Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

This was a game for the ages.

The New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams met in the NFL’s marquee game of the week, and it did not disappoint.

Coming into the game, which pitted two of the league’s most explosive offenses, it seemed whichever team made timely plays on defense would emerge victorious.

In the end, that team was the Saints, who won 45-35 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to improve to 7-1 and take midseason bragging rights at the top team in the NFC.

What went right: The Saints scored touchdowns on five of six possessions in the first half, and just about everything went right.

Alvin Kamara was incredible, scoring three first-half touchdowns as he frequently created yards where the Rams appeared to have him contained. Michael Thomas made some catches with Marcus Peters draped all over him. Drew Brees was precise as a passer and knew when to run a couple times.

Kamara wasn’t as productive in the second half, but Thomas and Brees came up with the biggest play of the game as Thomas caught a 72-yard touchdown pass to give the Saints a 45-35 lead with 3:52 remaining. That catch also helped Thomas set a new single-game franchise record with 211 receiving yards.

The Saints offensive line deserves a ton of credit for neutralizing the Rams pass rush for much of the game. Rams star defensive tackle Aaron Donald made some big plays, but the Saints kept him quiet compared to his typical performance.

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Defensively, the Saints knew creating turnovers was key, and linebacker Alex Anzalone made a huge play with an impressive leaping interception in the second quarter. The takeaway came on the first play of a Rams drive, and the Saints’ ensuing touchdown gave them a 35-14 lead.

In the fourth quarter, cornerback P.J. Williams made a few clutch plays that led to two defensive stops, which were critical against a potent Rams offense.

What went wrong: The Rams went on a 21-0 run from late in the second quarter to early in the fourth quarter, which erased the Saints’ 21-point lead.

The Saints defense allowed several big plays, which was the primary reason the game remained close. With 6:23 left in the fourth quarter, the Rams were averaging 9.1 yards per play. That’s unheard of and indicative of how open Rams receivers were throughout the game.

Mark Ingram’s fumble in the second quarter was really the only misstep by the Saints offense in the first half, but the defense forced a turnover on downs after barely stopping a fake field goal.

The Saints offense slowed down a bit in the second half, but the timely Thomas touchdown made

Player of the game: Thomas

NOLA

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Coach gunna chew they ass out for letting them back in it.

Hopefully we can sweep the cowliner panters lol

Who-Dat for damn sure!

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Saints O line is ELITE. #1 in the league. At least in my eyes.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

* O-line played a fantastic game against that front.

* Our D-line and especially Jordan was so blatantly held at times that it wasn't even funny.

* Kamara is a stud. No other way to put it.

* Davis is a bad man.

* Brees is Brees

* **** Thomas sideways with a chainsaw for pulling out that cellphone.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

https://boards.atlantafalcons.com/to...aints/?page=14

https://ramsondemand.com/threads/ven...-saints.56198/

https://ramsondemand.com/threads/ram....56185/page-66

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

http://blackandgold.com/attachment.p...1&d=1541380180

From NFL.com on Facebook.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Rams less than 100 on ground.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

This may be an unpopular opinion based on Goff’s stats, but our CB’s played fantastic. Other than the big pass to Cooks, Marshon Lattimore wasn’t thrown at. Eli Apple quietly took a major step forward as our #2. No need to say anything about PJ Williams... He has a well-deserved thread of his own! The coverage issues are almost all on the Three Stooges playing safety.

You want bad CB play? Did you see Marcus Peters?! He’s absolute garbage nowadays.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Yes; our safeties struggle in cover 2 ... I really don’t understand it, unless communication is the issue?


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Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

He was LIT UP !!

https://tenor.com/view/on-fire-walking-gif-5114625

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Thomas' immaturity is starting to worry me, Twitter feuds, switching agents and now the Cell Phone thing. He's a great player but quickly becoming a distraction.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Am I the only one who doesn’t give a crap about the cell phone thing?

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

More of the same whiny ass bs from clowns fans. I'm so glad I was born a Saints fan.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Yeah. I mean admittedly it wasn't smart, but I don't really care. It was a huge play in a huge game, that's what sticks with me.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Some of the comments........ when you live a "falcon's life", what exactly do you smoke to experience that level of delusion???
Does living a "falcon's life" mean it's time to go to bed at 8pm because the school bus comes early and your mom might beat you with her high heel shoe if you're up past 8pm??

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

I do not think I saw a Safety within yards of the catch today ... last week ... the week before ... must I go on?

