 Photo By: New Orleans Saints Da Boot Sports 11/2/2025 Article Courtesy of Crescent City Sports By: Ken Trahan It was predictable result betweeb two franchises heading in different directions. Sunday game at SoFi Stadium was also first NFL start for rookie Tyler Shough. You had the feeling it would be a baptism under fire, considering the plight of the New Orleans Saints and the quality of the opponent. The Rams were more than a two-touchdown favorite, a much better team. How bad was the New Orleans offense? On five first half possessions, the Saints went three-and-out four times. Watching the Rams operate under Sean McVay and Matt Stafford reminded me of how the Saints operated under Sean Payton and Drew Brees. Stafford now has nine touchdown passes in his last two games. While Shough did some nice things, it really doesn’t matter who plays quarterback for the Saints. The talent around the quarterback is simply not good enough in any spot. It is hard to accomplish much with just 40 offensive snaps in 60 minutes. For perspective, the Rams had 77 snaps. It doesn’t matter, either, with the lack of defensive talent overall for New Orleans. The Saints remain in a solid position to get the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2026. We are trying to grab at straws to find something encouraging here. Here are my Quick Takes from the 34-10 loss to the Rams: **Inactives for the Saints included Ugo Amadi, Khristian Boyd, Zaire Mitchell-Paden, John Ridgeway III, Xavier Truss and Rejzohn Wright. **The Saints won the toss and elected to receive. **New Orleans proceeded to run Alvin Kamara twice for three yards. Then, Shough completed a pass to Rashid Shaheed for six yards, a yard short of the first down. That route had to run a yard or two further up the field. The Saints had to punt. **The Rams started at their own 12-yard-line, went with a no-huddle attack and Matthew Stafford completed eight straight passes for 72 yards and Los Angeles finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Tyler Higbee as the Rams took a 7-0 lead with 6:18 to play in the opening quarter. It was easy, way too easy. **The Saints went three-and-out again on their second possession as Cesar Ruiz gave up a sack. **Bryan Bresee forced a three-and-out by tipping a pass on the next Los Angeles possession. **The Saints went three-and-out again. **Alontae Taylor laid the wood on a huge hit on the next Los Angeles possession before Chase Young sacked Stafford. **The Rams finished the first quarter with 104 yards to just 12 yards for the Saints. **The Rams went for a fourth-and-three and Kool Aid McKinstry committed a pass interference penalty on Puka Nacua to sustain the drive for Los Angeles. **Taylor then committed a defensive holding penalty and the Rams finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to Davante Adams, who beat Taylor on a quick slant to give Los Angeles a 13-0 lead with 11:28 to play in the half. The drive covered 88 yards in 12 plays. The extra point attempt was missed wide left. **Taysom Hill lined up at quarterback, ran right and bolted 27 yards to the Los Angeles 36-yard-line. On the play, Ruiz was injured and walked off. He was replaced by Dillon Radunz for a couple of plays before Ruiz returned. **The 27-yard run by Hill was the first run of 20 or more yards by the porous New Orleans run game this season. **Devin Neal got his first carry, a 4-yard gain. **The Saints got to fourth-and-one and Kelvin Banks Jr. committed a false start penalty. **Blake Grupe cam in and kicked a 39-yard field goal to make it 13-3 with 7:50 to play in the first half. The drive covered 44 yards in eight plays. **The Rams took no time to respond, driving 65 yards in three plays with Stafford throwing a perfect deep ball to Nacua for a 39-yard touchdown, over McKinstry, to give Los Angeles a 20-3 lead with 6:25 to play in the half. **Young committed an offside penalty to help the Rams on the next possession. **The Rams missed a field goal with 54 seconds left in the half due to a good rush by Justin Reid, who forced the kick to go wide. **Shough hit a 13-yard pass to Rashid Shaheed and an 8-yard completion to Juwan Johnson. He then extended a play, rolled right, and hit Chris Olave for 27 yards to the Los Angeles 23-yard-line. **Byron Young committed a roughing the passer penalty when he beat Taliese Fuaga for a sack but contacted him helmet-to-helmet. **Shough then hit Johnson with an 11-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-10 with seven seconds left in the first half. The drive covered 71 yards in six plays, taking just 47 seconds to score. **Shough finished the half 8 of 14 for 84 yards with a score. Stafford was 18 of 23 for 215 yards and three touchdowns. **Jonah Williams got a sack on the first possession of the second half. **The Rams took all the air out of the New Orleans momentum going into halftime by taking the second half kickoff, taking 9:46 off the clock and scoring on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to Adams to make it 27-10 with 5:14 to play in the third quarter. The drive covered 80 yards in 16 plays. **The only negative for the Rams was Nacua leaving with a chest injury after a jet sweep for a first down. **Kamara then fumbled it away with Nate Landman punching the ball out and Kamren Kinchens recovering at the Los Angeles 48-yard-line. **It was the ninth turnover in the last three games for the Saints. The Rams would capitalize on the giveaway. **The Rams had 394 yards through three quarters to 140 for the Saints. Los Angeles had the ball for 33:26 to 11:34 for the Saints. **The Saints ran a total of three plays in the third quarter. **Kyren Williams made 34-10 with a 1-yard touchdown run with 12:40 to play in the game to cap a 10 play, 52-yard drive. **Shough engineered a good drive, reaching the Los Angeles 7-yard-line. On fourth-and a long yard, the Saints elected to pull Shough, using Hill at quarterback. Predictably, he ran right. Predictably, with no blocking, he was stopped in his tracks and the Saints came up empty. **Fuaga left the game injured in the fourth quarter, replaced by Asim Richards. **Shough then avoided pressure, felt more pressure and threw an interception to Forbes Jr. The throw was late and it was right to Emmanuel Forbes. **Carl Granderson committed a personal foul facemask penalty to add to the misery. **It was the first win for the Rams against an NFC team this season. The Rams dominated in all phases. Los Angeles forced two turnovers and committed none. The Rams controlled the ball for 43:53 and had 438 yards to just 224 for the Saints, who had the ball for just 16:07. All indications are that it was the largest time of possession differential in the league thus far this season. Los Angeles was more physical and was faster. If you are searching for positives, Shough showed he can stand tall, wait for things to develop and can make the throws, despite the late interception. As the Saints public relations department tweeted, Demario Davis has now made at least 80 tackles in 13 consecutive seasons, remarkable consistency. He always plays, plays hard and plays well. The 13-year streak is the third-longest in the league currently, joining linebacker Bobby Wagner of the Commanders (14 straight seasons) and linebacker Lavonte David of Tampa Bay (13 straight seasons). The New Orleans offense sputtered early then could never get in a rhythm because they hardly had the ball. The New Orleans defense could not stop the run or pass and got pushed around. In position to make tackles, they missed often. If you thought next week’s game at Carolina was a potential win, consider this. The Panthers are now 6-5, well ahead of the Saints in the rebuilding mode. The rest of this season for the Saints is about evaluating players for Kellen Moore and his staff. It is hard to evaluate the staff, at this stage, given what they were given. On a day where the New Orleans Pelicans lost a 13th straight game and fell to 0-6 with a 31-point loss at Oklahoma City, the Saints continued their swoon. This is a low point for professional sports in New Orleans. John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior) *John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
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