METAIRIE, La. -- After Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara and cornerback Marshon Lattimore should now both be considered front-runners for the NFL Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. No team has swept those awards since 1967.
Kamara demonstrated his value more than ever in the 26-20 loss by providing more than half of New Orleans' offense with 87 rushing yards, 101 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Lattimore did the same thing -- by not playing.
The 11th pick in the draft has been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL this year when healthy -- rookie or otherwise. But the Saints pass defense has gone from dominant to diced since Lattimore went down with an ankle injury in the first quarter of a 34-31 victory over the Washington Redskins in Week 11.
And it certainly didn't help matters when fellow starting cornerback Ken Crawley also missed the Rams game in Week 12 because of an abdomen injury.
From Weeks 4-10, the Saints had the best passing defense in the NFL by more than 25 yards per game (allowing an average of 146.7). In Weeks 11-12, they rank 31st at 313.5 yards per game.
It's unclear if either Lattimore or Crawley will be ready to return for this Sunday's vital showdown with the NFC South-rival Carolina Panthers (8-3) in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome -- or even for the equally vital showdown at another division rival, the Atlanta Falcons (7-4), on the following Thursday night.
But it has become painfully obvious that the Saints need them back as quickly as possible.
"[Lattimore] has played really well all year. He definitely affects our team. But at the same time, we have to operate," said Saints veteran safety Kenny Vaccaro, who admittedly struggled Sunday in his own return from missing two games with a groin injury. "The good teams, the good defenses see stars go down all over the league now, from [Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard] Sherman, [Houston Texans defensive end] J.J. Watt, and the backups come in and play well. That's the thing we need to understand.
"As a veteran guy, I needed to do a better job yesterday upping my play when guys are out and bringing that energy. I didn't think I did that yesterday. I was a little rusty coming off three games and not playing. It will get fixed. We've been a resilient team all year and we can bounce back."
Vaccaro's most noticeable blunder came when he lost the football in the sun and allowed Rams receiver Cooper Kupp to get open behind him for a 53-yard gain in the second quarter.
"To be honest, I didn't even know the ball was thrown. I looked back and was just blinded. ... That's why you kind of saw me freak out," Vaccaro told reporters Monday -- though he was quick to blame himself for not trying to chase down Kupp more aggressively after he realized what had happened. "Even though I couldn't see anything, I've got to just play through the play. ... That would be the easiest way to fix that problem."
Vaccaro was hardly the only guilty party Sunday as the Saints defense allowed Rams quarterback Jared Goff to throw for a total of 354 yards and two touchdowns, including other pass plays of 38, 31 and 31 yards, plus a 48-yard pass-interference call.
Second-year cornerback De’Vante Harris was replaced by veteran Sterling Moore during the second half because Harris was struggling with assignments. Fellow starter P.J. Williams had a decent day -- including an interception -- though he did get beat for a 24-yard pass on the first play of the game and got flagged for the 48-yard PI call in the third quarter when he was in good position but made inadvertent contact.
The Saints pass rush was also inconsistent in the wake of losing starting defensive end Alex Okafor to a season-ending Achilles tear -- though there were some bright spots for the defense aside from all those big plays they allowed.
"I think there were some good things on defense, going through the tape," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "I thought our third-down numbers were good [only three conversions allowed on 14 tries]. But we had a handful of explosives, more than we'd like in regards to big plays. And we lost that field position battle, especially in the first half."
A week earlier, Redskins QB Kirk Cousins threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns before the Saints barely escaped by rallying from a 15-point deficit in the final three minutes.
The Saints need to be a lot harder on Cam Newton and Matt Ryan over the next nine days.
"We haven't played good in back-to-back weeks on defense. We're giving up too many yards," Vaccaro said. "It's good to look yourself in the mirror. It's good to go through each individual play and kind of not point fingers but understand that each individual person has a certain job to do. And if we want to be successful, and get back to what we were doing when we won those eight games, then we've got to get back to the things we've been doing. And we kind of let that slip this last game a lot."
