The New Orleans Saints fell short to the San Francisco 49ers in their second preseason game at Levi's Stadium, but the scope went well beyond the final tally. These exhibition games are critical opportunities to evaluate the team against another opponent and see what's working, who's developing, and where problems may be festering.

Here's a look at the highest- and lowest-graded Saints players from their preseason loss to the 49ers, courtesy of Pro Football Focus:

Top 5 offense

This was clearly a big day for the starting offensive line and Williams, who arguably had his best game as a Saint since joining the team last year. Hopefully this is real progress and continues into the regular season.

Top 5 defense

Talk about making the most of your opportunity. Orji played the fifth-most defensive snaps in this game and still graded exceptionally well, making 8 tackles (with just a single assist and only one missed tackle), 5 of which constituted defensive stops -- that means he stopped the ball-carrier at about half the yardage needed for a first down. Competition for those last few roster spots at linebacker is fierce but Orji is making a very strong case.

Bottom 5 offense

What a rough outing for the backup quarterbacks, with Rattler catching the worst of it. He had a costly fumble on a strip-sack and threw some dangerous passes into coverage. Haener wasn't much better. Anchrum graded out really well in pass protection (77.8) but his poor grade as a run blocker (40.1) weighed him down.

Bottom 5 defense

The Saints generated a lot of pressure in this game (18 of them) but they didn't finish with enough sacks (just one, per PFF's scoring), and those missed opportunities haunted them as 49ers backup Joshua Dobbs ran wild. Mobile quarterbacks continue to give this team fits.

Special teams

Lou Hedley averaged better hangtime (4.63 seconds) than Matthew Hayball (4.24), but his distance and placement weren't great. One of Hedley's punts fell in the end zone for a touchback and he managed just 38.3 yards per attempt. At the same time, both of Hayball's tries were returned, so his net yards per punt fell to 38.5. This might be a push.

Quarterback play

Derek Carr: 67.8

Jake Haener: 49.9

Spencer Rattleer: 29.5

This was a setback for the anti-Carr lobby. Rattler turned the ball over and Haener failed to convert a crucial fourth down. We should acknowledge that it took a couple of drives for Carr to lead the offense to a touchdown, and it was Taysom Hill punching it in. But for now neither backup is a threat to Carr's job security as the starting quarterback.

Stat to know

Trevor Penning had the third-best run blocking grade for the Saints (75.5), doing his best work on the zone concepts that Klint Kubiak plans to lean on (82.6). He allowed one pressure on 13 snaps in pass protection but didn't allow thee quarterback to be touched. Three different defenders each created at least three pressures, leading the team: defensive end Chase Young plus defensive tackles Bryan Bresee and Nathan Shepherd.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints PFF grades: Best, worst players from preseason loss to 49ers