Rams Brew Up a Win

NEW ORLEANS â€”  The New Orleans Saints couldn’t keep pace with St. Louis on Monday, but, sadly, their fans are on the cutting edge of an unfortunate trend.

The first cup of beer rocketed out of the crowd midway through the fourth quarter, after Saint cornerback Kevin Mathis was flagged for pass interference in the end zone. Then came another. Then, a dozen more. Some were cups, some were plastic bottles.

Suddenly, like the wave, the NFL’s latest nightmare had made its way from Cleveland to the Superdome, site of this season’s Super Bowl. The public-address announcer was pleading, “Conduct yourselves as sportsmen, please!” And the Rams--who clinched a spot in the playoffs with a 34-21 victory--were thanking their lucky stars that brew doesn’t come in glass bottles (or kegs) at Saint games. Police said there were 13 arrests.

Meanwhile, the guy with the best arm in the place spent his night picking apart a New Orleans defense that two months ago intercepted four of his passes. Ram quarterback Kurt Warner threw for 338 yards and four touchdowns, inching his 11-2 team ever closer to home-field advantage for the playoffs.

“He stuck some balls in there with people crawling all over him,” Saint Coach Jim Haslett said. “I thought he did a great job.”

New Orleans (7-6), which had beaten the Rams in three of four meetings, needed this one to pull away from Tampa Bay (7-6) in the race for the third and final wild-card berth. But, like a Budweiser lobbed from the upper deck, the Saints landed well short of their target. By losing, they breathed new hope into Washington and Atlanta, both 6-6.

Haslett opened his postgame comments with an apology of sorts.

“I think that was unacceptable what the fans did,” he said. “Looked like the dome security and New Orleans police put it out quickly. But that was unacceptable.”

In the week leading up to the game, Haslett tried to downplay his criticism of the Rams in October after his team posted a 34-31 victory at St. Louis. At the time, Haslett accused Ram Coach Mike Martz of using gimmick plays, and sniffed: “We don’t play that way.”

But last week, Haslett did a little bayou backtracking.

“If I had those players, I’d do the same thing,” he said. “They’ve got great players. There’s more than one way to skin a cat in this league.”

Judging by his play calling in the first half, Haslett meant what he said. He tried a little Martz madness, but the strategy backfired. The Saints attempted an onside kick in the first quarter and a fake field goal in the second. Both failed.

“The plays we called were based on what we saw on tape,” Haslett said, adding with a chuckle, “That’s not a double-reverse pass.”

The Saints stayed in the game by taking advantage of two St. Louis fumbles and three touchdown passes by Aaron Brooks, who earned a reputation as a Ram killer by beating them in his first NFL start, then knocking them off with four touchdown passes in a wild-card victory here a year ago.

But Brooks could only do so much. And, after forging a 14-14 tie late in the second quarter, he couldn’t match the Rams’ quick-strike pace--including consecutive touchdown drives that lasted 1:28 and 1:02.

The latter came early in the second half and gave St. Louis a 28-14 lead. Warner connected with Isaac Bruce for a 40-yard touchdown. It was the third score of the game for Bruce, who became the first player to score three in a game against New Orleans since New York Jet receiver Al Toon did so in 1986.

“We told Isaac before the game that we were really going to put it on his shoulders,” Martz said. “We felt like the one-on-one matchup with Isaac was something we could take advantage of.”

Setting up Bruce’s third touchdown was Ram defensive end Grant Wistrom, who intercepted a pass at the Saint 38 when Brooks tried to dink the ball to Ricky Williams. It was just another in a series of big plays for Wistrom, who had three sacks in the first half.

With 3:45 remaining in the third quarter, the Saints pulled to within seven points with Willie Jackson’s 28-yard touchdown catch.

But St. Louis extended the lead to 34-21 in the fourth quarter with two field goals by Jeff Wilkins.

The Saints, who led the NFL in penalties last season, were making baby steps toward improving this season--they came into the game ranked second in penalty yards and third in penalties.

This game didn’t help their cause. They were flagged 16 times for 132 yards. They also collected their 14th personal foul of the season, a roughing-the-passer call on Willie Whitehead.

The most memorable infraction was the pass-interference flag on Mathis that prompted the beer shower. Haslett played a role in that, too, running down the sideline and ripping off his headset to angrily argue with referee Larry Nemmers. The conversation ended with the coach uttering a two-word retort that could have been lip read from, well, Cleveland.

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Playoff Picture

Teams that have clinched a playoff spot or can get into the playoffs after next weekend’s games:

AFC EAST

* Miami Dolphins: Can clinch playoff berth with: 1. Win; 2. Tie plus Seattle loss.

* New England Patriots: Can clinch playoff berth with: 1. Win plus N.Y. Jets loss; 2. Win plus Baltimore loss; 3. Win plus Seattle loss or tie; 4. Tie plus Seattle loss.

AFC CENTRAL

* Pittsburgh Steelers: Clinched AFC Central division title and can clinch a first-round bye with win plus Miami loss or tie.

AFC WEST

* Oakland Raiders: Clinched AFC West division title with win over San Diego.

NFC EAST

* Philadelphia Eagles: Can clinch NFC East division title with: 1. Win or tie; 2. N.Y. Giants loss or tie.

NFC CENTRAL

* Chicago Bears: Clinched NFC playoff berth.

* Green Bay Packers: Can clinch playoff berth with: 1. Win or tie; 2. Tampa Bay loss plus Washington loss or tie plus N.Y. Giants loss or tie plus Atlanta loss or tie.

NFC WEST

* St. Louis Rams: Clinched NFC playoff berth and can clinch NFC West title with a win plus San Francisco loss.

* San Francisco 49ers: Clinched NFC playoff berth.

* Teams eliminated: Buffalo, Carolina, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Jacksonville, Kansas City and San Diego.