Just how bad of a beating did Kellen Moore’s New Orleans Saints team take last week? According to the Los Angeles Rams defense, or at least star pass rusher Jared Verse, they hardly broke a sweat.
“Man that 20 plays I had, I’m cool. Offense was eating up that clock, doing their thing, alright?” Verse laughed on the Fitz & Whit podcast with former Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth. “I felt like I had a nice little warmup.”
Ouch. He wasn’t wrong — Brandon Staley’s defense limited the Rams to just 7-of-14 on fourth down while giving up both of their conversions on fourth down during the game. L.A. sustained five different drives with 10 or more plays, and all but one ended with a touchdown (the other was a missed field goal). They kept possession and didn’t give Tyler Shough and the Saints offense time to work. Not that New Orleans helped themselves, going three-and-out on four of their first five drives.
Still, it’s not like Verse had a good day in the office. Rookie Saints left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. didn’t let him touch Shough on 24 pass rushes, only allowing two non-contact pressures on the day. Verse had a lower Pro Football Focus player grade (36.7) than total snaps played against the Saints (37), and much of that was due to Banks shutting him down. It’s a shame Banks’ efforts weren’t rewarded with a win, but that’s going to happen a lot on a rebuilding team. Moore, Staley, and other decision-makers in New Orleans must get more talent on Banks’ level if they’re going to stop guys like Verse from laughing them off the days after a blowout loss.
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