2023 Rams Schedule: Saints still salty over NFC Championship loss

If LA Rams fans has to list their Top 5 NFL team rivalries, I am pretty certain that each of the three NFC West Division teams would appear on that list. As far as other teams? I think it would be fairly divided among a handful of teams like the LA Chargers, the Dallas Cowboys, and perhaps the Las Vegas Raiders, as they are all teams that have a sizeable following in Los Angeles, California.

On the other hand, if you ask the New Orleans Saints fans to list their Top 5 NFL team rivalries, I'm just as confident that the LA Rams would appear on that list. In fact, it would not take much persuasion for me to consider the LA Rams one of the Saints fanbase's Top 3 hated rivalries. The reason? The LA Rams defeated the Saints in the NFC Championship Game, and the fans felt cheated by a questionable non-call on one play in that game.

While they have a point on that play, there were many questionable calls throughout the game, and some went in the Saints favor, while a couple of calls fell to the LA Rams favor. But that game was played over three years ago. The thing is, the fans of the Saints won't let go of that 'sleight,' and neither will the New Orleans Saints organization:

A parody? A tongue-in-cheek presentation for the Saints fans to laugh at? Or is this one more way of stirring the pot, enraging the fans, and refocusing the fans frustration with a post-Drew Brees team that is struggling onto an event that is clearly intended to change the narrative from 'We're struggling,' to "Remember when the refs and the LA Rams screwed us?",

The NFL is bound to tout that rivalry when the LA Rams take on the New Orleans Saints late in the 2023 NFL season on Thursday Night Football. Because the Rams' defense is still led by defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, and most of the Rams' defense will be starting rookies or players with less than three full NFL seasons of experience, I fear that game could wind up in the loss column. But, regardless of the outcome of this one game, it likely won't change the hurt feelings of those Saints fans who cling to that NFC Championship Game loss to the Rams.

Like any event from your past, until you let go what happened to you yesterday, you never really control what may happen to you tomorrow.