Can we beat the Saints?

JackPMiller wrote:

I’ve been wondering, since we got beat by Minnesota. Media will keep saying we can’t beat the good teams. The teams that have winning record. The Saints have a much better team than Minnesota, and a better QB.

Minnesota beat the Saints the first game of the season.

the rams will be playing at home. instead of a hostile road environment.

we’ll see.

I see the Saints as a shootout. The Woods injury concerns me, though. Time for Austin, Reynolds and Thomas to step up if Woods can’t go.

This should be a fun game to watch. Glad it’s at home.

Rams favored by 2.5

Over under = 53.5

thus the final score:

Rams 28

Saints 25.5

I think this becomes a real test of adversity because this will be the first time they drop two games in a row. That can lead to a downward spiral so it will be a huge test for McVay to see if he can make sure the ship doesn’t sink.

I just don’t see how the Rams defense stops the Saints. The secondary is banged up, the run defense is not good and…Drew Brees. The Rams will have to win a shootout and with the improved Saints defense and a missing Robert Woods–that won’t be easy.

They’ll have home field at least–but that hasn’t been a great advantage–still–even if it makes for a neutral field it’s better than playing in New Orleans. And if they can get Gurley going and control the game maybe GZ can win this one. But it will be close.

Still–the Saints are rolling. Gonna be tough.

Lets make Watkins the focus. I want to find out what he is really worth.

saints_alive wrote:

OK, so here are my 2 cents on the game. I havent really seen much of the Rams this year so I’m going to focus on the Saints.

FWIW it should be a great matchup but we are pretty depleted on defense right now so, I’m not sure how well we can stop the suddenly prolific Rams offense.

On offense, the running game has been outstanding. The addition of Kamara, ditching the Adrian Peterson experiment, and really excellent O-line play has turned our pass-first/pass second/maybe run third offense into a much more balanced attack. Drew is still Drew (11 for 11 ,with 2 TDs to finish the Redskins game), but we no longer require a near perfect game from him to keep the offense moving. We can run over a bad defense, and even against a good defense, we will stay pretty well ahead of the sticks. Terron Armstead is a stud LT and Andrus Peat is now a force at guard. Rookie Ryan Ramczyk has pluged into RT after Strief went down and has played well.

Kamara is really fun to watch in the ‘joker’ role that used to be Reggie Bush and then Sproles – he’s slippery and rarely takes a direct hit. Ingram is just running hard. Angry Ingram is a thing.

Ted Ginn is the designated deep threat and has fewer drops than I expected. Michael Thomas in an athletic freak and Drew’s main target outside our RBs. We are weak at TE.

This is a balanced attack. Our screen game is back on point, the way it was with Pierre Thomas.

On defense, it’s hard to know what to expect. We came out of the gates with some of the worst defense the Saints have put on the field under Payton (and that’s saying something). But after week 2, Lattimore got on the field after an injury, they simplified the scheme a bit, benched Devante Harris at CB, and everything started to click. Now we played some crappy offenses but the unit vastly improved, even if they were still a little soft against the run.

Until last week. Lattimore sprained his ankle on a PBU in the endzone on the first drive and it was all downhill from there. It’s amazing how much of an impact one guy can make. If he can stay healthy, he’s a Champ Bailey-Revis Island level CB.

Unfortunately, he’s in a walking boot right now AND our other starting CB (Ken Crawley) is likely out. We do get Kenny Vaccaro back this week and also starting LB AJ Kein, but I suspect our corners will be Sterling moore (signed off the street this week) and Devante Harris, who is OK in man to man but has no earthly idea what he’s doing in zone. It’s pathetic. If he is on the field I guarantee you there will be at least 2 major coverage busts – Goff will have guys just running wide open.

If Lattimore were healthy and the Rams have no Robert Woods, I would really like our chances. A good running game and tough pass D travels pretty well. But given our secondary situation, I am pretty pessimistic. I think you may see our Week 1-2 defense, not the one that started racking up sacks and PBUs. At the very least it may turn into a shootout.

Right now, I’m thinking it will be 3 point game either way. I’m a homer so my prediction is 31-28 Saints but I kinda think we drop this game and then gear up for Carolina next week. We will see.

gurley has to have a big game for the rams to win.

i’m getting kinda worried though. new orleans’ offense might run right over the rams tomorrow.

I have no feel for this one. I was gonna pick the Saints but with their two top CBs out, i dunno.

I think the Rams have to win one of the Vikes/Saints/Eagles series.

If they cant win one of those, i cant take them too seriously as actual contenders this year. Ya know. They can still be fun-wild-card contenders but thats about all. I’ll take it 🙂

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