Saints Embarrass Rams, Keep Playoff Push Alive with Offensive Fireworks

For a brief time Sunday afternoon, the buzz around what was happening inside the Superdome focused on Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff.

He deserved your eyes and attention after an opening half when the 2016 first overall pick carved up the New Orleans Saints defense. Goff finished those first two quarters with 157 yards through the air and three passing touchdowns.

A first-overall pick was beginning to look like a first-overall pick. And more importantly, the Rams offense could grasp onto something it hadn’t sniffed for a long, long time: hope.

Then swiftly your gaze was redirected to where it belonged. Saints quarterback Drew Brees has a way of doing that. He either grabs your attention right away after kickoff as footballs begin to fly or startles you with a sudden offensive eruption.

He did the latter as the Saints trounced the Rams soundly, winning 49-21. Brees scored a victory off the field too when the game ended with friendly verbal sideline fire. Rams head coach Jeff Fisher and his defensive coordinator Gregg Williams exchanged some angry words as the scoreboard went from headache to throbbing migraine.

The internet had jokes because, as you surely recall, Williams was carrying just a bit of baggage when he left the Saints after his role in the Bountygate scandal.

Maybe someone offered Gregg Williams a few hundred bucks to take out Jeff Fisher’s coaching career.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) November 27, 2016

Williams, the former Saints defensive coordinator, was suspended for the 2012 season. Saints head coach Sean Payton missed that year too. Payton didn’t orchestrate the bounty program, but in the league’s eyes, he failed to speak up and stop it as the head coach. He became the captain who had to go down with his disgraced ship.

So as Brees continued to throw more logs onto the burning second-half inferno that was the Rams defense, it became impossible not to detect the strong smell of revenge permeating through the air. 

Payton didn’t stop strutting in front of Williams when up by 21 points in the fourth quarter. With the game easily in hand, he pulled the trigger on a gimmick trick play. Brees lateraled to wide receiver Willie Snead, who then connected with the embarrassingly open Tim Hightower.

The running back then jogged for an easy 50-yard touchdown. Snead became the first receiver in Saints franchise history to throw a touchdown pass, according to NFL Research. In the …

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