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Rams remain best in NFC

In sloppy game marred by bottle-throwing, St. Louis' 34-21 win drops Saints into tie with Bucs for final wild card.

©Associated Press
December 18, 2001

[AP photo] New Orleans Saints wide receiver Willie Jackson catches a pass for a 23-yard gain as St. Louis Rams linebacker London Fletcher moves in.

NEW ORLEANS -- Who cares about penalties, turnovers and wasted timeouts? Kurt Warner's arm makes up for all of them.

The Rams clinched a playoff spot by beating the Saints 34-21 Monday night.

Warner threw for 338 yards and four touchdowns, three to Isaac Bruce and the other to Marshall Faulk. Grant Wistrom led the defense with three sacks and an interception.

St. Louis also stayed a game ahead of Chicago in the race for homefield advantage in the NFC playoffs and clinched a postseason berth for San Francisco. The second-place 49ers, a game behind the Rams, still have an outside chance of catching them in the NFC West, but St. Louis' two wins over San Francisco give the Rams the tiebreaker.

The Saints, battling for a wild-card spot, fell into a tie with the Bucs for the sixth seed in the NFC. New Orleans visits Tampa Bay on Sunday.

A day after a game in Cleveland had to be stopped because of rowdy fans, this one was interrupted briefly by fans throwing objects onto the field after a pass interference call against Saints cornerback Kevin Mathis with 9:39 left in the game.

The disturbance was quickly quelled by security personnel as the public address announcer said: "This is New Orleans. We are sportsmen."

NFL security director Milt Ahlerich said 13 people were arrested.

"God forbid, someone should be hurt by one of these projectiles being thrown," he said.

St. Louis won despite myriad mistakes.

The Rams lost two fumbles, increasing their league-leading total to 37. One set up a Saints touchdown and the other prevented a Rams score.

St. Louis also squandered all its timeouts in the first and third quarters, two on replay challenges that failed.

The Saints also hurt themselves: They had 16 penalties for 132 yards. And they failed on an onside kick in the first quarter and a fake field goal in the second.

The Rams led 21-14 at the half, taking the lead on a 4-yard pass from Warner to Faulk with 28 seconds left.

New Orleans, which won three of its past four games with St. Louis, opened the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown from Aaron Brooks to fullback Terrelle Smith.

But the Saints' attempt at an onside kick was touched before it went 10 yards. The Rams took advantage, taking eight plays to score on Warner's 6-yard pass to Bruce.

That pair combined again six minutes into the second quarter on an 11-yard touchdown, giving the Rams a 14-7 lead.

Az-Zahir Hakim, whose fumbled punt against the Saints last season clinched New Orleans' first playoff win, fumbled another punt late in the quarter, and Fred McAfee recovered at the St. Louis 38. Three plays later, Brooks found Joe Horn from 6 yards to tie it.

The Rams went 79 yards in just 1:28 for the touchdown that closed the half.

The Saints' first possession in the third quarter started at their 39. On the first play, Wistrom intercepted an attempted screen, and two plays later, Warner, who completed 23 of 32 passes, found Bruce alone down the sideline for a 40-yard score that made it 28-14.

New Orleans closed within 28-21 on a 28-yard pass from Brooks to Willie Jackson. It came after the Saints had first and goal at the 4 but were moved back by four consecutive penalties: delay of game, illegal motion, holding and a personal foul.

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