Los Angeles Rams vs New Orleans Saints: Five Saints to Watch

The New Orleans Saints have the NFL’s longest winning streak and travel to Los Angeles to take on a Rams team looking to bounce back from a tough loss in Minnesota. It’s the second week in a row the Rams will face one of the best team’s in the NFL, let alone the NFC. The Saints have a truly lethal running game to pair with an upstart defense as they look primed to send Drew Brees on one last Super Bowl run. Here’s my five Saints to watch.

DE Cameron Jordan

Another week, another underrated wrecking ball at DE for the Rams offensive line. Cam Jordan has had a revival in 2017 and has led the Saints defensive turnaround with his playmaking ability. Jordan has 8.0 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 5 passes defensed, an interception and a touchdown on the season. Also stout against the run, Jordan is the Saint’s 2nd leading tackler and primarily lines up at left defensive end, making it another big test for Rams RT Rob Havenstein. Jordan doesn’t always consistently create chaos but his knack to make splash plays out of nowhere is something the Rams need to eliminate this week.

RB Alvin Kamara

Kamara has to be one of the front runners for NFC rookie of the year and yet still sees half the carries of his partner Mark Ingram. Ingram is the clear bell cow ball carrier for the Saints but Kamara is without the Saints most versatile weapon. With 459 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns to pair with 447 receiving yards with 3 receiving touchdowns, Kamara’s balance and versatility is a nightmare in the Saint’s offense. Only Mike Thomas has more catches for the Saints than Kamara.

RB Mark Ingram

The Saints running backs duo is so good they’re both getting listed this week. As good as Kamara has been as the Saints Swiss army knife, Ingram has been equally good as a runner as he’s already piled up 806 yards at a 5.2 yard clip. He’s done so even while conceding nearly 100 carries to Kamara and Adrian Peterson. Ingram has 8 rushing touchdowns of his own and the Saint’s team total of 15 leads the league. To illustrate just how good the Saint’s RBs have been, the Saints and Drew Brees rank 16th in passing attempts so far, a category that Brees has dominated the league leaders in for years.

S Kenny Vaccaro

Vaccaro has missed the last two games with a groin injury but has since stated there’s no way he’s missing this game. He’s also seen a bit of a revival in 2017 as he’s struggled in years past with consistency. Vaccaro is one third of a Saints safety trio along with Vonn Bell and rookie Marcus Williams with Vaccaro often playing as a rover. The switch has allowed Vaccaro to make more plays on the ball as he has 3 interceptions to go with 7 passes defensed. With their top rookie CB Marshon Lattimore likely out, seeing how the entire secondary responds to injuries is something to monitor.

QB Drew Brees

Well for one, Brees is a future first ballot Hall of Famer. Brees remains insanely good this season but he’s not having to carry the Saints anymore and this makes him more dangerous than ever. Depending on how much attention you’ve paid to the Saints, Brees has “quietly” put together a stat line of 2783 passing yards, 15 TDs, 5 INTs while completing a 71.2% of passes at an absurd 8.2 yards per attempt. He's led the Saints to 8 straight wins including their wild comeback last week against the Redskins when they scored 15 points in less than 6 minutes before kicking the winning FG in overtime. With a banged up Rams secondary? Welp.