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Smith is quietly getting better at WR. Good explosiveness and his body control is great.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Observation : Rams looking like they may have over paid on defense.

They were skull drug today.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Observation

Mark Ingram lighting up Dante Fowler with the flip

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Did you notice in the first quarter one of the back judges stop MT from leave the field after a series pretty sure it was a cut the cr*p are you are going to get flagged.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

You win 1,000 Likes. Our O Line held its own vs an Elite D-Line. Brees to Thomas/Kamara/etc doesn't happen this game.

They absolutely wreck games...then they met our O-line.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Wow. Our O-line was anything but offensive. They kicked ass and took names.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Consider this: Last week the Rams had 5 sacks. This week the Vikings had 10 sacks.

The Vikings played the Saints last week and had zero sacks! The Rams played the Saints this week and had zero sacks!

The O-Line is totally awesome!

SFIAH

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Our OLine is bad azz. And then some. Those guys are the truth.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

These guys as a group can go toe2toe with anyone. Great mix of veterans & younguns. And TALENTED.
Armstead-3rd Rd...age 27
Peat-1st Rd...age 25
Unger-2nd Rd...age 32
Warford-3rd Rd...age 27
Ram-1st Rd...age 24

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

One and that was Aqib Talib, next man up, rawe didn't have Too or Davenport. Injuries are apart of the game NOT excuses. Plus up until this game they were undefeated right?

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

That was Kamara be was talking to after his TD catch.
I rewound it to be sure.
He stuck the ball out after he crossed into the endzone.
Maybe it was construed as taunting.
Maybe it was taunting, which shouldn't be illegal.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

The run blocking actually is impressing me the most. We are so much better at running the football from under center now. It is tough to defend. Particularly love the toss with Armstead out wide sealing. We used it to clinch the game at the end. The ability to run outside is so important - if you can't do it then defense can simply load up the box and stop your run.



I haven't been this happy with the Saints coaching in a long time. Probably ever. With Thomas and the running game we are high percentage chain-movers now. Even the flea flicker was like a 20 yard completion. Gone are the days of deep chucks to Cooks or Jimmy Graham or the chronic screen plays. I watched Green Bay last night and they are kind of falling into the trap we used to - trying too hard to exploit the defense and create big plays instead of moving the chains. We got smart.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Watching the game with friends sitting in a tavern; one of my friends recently had shoulder surgery, wearing one of those shoulder brace supports...

That was the play he nearly undid his recent work as he started to try to high-five everyone after that big Boom block Ingram leveled...

If I'm coaching RBs and putting together a compilation video of great blocks, that one has got to be in there...

Overhead sound wasn't linked for the game (it was Joe Buck/Troy Aikman so we didn't really miss it) so when Ingram leveled Fowler, played P.O.D.'s Boom with the iPod/iPhone instead...

We were having a good time...

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

When we started this latest gauntlet, Ravens, Vikings, Rams, I was hoping hard to get 2 out of 3. 2/3 was my measure for success. I wouldn't have bet a single dollar on a sweep of those 3 teams, which is not a slight on our team but a recognition that the other guys are good too sometimes.

So, to sweep those 3, particularly in the fashion we did it...just wow.

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

We are used to Colston, he isn't Coleston, and that's to our benefit presently. I wouldn't let his 'off the clock' worry you about his 'on the clock'. The homage to Joe Horn was with a stopped clock so technically off:).

Is he caustic in the locker room? Not that anyone has mentioned.
Is the cell phone penalty any different than Grahams dunk penalties? Nope
If Joe Horn had Twitter when he was a player would Thomas be any different? No
Does he whine or throw tantrums like Bryant? No
Is he trying to be bigger than the team? Not that I know of.

Most importantly, has any of the above eroded his performance? Not that I know of.

He has a chip on his shoulder and that makes a lot of people play harder.:bng:

Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

HOW THE SAINTS WON THE GAME

Score 35-35 and the Saint finally got the ball back the crowd started yelling

"Who Dat say they gonna beat them Saints?"
"Who Dat say they gonna beat them Saints?"
"Who Dat say they gonna beat them Saints?"
"Who Dat say they gonna beat them Saints?"
"Who Dat say they gonna beat them Saints?"
"Who Dat say they gonna beat them Saints?"

That was when both the offense and the defense took over the game again.
It was around 11:00 minutes left in the 4th quarter when a fire was lit under their asses. :o

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Re: Observations from Saints vs. Rams
 

Saints Free Agent off season linebacker signing ...

Demario Davis. He's been as good as advertised.

Money well spent there.