Rams hope to finally get to 7-0

ST. LOUIS -- About this time last year, speculation about an unbeaten season began for the St. Louis Rams.

Coach Mike Martz, in a 6-0 start to his first season that was about to go sour, knew the answer was an emphatic no way. Not with that horrible defense.

"Last year at 6-0, I guess panic was the best word for it," Martz said. "I knew we had some real problems and there were no solutions, really.

"The thing that kept me up at night was trying to figure out ways of scoring lots of points."

Last week, the Rams became only the second team in NFL history to start out 6-0 three consecutive seasons, joining the 1929-31 Green Bay Packers. The Rams didn't make it to 7-0 the first two seasons, losing two straight in '99 and dropping seven of their final 11, including their wild-card playoff loss, last year.

Kurt Warner missed five games with a broken finger in Game 7 last year against the Chiefs, a 20-point blowout loss.

"I don't remember 6-0, you just try to go out and win every game," Warner said. "I don't know, I want to know where we're at at the end of the year and that we're sitting at the top. That's the most important thing."

Entering today's game against the New Orleans Saints (3-2), optimism abounds for more and more victories for the NFL's lone unbeaten team as much because of the team's defensive revival than the prolific offense.

The Rams, who allowed a league-worst 29 points per game last season, have given up just 38 points the past four games with an overhauled unit that features eight new starters and new coordinator Lovie Smith. For the year, they're allowing 13 points per game.

"It's no time to pat ourselves on the back," Smith said. "We're pleased but not satisfied."

Battle of West champions

Today's game matches not only the past two NFC West champions, but two of the sport's stronger head-coaching personalities in the offensive-minded Martz and defensive-minded Jim Haslett. The Saints dethroned the beat-up Rams last year, and also knocked them out of the first round of the playoffs.

After last week's 20-13 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Haslett barked at a reporter who wanted to know if the team had taken a step back, saying "Get him out of here!" He's not shy about trading barbs with the guy on the opposite sideline, either.

"He had a quote from Martz and he kind of kept it," said Rams linebacker Mark Fields, who played for the Saints the previous six seasons. "He wanted to walk across the field and give it to him."

Martz has been vilified, especially in New York, for executing an onside kick last weekend midway through the third quarter with the Rams leading the Jets 31-7.

"I think he just wants to kick everybody's butt," Rams free safety Kim Herring said. "He's the type of coach who just says, 'I don't care what anybody says about me, I'm going to do what I do when I want to do it."'

Both coaches dislike the guy opposing them on game week.

"I think both of us like perfection and both of us like to win," Haslett said. "I get emotional about the games, yes."

The Saints have been inconsistent early in the season, but a victory would give them their best six-game start since they were 5-1 in 1993. They're also the team that knocked the Rams out of the playoffs last year, when the Rams were defending Super Bowl champions,

"We're not exactly where we want to be," quarterback Aaron Brooks said. "But we're sitting pretty good."

The Rams have been tough to beat in the Dome at America's Center, where they've lost only three of 21 dating to the final home game of the 1998 season. Warner has never lost there, going 17-0 counting the playoffs.

Canidate likely to start

Trung Canidate, the backup to NFL MVP Marshall Faulk, likely will get his second straight start for St. Louis with Faulk nursing a bruised right knee. Canidate, the Rams' No. 1 draft pick in 2000, had 195 yards rushing in his starting debut against the Jets.

Ricky Williams gets his first chance to test the Rams' defense. Williams leads the Saints with 480 yards rushing and a 4.1-yard average and also is tied for the team lead with 23 receptions.

"Ricky is as advertised," Martz said. "He's the whole package."