Saints

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.

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. Its 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 was 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. II 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.