Saints winning streak ends with 26-20 loss to Rams

Right place, right time.#SaintsGameday | #NOvsLA pic.twitter.com/q3q2yXa9NT

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 27, 2017

All good things must come to an end.

That was most certainly the case Sunday in Los Angeles.

The Rams were simply the better football team on the day.

Facing an injury-depleted defense of the Saints, the Rams offense had its way. The Saints offense had to pick up the slack. It did not.

The Saints kicking game had to pick up the slack. It did not.

The Saints needed a stout effort and performance to win. It did not materialize.

The pressure on Drew Brees was huge from start to finish. He was sacked three times, knocked down several other times and forced to move in the pocket on other occasions.

Here are my Quick Takes on the Rams’ 26-20 win over the Saints at Los Angeles Coliseum:

**Pharoh Cooper returned the opening kickoff 40 yards to the 41-yard line, giving Los Angeles a short field. Wil Lutz did not reach the end zone on his kickoffs in the first half.

**The Rams promptly drove 59 yards in seven plays with Jared Goff capping the drive with a five-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Watkins on a slant route. Watkins easily got inside position on Devante Harris for the score. Goff was 4-for-4 for 33 yards and the score on the drive.

**The Saints got an immediate 24-yard completion from Brees to Michael Thomas on their opening possession but then a pair of sacks killed the drive, forcing a punt. On the first, no one came open and Aaron Donald sacked Brees, getting around Andrus Peat. On the second, Robert Quinn beat Terron Armstead, forcing a fumble, but Armstead recovered.

**Cam Jordan then came up big. First, he tipped a pass for Goff’s first incompletion before coming up with his ninth sack of the season. Then, A.J. Klein and Vonn Bell came up with a big stop on Todd Gurley on a third-and-one.

**Kenny Vaccaro committed two penalties on the drive, a personal foul facemask infraction and a defensive holding call, both for first downs. The Saints did get a stop but Greg Zuerlein booted a 50-yard field goal to make it 1-0 with 3:02 to play in the opening quarter. The drive covered 51 yards in 11 plays, taking 5:28 off the clock.

**Then, Alvin Kamara broke a 74-yard touchdown run off right tackle to cut the deficit to 10-7 with 2:14 to play in the first half. Kamara has now scored a touchdown in five straight games, the first rookie in Saints history to do so. He is tied for the longest streak of scoring at least one touchdown in a game in the league currently. He is the first Saints player to score a touchdown in five consecutive games since Jimmy Graham did it in 2011.

**The Rams ran 20 plays in the first quarter to just eight for the Saints.

**Goff then hit Cooper Kupp for 53 yards to the New Orleans seven-yard line. On the play, Kupp beat Vaccaro, who inexplicably stopped playing after Kupp caught the ball. Did he think the play was over? If he is hurt (groin) and cannot run, perhaps he should not be out there. If healthy, no excuse.

**Two plays later, Goff connected with Josh Reynolds on a seven-yard touchdown pass on a play where he had all day to wait for a receiver to uncover. That capped the eight play, 86-yard drive to make it 17-7 with 4:22 to play in the half.

**On the drive, Kamara caught a swing pass which looked like it would be stopped for a loss. Instead, he made four defenders miss on a 21-yard completion to the Los Angeles 33-yard line at the two-minute warning. That set up a 50-yard field goal by Lutz to make it 17-10 with 58 seconds to play in the half. The play covered 44 yards in eight plays.

**Zuerlein tried a 63-yard field goal as time expired in the first half which was short. He is not Tom Dempsey!

**The Rams had 36 snaps in the first half to just 19 for the Saints. Los Angeles had the ball for 18:35 to just 11:25 for New Orleans.

**The Rams amassed 250 yards of offense to just 166 for the Saints in the half. Of the 166, Kamara accounted for 109 yards.

**Brees had a streak of 19 straight complete passes covering two games end late in the first, tying his previous record. He finished the first half 8-of-10 for 79 yards. Goff was 18-of-26 for 245 yards and two touchdowns in the half. New Orleans had just five first downs in the half.

**New Orleans did nothing with its first possession of the second half. Thomas Morstead punted 58 yards but Cooper returned it 40 yards to the Rams 49-yard line. The coverage was awful, as it was on the opening kickoff.

