The New Orleans Saints lost another close game, and they got beat up on the ground as they did it.
Kyren Williams went off for 104 yards and set the tone throughout the second half in a 21-14 Rams win. It was frustrating, but all the more so because it's simply continued a trend of what's been the Saints' biggest defensive liability all season, as the Cajun Cannon Bobby Hebert broke down in his postgame rant on WWL.
"You know what we still can’t do? We still can’t stop the run," Hebert said. "You know how we wanted to get better with the run and who you sign and all that. ... When they were running the ball, it’s like a wave. It’s like, oh, we’re gonna stop them but by the time we’re stopping them he already gained 4 or 5 yards."
Listen to Hebert's full post-game rant in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
It's a similar script to what the Saints saw in losses to the Eagles, Bucs, Broncos and Panthers already this season.
Interestingly, Williams finished with exactly the same number of rushing yards as he had when the Rams dominated in 2023. The result was similar. The Saints shut out L.A. in the first half and tamped down Matthew Stafford and the passing attack for a majority of the day, but when they needed it, the Rams were the more aggressive team. There's still a ways to go before the Saints know exactly what they're looking at in the 2025 draft, but the priorities should be clear.
"I don’t know what we’re gonna do in the draft and all, I still think we’ve got to address in the middle and just stopping the run first," Hebert continued.
The loss dropped the Saints to 4-8 and likely spelled an end to any outside hopes of sneaking into the playoffs after a 7-game losing streak and head coach firing. It also took some of the shine off of interim head coach Darren Rizzi's tenure, which started with wins over the Falcons and Browns. Next up is the lowly Giants before difficult matchups against the Commanders in New Orleans, then the Packers in Green Bay on Dec. 23.
"It’s a shame," Hebert said. "You know, you've got to make clutch plays. How you close out games, it’s 4th down ... You know, we bend and don’t break, when they got near the goal line no, they just ran over us."
