Rams enjoy winning feeling/PD

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Rams enjoy winning feeling
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_2f6d3c94-a2d7-52cf-8522-a75261a46d28.html

With the defense breathing fire, the offense playing with some consistency and the return game springing to life on special teams, the Rams have some momentum.

There’s nothing quite like being in a winning locker room. And the NFL’s second-losingest franchise since the start of the 2004 season (ahead of only Oakland) is starting to experience that sensation with a degree of regularity, as it has won three of its last four games.

“It’s why we’re here,” coach Jeff Fisher said.

“This is how it’s supposed to be,” tight end Jared Cook added. “I wish we would’ve went on a roll early in the season like this ’cause I think this team is definitely capable of it. We have great players, we have great coaches and guys that are finally starting to get it and put full games together.

“You all know early in the season we were struggling with finishing games off. ... Coming out in the first half and beating teams bad. Second half, we’d let them come back and catch up. It’s all about finishing in this league, and we’re doing a heckuva job with that right now.”

With that in mind, mull this over: If Shaun Hill had thrown to Benny Cunningham instead of Kenny Britt from the San Diego 4 in the final minute of play; and had the Rams avoided a fourth-quarter meltdown at Arizona, they’d be riding a six-game winning streak.

They can’t do anything to avenge that loss in San Diego for another four years given the NFL’s scheduling formula. But they can do something about that Nov. 9 defeat at Arizona, what with the Cardinals in town for tonight’s 7:25 p.m. kickoff at the Edward Jones Dome.

“Yeah, I think we’ve got a chip on our shoulder definitely,” safety T.J. McDonald said. “We had our chances to win that game last time. We want to be able to get that back.

Being a competitor, you want to get your ‘get-back.’”

Just 32 days ago in the Arizona desert, the Rams were leading 14-10 in the fourth quarter when Big Red starting quarterback Carson Palmer left with a season-ending knee injury. When rookie Chandler Catanzaro missed his first field goal of the season on the next play, the Rams took over at their 43. It looked very much like the game was there for the taking.

Get a few more points on the board, beat up on backup QB Drew Stanton, and victory would be theirs.

“I think anybody would take a backup quarterback coming into the game,” McDonald said.

But no.

“(Stanton) hit us on some things that we weren’t disciplined on,” McDonald said.

The lightning bolt was a beautifully-thrown 48-yard touchdown pass from Stanton to speedy John Brown midway through the quarter on a play in which the Rams busted a coverage and free safety Rodney McLeod slipped.

In the final 5½ minutes of play, Patrick Peterson intercepted an Austin Davis pass and returned it 30 yards for a TD. And then Antonio Cromartie scooped up a Davis sack-fumble and returned it 14 yards for a TD. Final score: Arizona 31, Rams 14.

“We felt like they got away from us the first time,” Rams defensive tackle Michael Brockers said. “And so it’s a little bit of a revenge game. So yeah, we’ve got a little bit of a chip on our shoulders.”

Coach Bruce Arians and his Cardinals aren’t worried about chips on shoulders. They need victories, more victories. They enter tonight’s contest with a 10-3 record and the No. 1 playoff seed currently in the NFC. But they’ve yet to clinch anything — not even a playoff berth.

Last season, a 10-6 Cardinals finish wasn’t good enough to qualify for Roger Goodell’s postseason party. So they’ve got work to do, especially with Green Bay (10-3), Seattle (9-4), Philadelphia (9-4), Dallas (9-4) and Detroit (9-4) all breathing down their neck.

Lots of coaches will give you a one-game-at-a-time speech in such a situation; not the refreshing Arians.

“We know where we stand and how big a game this is,” Arians said during a conference call Tuesday with St. Louis reporters. “Our three last games are division games, so they’re all very, very important. Anytime you control your own destiny, it’s not a bad thing to talk about.”

Meanwhile, the Rams’ postseason chances are somewhere between slim and none. About the only way they can reach the playoffs for the first time since 2004 is if they win their final three games while Seattle and Detroit lose their final three.

That’s tough math. At 6-7, they are eliminated from playoff consideration with a loss tonight. But success can be a relative thing. Even without a playoff berth, the Rams can win three in a row for the first time since 2012 with a victory tonight against their NFC West rivals.

They also can reach .500 after 14 games for the first time since 2003. That’s right, 2003.

That’s obviously not the ultimate goal, but it’s still meaningful.

“I’ve never been .500 or had a winning season,” Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “So I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t (mean something).”

But he quickly added: “I’m just worried about this one right here.”

As should be the case. The Rams have been outscored 80-37 in their last three prime-time games, all played at home. Included in that group is a 31-17 Monday night loss this season to San Francisco.

In that Oct. 13 contest, the Rams squandered an early 14-0 lead and basically went into an offensive coma in the second half. It was an embarrassing finish. That makes tonight a chance to show a national TV audience (NFL Network and also KMOV, Channel 4, locally) that this is a different Rams team, a team ready to turn the corner, a team on the cusp of success.

“Yeah, we’re getting there,” Fisher said. “Right now, we’ve got a little momentum and we just have to keep it.”