And a week after New Orleans' defense arguably played its best game this season in a 23-3 loss against Tampa Bay, it couldn't get off the field (the Rams converted half of their 14 third-down attempts and both fourth down tries, and New Orleans didn't force a turnover) and was shredded in the red zone, where Los Angeles scored on four of five trips.
"They controlled so many of the situational football plays," Saints coach Kellen Moore said. "They were able to play a lot more efficiently, run the football better. But third downs, red zone, fourth downs — they were able to control the ball in so many ways.
"We didn't get enough shots at it. We didn't get enough opportunities. We've got to play, obviously, a lot better. A lot of this comes down to the details and the fundamentals of the football game. Sometimes it's a simple game; we've got to play better and give ourselves more opportunities.
"When you look at it, we had 40 snaps on offense — probably an all-time low — and they had 77. So they obviously controlled the ball for much of this game."
When the Saints went three-and-out on their first two possessions and the Rams scored touchdowns on two of their first three — a 12-play, 88-yard drive and an 11-play, 62-yard drive that lasted a combined 12:36 — it was a harbinger of things to come.
New Orleans manufactured an eight-play, 44-yard drive in the second quarter that ended with a 39-yard field goal by Blake Grupe to cut its deficit to 13-3. And when the Rams responded with a three-play, 65-yard punch to push the lead to 20-3 with 6:25 in the half, the teams traded possessions — the Saints punted, the Rams missed a field goal — before the Saints countered with their only touchdown.
The six-play, 71-yard drive began with 54 seconds left in the second quarter and included Shough completions to receiver Rashid Shaheed (13 yards), tight end Juwan Johnson (8 yards), receiver Chris Olave (27 yards), and a roughing the passer penalty that pushed the ball to the Rams- 11-yard line.
On first down from there, Shough found Johnson open a few yards in front of the goal line. Johnson made the catch, spun around a tackle attempt and lunged into the end zone for Shough's first touchdown, and halved the Rams' lead to 20-10 entering halftime.
But that was as far as the momentum went.
Los Angeles opened the second half with an 80-yard touchdown drive that required 16 plays, lasted 9:46 and included two third-down conversions and one fourth-down conversion.