Tonight

St. Louis (10-2) at New Orleans (7-5)

6 p.m.; Channel 7

The line: St. Louis by 6.

Story line: The Rams may seem unstoppable to the rest of the NFL, but to Jim Haslett’s Saints, it’s “been there, done that...” Not only did the Saints snatch the NFC West title from the Rams last season, they eliminated them in the postseason. Adding insult to injury, New Orleans came back from an 18-point halftime deficit to beat the Rams in St. Louis in Week 7. The Rams need to keep winning to control their destiny in terms of home-field advantage throughout the playoffs; the Saints cannot afford to lose and fall a game behind in the wild-card chase.

Keys to the game: The Saints have won three of the last four matchups by controlling the Rams’ running game and forcing turnovers. New Orleans will attempt to disrupt Kurt Warner’s timing by jamming his receivers at the line of scrimmage, giving the Saints’ powerful front four time to apply pressure. St. Louis can counteract this by getting Faulk the ball often and early in the game, drawing defenders in and loosening coverages. New Orleans can take advantage of a Ram defense that has a tendency to overpursue by establishing a steady ground game with Ricky Williams and then attacking with play action.

*--*

MATCHUPS STL NO Pts. scored 29.8 (1) 23.4 (6) Pts. allowed 15.8 (4) 20.8 (18) Pass off. 294.3 (1) 236.9 (5) Rush off. 120.0 (9) 121.9 (6) Pass def. 184.4 (6) 206.7 (17) Rush def. 85.8 (4) 99.2 (10) Time of poss. 31:39 (6) 30:23 (12) Turn. ratio -8 (26) 7 (6) Sacks 32 (8) 36 (3)

*--*

The pick: St. Louis.