Saints better early, late in 45-35 shootout win over Rams

  • November 4, 2018
  • By Ken Trahan
  • Category: Saints
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NEW ORLEANS – To be the best, you have to beat the best.

The Los Angeles Rams came into New Orleans as the best team in the NFL at 8-0 and earned the moniker.

For a while, it appeared that the hometown team was going to blow the Rams right out of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome but Los Angeles was too good to have that occur.

In a playoff-charged, emotional, pressure-filled building on and off the field, the Saints came through in the clutch, when needed most, to post a big win over an outstanding team.

It is the seventh straight win for the Saints.

Kudos to P.J. Williams, who continues to improve and make plays for the Saints. Ditto for Alex Anzalone. Props to Demario Davis, a good football player. The Rams did a good job on Cameron Jordan and New Orleans was without Marcus Davenport. Others stepped up.

Then, there was the offense.

Drew Brees remains as good as it gets. He completed 25-of-36 passes for 346 yards and four touchdowns for a Quarterback rating of 137. He ran for a key first down as well. What more can you say about Brees?

Michael Thomas set a new franchise record with 211 yards receiving in a game on 12 catches. Alvin Kamara rushed 19 times for 82 yards and two touchdowns and he caught four passes for 34 yards and a third score. The Saints have three elite players on offense, along with two outstanding tackles in Ryan Ramczyk and Terron Armstead.

They needed every inch of that talent on this afternoon.

Here are my quick takes from the Saints’ 45-35 win over the Rams.

The Rams won the toss and deferred.

The Saints obliged with a 10 play, 75-yard drive, with Kamara capping the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 with 8:25 to play in the quarter. On the drive, Brees was 3-for-3 for 29 yards, including a pair of completions to Michael Thomas for 28 yards.

**On fourth-and-one from the Los Angeles 37-yard-line, Taysom Hill took a pitch and was looking to throw it back to Brees but he was covered. Hill improvised, taking off and running nine yards for a first down to sustain the drive and it was 7-0 with 9:25 to play in the opening quarter.

**The Rams responded quickly, going 71 yards in six plays with Todd Gurley scoring on an eight-yard run to tie the game 7-7 with 6:04 to play in the opening quarter. On the drive, Jared Goff hit an open Tyler Higbee on a 33-yard completion against zone coverage by the Saints. Higbee had all of six catches for 70 yards on the season prior to the big play.

**New Orleans came right back and drove 75 yards in eight plays, taking 4:24 off the clock with Brees hitting Kamara on a 16-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-eight play. Brees connected with Tre’Quan Smith, Ben Watson, Josh Hill and Kamara on the drive, getting all involved. Michael Thomas also drew a pass interference penalty on Marcus Peters.

**The Saints ended the first quarter with 138 yards while the Rams had 137 as both offenses dominated.

**Los Angeles went quick very often on offense in the first half, with no-huddle approaches.

**The Rams came right back and again needed just six plays to go 75 yards with Goff hitting former Saint Brandin Cooks on a four-yard touchdown pass to tie the game 14-14. Cooks earlier caught a 48-yard pass on the drive, beating Marshon Lattimore.

**Samson Ebukam then came up with a big play, hitting Mark Ingram who fumbled with Aaron Donald recovering at the New Orleans 22-yard line.

**The Saints defense finally put some resistance and held the Rams and Sean McVay elected to fake a field goal with punter Johnny Hekker trying to run right for a first down. He was stopped just short of the mark by Craig Robertson, who made an excellent play. The Rams challenged the ruling and lost the challenge.

**New Orleans then went 87 yards in 10 plays with Brees connecting with Tre’Quan Smith on a four-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-14 with 7:35 to play in the half. On the drive, Brees hit Ben Watson down the right sideline for 32 yards.

**The Rams then drove to the New Orleans 33-yard line but the defense held and Greg Zuerlein pushed a 51-yard field goal attempt wide right. The snap was low on the kick. Sheldon Rankins messed up the drive for the Rams, getting great penetration on a shovel pass to Gurley from Goff, forcing his way back and wide on a six-yard loss.

**New Orleans got good field position at its own 41-yard line off of the miss and took total advantage, driving 59 yards in six plays, taking 2:24 to score with Brees hitting Ben Watson on a 13-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-14 with 1:06 to play in the half.

