Saints’ aggressive play-calling ends up coming back to hurt them in loss to Rams

Dennis Allen, the coach of New Orleans, was aware that his team couldn’t play the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night by making cautious choices. Not with the Saints’ own playoff prospects on the line and the Rams offense on the verge of a comeback.

However, New Orleans’s aggression proved to be one of its greatest weaknesses in the 30-22 defeat.

Three times the Saints turned the ball over on downs, which the Rams exploited to score thirteen points. Los Angeles scored a touchdown on the next play after Derek Carr’s lone interception of the evening.

“We wanted to play aggressively when we started this game. Kicking field goals wasn’t going to be the best strategy to try to win this game, given the kind of team and offense we were playing,” Allen stated.

The most deadly of Allen’s two fourth-down wagers proved to be his second one. With one minute left in the first half, the Saints were down 10-3 and faced a fourth-and-five on the Rams 42. Carr had to throw it before tight end since linebacker Ernest Jones was applying pressure to his right side. It was in the air, as Juwan Johnson realized.

With five plays later, Matthew Stafford connected with Demarcus Robinson for a 4-yard touchdown throw; with 21 seconds left before halftime, the Saints were behind by two touchdowns.

“That was huge, and it hurt when we didn’t convert,” said Carr, who was 27 of 40 for 319 yards, three touchdowns and a pick.

The Rams also got the ball to start the second half and extended their lead to 13 points on Lucas Havrisik’s second field goal.

“That 14-point swing (at the end of the first half), that’s huge momentum to lose,” defensive end Cameron Jordan said.

New Orleans did rally with 15 points in the fourth quarter, but their hopes for a comeback were dashed when Puka Nacua recovered an onside kick with 3:52 remaining. The Rams then ran out the clock as the Saints didn’t have any timeouts.

The loss was similar to the Saints’ 33-28 loss to the Detroit Lions on Dec. 3. New Orleans also fell behind big early in that game only to see its rally fall short.

After leading the NFC South at the midway point, the Saints have dropped four of their last six. At 7-8, their lone viable path to the playoffs appears to be winning the division.

In its final two games, New Orleans plays division opponents, starting with Tampa Bay on December 31. The Bucs are 7-7 heading into their game versus Jacksonville on Sunday. They defeated the Saints 26-9 on October 1.

Next up for the Saints is a 6-8 loss at Atlanta on January 7. On Nov. 26, the Falcons prevailed 24–15 in the first meeting.

We are who we are at this moment. There’s no sugarcoating the fact that we still have two games left,” Jordan stated. “Being in this situation is annoying. At some point, we have to prevail. “Excuses do not exist.”

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