The dream of a Super Bowl repeat is over. The Los Angeles Rams have now fallen to 3-7 on the year and last place in the NFC West division as they lost 27-20 to the New Orleans Saints, which all but ends their SB repeat hopes.
The Super Bowl hangover curse is alive and well. The Los Angeles Rams are an unmitigated disaster as they have now dropped four in a row and six of their last seven, giving them a 3-7 record to sit last place in the NFC West.
Did anyone predict that coming into this season? I know I didn’t.
The very foundational mindset of the Rams roster has blown up in their management’s faces as the star players, for whom the management gave up years of draft stockpile and generations from the team’s prospect pool, have all either gone down with injuries or have flat out failed to perform in the biggest moments. And this game proved it.
Coming into the game, the Rams were already without WR Cooper Kupp, OL Chandler Brewer, OL Brian Allen, OL David Edwards, OL Zach Thomas, OL Tremayne Anchrum Jr., while Matthew Stafford was just returning from a concussion suffered a week ago in the Rams loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
Obviously, the Rams were a broken mess coming into this game and it only got worse once from kickoff.
But, before that, Stafford and the Rams offense actually looked pretty good as they got off to a fast start.
Despite not having his favorite wide out, Stafford was dicing apart the Saints defense as he went 11/18 for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns, including one that was capped off by a 62-yard bomb throw downfield to Tutu Atwell. Throughout all of the Rams struggles this season, I can safely say that Stafford has never been one of the main issues as he’s performed week in and week out.
Sure, he may not have the stats that he had last season but look at who he’s throwing to. Tutu Atwell is a bust of a 2nd-round pick (despite the TD catch), Van Jefferson (3 REC, 41 yards) can’t catch a ball to save his life this year, Allen Robinson (4 REC, 47 yards, 1 TD) is finished as a #1 receiver, and Tyler Higbee (4 REC, 45 yards) is hot and cold every week.
Plus, his offensive line is down to 3rd stringers and guys the Rams picked up off Hollywood Boulevard, while the Rams running game has been absent all year long. What is Stafford supposed to do with these ‘weapons’?
Regardless, we won’t know the answer to that question as after leading the Rams to those two TD drives, Stafford was knocked out of the game early on in the 3rd Quarter.
Saints LB Demairo Davis was among at least three Saints players to sack Stafford on the 3rd and 8 play as the Rams offensive line buckled under their pressure. Seeing as Stafford probably has either another concussion or a neck injury, it would be foolish for the Rams to continue to play him in any other game this season.
The current iteration of their offensive line is just not good enough to be trusted to protect the franchise QB from serious injury.
Anyway, the Rams only managed to score two field goals for the rest of the game as the Saints defense engulfed 4th string QB Bryce Perkins, forcing him to scramble for his life on nearly every play in route to a 27-20 win. This was probably the best performance of the season from this Saints defense…which tells you a lot about how bad they have been.
Still, I should also praise the Saints offense a little bit as Andy Dalton had his best performance of the season by a mile. Going 21/25 for 260 yards and 3 touchdowns, Dalton torched a Rams defense that had Aaron Donald, Bobby Wagner, Jalen Ramsey, and Leonard Floyd playing.
Rookie WR Chris Olave is really coming into his own as he had a monster game catching 5 passes for 102 yard and 1 TD, with that TD being a 53-yard bomb from Dalton to kill off the game. Young players like Olave, Marcus Maye, Alvin Kamara (who’s not that young but is still a beast), and Kaden Elliss are the future of this franchise and will be the veteran stars of this team after their rebuild is complete.
On the other hand, it’s obvious this Rams defense has down tooled ever since they lost that close game to the Buc 16-13 as they must be fed up with how bad their offense has played game after game.
Of course, that’s no excuse to down tool as they are paid professionals and the reigning Super Bowl champions, but I empathize with them. It must be tough to go into every week knowing that you need to keep the opposing team to 20 or less points to even have a chance to win.
Anywho, the Rams (3-7) are all but guaranteed to miss the playoffs now, making them yet another member on the Super Bowl hangover/curse list. Reversely, the Saints (4-7) are also nowhere near Super Bowl contention, though they need their staff and management to realize that before it’s too late.
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