Ram Digest

No Orleans: Rams Fall to Equally Doomed Saints (Highlights)

An early lead for the Los Angeles Rams, gave way to further heartbreak.

Geoff Magliochetti

For all the trials and tribulations of the 2022-23 season, the Los Angeles Rams have responded to every task asked of them this season, at least when it comes to one macabre metric: can this Super Bowl defense get any worse? 

Alas for Angelenos, the Rams have appeared to take that as a personal challenge. 

The Big Easy was anything but for the Rams (3-7), who dropped their fourth in a row to the tune of a 27-20 at the hands of the New Orleans Saints. Lost in the defeat was Tutu Atwell's first career NFL touchdown and two sacks each for Leonard Floyd and Greg Gaines. 

The Rams actually jumped out to an early lead after falling behind with a first-quarter field goal against the woebegone Saints (4-7), showing rare offensive firepower with an immediate response. Atwell's 62-yard tally was only the third beyond 20 yards this season for the Rams and by far the longest not scored by Cooper Kupp. 

Los Angeles' lead lasted only two possessions, the teams exchanging fourth down failures (a Saints punt and Los Angeles' turnovers on downs) before New Orleans took the lead back on an Andy Dalton touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson. To their credit, the Rams mustered a halftime lead with an 11-play, 87-yard trek that ended with another Stafford touchdown pass, this one to Allen Robinson.

The second half's end zones, however, were exclusively reserved for the Saints, who permanently took the lead back on three consecutive scoring drives, the first two going for touchdowns from the arm of Andy Dalton. Jarvis Landry had the first before Chris Olave's 53-yard tally put the affair out of reach.

Olave capped off the day with a game-best 102 yards on five receptions. To make matters worse for the Rams, Stafford was forced to leave the game with an injury, giving way to Bryce Perkins. Ty Nsekhe was also carted off, forcing even more turnover on the offensive line. 

The loss leaves them two games out of a wild card spot, though the current holder of the last spot (San Francisco) owns the sweeping head-to-head tiebreaker.  

The road ahead gets no easier for the beleaguered Rams, who face the AFC-leading Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday on the road (1:25 p.m. PT, Fox).

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Geoff Magliochetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCHETTI

Geoff Magliochetti

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