These might be the two best teams in the NFC, the Rams take their unbeaten 8-0  record into the Big Easy, to play the 6-1 Saints (won last 6) .

 

I spoke early season about the Rams being all about the now and trading to give themselves the best possible chance to take a Super Bowl sooner rather than later. They have continued with that policy despite the perfect start and added outside linebacker Dante Fowler to what many might view as an overstocked defense. He is an elite pass rusher and is a very good addition, he Donald, Suh and Brockers have a combined 44 sacks since the start of 2017 and all will have eyes on Drew Brees today.

 

I knew the Rams were good , but it was their numbers from an LA derby game with the Chargers which really caught my eye ............

 

I went "over" and it was done and dusted halfway through the third quarter and the Rams ran out 35-23 winners and it felt and was, much easier than that score implies. Pretty sure that Goff and co played very much with today and the short week in mind through the 4th quarter. This was a very impressive performance, the Rams had 33 first downs , 16 more than the Chargers, who made the pre season notes as one of those improvers in terms of first downs given up and that has got a lot of (positive) alarm bells going off in my head, especially given how they saw out the final 15 minutes of the game.

 

They have been taken close by the Packers and Seahawks, but won both and only once in eight starts have they been kept to under 29 points and only twice less than 33, they beat the Saints and held them to 20 last year despite Brees ,Kamara and Ingram all being solid enough, restricting them to just 14 first downs, putting up 24 themselves. I am keen on these first down numbers, more so than most other previewers I guess as they are not mentioned that often, my thinking is that you can only make so many without scoring, one has to eventually follow the other !

 

Rams get second-year receiver Cooper Kupp back for the first time since he was injured in Week 6,  after posting 300 yards receiving or better Weeks 2-5, the Rams offense tallied less than 300 yards in the three games without Kupp, they still can find multi ways to beat you, but it is all a little slicker with him in the line up. Saints have the #1 ranked rushing defense,  allowing a league-low 74.1 yards per game and 3.2 yards per attempt on the ground through seven games.But they have not faced Todd Gurley (pictured) yet, he has 1,151 yards of total offense and 15 touchdowns this season, with another today he will become the only player in franchise history to score a touchdown in 12 consecutive games. He averaged 4.4 per carry in the game last season and has stepped up a couple of  levels subsequently. NO numbers v the run are good, but they have played six teams ranked 14/19/28/29/20 /31 at running the ball, Browns are #4 and led the Saints by 10 points late, the Rams are #2 (but will end as #1 almost certainly).Rams go 9-0.