Rams 31, Saints 21
The NFL's lowest-scoring team turned the tables on the league's highest-scoring team, as the St. Louis Rams used a big game from Steven Jackson and an impressive defensive effort to beat Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints 31-21 and earn their first victory Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.
Before Sunday, the Rams (1-6) had scored only 56 points all season – six fewer than the Saints (5-3) scored in last week's win against Indianapolis – but they used great field position to build a big 24-0 lead.
Rookie Robert Quinn's blocked punt set up one first-half touchdown, and Josh Gordy's interception of a Brees pass set up another. The defense added a touchdown in the fourth quarter on Darian Stewart's 27-yard interception return.
Jackson had a season-high 159 rushing yards – his first 100-yard game of the season – and two touchdowns. He has rushed for 559 yards and six touchdowns in his past five starts against the Saints.
The Rams' maligned defense, which ranked 31st in the NFL with an average of 28.5 points allowed entering the game, kept the Saints off the board until Jonathan Vilma recovered an A.J. Feeley fumble in the end zone late in the third quarter, and didn't allow Brees and the high-powered offense to reach the end zone until the fourth quarter.
The Saints managed only 283 total yards, a season low.
Brees extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass to 35 with an 8-yard strike to Lance Moore with six seconds left. He also extended his NFL-record streak of games with at least 20 completions to 28.
Feeley started a second consecutive game in place of Sam Bradford, who has a high ankle sprain.