Thursday Night Football: Rams improve to 8-7 with 30-22 victory over Saints
The Rams entered Thursday’s game needing a victory to keep pace in a crowded NFC Wild Card race.
In a similar fashion to Sunday’s win over the Commanders, things got interesting in the fourth quarter. But the Rams were able to hold on and come away with a 30-22 victory.
With the rest of the Christmas weekend slate yet to come, that puts the Rams as the NFC’s current No. 6 seed.
L.A. scored on each of its first two possessions, with Puka Nacua catching a 2-yard touchdown to cap a 14-play, 95-yard drive. Then Lucas Havrisik hit a 20-yard field goal to make the score 10-0.
The Rams could have been up 13-0, but Havrisik sent a 47-yard field goal wide left.
New Orleans took advantage of the short field, with quarterback Derek Carr firing a 45-yard touchdown deep down the middle to Rasheed Shaheed with 2:28 left in the first half.
But even after forcing a rare Rams three-and-out, the Saints couldn’t get down the field to score again, with Carr throwing a pass that was well incomplete on fourth-and-5.
Matthew Stafford and the L.A. offense took advantage of their next opportunity, with the quarterback connecting with Demarcus Robinson for a 4-yard touchdown to give the Rams a 17-7 halftime lead.
After Havrisik hit a 22-yard field goal, running back Kyren Williams scored a 10-yard touchdown after a Carr interception to give Los Angeles a 27-7 advantage. Havrisik hit another 32-yard field goal to give the Rams 20 straight points.
The Saints cut off the points streak with Juwan Johnson’s 5-yard touchdown reception with 6:33 left in the fourth quarter. And a tipped punt on Los Angeles’ next possession gave New Orleans the ball at the L.A. 35.
New Orleans didn’t take long to score, with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Carr to A.T. Perry plus a two-point conversion putting the Saints down by eight.
But with just 3:53 left and the Saints without a timeout, the visitors attempted an onside kick. Nacua recovered it to give the Rams the opportunity to close the game.
They did just that, with Nacua securing a first down on a jet sweep. And after the two-minute warning, a New Orleans neutral-zone infraction kept the clock moving long enough for Stafford to take a knee and end the game.
Stafford threw to just four receivers on the night in Nacua, Robinson, Kupp, and Higbee. But the quarterback had another stellar game, finishing 24-of-34 for 328 yards with a pair of touchdowns — good for a 120.7 passer rating.
Nacua continued his sensational rookie season with nine receptions on 11 targets for 164 yards — including a massive 41-yard reception to start the third quarter that he caught off a defender’s arm. He also had two carries for 16 yards. Robinson finished with six catches for 82 yards, scoring a touchdown in his fourth consecutive game.
Williams finished with 22 carries for 104 yards, going over 1,000 yards on the season in the process.
On the other side, the Saints had trouble running it all night with Alvin Kamara finishing with just nine carries for 19 yards. Carr was 27-of-40 for 319 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
After missing last Sunday’s win over the Giants, Chris Olave caught nine passes for 123 yards.
The Rams have now won five of their six games following their Week 10 bye to move to 8-7 on the season. Their only loss came in overtime against Baltimore in Week 14. The club will head East to face the Giants in New Jersey next weekend before finishing the season in the Bay Area against the 49ers.
New Orleans was tied for the NFC South lead at 7-7 entering Week 16, but now the team sits at 7-8 with two games to go. The Saints will be on the road to face the Buccaneers in Week 17 before finishing the season at home against the Falcons.
