PRO FOOTBALL REPORT : WEEKDAY UPDATE : RAMS : Robinson’s Goal: Just Wins, Baby

Coach John Robinson conceded Monday that after dropping to 5-8 by losing Sunday to the New Orleans Saints, his team is out of the playoff race and narrowed the goals for the team’s final three games.

What’s left to accomplish? “Wins,” he said. “Wins, that’s what you want to do. Sure, some of the incentive is gone, but it’s more of a challenge to the people involved. This is a team that has to see itself on a longer concept than the next three games, and it has to be in a place to come back next year and regain its place in the NFC.”

Robinson, who has had problems with officials all season, had a few more calls, or non-calls, to drive him crazy Sunday.

His most pointed comments Monday were about the fourth-quarter pass to tight end Pete Holohan, who appeared to have fallen on the goal line and pushed the ball over for a score. The officials ruled that he was down at the 1 1/2-yard line and the Rams had to settle for a field goal.

“Pete Holohan’s play was a touchdown,” Robinson said. “I think every bit of reasonable evidence says it was, but we didn’t get it. How the call could’ve been made the way it was, I just don’t know. I never got an explanation, and I don’t think there was one. I don’t think anybody had an explanation to give.”

There was another debatable call later in the final quarter, when Cleveland Gary was finishing a run, and hit the ground as the football came loose. The officials made no immediate ruling, then let the play stand as a lost Ram fumble, which led to the Saints’ game-winning score.

With Gary probably spending a lot of time on the bench and with the Rams out of the playoff hunt, Robinson said that running back Marcus Dupree will probably get more playing time soon.

Dupree suffered a broken nose in a fight with the Saints’ Craig (Ironhead) Heyward Sunday, but Robinson said that it shouldn’t hamper Dupree’s ability to play.