Bryan Bresee's continued improvement helped will the Saints to victory in New York

Has any NFL player won both the Defensive and Special Teams Player of the Week awards for the same game?

That’s how impactful Bryan Bresee was for the Saints on Sunday, when they sure as hell wouldn’t have survived their ugly 14-11 win over the Giants without him.

BRESEE MY GOODNESS pic.twitter.com/GG8Qc5C59E— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 8, 2024

Not only did Bresee make the game-winning play with his ridiculously-athletic leaping blocked field goal in the final seconds, but he also had a sack and two batted passes earlier in the day.

“And really the last couple weeks,” Saints coach Darren Rizzi correctly pointed out – Bresee also had a sack last week against the Rams and 1.5 in the game before that against the Browns, bringing his team-high total to 7.5 on the season.

But then Rizzi quickly added, “I feel like his best football is still out there.”

Earlier this week, Rizzi described his blunt approach to talking with players about the narratives surrounding them when he called himself a “no secrets” guy. He was talking about the criticisms surrounding running back Kendre Miller at the time. But he said he has taken the same approach with Bresee among others.

“Listen, I’ve read the narrative. The narrative is, ‘Oh man, flash plays, then he disappears for a while.’ That’s what he can’t do. He’s gotta just be more consistent,” Rizzi said of Bresee, who was drafted with the 29th pick in 2023 and finished his rookie year with 4.5 sacks in 17 games played.

“So, the last two weeks, he’s had a heckuva body of work. The key for him and for us is to keep him where he’s been the last couple of weeks and playing more consistent,” Rizzi said. “You see these flashes of brilliance out of the player. … You’re seeing a lot of the reasons we drafted the player in the first round. So we’ve talked about some of the things he can get better at on first and second down. But man, his pass rush, his field goal rush, those things have been outstanding.

“Bryan’s young. He’s got a lot of football ahead of him if he stays healthy, and you’ve seen the flashes.”

Bresee certainly doesn’t shy away from that narrative – and to his credit, he never has.

When asked if he feels like he has turned a corner in recent weeks, Bresee said, “Obviously I’ve had some big plays. But, man, still a lot of room to grow, so continuing to work. We’ve still got a lot of games to play. So, just continuing to work and get better and finish this out.”

Bresee said defensive line coach Brian Young has always done a great job of working with him on the fundamentals since he arrived from a very different scheme at Clemson last year. But he said Rizzi and Young have emphasized the fundamentals and the basics even more since Rizzi became the interim head coach last month and promoted Young from an assistant to the primary d-line coach.

The more specific and generic narrative surrounding the 6-foot-5, 305-pound Bresee throughout his two-year career is that he’s an effective pass rusher but a liability against the run who needs to improve his leverage with his taller frame (it’s hard to call a 305-pounder “lanky”).

And that absolutely needs to keep improving. The Saints’ run defense has turned into maybe the team’s single biggest liability in recent years – at least outside of injury issues.

However, the entire defense did step up in that department, too, on Sunday by holding Giants running backs Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary to 53 rushing yards on 18 carries (2.9 yards per carry). Stopping quarterback Drew Lock from escaping with his legs was a different story (five carries for 59 yards). But hey, progress is progress.

Bresee was a big asset in that department. And his batted pass on third-and-8 in the first quarter was a big-time impactful play. Then he had another batted pass on first-and-10 later in the first quarter. Then came the sack on third-and-9 in the second quarter.

But Bresee saved the best for last.

His blocked field goal will be the first play on his highlight reel for life now – no matter how many career sacks he winds up with – because of the athleticism he showed while leaping over the Giants’ line, landing, then reaching his hand up to get just enough of the ball.

Field-Level View of the Bryan Bresee blocked FG 👀📺: Next Sunday vs Commanders (Noon CT - FOX) pic.twitter.com/vpOPlbNUHO— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 8, 2024

“Shep and Payton did a great job, kind of pushing down the long snapper and guard,” said Bresee, who started his explanation of the play by crediting teammates Nathan Shepherd (93) and Payton Turner (98).

“And my job is to get up and get down,” Bresee continued. “So I jumped up – and it didn’t really work how I wanted it to. I kind of buckled on my landing a little bit, and just threw my hand up. But, man, I got a piece of it, just enough I guess. And it worked out. But it was a lot more guys doing their job than just me.

“I really didn’t think I got enough of it at first. I felt it, but I didn’t think I got enough of it. But then I looked back and saw it just kind of missed left a little bit.”

Rizzi said it was ironic that the game ended on that play since his special teams units had their “worst performance in recent memory” throughout the first half of Sunday’s game.

But the blocked field goal was a credit to both execution and coaching. Rizzi said the team had that particular play call up in the game plan a couple times earlier this season, then worked on it a few times in practice Friday. Then he discussed using it with special teams coaches Phil Galiano and Marwan Maalouf as the play approached.

“The last ball (Giants kicker Graham Gano) had hit had come out a little low. So I wanted to get some pressure there in the middle,” Rizzi said. “But really just an unbelievable, phenomenal job by Bryan, individual effort. And some other guys working on the play too to make sure he gets freed up.

“Outstanding. Game-winning play.”

Speaking of narratives, this is where I have to admit I screwed up myself. Earlier this week, I wrote a story about the 10 Saints players who would be most worth watching over the final five weeks with an eye toward what it will mean for their place on the team in 2025.

I mentioned Bresee but didn’t rank him, saying, “Bresee can already be written in ink in next year’s starting lineup, even though his game still needs a lot of development and polishing.”

That’s all still true. But if this is a sign of the growth that Bresee plans on displaying down the stretch this year as a springboard toward Year 3, then he could earn his way in the group with guys such as fellow first-round pick Taliese Fuaga as a real building block to get excited about.