BALTIMORE – Playing against the Ravens’ stingy defense is a tough task for any team in the NFL. For a team that has struggled offensively as the Rams have this season, the task becomes even more daunting.

And Baltimore’s star-powered defense lived up to its billing, surrendering just three points to St. Louis on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium en route to a relatively easy 22-3 win.

The loss drops the Rams to 0-6 for the first time since 1962. The Ravens (4-2) had their usual dominant defensive performance as the Rams continued to struggle to find answers offensively.

After posting 31 points last week against Arizona, the Rams knew they were in for a tough challenge against Baltimore, a team that has been in the top 10 in total defense nine of the past 10 years.

What the Rams didn’t expect, though, was that starting quarterback Gus Frerotte would throw five interceptions and cough up a fumble that just as easily could have counted as his sixth interception.

“Obviously if you turn the ball over (six) times you are not going to win the football game,” coach Scott Linehan said. “Turnovers were definitely the difference. They are a great defense and we found that out first hand.”

It’s almost a cliché now to say that winning the turnover battle will almost always help a team win. But the fact remains that it’s becoming a sobering reality for a Rams team that prided itself on winning on turnovers in 2006.

In six games this season, the Rams have yet to do better than breaking even (twice) in turnover margin for a game. On Sunday, they were minus-four in that area, putting the defense in bad field position on a number of occasions and making it nearly impossible to keep the Ravens from putting points on the board.

“It’s a tough way to play the game,” Frerotte said. “It makes you sick; it makes you want to throw up. When you compete, no matter what happens, no matter if you throw 10 (interceptions), you want to get back out there to prove to yourself you can go out and do it. You just keep picking yourself up off the floor and keep getting back out there.”

Frerotte did continue to pick himself up, literally, as he was under constant pressure for most of the day in front of another patchwork offensive line that lost center Brett Romberg to an ankle injury.

But in eight quarters as the team’s starter, Frerotte has now thrown eight interceptions. That number is equal to the number of picks the team threw in all of 2006.

While fumbles were at the heart of the team’s turnover issues early in the season, the interception has become the more consistent way of giving up possession for the Rams. Last season, St. Louis was among the best in the league in turnover margin when it was plus 14 in that area.

Linehan said the Rams still emphasize winning the turnover battle, but for whatever reason they have been unable to get that portion of the game flowing in their favor.

And even when the defense comes up with a field position changing takeaway, the offense has been unable to take advantage.

In a sequence that essentially sums up the way the first six games of the season have gone, the Rams came up with a big defensive play as defensive end Leonard Little came up with a sack and a forced fumble recovered by Victor Adeyanju who returned it 24 yards to Baltimore’s 11.

Down 6-0 with 10:53 to go in the first half, the Rams seemed poised to score a momentum changing touchdown or, at worst, cut the lead in half.

On first down, Romberg suffered his ankle injury as running back Brian Leonard gained 2 yards. Second down yielded a 3-yard loss on a run by Leonard before a false start on left tackle Alex Barron cost the offense another 5 yards.

A third-and-16 opportunity just slipped out of the fingertips of receiver Marques Hagans in the end zone and kicker Jeff Wilkins missed a 35-yard field goal wide to the left.

“That drive was tough,” Linehan said. “It was a great momentum play the defense comes up with a fumble recovery and a good return. We were struggling offensively and those are the kind of momentum plays you have got to take advantage of. To come away with nothing there was a pretty critical point in the game.”

Baltimore promptly drove for Willis McGahee’s 6-yard touchdown run and the Rams never came within a single score the rest of the game. 

When all was said and done, the Rams gained just 264 total yards with six turnovers and four sacks allowed. Frerotte was 19-of-36 for 208 yards with no touchdowns and the five interceptions for a rating of 30.6.

Frerotte suffered bruised ribs and took a shot to the jaw late in the game, but somehow continued to get up and continue. Linehan said he considered putting Marc Bulger in for Frerotte, but the thought was fleeting because he wanted to ensure Bulger would be fully healthy for a return, perhaps as soon as next week.

Given all of those opportunities, the Ravens didn’t exactly dominate the game.

Of the Rams’ six turnovers, the Ravens started on the St. Louis side of the field on four occasions and came up with just 12 points from those giveaways.

With the exception of a few big gains in the passing game, the Rams defense had one of its finest outings of the season. That unit was downright stingy against the run, holding McGahee to 61 yards on 25 carries as Baltimore gained only 2.5 yards per attempt on 31 rushes. All told, the Ravens posted just 248 total yards.

“Defensively I thought we played really solid football,” Linehan said. “I know they came up with a couple of plays, but we forced a couple of turnovers and limited their yardage and things like that but we put our defense in some bad situations with turnovers and we are not going to win football games when we do that.”

Despite that performance, it was almost impossible to get ahead on the scoreboard because of continued offensive struggles.

“It’s pathetic and that’s how we looked today out there offensively, turning the ball over, not able to give our defense a hand,” tight end Randy McMichael said. “They played their butts off, they put us in position to win the game and we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain.”

It won’t get any easier next week when the Rams head to Seattle for a battle against the division rival Seahawks. St. Louis will be looking to avoid the first 0-7 start in the history of the franchise and Linehan said he is going to do everything he can to ensure that doesn’t happen.

“There’s not a good or bad way to lose,” Linehan said. “Just losing, in human nature, it’s frustrating. You have a decision to make; you can just dwell in the cellar and feel sorry for yourself or just dust yourself off and get back up. That’s what I do and we demand that’s what our football team does.”