Monday, Oct. 13, 2008

Rams’ drought ends vs. 'Skins

St. Louis earns first win of season with Brown’s 49-yarder on last play of game

LANDOVER, Md. — The St. Louis Rams seemed almost determined to sink to 0-5.

They fumbled at their own 4-yard line on their second play from scrimmage. They were going nowhere until a fluke turnover flipped the momentum. They blew a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter. They set themselves up for a gimme field goal to win the game, then committed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

But this is the start of the Jim Haslett era, so maybe the ball is finally going to bounce the Rams’ way. The defense forced the Washington Redskins offense into its first three turnovers of the season, and Josh Brown kicked a 49-yard field goal on the last play Sunday to give the two-touchdown underdogs a 19-17 victory.

“I’m kind of, like, blank. I don’t know if I want to cry or laugh,” Rams linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa said. “A lot of emotions hit me at once. It’s different, but a good different.”

A lot of emotions? Darn right. There was plenty of the bizarre in a game that ended the franchise’s eight-game losing streak over two seasons and helped put Scott Linehan, fired two weeks ago before the bye, firmly in the rearview mirror.

The Redskins, guilty of playing down to the opposition after two big NFC East road wins, appeared set to win their fifth straight game when Clinton Portis’ 2-yard run with 3:47 left gave Washington a 17-16 lead. St. Louis, however, had enough time to mount a comeback. Reinstalled starter Marc Bulger hit Donnie Avery down the right sideline for a 43-yard gain on third-and-13 to move into field-goal territory.

With his team trying to kill the clock to set up for the easy kick, lineman Richie Incognito said something to an official that prompted a yellow flag. Brown, who was already 3-for-3 in the game, no longer had a chip shot to win it.

Washington (4-2) was playing as a huge favorite for the first time under coach Jim Zorn, and it showed. Portis said the Redskins overlooked the Rams, who were supposed to be the first of three easy wins in the soft part of the schedule.

“The headlines got good. The guys started high-fiving,” Portis said. “We hadn’t thought ahead all season long until this week. ... The previous four games, the focus was there.”