Saint Louis (0-8) at New Orleans (4-4)

Saint Louis Rams Defense
25th Ranked against the Run
13th Ranked against the Pass
Saint Louis Rams Offense
29th Ranked in Rushing
16th Ranked in Passing

New Orleans Saints Defense
10th Ranked against the Run
27th Ranked against the Pass
New Orleans Saints Offense
24th Ranked in Rushing
4th Ranked in Passing

Dan Marino has already picked the Saints to go to the Super Bowl this year. That's a pretty strong statement for a team that has just clawed it's way out of a losing season, but quarterback Drew Brees has been making strong statements for a few weeks; with his arm, that is. After an 0-4 start, the Brees has become a hurricane. "I feel like it's all coming together," said Brees. "In order for the passing game to work, it's not one guy. It's not Drew Brees; it's the offensive line, it's the receivers getting open, it's the guys making the right reads according to coverage. Everybody is doing their job and that's what it takes." Over the last 4 games Brees has completed 71% of his passes, thrown 11 touchdowns with only one interception, passed for 1246 yards and has had a 113.5 quarterback rating. That means that in the four most important offensive categories Brees has had the best numbers in the league of any QB except Tom Brady of New England.

Last week on Halloween a bunch of guys from St. Louis dressed up as a football team. Oops...that actually was a football team, or at least they were doing their best to imitate one. A team like the Rams that is still winless at midpoint of the season can be dangerously competitive but it's doubtful whether they have the practical means to turn that anger into points on the scoreboard. Running back Steven Jackson who has been the brightest spot in an otherwise dim Rams offense had returned to practice as of mid week but it's unclear whether he will have any more endurance than he did two weeks ago when he left the game early after helping the Rams to a 14-0 first quarter lead over the Browns in a game which St. Louis went on to lose 27-20. Jackson and Rams QB Marc Bulger should be well rested coming off their bye week, so if there was ever a time for St. Louis to collect themselves for a heroic effort to lift themselves out of the muck it's now. Chances are however even such an effort will not help the low scoring Rams outgun the Saints awesome air attack.