Rams Prepare To Expose Weakness-Prone Defense In Week 13

The Los Angeles Rams are traveling south to play the New Orleans Saints this Sunday and in need of a big win to keep their playoff hopes alive. They will stack up against a Saints defense that does struggle in a few key areas.

Nov 10, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu (32) celebrates an interception of a ball intended for Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Rams (5-6) are desperate for a victory in Week 13 as they hit the road to face the New Orleans Saints (4-7) at the Caesars Superdome. The Rams are coming off a loss to the Eagles where they struggled offensively and will need to bounce back against a flawed Saints defense.

In overall defensive ranking, the Saints allow the second most yards on average of any defense in the NFL. They are giving up 390.8 yards per game and 23. 6 points per contest. The only other team that gives up more yards than the Saints is the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-9) at 413.7 yards per game.

In reference to pass and run defense, the Saints are still bottom of the barrel, but the Rams offense will look to take advantage of the pass game a bit more. The Saints ranks third worst in the league, allowing 256.6 passing yards per game. That bodes extremely well for a strong Rams pass attack.

The Rams will not see the Saints top secondary player as fourth-year cornerback Paulson Adebo was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday for an upper leg injury. Without his presence, the Saints will heavily rely on 12th year safety Tyrann Mathieu to help limit the Rams air raid offense.

Mathieu has continued his storied success through his veteran career with three interceptions, one forced fumble, one recovery, and 43 total tackles. It marks the sixth-straight year that Mathieu has earned three or more interceptions in a season. He will be priority number on through the air.

The Saints are a tad bit better at stopping the run, but still bottom 10 across the league. They allow 134.2 yards per game on the ground and should be able to give up some chunk plays to running back Kyren Williams and company.

Leading the Saints in tackles is 13th-year veteran linebacker Demario Davis with 79 total tackles, 13 more than the next defender. Davis has just one sack and four pass deflections this year and has played the role of the eyes of the defense in the middle of the field at all times.

In terms of pass rush, the Saints rank in the bottom half of the NFL with just 25 total sacks, nearly 20 less than the league leading Denver Broncos with 44. Second-year defensive tackle Bryan Bresee leads the team with 5.5 sacks, already surpassing his rookie total from last year of 4.5.

Along with Bresee, defensive end Carl Granderson and cornerback Alontae Taylor have cominbed for 8.5 sacks. Granderson has been effective rushing the edges with 4.5 sacks while Taylor has been set up to blitz as a cornerback with four. The pair will look to create even more pressure this week.

With veterans all over the field, the Saints are fairly strong at forcing turnovers. They are actually tied with the Rams with 15 forced turnovers this season, but have given it away 13 times to the Rams' 12 times. This should be a very even matchup in terms of turnover ratio.

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