From the first series to the final series, the New Orleans Saints (7-8) just didn’t have it. In front of a national audience for the only Thursday night game of the week, the Saints fell to the Los Angeles Rams by a score of 30-22.
Veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford put on a clinic, tossing for 325 yards with two touchdowns and zero turnovers as the Rams (8-7) tallied 458 total yards of offense. The L.A. defense was good, too, forcing four turnovers and sacking Saints quarterback Derek Carr twice.
The win was the second in five days for the Rams, who move up to sixth in the NFC standings and are in play for a wild card spot. The Saints dropped a game behind Tampa Bay, losing the NFC South lead for the second time this season.
First three
After the Saints punted on the opening possession, Stafford and the Rams marched down the field on 14 plays to take a 7-0 lead. The opening touchdown came from wide receiver Puka Nacua, who was a thorn in New Orleans’ side all night. The rookie finished with 164 yards on nine receptions.
Along with another touchdown and a field goal, Los Angeles was up 17-7 going into halftime. The only bright spot of the opening half for the Saints was Derek Carr connecting with Rashid Shaheed on a 45-yard score.
The third quarter was no better for New Orleans as their once-stout defense allowed the Rams to score every time they had the ball with two field goals off the foot of Lucas Havrisik and a rushing touchdown from Kyren Williams. Williams finished the night with 104 yards, his third game in a row eclipsing the triple-digit mark.
The comeback that never happened
Despite being behind 30-7 in the fourth quarter, the Saints scored 15 unanswered to pull within one possession. The first score came on a lengthy 12-play drive with Carr hitting tight end Juwan Johnson from five yards out.
New Orleans finally forced Los Angeles to punt on the ensuing possession before Carr found rookie A.T. Perry on a 35-yard pass. A successful two-point conversion with 3:35 left set up an onside kick opportunity that was to no avail as the Rams ran out the clock.
What the coach said
As losing press conferences begin to get repetitive, Allen once again took the stage to talk about what could have been done.
“Defensively, they got after us pretty good, and you have to give those guys a lot of credit. They played really well,” Allen said. “I felt like there were too many drives which we left on the table. We came into this game wanting to be aggressive, but we felt like we had plays that we liked. Honestly, we did not do a good job of stopping them.”
Next up
The Saints will get a 10-day break before hitting the road to play Tampa Bay. When the two teams met earlier this season, the Buccaneers won 26-9. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. CT on Dec. 31.
