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Dome in January Rams clinch home playoff game with easy win over Saints
Posted: Tuesday December 14, 1999 02:06 AM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Rams have clinched a division title and the first postseason game in St. Louis in the 33 years the city has had an NFL team. What more can they do? Turns out, quite a lot. "It's been a fun ride," Rams running back Marshall Faulk said after St. Louis beat the New Orleans Saints 30-14 Sunday, becoming the first team in NFL history to go undefeated in their division a year after going winless in division play. For the second straight week, St. Louis also had a 300-yard passer in Kurt Warner, a 100-yard rusher in Faulk and two 100-yard receivers. Faulk scored two touchdowns and rushed for 154 yards. "We have some players playing good football, and there we go from 0-8 to 8-0 and still have a shot at home-field advantage all the way through the playoffs. That's what we're looking for," St. Louis coach Dick Vermeil said. The Rams (11-2), who already have won the NFC West, have a two-game lead for clinching the best record in the NFC. They have three games to play. Warner completed 21 of 31 passes for 346 yards and two touchdowns, Isaac Bruce reached 1,000 yards receiving with four receptions for 102 yards, and Torry Holt caught six passes for 113 yards. "We were not trying to run up the score," Warner said. "We were just trying to run the ball up the gut and they happened not to be able to stop us. We're not going to take a knee with five minutes left." For the Saints (2-11), it was another bitter Sunday, playing before a scanty crowd in the cavernous Superdome. By the end of the game, only a scattering of jeering fans remained, drowned out by a contingent wearing Rams colors and chanting for Faulk, a New Orleans native. "I didn't know we had so many fans down here," Bruce said. "It had come to a point where we couldn't beat anyone in this division. Now that's changed a bit." The Saints have lost four straight games, 11 of their last 12 and are now 14-31 under coach Mike Ditka. Ditka stormed out of his postgame news conference when the first question was if he still believed he could turn things around for the Saints. New Orleans took a 14-7 lead in the second quarter, following up a pair of field goals by Doug Brien with a 2-yard touchdown reception by Cam Cleeland and a 2-point conversion. But the Rams, who have outscored their opponents 249-117 in the first half this season, rallied to lead 24-14 by halftime and shut out the Saints in the second half. Warner hit Robert Holcombe with a 1-yard scoring pass in the first quarter, Faulk scored on a 4-yard run and a 30-yard reception in the second quarter and Jeff Wilkins kicked a 40-yard field goal. After making a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 27-14, Wilkins missed twice before kicking a 38-yarder for the final margin. The Rams picked up the first of two victories needed to clinch home-field advantage for the NFC playoffs as their defense held New Orleans to 34 yards in the second half. St. Louis, allowing 293 yards per game going in, held the Saints to 210 total yards. Billy Joe Tolliver, playing with a brace on his gimpy left knee, completed 12 of 28 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked six times and threw three interceptions. With Ricky Williams sidelined for the third straight game with a sprained toe, Wilmont Perry was New Orleans' leading rusher with 54 yards. Notes: The Saints played their ninth straight home game without a sellout. The last time the Superdome was sold out was Dec. 6, 1998. ... The Rams' Kevin Carter started his 76th consecutive game. He is the only player from the 1995 NFL draft who has started every game of his career. ... John Copeland Jr. of Harahan, La., attempted a 40-yard field goal at halftime. It came up 35 yards short. Had he made it, he would have won $50,000, instead he got a trip for two to the Super Bowl.
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