Early play-calling was solid--especially those first 2 drives. On offense there was a good mix of formations on the first drive and they came away with the points. Second drive--I was saying last week that Kubiak had been getting away from using Taysom in those more traditional fullback/lead blocking roles (which I supported), but he went back to it, using him as a lead on toss and on ISO. The logic being that it was something they'd be getting away from, and when Taysom was in on base downs, the defense wouldn't be alerting for it. I also loved the PA quick toss/wheel to Taysom to get them down into the red zone.
Stalling out after that was really frustrating. Not just the missed field goal, but the first-down play after the big play by Taysom where Fuaga just does an absolute boneheaded move. It's play action, not even an RPO, and he just drifts downfield, then tries to hurry back when he realizes it. That's the pinnacle of a rookie mistake and I hope he gets his butt chewed for doing that and negating a touchdown for nothing.
At least when it's something like a holding call, you can argue if he didn't do it the QB would've been sacked. But this was just pointless. If the Saints score a TD there, we are looking at an absolute different game.
Defensively--not a lot to say. It was a tale of two halves and I think a lot of that had to do with time of possession. The Saints are still pretty soft up the middle and the leaky runs take their toll and just pile on as the game wears on. But this was an unproductive offensive day, ultimately, and while I understand the sentiment--you can't play "possess the ball but don't really score TDs" vs. the Rams. The WR corps definitely got exposed a bit, and I loved the last drive of the game for the most part--the way the clock was being managed and the mix of plays and the decision-making by Carr.
Just down in the red zone, the WR corps got a little exposed--and holy &$%&, full-sliding away from Verse and leaving him isolated on Foster Moreau (or any TE on that play) was not a great protection decision. Moreau held up as best he could and Carr had time--if the WR corps wasn't locked down. But that was a missed protection in my mind that kept Carr from having the windows to slide and step and buy a little time for someone to break open.