For a moment, it appeared that Thursday night's game could be a reprise of the Titans' shocking, come-from-behind win over the Dolphins in Week 14. But the Saints' comeback ultimately came up short as the Rams hung on for a 30-22 win.
Down 30-7, the Saints made things interesting when Derek Carr threw a pair of touchdown passes in a three-minute span. But the Rams didn't allow the Saints to get any closer after Puka Nacua recovered an onside kick, then caught a key pass that set up a game-clinching first down.
It was that kind of night for Nacua, the Rams' rookie sensation who caught nine passes for 164 yards that included the game's first touchdown. The Rams received also big games from quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Kyren Williams, who helped Los Angeles improve to 8-7 while strengthening their position in the NFC playoff standings.
The Saints fell to 7-8 and behind the 7-7 Buccaneers in the NFC South standings. While they made things interesting late, New Orleans was mostly outplayed by Los Angeles, especially on defense. Carr put up solid numbers with 319 yards passing, but he made several bad decisions and was not helped by a running game that gained just 35 yards on 16 carries.
Here's a closer look at the Rams' big win.
The Rams' offense looked like the "Greatest Show on Turf" on Thursday night. In fact, the Rams could have scored a lot more points had they fared better than 3 of 6 in the red zone.
Los Angeles received another big game from Stafford, who went 24 of 34 for 328 yards and three touchdowns. Stafford now has 14 touchdowns and just one pick and has completed nearly 67 percent of his passes over his past five games. Not surprisingly, the Rams are 4-1 over that span and are 5-1 in their last six games.
Stafford's success through the air was complemented by Williams, who rumbled for 104 yards while breaking the 1,000-yard barrier for the season despite missing four games. His 10-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter proved to be the game-winning score.
Stafford, Nacua and Williams were the headliners, but the Rams' offense received some stellar supporting cast performances from wideouts Demarcus Robinson and Cooper Kupp. Robinson had six catches for 82 yards in the first half, including his 32-yard grab that set up his short touchdown catch that gave Los Angeles a 17-7 halftime lead. Kupp had six catches for 52 yards, including a key third-down grab that helped the Rams extend their lead to 20-7 early in the second half.
As good as the Rams' offense was, L.A.'s defense was just as good for most of the game. The unit forced three turnover on downs and helped make it a 27-7 game after Jordan Fuller's pick set up Williams' touchdown run.
As noted above, the Saints' offense came up empty three times on fourth down, committed a costly turnover on Carr's interception to Fuller and were unable to get anything going on the ground. The game would have been decided much earlier had Carr not connected with Rashid Shaheed on a 45-yard scoring strike late in the first half.
New Orleans turned it on late and was aided by J.T. Gray's blocked punt that set up Carr's 35-yard touchdown pass to A.T. Perry. Still, the Saints could not overcome their slow start or their defense that allowed the Rams to churn out 458 total yards.
Fuller's pick turned a relatively tight game into a 20-point lead for the home team. Williams capitalized on the pick by scoring his 12th touchdown of the year that proved to be the winning score.
Nacua's 41-yard catch on the first play of the second half was a thing of beauty. The catch, which set up the second of Lucas Havrisik's three field goals, was made despite Nacua falling to the ground while being guarded tightly by a Saints defender.
Los Angeles will head to the Big Apple, where they'll face a Giants team that is still alive in the NFC playoff race despite their 5-9 record.
The Saints will stay on the road when they head to Tampa to take on the Buccaneers. The winner of that game could very well take home the NFC South title and the playoff berth that comes with it.
That'll do it. Rams improve to 8-7 with the win and take control in the NFC wild card race (behind whichever of the Eagles and Cowboys does not win the NFC East). Saints drop to 7-8 and need a lot of help to get in as either the NFC South champion or a wild card squad.
New Orleans can technically still get the ball back but without blocking a field goal, there will be almost no chance of a comeback. (And even then it would be a stretch.)
Puka Nacua is an absolute baller. 9-164-1 on 11 targets, and some enormous plays throughout the entire game.
Interesting call to go onside and not kick it away and try to play defense. Saints have no timeouts left but there was 3:44 on the clock and there's still the two-minute warning. Now the Rams are in field goal range even if the Saints manage to get a stop.
Oh boy. Now we've really got a situatuon.
The Rams' special-teams units have not been great tonight. Missed field goal and a bad punt.
Carr a perfect 10 of 10 on the drive.
Probably too little too late, though. The Saints would have to make two stops and score two touchdowns and convert on both two-point attempts in six minutes.
Carr finishes off a long Saints drive with a TD pass to Juwan Johnson. Rams lead 30-14 with 6:33 remaining in the game.
Rams add a field goal to their lead, making it a 30-7 game with just under 11 minutes left. Imagine what the score would be if the Rams were better than 3 of 6 in the red zone.
Honey Badger hit Kupp early, but officials said that he needed to be beyond one yard off the line of scrimmage for it to be DPI. Can't argue with that.
Puka reels in another big catch. He's now at 148 receiving yards on the night.
By the way, on the previous Saints drive, Chris Olave surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the season. Only the third Saint to do it in each of his first two NFL seasons.
What an absolute laser from Stafford to Puka right there. Sheesh.
New Orleans has just been extremely ineffective in the area just beyond midfield. So many missed opportunities from the 35- to 45-yard lines all night.
7 catches for 102 yards on 9 targets for Olave. That, and the one deep shot to Shaheed, have been the entirety of the Saints' offense tonight.
Kyren Williams is up over 5 yards per carry tonight and looks like he's on his way to a third consecutive 100-plus-yard game. The Rams have seemingly been trying to get him into the end zone all night... and they finally got him there. 16 carries for 90 yards and a TD now.
Looked like Carr got his as he was releasing the ball, but I don't know if that pass was ever reaching its intended target anyway. Jordan Fuller gets the pick. Juwan Johnson was not open.
That's a big third-down conversion by Foster Moreau. The Saints are gonna need to score on every drive, given the way the Rams have been moving the ball on their defense all night.
Only two touches for Taysom Hill so far tonight, and they have gained a combined 2 yards.
If the Rams had more success in the low red zone tonight, they could be up by three scores right now. Instead, it's a 13-point game.
Well, Kupp dropped two possible TDs earlier, and now Stafford just airmailed a surefire one to Nacua. And then Nacua just barely missed catching one on the back shoulder on the next play.
Sounds like Williams is already out of the tent and has his helmet on. Good sign.
Oh boy. Now Kyren Williams is down and holding his head at the end of the play. That's less than ideal.
That's for sure a catch, too. Holy cow.
