Title Defense Just Slips Away From the Rams

The punt went up and hung high over the Superdome floor Saturday, seeming to take more time than the St. Louis Rams had in scoring the game’s last 21 points.

A 31-7 deficit with 9:40 to play had become 31-28 with 1:50 to play . . . and now the Rams, masters of the out-of-nowhere reappearing act, were about to get the ball back.

Ram Coach Mike Martz kept his eye on the ball and thought to himself, “We’re going to take it down and score again. We were in the frame of mind that they couldn’t stop us.”

Ram quarterback Kurt Warner kept his eye on the ball and thought to himself, “We’re going to win it.”

Ram punt returner Az-Zahir Hakim took his eye off the ball, and in that fraction of a second, 34 years of cursed New Orleans Saints’ history caught up with the charmed two-year run of the defending Super Bowl champion Rams.

The ball came down and hit Hakim in the shoulder pads, popping loose inside the St. Louis 15-yard line. New Orleans’ Brian Milne recovered at the 11, the silver spike was finally delivered to the Rams’ 2000 season and the Saints had finally defeated a playoff opponent in their fifth try, 31-28.

“It’s over!” New Orleans tight end Andrew Glover exulted when he saw Milne fall on the loose ball. “I kept thinking about the history here--so many disappointments, these are the Super Bowl champs, they can score real quickly.

“But then I saw that ball pop out and said, ‘It’s over. They don’t have any chance now.’ ”

Just to make sure, Saint quarterback Aaron Brooks nearly squeezed the air out of the football, making sure it remained in his grasp as he burned the remaining seconds by handling three snaps and taking a knee.

Six days earlier, the Saints were presented with the same opportunity--ending the Rams’ season--and failed, allowing the done-for Super Bowl champions back into the playoffs when St. Louis scored a 26-21 regular-season-ending victory at the Superdome.

That set up Saturday’s rematch in the first round of the playoffs, and hung that unlucky number over the Saints’ head one more time: 0-4 in the playoffs.

Four touchdown passes by Brooks and 31 unanswered points appeared to be the hex-breakers. Wide receiver Willie Jackson’s 16-yard touchdown reception, his third scoring catch of the game, gave New Orleans a 31-7 lead with 11:57 to play.

The Rams got a touchdown back with 9:36 left, on a 17-yard pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl.

But when Warner threw his third interception of the game three minutes later, Saint safety Sammy Knight making a one-handed grab at the New Orleans 10, a Superdome crowd of 64,900 began to sense history was at hand.

Before the fans could sing “Who Let The Dogs Out?” for the 157th time, however, the Saints were punting and Warner was driving the Rams 62 yards in three plays, hooking up with running back Marshall Faulk for a 25-yard touchdown.

Saints 31, Rams 20, 3:52 to play.

The Rams tried an onside kick, converted, but were flagged for offsides. So they tried it again, converted again and in five plays they were in the end zone again, Warner scoring from five yards.

With a two-point conversion, Warner over the middle to Faulk, the scoreboard nervously flickered: Saints 31, Rams 28, 2:36 left.

Time enough for the Rams to kick deep, force another punt and move into position for a winning touchdown or a tying field goal. But Martz vetoed the suggestions of his coaching staff, calling for another onside kick because, he said, “This is the playoffs, we’re going to play this thing for broke.”

This time the Saints recovered the kick at the St. Louis 37. Three plays later, they were at the St. Louis 41, readying to punt with 1:51 to play.

The Ram offense braced for one more sprint down the field. On the St. Louis sideline, the question wasn’t if the Rams could score again. The question was: Would they score too soon, and leave their defense with too much time on the clock?

Hakim, who had returned a punt 65 yards earlier in the quarter, settled under this one. It was high and short, so he signaled fair catch. But when the ball looked as if it would bounce in front of Hakim, rather than back away from the ball, he lunged into it, and muffed it.

“I called for the fair catch,” Hakim said, “but I guess I took my eye off it at the last minute. That’s when it hit me in the shoulder.”

Milne recovered and the Rams never touch the ball again.

“It hurts,” Hakim said. “It definitely hurts. The situation we had at the time--we had a shot. We had a shot to keep driving and score. And then to have the ball bounce off my chest . . . it totally crushed me.

“I’m better than that. It was just an unfortunate situation.”

Giving way to a more unlikely situation heading into the second round of the NFL playoffs:

The Super Bowl champion Rams are done, finished at 10-7.

The Saints, for the first time in their history, are bound for the second round, traveling to Minnesota to play the NFC Central champion Vikings next Saturday.

It’s the start of a new era, Glover believes.

“Everyone know what this game means to this franchise,” Glover said.

“This is an organization on the rise, now that that losing undertone has been erased. All those disappointments in the playoffs are in the past. It’s 2000-plus. We’re moving forward.”