3 Saints to blame for costly loss to Rams in Week 13

On Sunday, Darren Rizzi suffered his first loss as interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Obviously, losing a game as a head coach is inevitable, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing— especially when the game is winnable.

That was the case for Rizzi and the Saints on Sunday, falling 21-14 to the Los Angeles Rams. New Orleans is now 4-8 on the season, and when the team looks at film from this game, they’ll realize they should be 5-7 right now. Here are a few people to blame for the fact New Orleans didn’t win on Sunday.

3. Trevor Penning struggled in the loss to the Rams

Entering Sunday’s game, it was clear the Saints’ young offensive tackles needed to perform well. Los Angeles has a promising young defensive line, led by rookie edge defender Jared Verse. Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning were tasked with slowing Verse down.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The rookie defender technically didn’t register a sack, but he had a ton of pressure throughout the game. Oftentimes, Verse was seen pushing Penning straight back into the backfield and collapsing the pocket. That made things tough for Derek Carr and the passing game, and that’s part of the reason why the offense only scored 14 points.

2. Klint Kubiak’s play calling held the Saints back in Week 13

Another major problem from Sunday’s loss was Klint Kubiak’s play calling. The offensive coordinator has been impressive at times throughout his first season in New Orleans, but there have been too many instances when he goes away from a productive run game and the offense immediately stalls.

Sunday’s loss was the latest example of that. Alvin Kamara finished the game with 23 carries for 112 yards, and anyone watching can tell you he should’ve had more carries. On multiple drives, Kamara would lead the offense down the field, then the Saints would throw consecutive passes and not get in the end zone.

Kubiak has to do a better job of keeping things simple and leaning on what works.

1. Saints defensive line was dominated by the Rams on Sunday

Some fans may feel inclined not to put blame on the defense, because the unit had a first-half shutout, and limited a talented Rams offense to just 21 points. However, the defense absolutely deserves some blame, because the unit was bullied in the trenches.

Los Angeles ran the ball 29 times for 156 yards. The Rams’ two running backs combined for 23 carries for 146 yards. The entire Saints defensive line was being driven off the line of scrimmage every run play. That’s how Los Angeles scored 21 points in a half after going scoreless in the first half.

Simply put, the performance from the defensive front was embarrassing, and is a big reason why the Saints are now 4-8.

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