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Source: St.mini storage Louis Post-DispatchDec. 16--It has taken 14 games to reach this conclusion. But maybe this is who the Rams are. Namely, discouraging losses featuring sloppy play punctuated with big upsets and flashes of brilliance.Sunday's competition with the New Orleans Saints obviously fell into the latter category. The Saints came in with everything to gain, not the least of which was a chance to lock up a playoff berth by defeating the downtrodden Rams -- 5-8 entering the day and sinking faster than the mid-December sun in terms of 2013.Didn't happen. Outscored 53-23 in road losses to San Francisco and Arizona the past two Sundays, and minus their top playmaker in the injured Tavon Austin, the Rams jumped to a 24-3 halftime lead and held on to defeat the Saints 27-16 before 58,442 at the Edward Jones Dome.Mathematically eliminated from playoff contention a week ago in Arizona, the Rams refused to call it a season three weeks early. There was no quit, no letup on display Sunday."I've told you that," coach Jeff Fisher said, referring to his team's resiliency. "They're going to come back the next week and work and play and have fun and play hard. I'm proud of it -- the way they handled it. ... Everybody contributed and everybody (Saturday) night felt like we had a chance to win this game."Even during the practice week, when the storyline was all Saints -- their high-powered offense, their much-improved defense, Rob Ryan's escape from St. Louis -- the Rams conceded nothing."Hey, they have to come play us," said one member of the coaching staff, with a touch of defiance, during the week.REPORT CARD: STRAIGHT A'S FOR RAMSThat indeed turned out to be the case in what turned out to be one of those days where the Rams got off to an unexpected big lead.It happened against Jacksonville in Game 5, with the Rams up 24-10 at the half.It happened at Houston, where the Rams led 17-6 at halftime and 38-6 at the end of three.And it happened in Indianapolis, where the Rams led 28-0 at halftime and 38-0 midway through the third quarter.On Sunday, it happened against one of the NFC's elite teams. The Rams pounded away on the ground, got accurate passing from quarterback Kellen Clemens, got two early interceptions on defense, and pulled off a successful onside kick. The result was a 24-3 halftime lead."This was one of those games where we knew in order to have success we had to play well in all three areas," Fisher said. "And I think that's pretty much what we did."Defensive end Robert Quinn let Drew Brees and the now 10-4 Saints know early what kind of day it would be. He hit Brees on the Saints' first offensive play, taking some steam off an underthrown pass that was intercepted by safety T.J. McDonald."I'm covering Jimmy Graham deep and he runs a seam," McDonald said. "I was able to undercut it and make a play."Simple as that. It was the first NFL interception for McDonald, a rookie from Souther迷你倉 Cal, and it gave the Rams a first down at the New Orleans 31. Very next play: Clemens throws a quick pass in the flat to Corey Harkey, who bulldozed down the right sideline, turning two would-be tacklers into debris en route to his second NFL touchdown.It was 7-0 and the Rams were just warming up. Running back Zac Stacy had 106 yards rushing by halftime, a franchise record for a rookie in the opening two quarters. He finished with 133 yards, scoring a second-quarter TD on a season-long 40-yard run.Second-year corner Trumaine Johnson appeared to surprise Brees with a goal-line interception that set up the Rams' second TD drive of the game. Brees entered the game with just eight INTs all season; he had two by midway through the first quarter Sunday."I think it was me and Rod on the coverage," Johnson said, referring to safety Rodney McLeod. "We did like a little 'zebra' -- whoever comes to you first, that's your man."Graham, the Saints' all-world tight end, came toward Johnson, so that meant he had man coverage on him (instead of McLeod). Brees didn't look like he was expecting Johnson to be there, lobbing a slightly underthrown pass that Johnson grabbed after using every bit of his 6-2 frame to leap for the ball."I can't believe he threw it," Johnson said. "We had three guys over there looking back at it. It was anybody's ball."Graham entered the game leading the NFL in touchdowns (14), and leading all NFL tight ends in catches (74) and yards (1,046). But on this day he finished with a mere two catches for 25 yards and no scores."We knew we had our work cut out for us in just trying to stop him," Johnson said.Brees eventually got his yards. He finished with 393 yards and threw a fourth-quarter TD pass. But it took him 56 passes to get there, and many of those yards came in the fourth quarter after the Rams had taken a 27-3 lead and softened their coverage."On defense, you hold that offense to 16 points -- only three in the first half," Clemens said. "We were harassing Drew Brees all day, forced the turnovers, which were huge. The (defense) gave us good field position and kept points off the board."Just about any time Brees looked downfield for anything more than a checkdown, he had Rams pass-rushers in his face. Quinn got plenty of face time, recording his 14th and 15th sacks of the season, and forcing his seventh fumble of the season on one of them.Quinn also drew two penalties against the Saints -- one for holding and one for illegal use of hands. In short, he made life miserable for Saints left tackle Charles Brown, to the point where Brown was pulled in the third quarter."It's tough to beat a great team like that," Quinn said. "But guys stepped up to the plate today and accomplished our goal."Namely, another surprising upset.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at .stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