Carl Granderson made an appearance in the opposing backfield versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the first time in over two months. Granderson registered two tackles for a loss, the first of which was the first of five fourth down stops by the New Orleans Saints defense.
It was good just to see Granderson step back up and make plays. Saying it's the first time in over two months isn't for humor or intended to exaggerate. The last time Granderson recorded a sack or a tackle for loss since the Saints' Week 4 matchup against the Buffalo Bills.
Granderson was a popular player to float in trade conversation then he went quiet. Fans have impatiently waited for the edge defender to pop back up. It happened in a big way on Sunday. His first TFL showed his awareness and became a statement play for the rest of the game.
If history repeats itself, Carl Granderson is about to find his groove
This is kind of par for the course with Granderson. The end of the season is his favorite time of the year, because he finds the most success there. Sometimes he starts strong, like this season, but the middle of the season is rarely kind to Granderson. He's only brought down the quarterback 5.5 times in the middle third of the season throughout his career. That's less than 17 percent of his career sack total
Granderson's best season came in 2023 when he had 8.5 sacks. Three of those sacks came in the last five games of the season. 4.5 of the sacks came in the first six games. That gave him just one sack in the middle third of the season.
This year played out quite similar so far. All of Granderson's 4.5 sacks came in the first four games. It felt like a sure bet that he'd surpass his career high. The Brandon Staley system felt transformative. A couple of months later, there's questions of where does he land in the pecking order moving foward. He's likely in line to be a rotational guy.
The trend is best shown by this year and 2023, because of the high level of success to start the season. It makes the midseason valley hard to ignore. Other years didn't even have that early peak, but they did have the late surge. It'll be interesting if this game carries over to Granderson making impact plays again this season. In years past, that's exactly what's happened.