LOS ANGELES -- The New Orleans Saints arrived in Los Angeles averaging the NFL's third-most points. They had the league's best running-back duo in Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, paired with a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Drew Brees, and were on pace to become the first team in 17 years to finish within the top three in both passing yards and rushing yards. The Los Angeles Rams' defense would be tested in ways it hasn't been all year.

Sunday's triumph, by a 26-20 score, proved once again that the Rams are among the NFL's best, most balanced teams.

Their offense has instantly turned into one of the league's most dangerous under first-year head coach Sean McVay. But long-time defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has his side clicking, too. The Rams allowed Kamara to break free for a 74-yard touchdown run early, but didn't give up much else outside of that. Take away that one run, and the Rams allowed one touchdown, 272 yards from scrimmage and 3.1 yards per carry.

The Saints, led by an offensive mastermind in Sean Payton, entered Sunday's game with 57 20-plus-yard plays, at least 10 more than any other team.

McVay referenced that in the postgame news conference.

"Our defense as a whole played really well," he said. "I can't say enough about the respect that I have for the New Orleans offense, led by Drew, what Coach Payton does. I studied them hard for the last handful of years. They've been one of the standards, so, really great job by our defense, and hats off to Wade and his staff."

The Rams blitzed 40 percent of the time from Weeks 1 to 11, but only 11 percent of the time against the Saints on Sunday, according to data compiled by Pro Football Focus.

Still, they pressured the quarterback on 25 percent of passing snaps.

Brees absorbed a season-high three sacks, two of which came back-to-back by Aaron Donald and Robert Quinn on the Saints' opening drive. Donald added two tackles for loss, Samson Ebukam picked up the third sack, and inside linebackers Alec Ogletree and Mark Barron -- two of the game's most athletic at their positions -- consistently made plays on the ball.

"Flying around and swarming to the ball," Donald, with a team-leading six sacks, said of how the defense held its own. "We started off a little sloppy, missing a lot of tackles, but we fixed things."

The Rams also missed a handful of opportunities for easy interceptions. But their secondary made plays, too. Cornerback Kayvon Webster and safety Lamarcus Joyner, who spent a lot of Sunday's game in the slot, combined to allow only four catches on 10 targets and broke up three passes, according to Pro Football Focus. Quinn and Ogletree combined for nine defensive stops, and the Saints were held to just 3-for-13 on third downs.

The Rams' defense now ranks within the top 10 in forced turnovers (tied for fifth with 19), sacks per attempt (tied for sixth at 8.4 percent) and average points allowed (seventh at 18.73).

"We found a way to get it done, and that's all you can ask for," Ogletree said. "We definitely missed a lot of opportunities to create turnovers, but after all, we did enough to get the job done."