Juwan Johnson continues to shine in Saints winners and losers for Week 11

The New Orleans Saints got back into the win column on Sunday after taking down an injury-riddled Los Angeles Rams team. The Rams might be beaten up, but so are the Saints and they managed to make a bad team look even worse.

With the Saints now sitting at 4-7, let's take a peek at the winners and losers from Week 11.

Losers

Run Defense

I'll be honest here -- There really weren't that many losers in this one. The Saints won the game and did so despite there being a lot of major injuries to the team.

What wasn't impressive, however, was the run defense. They once again allowed the opposition to have a big day on the ground, as the Rams finished the ball game with 148 yards rushing off of 30 carries. None of the Rams rushers went for over 100 yards but Cam Akers had 61 yards, backup quarterback Bryce Perkins had 39 yards, and Kyren Williams had 36 yards.

It's been disappointing to see this run defense struggle and that's why they're the only loser from this game.

Winners

Juwan Johnson

The Saints have desperately been trying to find a starting-caliber tight end and they look to finally have one in the form of Juwan Johnson. The wide receiver-turned-tight end has been one of Andy Dalton's go-to targets this season and he proved that once again on Sunday by totaling three catches for 47 yards and a touchdown.

Kaden Elliss

It felt like losing Pete Werner for an extended period of time would be the end of this defense but Elliss has stepped in and played nicely. The seventh-round pick led the team in tackles with 11 while also racking up two quarterback hits, 1.5 sacks, and one deflected pass. He was flying all over the field on Sunday. The Saints needed someone to step up defensively this weekend and Elliss was that guy.

Chris Olave

Stop me if you've heard this one before but Olave had another tremendous outing. The rookie finished this one with five catches for 102 yards and a touchdown while averaging 20.4 yards per catch. While it'll be painful not to have a high first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, if both Olave and Trevor Penning both look decent this year, it can't be THAT bad, can it?

Pass Rush

Despite being down to just two healthy starting defensive ends, the Saints pass rush managed to make some serious noise, notching four sacks. Three of those sacks came against the backup, Bryce Perkins, and it felt like whenever Matthew Stafford was out there that he had all day to throw but the Saints made the noise count when they needed it most down the stretch.

Andy Dalton

While there's no reason for the Saints to be playing Dalton if Jameis Winston is healthy, the Red Rifle put together one of the best games of his career. He finished this matchup with just four incompletions while throwing for 260 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was sacked three times.

Taysom Hill

Good things happen when the Saints get No. 7 involved on offense and that was proven to be true once again this week. Hill and Dalton took turns at quarterback and it appeared to work well. Hill also rushed the ball nine times for 52 yards. Keep giving Hill the ball moving forward because defenses have shown that they can't consistently stop him.

It was good to see the Saints climb back into the win column after some tough losses this past few weeks. The offense started off slowly but picked things up and made the most of their opportunities in the second half.

The defense wasn't great but it certainly could have been worse. The final score makes the game look closer than it was down the stretch but the defense, for the most part, did their part.

All stats courtesy of ESPN