The New Orleans Saints fell to the Los Angeles Rams, which was very predictable. You'd struggle to find one analysts within a group that predicted the Saints would win this matchup. It was Tyler Shough's first start, and everyone knew there would be the struggles.
The thing is it wasn't supposed to look like this. The Saints looked completely out of their depth. We've seen this team perform admirably when the deck was stacked against them. This was not one of those days. Instead of looking like their game against the Buffalo Bills, Week 9 was disgustingly similar to the beatdown the Saints received from the Seattle Seahawks. Long drives from the Rams, however, kept the game from getting uglier.
For all of the things that went wrong it felt like Shough was rarely a focal point in the miscues. He did have an interception, but that was in the closing moments of the game, where he was just trying to make a play. It'll go down as an interception, but it wasn't one that truly mattered.
The Saints have a looooooooong way to go
Get ready for the understatement of the week. There's is a sizable margin between the Saints and Rams. The Rams are in the running for the first seed in the NFC, and the Saints are in the running for first overall selection. Unfortunately for the Saints, it was on full display in Sunday's game.
It's hard to point to many moments the Saints could feel good about coming out of this game. Shough had a touchdown drive at the end of the first half. It featured a strong throw to Chris Olave and Shough's first career touchdown.
It was the brightest moment of the game for the Saints easily. It was the moment that felt like the Saints could find some sort of momentum in this one. They didn't, but at least there was temporary hope.