Rams Savor a Different Kind of Sunday : Football: Ellard doesn’t catch a pass, Zendejas misses three kicks, but after 11 games and 11 months, the team wins.

No single game is going to banish the demons of the last two seasons, but after Sunday’s 14-0 victory over the New England Patriots, the Rams weren’t what they used to be.

During the troubled times, for instance, receiver Henry Ellard was someone to depend on, catching at least one pass every game. But Sunday, his 81-game reception streak was halted, mostly by a conservative offensive game plan that did not feature the wide receivers.

Through all of the Rams’ breakdowns, kicker Tony Zendejas was perfect. Then Sunday, his field goal streak ended at 23, one short of the NFL record, and his brand-new streak of missed kicks stretched, almost unbelievably, to three.

And, after years of awful Ram punting, Don Bracken kept the Patriots backpedaling with seven punts that averaged 47.9 yards. On five of those, the returner was tackled or the punt was downed inside the 20-yard line.

Defensively, the Rams have been the NFL’s least dangerous team, totaling 47 sacks and 23 interceptions in the last two seasons. But Sunday, Ram defenders broke loose for seven sacks and four interceptions and got the team’s first shutout in 60 games.

So, after 11 consecutive defeats, the frustration ended and even Coach Chuck Knox got caught up in the uncorking of 11 months’ worth of pent-up celebration.

“I was very pleased for those guys,” Knox said Monday. “You know, that’s a tough thing, losing that many games in a row.”

Knox said that the victory was particularly welcome after the previous week’s 33-point loss in Buffalo.

“If we hadn’t won, it’d be, ‘Well, here they go again,’ ” Knox said. “And then the guys would be saying it. And sometimes it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

The Ram defense, starting two rookies, two second-year players and seven players overall who have never spent a whole season as starters, did everything anyone could expect and more Sunday, turning the new zone system into a sack-and-turnover machine.

“We were having fun out there, and that’s going to be key for us,” said cornerback Todd Lyght, who intercepted two of Hugh Millen’s passes. “We were playing out there . . . it wasn’t a job.

“At times, we weren’t having fun last year. That’s the difference. They’re letting the players play within themselves, and they’re not making a player do what he can’t do, which I think is key for us.”

But Knox said the Rams can’t expect anything close to a shutout every time out, including Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.

“I think it’s a young defensive football team,” Knox said. “We started two rookies on the defensive line, and I think it has a chance to develop and we’ll get better.

“Since it is a young defensive team, I don’t think you can put a tremendous amount of pressure on them to win the game by themselves. A shutout in itself doesn’t happen very often at this level.

“We’ll just have to work to improve our offensive production and get the running game going a little bit. We need to be able to throw it better and more consistently.”

But despite the defensive immaturity and an offense he acknowledged is slightly out of sync, Knox seemed to suggest that the Rams had cleared an important mental hurdle.

“When you don’t get a lift out of it, there’s something wrong. You’ve got to get into another business,” Knox said. “That doesn’t mean you go crazy. But it is nice to win.

“I’ve said many times, there’s two great things about professional football: One is winning, and two is getting paid.”