**Alex Anzalone then came up with a great play, an interception of Goff where he laid out and made a great hands catch. It was the kind of athletic play the Saints drafted him for. It was the second straight week that Anzalone has made a huge play after forcing a fumble before halftime in Minnesota which changed that game.

**New Orleans took over at the Los Angeles 34-yard line and went 34 yards in six plays with Kamara scoring on a one-yard run to make it 35-14 with 26 seconds to play in the half.

**The Rams got a key field goal on the final play of the half as they drove 37 yards in five plays and needed just 26 seconds to do it, overcoming a personal foul penalty on Rodger Saffold to make it 35-17 by halftime.

**The Saints amassed 35 points and 313 yards in the first half with 24 first downs. Brees was 17-of-22 for 211 yards and three touchdowns for a 146 Quarterback Rating.

**Los Angeles continued its momentum to start the second half, driving 77 yards in 11 plays, taking 5:22 to score with Goff hitting Malcolm Brown on an 18-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-24 with 9:38 to play in the third quarter.

**The Rams then got their first stop, forcing a Thomas Morstead punt with less than six minutes to play in the third quarter.

**Los Angeles then pulled within a score, driving 68 yards in nine plays, taking 3:56 off the clock with Zuerlein connecting on a 34-yard field goal to make it 35-27 with 1:30 to play.

**The Rams got another stop, forcing another punt and proceeded to march right down the field to tie the game, driving 83 yards in six plays, taking 3:39 off the clock. Goff connected with Cooper Kupp on a 41-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-33 and then Kupp hit Gerald Everett for a two-point conversion to tie the game 35-35 with 9:48 to play in the game. Kupp was wide open and Eli Apple missed a tackle in space that could have prevented the score.

**The Saints offense finally got something going, driving 40 yards in nine plays with Wil Lutz connecting on a 54-yard field goal to give the Saints a 38-35 lead with 6:23 to play in the game.

**The Saints defense came up huge when needed, forcing a three-and-out. New Orleans got the ball back with 4:50 to play and on third-and-seven from their own 28-yard line, Brees hit Michael Thomas on a 72-yard touchdown pass to make it 45-35 with 3:52 to play.

**On the play, Thomas was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, forcing the Saints to kickoff from their own 20 when he went Joe Horn with the cell phone prank. Los Angeles got the ball in great position at their own 42-yard line.

**On the play, Thomas broke the Saints’ single-game yardage record , breaking the previous record of Wes Chandler, who had 205 yards receiving on six catches in the infamous Russell Erxleben special game on Sept. 2, 1979 in the season opener in New Orleans when the Saints lost 40-34 in overtime when Erxleben picked up a bad snap over his head in the end zone and threw an interception into the waiting arms of James Mayberry for the game-winning score.

**The Saints got another big stop when P.J. Williams came up huge again with a big tackle to stop the Rams. New Orleans got the ball back with 3:26 left and the Rams had one timeout remaining.

**After three runs for nine yards, Payton elected to go for it on fourth-and-one from the Los Angeles 41-yard line at the two-minute warning. It was a great call, playing to win as he always does. Kamara picked up two yards on a pitch right to put the game away.

The Saints feed off of their coach. He is daring, fearless, and a brilliant offensive mind and play-caller. He needed to be on this day against an elite Rams team. Even if you fall short on fourth down, the Rams get the ball back needing two scores with under two minutes left and no timeouts remaining.

Do not be surprised to see these two teams square off down the road in the playoffs, perhaps in the NFC championship game. Both teams came in averaging better than 33 points per game. They did not disappoint. Of course, there is much work to do to get there. Let us not forget that the Saints have just reached the halfway mark of their season and have a brutal schedule ahead of them.

Cincinnati is a winning team and they will be at home. Philadelphia is the defending world champion. Atlanta has a great offense and Carolina is really good. Pittsburgh is elite offensively and Tampa Bay can score points. The road is tough but so are these Saints. Ask the Rams.

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Ken Trahan

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Born and raised in the New Orleans area, CCSE CEO Ken Trahan has been a sports media fixture in the community for nearly four decades. Ken started NewOrleans.com/Sports with Bill Hammack and Don Jones in 2008. In 2011, the site became SportsNOLA.com. On August 1, 2017, Ken helped launch CrescentCitySports.com. Having accumulated national awards/recognition (National Sports Media Association, National Football…

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