Saints Fend Off Rams To Remain Unbeaten

NFL News - November 15th, 2009 - Written by John

In a battle of teams at the complete opposite ends of the NFL spectrum, the New Orleans Saints narrowly avoided catastrophe, holding on to a 28-23 win over the St. Louis Rams.

The Rams, who have but one win all year, maintained a competitive game against one of the league's lone unbeaten teams, going toe-to-toe with the most prolific offenses this year. Marc Bulger had a chance to win the game, having possession deep inside New Orleans' territory with seconds left on the clock, but his hail mary attempted was knocked down in the end zone, allowing the Saints to improve to 9-0 on the year.

"You're not going to blow everyone out," Saints cornerback Randall Gay said. "It's a lot harder to blow teams out when for a lot of teams, this is like their playoff game."

Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo was visibly nervous on the last drive of the game when his team still had a chance to pull the upset of the year. Midway through the drive, Spagnuolo was seen crouched low, staring at the grass as he awaited word of a review of a pass play that could've ended the game right there. The Rams had just converted a fourth-down when Bulger hit Brandon Gibson with a pass low that seemed to touch the ground. But the review upheld the original call of a completion, continuing the drive and sending Spagnuolo into a rampant march down the sideline with as much enthusiasm as if he had won the game. His hopes were soon dashed, though, leaving him shaking his head after.

"Tough one," coach Steve Spagnuolo said. "Tough, tough, tough, tough."

Bulger outperformed Brees against one of the league's stingiest pass defenses. He threw for 298 yards and two touchdowns to finish with a 93.5 rating.

"It would have been really nice to pull it off," Bulger said. "There's a reason they're unbeaten. They made plays when they had to."

Reggie Bush had arguably his best day as a Saint this year, scoring twice to make up for the slew of mistakes by New Orleans. They turned the ball over three times and were flagged for two more penalties than the Rams.

"We're not content with where we're at, and we're certainly not content with the way we've played these last few weeks," Brees said. "We need to close the game out when we're given the opportunity."

Steven Jackson had another great night despite the loss. He ran for 131 yards on 26 carries, passing Lawrence McCutcheon for third on the Rams' all-time rushing list, and scored at the tail-end of the first half to tie it at 14-all.

But the Saints took the lead they wouldn't let go on the very first play of the second half when Courtney Roby housed a kickoff for 97 yards.

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