Well whatever that performance was the Saints sure hope they don’t have again for a long time. It was the type of game where it felt like they couldn’t really manage to do much of the little things right. Sure they had a couple nice moments here and there like Rattlers 25 yard throw to Moreno-Cooper but this game was terrible all around. No other way to put it. Let’s look at some of the key points I was looking for in the game. 

The backup quarterback battle just got even murkier. After Zach Wilson shined in the first preseason game but unfortunately had a complete 180 of a performance against the Rams. I don’t think Wilson had much help around him today but he did not do enough to have us overlook the circumstances. Rattler was watching this from the sidelines and knew his turn was coming to make up ground in the backup battle. His first drive ended in a 100 yard pick six to completely bury the Saints on the scoreboard. Once you’re down 27 points in the third quarter barring a miracle comeback there’s not much positive merit in individual performance for the rest of the game. 

Following up the QB battle was the pecking order battle in the receiver room. But because of how the offense performed today we got no answers there. We’ll have to wait till next week against the cowboys to see if we get any clear answers before the rosters are trimmed down. 

I wanted to keep an eye out for the RB3 battle in this game and unfortunately no one stood out in a positive fashion in this game. Ty Chandler was someone who had a big moment in the last game with a long kickoff return but all that positive momentum he created came to screeching halt. Ty had a lackluster day running the ball and had a brutal fumble that was recovered by the Rams while in the red zone. Just can’t have those two things happen and expect to win a job with so little opportunity left.

I came away impressed with the corner depth after the Jaguars game last week and was looking forward to see how’d they look against better competition from the Rams. I won’t single out any one player specifically here but ultimately the defense as a whole just really had no answers for the Rams today. The Rams were moving the ball at will today, didn’t matter if it was on the ground or in the air. The Rams could do whatever they wanted and there should be some concern even if it’s just a preseason game after a performance like that. 

Lastly was my interest in the kicking battle given Smyth’s uneven track record. Unfortunately the Saints did not give the kickers much if any real work today. Brown got the only chance of the day to kick a FG at the end of the game and missed a 39 yarder. If this keeps up the Saints might have to go in a whole other direction at the kicker position before the regular season starts. 

I won’t give the Saints an excuse for a poor performance like this. Preseason or not failing to execute at the level they did today is unacceptable and will have to be a lot different in the last preseason game if they want to bring some positive momentum into the regular season. Moving forward though as it’s been noted by others the Saints looked tired today. I don’t believe we will see the Saints schedule two joint practices between two preseason game over a ten day span again. Let’s hope for a more competitive game next week for the preseason finale against the Cowboys.