**Linebacker Connor Barwin went out with an arm injury and did not return.

**P.J. Williams then committed an obvious pass interference penalty on Sammy Watkins. It covered 48 yards, a critical foul. That set up a 46-yard field goal by Zuerlein to make it 20-10 with 3:37 to play in the third quarter.

**Armstead went out late in the third quarter limping. Andrus Peat replaced him at left tackle and Senio Kelemete replaced Peat at left guard.

**The Saints drove 75 yards and scored on a three-yard touchdown pass from Brees to Mark Ingram but the play was wiped out by an offensive interference call against Michael Hoomanawanui. He ran into a defender and blocked him and then the obvious flag coming thing when he threw up his hands. Sadly, his block had nothing to do with the touchdown. Ingram was wide open in the right flat a good 10-15 yards from where Hoomanawanui was.

**Then, Sean Payton played it conservatively, opting for a 21-yard field goal to make it 23-13 with 10:05 to play in the game. The drive went 72 yards in 10 plays with the big play being a 33-yard completion to Kamara from Brees.

**P.J. Williams ended a Rams drive with an interception on the next Los Angeles possession at the New Orleans 19-yard line. It came on a tipped ball off of the hand of Watkins, who was actually open on the play. It was the first interception of Goff in 138 attempts.

Right place, right time.#SaintsGameday | #NOvsLA pic.twitter.com/q3q2yXa9NT

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 27, 2017

**Coby Fleener was knocked out of the game with a concussion on a vicious personal foul hit by Blake Countess. Fleener actually tried to return and dropped a pass. It is easy to understand why he did.

**Los Angeles then drove 67 yards in 13 plays, taking 5:25 off the clock with Zuerlein hitting a 26-yard field goal to make it 26-13 with 2:27 to play.

**The Saints then drove 75 yards in six plays with Brees hitting Kamara with a 15-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 26-20 with 1:45 to play in the game. Brees was 6-for-6 for 85 yards and a score on the drive. The Saints tried an onside kick but the Rams recovered to put the game away.

**New Orleans was a dismal 3-of-13 on third down conversions. That will not win many games. Of course, the Rams were just 3-of-14.

**Goff torched the depleted Saints secondary, going 28-of-43 for 354 yards and two touchdowns with the one interception. Kupp had eight catches for 116 yards. He is the grandson of former Saints guard Jake Kupp.

Brees was 20-of-32 for 246 yards and a touchdown but he was not very good. It is not all on him.

First, the running game has been much better and second, the receivers are not as imposing. There is no Brandin Cooks. Willie Snead has been invisible. Ted Ginn has been credible but outside of Michael Thomas, there is no consistent threat. The running backs have become primary in the passing game. The Saints had just 346 total yards, their second lowest total of the year. New Orleans was held to 344 yards in the season opening loss at Minnesota.

Jordan was terrific with a pair of sacks and pair of passes which he knocked down. Kamara was tremendous, a one-man show. He rushed five times for 87 yards and a score and caught six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. Frankly, he needed more touches in this game. He was the only weapon the Saints had. Among more superlatives, Kamara became the first rookie since Gale Sayers in 1965 with multiple games of 150 yards from scrimmage, a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown.

The eight-game win streak is over. It was fun to watch.

I stated going into the three games with Buffalo, Washington and the Rams that one win would be acceptable and two would be excellent. The Saints got two.

While the loss was disappointing, it was predictable, to a degree. The Rams were at home. They are good. They were motivated after getting whipped by Minnesota. They have a pair of former coaches who worked with Payton on staff in Aaron Kromer and Bill Johnson. Wade Phillips is a former Saints Interim head coach. No doubt they felt good about this victory.

The Saints must now shake it off and get ready for a five game close featuring four division games, none more important than the date with Carolina next Sunday.

Clearly, they miss Marshon Lattimore and Ken Crawley. How soon will they return? They miss Alex Okafor but he will not return. They miss the Kenny Vaccaro pre-groin injury. He was very, very good prior to the injury and he was very bad Sunday.

Now, we will find out just how good the Saints are.