Rams show Super Bowl potential in win over Saints

Don’t start planning any parades yet. Skip your February travel plans to Santa Clara.

The Rams still have a long way to go to make the playoffs and go to the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium.

Their 34-10 victory over the struggling New Orleans Saints at Sophie Stadium on Sunday was no revelation or historic victory.

But the Rams did something important. Something championship-caliber teams must do: They convincingly dispatched a weak opponent before 72,055.

Matthew Stafford took four wickets touuchdowns, catcher Puka Nacua came back from an ankle injury in spectacular fashion and dominated the defense once again as the Rams won their third game, improving to 6-2 and showing that the Dodgers might not be the LA team that lifts the championship trophy.

“We’ll see if we can continue to do some good things like they did,” coach Sean McVay said of the World Series champions.

The Rams’ win puts them atop the NFC West heading into next Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.

“I like the fact that we’re getting better,” McVay said, “There’s just a good feeling.”

On many fronts, however.

The Rams’ first win against an NFC opponent didn’t come against the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles or the rival 49ers, teams the Rams lost in part because of playoff upsets.

Rams coach Sean McVay watches from the sidelines during Sunday’s first half against the Saints.

(Allen J. Shebin/Los Angeles Times)

And these issues remain: Joshua Carty missed a field goal and an extra point.

So McVay’s patience with the kicking game is wearing thin. And no team will win a title without talent.

McVay said again that he believed in Carty, but that was after he said “it can’t go on like this…it’s been going on for too long,” and it “doesn’t get better,” among other things.

Can the Rams be a championship team without an adequate place kicking unit?

“No,” McVay said. “It’s going to cost us — it’s already costing us. It’s a movement killer. … The hard truth is that it’s not sustainable.”

But if the Rams fix the kicking issue and stay healthy — Naqua said he will play against the 49ers after leaving the game in the second half with a chest injury — and McVay can keep his team focused against division opponents and other playoff contenders, the Rams might get their parade.

Stafford is positioning himself to be a leader.

Already a fixture on NFL career passing lists, the 17-year pro is enjoying another sensational season.

Just as he did in 2021, when he threw for 41 touchdowns and led the Rams to a Super Bowl title, Stafford is playing at a level that should have him in the Most Valuable Player discussion.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford runs in front of Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan during the first quarter Sunday.

(Allen J. Shebin/Los Angeles Times)

On Sunday, his two touchdown passes to DeVante Adams and one each to Naqua and Tyler Higbee raised Stafford’s season total to 21, with just two interceptions.

Stafford, who threw for five touchdowns in a road trip to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 19, completed 24 of 32 passes for 281 yards, extending his streak to five games without an interception.

Stafford’s wife and their daughters attended the game wearing No. 22 Dodgers jerseys, a salute to retired pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Stafford’s high school teammate.

Now Stafford is chasing a second Super Bowl title.

“It’s not like we have it all figured out,” he said, adding, “We have to keep finding ways to put more points on the board.”

Naqua sat out the Jaguars with a leg injury. But he said in the days leading up to the game that he “felt fantastic.”

Rams wide receiver Puka Naqua, left, celebrates with wide receiver Daunte Adams after catching a touchdown pass in the second quarter Sunday against the Saints.

(Allen J. Shebin/Los Angeles Times)

He looked like that early in the game, making two catches for first downs to start a scoring drive that ended with Stafford’s touchdown pass to Higby. The veteran tight end, in an apparent salute to the Dodgers, celebrated by taking an imaginary swing and then performing a post-Dodgers hit celebration.

Adams then followed up his breakout three-touchdown performance against the Jaguars with the first of two more red-zone touchdowns. The 12-year pro is tied for eighth all-time with 111 touchdown catches.

Early in the second quarter, Stafford and Naqua went for a run, connecting on a 39-yard pass that Naqua ran for a touchdown for a 20-3 lead.

Stafford’s short touchdown pass to Adams in the third quarter put the game out of reach, and Kyren Williams’ short touchdown run early in the fourth quarter led to the finish.

Williams rushed for 114 yards and Blake Corum scored 58 on a day when the Rams once again used all four tight ends in the pass-and-run attack.

Meanwhile, the Rams’ defense struggled against quarterback Tyler Shaw in his first start.

Several Rams defensive players tackled Saints quarterback Taylor Shaw in the second quarter of the Rams’ 34-10 victory Sunday at Sophie Stadium.

(Allen J. Shebin/Los Angeles Times)

Lineman Brayden Fiske had his first sack of the season, linebacker Nate Landman had another fumble and cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. intercepted his first pass as a Ram.

“We’re growing at a very good rate, and we’re peaking at the right time,” Lindeman said.

The game against the Saints was the start of a stretch that included two home games after the 49ers.

Only two of their remaining nine games — a late November trip to play the Carolina Panthers and a late December trip to play the Atlanta Falcons — will require the Rams to travel farther east than Arizona.

A lot can happen between now and the start of the playoffs.

But the Rams look like the Super Bowl contender they were built to be.