Halftime Tirade Awakens Rams, but Brooks’ Future Is Still Hazy

Facing what might have been his final half as coach of the St. Louis Rams, Rich Brooks stepped out of his nice-guy persona.

Throwing cups of ice, stalking the locker room and tossing out expletives, Brooks prodded the Rams out of a stupor and into a 14-13 season-ending victory against the New Orleans Saints on Saturday in a battle of bad teams. Eddie Kennison caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Jamie Martin with 5 1/2 minutes to play for the game-winner.

“I think half the guys were already on planes ready to go home,” said wide receiver Isaac Bruce, who also caught a touchdown pass in the second half. “Coach kind of went nuts on us and we kind of went nuts on ourselves.”

The Rams had never seen this kind of behavior from Brooks and it awakened them from a sluggish start. Whether it helped save Brooks’ job is questionable.

Brooks was almost defiant in defense of his 13-19 two-year record after the finale, noting the Rams haven’t had a winning season since 1989. Then again, he postponed a scheduled season-ending review from Sunday to Monday--the day he said he’ll likely learn his fate.

“Have we done an awful job?” Brooks said. “Hell no, we haven’t done an awful job. Have we done as well as I’d like to? Hell no, we haven’t done as well as I’d like to.

“But are we improved and is this team headed in the right direction? Absolutely, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that when you look at the good players that are in place.”

The Rams (6-10) won three of their last four, but the victims were New Orleans (3-13) twice and Atlanta (3-12), so the finish may not mean a whole lot to Brooks’ future. Brooks was also defiant regarding that subject.

“I think other teams count wins against teams with losing records,” Brooks said. “So I don’t know why we can’t count them too.”

Brooks chewed out his offense at the end of the first quarter, in which it totaled 33 yards. But at times he also seemed dispirited, electing to run out the clock at halftime after Kevin Carter recovered a fumble at the Ram 30 with 1:15 to go. He finally called a timeout after Harold Green ran for a first down at midfield with 18 seconds to go and the Saints got a sack on the next play.

Rick Venturi likely won’t lead the Saints in 1997, either. Venturi, who stepped in after the midseason resignation of Jim Mora, beat the New York Giants, 17-3, last week but is only 2-17 as an NFL coach.

“I’m exhausted at this point,” Venturi said when asked about his future. “I’ve given everything I have.”

Martin played the second half in place of Tony Banks, who suffered a bruised right elbow running a draw play with 1:04 left in the half. Martin got the Rams on the board with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Bruce with 4:29 left in the third quarter.

Bruce, the Rams’ lone Pro Bowl player, caught seven passes for 97 yards.