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Guarding the ball Rams being careless despite best record in leaguePosted: Saturday November 24, 2001 2:09 AM
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Giving the ball away three times per game hasn't hurt the St. Louis Rams much. The Rams lead the league with an 8-1 record heading into Monday night's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- but they also are tied with the Cowboys for the league lead with 27 turnovers. There are two major reasons for the high count:
- The Rams' top-rated, go-for-broke offense takes plenty of risks. "You never like to say it's a tradeoff because you never want to have the turnovers," Warner said. "But I think it is part of it because we attack and we attack and we attack. In the course of making some of the plays, turnovers are going to happen." The Rams try to guard against mistakes, opening every practice with drills designed to limit turnovers. "We address it every day," Martz said. "We've got to do a better job of protecting the ball when it's thrown to us, kicked to us, handed to us." It helps that the Rams have an offense that can turn the mistakes into mere speed bumps. They're outscoring opponents by an average of 31-17. "It just seems to be balancing out," fullback James Hodgins said. "Whatever situation we get ourselves into, we're able to get out of it." Warner has 17 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. The only time turnovers have really been a problem was when they coughed it up eight times -- four interceptions and four fumbles -- in a 34-31 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 28. The Rams overcame three giveaways last week in a 24-17 victory against the Patriots. Three turnovers barely slowed them down in a 48-14 victory over the Panthers two weeks ago. They had four giveaways in a 42-10 victory against the Dolphins. "You throw the ball as much as we do, some of those things will happen," Martz said. "We do everything we can each week to prevent them, but when they happen I don't worry about it." Warner said the key is when the turnovers come, not how many the Rams have accumulated. "You've just got to make sure you don't do it in a situation that's really going to hurt the team," Warner said. "I think that's the thing we have to key on, more than the fact of just having an interception here or a fumble there."
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