Saints Survive Against Improved Rams

The New Orleans Saints entered the game undefeated and the toast of the NFC. The St. Louis Rams entered the game with a 1-7 record. The Saints were favored by 14 1/2 points. The Saints also came loaded with their top-ranked offense to face off against the Rams' 28th-ranked defense. Simply put, this one had all the makings of a bloodbath.

Instead, the Saints escaped with a 28-23 victory by the skin of their teeth -- as the game was never clinched until Marc Bulger's hail mary fell incomplete as the clock struck 0:00. The fact that the Saints couldn't put the hapless Rams away earlier in the game is sure to lead to a bunch of "the Saints are overrated" talk this week. They didn't play well, but let's not go overboard.

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"You're not going to blow everyone out,'' Saints cornerback Randall Gay said. "It's a lot harder to blow teams out when for a lot of teams, this is like their playoff game.''

The negatives from the Saints' end were evident. Drew Brees threw two interceptions. Marques Colston fumbled the football out of the end zone on what could have been a touchdown when he went airborne at the goal line. The offensive line was routinely beat on run plays up the middle -- Mike Bell and Pierre Thomas both averaged less than four yards a carry. The patchwork secondary allowed Brandon Gibson -- a rookie who had never caught an NFL pass before -- to grab seven catches for 93 yards. Brees made a mental mistake toward the end of the first half when a clock-killing spike left six seconds on the clock as the Saints faced fourth down in their own territory.

Remember, though, the Saints were missing Darren Sharper and Jabari Greer from their secondary. They also lost Tracy Porter during the game. The loss of three starters cleared the way for Rams' quarterback Bulger throw for a season-high 298 yards. Steven Jackson also had a big game (26 carries for 131 yards and a touchdown), but he can run on anyone. It's hard to blame the Saints for not stopping him. Plus, the Rams are getting better and had two weeks to gameplan for this one. Before their bye, which was last week, the Rams won in Detroit for their first victory of the year. It's a young team in the first year of a new administration, so it's only common sense they'd begin playing much better football in the second half of the season.

Give Reggie Bush credit for stepping up when the Saints needed him. With their inability to run up the middle, Bush took over via the outside, scoring twice (once on a short reception, once on a draw) and racking up 98 yards on six carries and two catches. His speed on the perimeter was the difference-maker in this game when the Saints had the ball. That's odd to say when you're talking about this juggernaut of an offense against a previously brutal Rams' defense, but that's why they play the games.

"We're not content with where we're at, and we're certainly not content with the way we've played these last few weeks,'' Brees said. "We need to close the game out when we're given the opportunity.''

We should also consider the Saints were playing on the road, and it's not easy to win any NFL football game on the road. Good teams find a way to win, despite any adversity that may strike, and that's what they did. While they don't play for so-called moral victories, this game was more about the improvement of the Steve Spagnuolo-era Rams and their building toward the future than it was any shortcomings for the now 9-0 Saints.

The bottom line is that the Saints won a football game. In the end, that's all that matters.