in one of the ugliest wins of the season, improving their record to 3-1 under interim HC Darren Rizzi.

This week’s player is more of a standout than a breakout, but it felt wrong to give this recognition to anyone else after his impressive performance. The standout player from the Saints’ Week 14 victory over the Giants is DT Bryan Bresee.

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

At this point, it’s evident that Bresee looks forward to playing the G-Men. He followed his rookie performance against New York—four total pressures, two sacks, and two tackles for loss—with three total pressures, one sack, two passes batted at the line of scrimmage, and the game-winning blocked field goal in his sophomore season against the Giants this past Sunday.

The 2023 first-round NFL Draft pick’s eight sacks rank third among defensive tackles and are tied for 17th league-wide. He is now just five sacks behind former Saints edge rusher and current Cincinnati Bengals All-Pro defensive end Trey Hendrickson, whose 13 sacks hold sole possession of the league’s top spot.

Bresee is quietly developing into one of the more dominant interior defensive linemen across the league, though I’d like to see him focus on improving his run defense come the offseason.

Honorable Mentions: DE Chase Young

• Highest-graded member of the Saints in Week 14 with an 89.6 overall grade (87.8 coverage, 75.0 pass rush, and 71.2 run defense), per Pro Football Focus.
• Young’s 12 total pressures (10 hurries and 2 hits) set his single-game career high, and his 30% win rate was the highest in the league through Week 14 (min. of 25 snaps), per PFF.
• One pass breakup that nearly resulted in his first career interception.