The highlight of a slow NFL week featuring multiple blowouts was the Saints-Rams game, and not just because Tony Romo was prominently involved. No, the real highlight was seeing the Rams bounce back from a concerning loss to the Vikings with a statement win over a visiting New Orleans team that was the hottest squad in the NFL before Week 12. 

Los Angeles played a complete and impressive game, running the ball well and having Jared Goff perform at a high level against what has been a very good defense. Granted, the Saints lost Alex Okafor last week and were missing Marshon Lattimore and Ken Crawley, but Goff continued to develop into an impressive distributor and the Rams showcased a number of different weapons.

Sammy Watkins made plays early and scored a touchdown, and with Robert Woods out, rookie Josh Reynolds emerged as a red-zone threat, picking up a touchdown as well. 

Cooper Kupp piled up receptions, totaling eight catches (on 11 targets) for 110 yards.

Todd Gurley went for 124 yards from scrimmage and joined Elroy Hirsch, Eric Dickerson and Marshall Faulk -- all Hall of Fame backs -- as the only players in Rams history with 1,300 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns through the team's first 11 games of a season.

All in all it was a reminder of just how deep and diverse the weapons are for the Rams. This is why they were hanging gobs of points on people for long stretches this season. The Minnesota game wasn't a fluke last week; the Vikings are good. But the Rams can hang.

The Rams will have more chances to prove themselves offensively too. Arizona, Philadelphia and Seattle are next on the schedule. The NFC West teams on tap have been banged up due to injury but that's still a rough stretch of matchups. The Rams are going to the playoffs, but beat those teams -- especially Philly, which might be an NFC Championship Game preview -- and suddenly you can start thinking about a bye.

Unsung in this run for the Rams is how well Wade Phillips' defense is playing right now. The Rams came into the week ranked No. 5 by Football Outsiders DVOA. Despite giving up 20 points in this game and a long Alvin Kamara touchdown run, the Rams were dominant. They allowed that score early in the game, but largely buckled down and limited the Saints' running game -- take away that run and New Orleans had 16 carries for 44 yards. The Rams sacked Drew Brees three times, and Aaron Donald felt like he was consistently getting in the backfield and causing pain for Brees.

A questionable move by Sean Payton to kick a field goal while down 13 points in the fourth quarter allowed Goff to take a couple of drives and just march down for a couple of field goals that effectively put the game away. Brees would throw a touchdown but the Saints needed an onside kick to have a prayer. Taking over with 7:22 left in the game and melting more than five minutes off the clock to set up a field goal that gives you a 13-point lead is big-time stuff. 

The Rams belong in this NFC battle and get enough help from multiple facets of the team that they can compete with anyone.

You can check out the full playoff picture here.

Runaway race

The Saints might have to figure out this defensive thing pretty quickly, or just hope that their cornerbacks can get healthy. In the last two games, we've seen them give up points pretty easily against decent offenses. We'll know a lot after the play the Panthers, who are starting to get going and playing at a much higher level than they were when the two teams met earlier.

What's not a question is Kamara and his role in this offense. He has morphed into a monster and is the clear-cut favorite for NFL Rookie of the Year right now. He is both fast and physical.

And he has moves that you don't see in a video game.

Kamara and Mark Ingram are the first teammates in the Super Bowl era to have over 1,000 scrimmage yards and eight touchdowns each in their team's first 11 games of the season. They are on pace for a monster year and are the heartbeat of the Saints' offense. 

The rookie out of Tennessee is everything you want in a Sean Payton back. He's like Reggie Bush, except he can easily run between the tackles. He's going to win a lot of Fantasy leagues, he might be the most fun player to watch in the NFL and he is currently running away with ROY hardware.

Perfect passer

If you bet before the season that Julio Jones' second touchdown catch of the year would come in Week 11 and that he would catch it on a ball thrown by Mohamed Sanu, you probably got incredible odds (like 5,000-1). Hope you held onto the ticket, because that's exactly what happened on Sunday. 

With that touchdown to Jones, Sanu extended his perfect passing record as an NFL player.

Speaking of the Falcons, Julio Jones is pretty good at football. He's the only player in NFL history with multiple 250-yard receiving games, recording his third Sunday against the Buccaneers. He spent the afternoon destroying cornerbacks. 

His day also included this touchdown, in which Jones appears to defy gravity in order to reach out for the pylon and complete the touchdown.

The pictures of Julio extended for the goal line are just marvelous.

NFL: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
Unreal. USATSI
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Touchdown. via Twitter/@RLiuNFL

Jones has been quiet so far this season, but don't sleep on this game as a springboard for both him and the Falcons. They've now won three games in row and have done so in convincing fashion. They thrashed the Cowboys, strong-armed the Seahawks and blasted the Buccaneers. The Bucs nearly covered and the Falcons tried to give this game away late, but they eventually poured it on for another touchdown. 

As bad as the offense looked early on, Atlanta is still in the No. 6 spot and could easily find itself playing the Panthers for a division title come Week 17. Atlanta gets the Saints twice and the Bucs one more time. We'll find out a lot about them when they host the white-hot Minnesota Vikings this week, but the Falcons' offense and Julio could be about to catch fire. 

Achilles heel

We know why we can't trust the Jaguars in January right? Of course we do. I'm making sure you do. I like the Jaguars. They're great on defense and Leonard Fournette is terrifying when he can run at maximum ability. But Blake Bortles cannot be trusted. 

There was no better proof than the throw he made with less than three minutes remaining and the Jaguars holding the rock in a tie game, looking to go set up a game-winning field goal. On a third-and-6, the Jags rolled Bortles out to the right, and he threw the ball right to Tyrann Mathieu. 

The nice thing about this play is that the Jags figured out rolling Bortles out limits his reads. But the problem is it also limits his options in terms of where he could go and it compresses the field for the defense. Bortles had a one-look option and he showed his hand early. Mathieu, who had a fantastic game, reacted well and snared the pass.

Because of this loss, the Jaguars fall to the No. 5 seed behind Tennessee. I bet they'll still win the AFC South, but it might not matter. Home or away in the first round, they're going to be in a position where they have to play the Steelers or Patriots in the playoffs on the road at some point. And it's hard to imagine them converting a bunch of third downs when Bortles can't effectively manage a two-minute drill. 

If things get weird and the Chargers and Ravens end up getting into the playoffs as wild cards, either of those defenses could spell seriously trouble for the Jaguars, regardless of where they play in the first round. Bortles just can't be trusted. 

For a full breakdown of the Thanksgiving action, check out Sorting the Thanksgiving Leftovers here.