NEW ORLEANS — This is certainly the game the Saints fans circled when the 2019 schedule came out – Saints, Rams week 2.
It’s for the simple fact that maybe Saints fans can feel, maybe a little redemption for that NFC Championship loss with the ‘no call’ and maybe they can get a little bit of satisfaction with a win over the Rams during the regular season, the next meeting afterwards, so, that may be what Saints fans are feeling.
Inside the locker room, at least publicly, the Saints say they’re not really looking at it as a revenge game, they’re just seeing it as another game.
Really, this is more of a measuring stick to see where they are compared to the Rams because these two teams are going to be two of the favorites to win the NFC this year.
On the Rams’ side, one of the areas they’re really focusing on is Alvin Kamara, and the reason why is because Kamara is the guy who gashed them in that NFC Championship game, back in January, where he had over 90 yards receiving on 11 catches and was a real threat in the passing game, so Wade Phillips said that they’re going to have an eye on him for every single play.
Staying with a running theme, the Saints last year were number two in rush defense, after one week this year, they are number 30. That will happen when you give up 180 to the Texans. The Saints really had a problem stopping Houston’s running game and they’re going to have a challenge this week with Todd Gurley, the two-time All-Pro back and Malcolm Brown.
Now, they do get defensive tackle David Onyemata back after he served that one-game suspension for his marijuana arrest in the offseason. That should bolster the Saints rush defense. And, they’re going to have to do a better job stopping the run, because if they don’t, that gives Sean McVay’s offense a chance to be really versatile and have multiple play calls in both the run and the pass game.
If they can make them one-dimensional, they can have a good chance.
The Saints and Rams, probably the two best teams in the NFC square off Sunday at 3:25 and I know Saints fans will be tuning in because this will be a chance to get redemption for what happened to them in that championship game back in January.