NEW ORLEANS -- Drew Brees had a pretty good day for the New Orleans Saints, tying an NFL record with seven touchdown passes and throwing for a career-best 511 yards. Here is a look at three more Saints who were "up" and three who were "down" in Sunday's 52-49 victory over the New York Giants.
UP
K Kai Forbath: Forbath is now 1-for-1 on field goals as a member of the New Orleans Saints -- and what a 1 it was. Forbath drilled a 50-yarder as time expired -- and he actually earned the game ball from Saints coach Sean Payton ahead of Brees, who said that was perfectly fine by him. Forbath deserves plenty of credit for making all seven extra-point attempts as well, since they all mattered in a tense shootout.
TE Benjamin Watson: Oops. I went on the radio Sunday morning and suggested that Watson's career-high 127 yards in Week 6 were a bit fluky, but that he could still have nice performances with something like six catches, 60 yards and a touchdown once in a while. Shows what I know. Watson had nine catches for a new career-high of 147 yards and a touchdown. ... I still don't think you can count on 100-yard games consistently from the 34-year-old for fantasy purposes, but maybe Jimmy Graham really was the only thing standing in his way these last few years.
WRs Marques Colston, Brandin Cooks, Willie Snead: They deserve to be singled out individually, but too many guys loaded up on big days for the Saints' offense. Colston, 32, found that same fountain of youth that Watson has been sipping from with eight catches for 114 yards and a touchdown. It was his first 100-yard game of the season but the 28th of his career, tying him with Joe Horn for the franchise record. Cooks had six catches for 88 yards and two touchdownss. Snead had seven catches for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Snead lost a critical fumble in the fourth quarter, but he got drilled with a perfectly-placed hit before he had secured the ball.
DOWN
CB Delvin Breaux: Breaux had a rough time trying to stop two other guys from his shared hometown of New Orleans -- Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. Breaux gave up three touchdowns to Beckham, two on pick plays close to the end zone and one on a 50-yard bomb where he gave up his tight coverage late while turning to locate the ball in the air. Breaux was also flagged for a crucial defensive holding penalty that nullified a sack-fumble in the fourth quarter, but Payton made it clear he disagreed with the officials' call repeatedly in his postgame press conference.
CB Brandon Browner: Browner had too many penalties to blame the officials -- four of them for a guy who was already leading the NFL in penalties this year. He got way too overzealous on a tackle out of bounds early in the game, had a pass interference and two defensive holding penalties -- all on touchdown drives. The Saints embrace Browner's physical style, but he has to be smarter about it.
S Kenny Vaccaro's tooth: Vaccaro was missing one of them after the game. He said he lost it on the first play of the game.