Los Angeles Rams bold predictions for Week 13 vs. New Orleans Saints

In Week 12 of the 2024 NFL season, the Los Angeles Rams had everything to gain but quite a bit to lose in their Sunday Night Football showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Sitting in puncher’s range of the top spot in the NFC West, just one game behind the Arizona Cardinals with six games left to play, the Rams had the potential to march out onto their hometown field at SoFi Stadium, even if it felt like an away game with the standard blanketed in a sea of green, and take it to one of the best teams in the NFL.

You see, a win over Philadelphia’s wouldn’t have just ended the longest win streak in the NFC, but it would have proven that the Rams are truly right up there with the best teams in the NFL, with their early-season injury issues leading to their record, not a lack of talent or underwhelming coaching.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be; the Eagles had their win in the bag before the start of the fourth quarter, with Jalen Hurts leading the offense with ease through the air and Saquon Barkley turning in an all-time great performance on the ground with 255 rushing yards on just 26 carries.

Where do the Rams go from here? Well, while they are not dead in the NFC West just yet, they do have a tough path to clearing the Cardinals, who have a relatively easy schedule down the stretch. With the NFC’s three wildcard spots very much up in the air, the Rams are going to need to start stacking wins if they want to take another shot at the postseason, with that journey starting in Week 13 against the New Orleans Saints.

Fortunately, 2024 has not been the Saints’ year, with their head coach already fired and their overall record sitting at 4-7, even if they are currently riding high(ish) on a two-game win streak over the Atlanta Falcons and the Cleveland Browns. If the Rams are going to return to the playoffs, the path starts at the Superdome.

1. Matthew Stafford has his second 300-yard passing game of 2024

As crazy as it may sound, Matthew Stafford, the Rams’ superstar signal caller who has played a major role in the Rams’ successes and shortcomings in 2024, has only thrown for 300-plus yards once this season, all the way back in Week 1 in an overtime loss to his old team, the Detroit Lions.

Now granted, Stafford hasn’t exactly had the best luck over that tenure, as he’s been without Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, Tyler Higbee, and every starting offensive lineman not named Kevin Dotson for at least a game or two over that stretch, but it’s not like the Rams have put him in the best position to succeed either. No, when you consider the Rams have thrown the ball 119(!) more times than they’ve run it in 2024, maybe Sean McVay is putting too much pressure on his quarterback’s shoulders for the offense to operate at its optimal level.

Will that run-pass balance be magically fixed in Week 13? No, probably not, but fortunately, that might not be a bad thing in this particular game, as the Saints have one of the worst passing defenses in the NFL and have been picked apart by almost everyone before, and especially after trading away Pro Bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore.

Case in point, in the two games since Lattimore was traded to the Commanders, the Saints have allowed more than their season average of 256.6 yards per game through the air, With Kirk Cousins throwing for 306 yards in Week 10 and Jameis Winston darn near hitting 400 yards in his return to the Superdome, completing 30 of his 46 passing attempts for 395 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions. If Stafford doesn’t re-join the 300-yard club in Week 13, it would be a failure on the Rams’ part, not a sign of a healthy Saints defense.

2. The Rams hold Alvin Kamara under 100 rushing yards

There’s no two ways about it: the Rams’ rushing defense was thoroughly embarrassed by Barkley and the Eagles in Week 12. They effectively allowed two full games of rushing yards in less than four quarters of action for the borderline guaranteed All-Pro, and even when they prevented a big run, it was only a matter of time before the PSU product ripped one off anyway,  as he simply played that well at SoFi.

Fortunately, McVay told reporters on Friday that his team is ready for the challenge of playing Alvin Kamara in Week 13 and hopes to keep him from embarrassing the team like Barkley before him.

“Kamara’s a great player. If you look at it, he’s a guy that commands a lot of attention and very similar to the way that [Eagles RB] Saquon [Barkley] has impacted the game, there’s a lot of versatility to his skillset,” McVay told reporters. “I think they do a great job of utilizing him. He’s going to be a guy that we have to be very cognizant of the different ways that they utilize him, and he can pose problems. A lot of respect for this guy. He’s been doing it at a high clip for a long time, going back to when I first got here, and that was his rookie year. It seems like he is only getting better like a fine wine.”

Fortunately for the Eagles, Kamara’s season isn’t going nearly as well as Barkley’s, with the do-it-all back only having one 100-yard rushing game on his resume over 11 games of action. After being embarrassed in Week 13, it’s safe to assume Chris Shula and company will dial in some strong fronts in an effort to hold Kamara to or below his season average of 71.1 yards per game, as they can’t frankly afford another performance like Week 12 without making some serious changes to how they play defense.

3. Jared Verse sacks Derrick Carr into submission

While the Rams’ defense hasn’t been particularly good at stuffing the run in 2024, especially when Bobby Brown III, Michael Hoecht, Kobie Turner, and Jared Verse aren’t all on the field together, they have found much more success from a pass-rushing standpoint, with Byron Young, Braden Fiske, Kobie Turner, and Jared Verse all having at least 4.5 sacks on the season so far.

Now, for Shula, watching that quartet, his preferred foursome when it comes to obvious passing downs, find consistent success as rushers has to be considered a major positive for the Rams 2024 campaign regardless of when it comes to an end, as those players are widely considered the core building blocks from which LA is going to build around moving forward. Sprinkle in some “veterans” like Hoecht and Brown III against the run, and the Rams could eventually be a very good defense overall, even if they are currently a work in progress.

Fortunately, in Week 13, they are going up against a Saints team that will be without Ryan Rmczyk, Lucas Patrick, and potentially center Erik McCoy in Week 13. Factor in a few more injuries across the offense, with starting wide receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed on IR and Jamaal Williams questionable, and this not only feels like a likely win for the Rams but a game where players like Verse could add to their 2024 legends with a big game against a less than mobile quarterback under center. Will the Rams get their Hollywood ending in 2024? If they do, their Act 3 comeback will almost certainly have to begin with a Week 13 win in New Orleans.