After facing an 8-2 Philadelphia Eagles team in Week 12, the Los Angeles Rams will get a little bit of a break on Sunday when they face the 4-7 New Orleans Saints. It’s a much easier matchup for Sean McVay’s team, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy win.
The Saints have looked like a different team in the last two weeks under interim coach Darren Rizzi, who replaced the recently fired Dennis Allen. The Saints are 2-0 under Rizzi, beating the Falcons and Browns before their bye.
After losing seven games in a row, they’ve gained some momentum and McVay isn’t going to take them lightly at all despite their unimpressive record. He says their 4-7 mark is misleading.
“I think their record is misleading,”McVay said. “They’ve done a good job of winning the last two games. They’re coming off their bye. There are still some foundational things. Defensively, [Saints DC] Joe Woods has done a nice job. [Saints OC Klint] Kubiak, based on just losing some of those receivers, he’s done a really good job of being able to utilize a variety of different personnels and you still see the same influence that [ Coach [Darren] Rizzi has on the teams. I do know this, I’ve seen especially in the last couple weeks, a really good football team. They’ve beaten the Atlanta team that’s leading their division. You look at the way that the Browns played last Thursday against one of the better teams in this league and they did an excellent job being able to take care of them as well.”
The Saints started the season 2-0 by beating the Carolina Panthers 47-10 and Dallas Cowboys 44-19 in the first two weeks. After that, they lost seven straight and were without Derek Carr for several weeks, leading to Allen’s firing.
Fresh off a bye and with a coach who’s lit a fire in his team, the Saints aren’t a group to overlook – especially for a Rams squad that badly needs a win after getting embarrassed by the Eagles.