New Orleans Saints at St. Louis Rams Preview

By John Onan | Saturday, October 22, 2005 | ( 0 )

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Two teams who are facing adversity get together at Raymond James Stadium in St. Louis on Sunday afternoon, as the hometown St. Louis Rams welcome the New Orleans Saints. Both squads enter this game 2-4 on the season.

The New Orleans Saints were the victim of a controversial call in their last outing, as they lost to the Atlanta Falcons in the waning seconds 34-31. That game was played in their new home of San Antonio, and they gave a gritty performance in front of their new fans after being humbled 52-3 the week before at Green Bay.

The most impressive performance was delivered by quarterback Aaron Brooks, who has had mostly a disappointing year. Playing without star running back Deuce McAllister, who is out for the season with a torn ACL, Brooks threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns. Also coming up big were McAllister's replacements. RBs Antowain Smith and Aaron Stecker combined for 174 yards and two scores on a usually stingy Falcons defense.

Even though the scoreboard showed the defense gave up 34 points, 14 of those were on a fumble return for a score and a blocked field goal that was taken back to the end zone by Atlanta. The Saints only yielded 266 yards against the Falcons offense last week.

The St. Louis Rams are also dealing with problems, as they are without their head coach Mike Martz and their starting quarterback Marc Bulger. Martz has been forced off the sidelines indefinitely with a heart ailment, and Bulger suffered a sprain throwing shoulder while attempting to make a tackle after an interception Monday night against the Indianapolis Colts. The injury took the air out of the Rams sails, as they were leading by ten points at the time.

Filling in for Bulger will be veteran Jamie Martin, who is making only the fourth start of his career. After coming in for Bulger on Monday night, he only threw two incompletions, but two of his passes were caught by Colts defenders. He went 17-of-21 for 134 yards and one score.

With Martin in the lineup, interim coach Joe Vitt may go more to his two-headed running game of Stephen Jackson and Marshall Faulk. They have combined for 493 yards, 35 receptions, and six touchdowns on the year.

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