By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
NEW ORLEANS – After eight weeks of agonizing, gut-wrenching losses, the Rams’ wait is over.

In what was, without question, the team’s most complete, dominant performance of the season, the Rams surged past the Saints 37-29 at the Superdome on Sunday for their first victory of 2007.

For a season in which nothing has come easy to the Rams, particularly that elusive first victory, it took a trip to the Big Easy to find what they have been searching for.

“I wake up every morning thinking we are going to win,” tight end Randy McMichael said. “I don’t ever, ever say ‘we are going to lose this game’ or ‘I don’t know if we are going to win.’ I wake up every morning thinking we are going to win and today was no different. Today was special from the pregame warm-up. The energy everybody had I just knew we were going to win today.”

Of course, McMichael is the first to acknowledge that the energy he spoke about had been missing. So, what changed?

On Saturday night, the Rams had a series of speakers step up in front of the team and give impassioned speeches about a variety of things. Defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, who spent six years as the head coach in New Orleans, spoke from his heart about finding a way to win.

Safety Corey Chavous recounted the barnburners the Rams and Saints have played on the way to a rivalry that was once one of the most fierce, spiteful battles in the league. Along the way, he gave his teammates an important reminder.

“That’s what it was about, getting your energy level up, enjoy it and go back to playing football like you did when you were a little kid, not for the money,” McMichael said. “Just go out there and have fun like that. We went out there and laid it on the line today.”

After New Orleans opened the game with a relatively easy touchdown drive followed by a three and out, it appeared any pre-game energy had vaporized. But an interception by safety Oshiomogho Atogwe started an avalanche of big plays on both sides of the ball that at one point had the Rams enjoying a 34-7 lead.

The offense hummed as quarterback Marc Bulger was clearly as sharp as he’d been all season. Bulger finished 27-of-33 for 302 yards and a pair of touchdowns for a rating of 125.

Perhaps the most important number came in the form of the zero underneath the turnover category for the Rams. St. Louis had not won the turnover battle in a game this season and it was no coincidence that they had not won a game, either.

By the time the game was done, the Rams had created a pair of turnovers, come up with a fourth down stop and protect it like fine china on offense.

“You create energy by executing,” coach Scott Linehan said. “The defense, the offense, the special teams. It’s not the rah rah or pregame speeches or any of that. It’s going out and playing the way the game is supposed to be played. By winning that No. 1 statistic and going out and doing a great job of protecting the ball and creating turnovers on defense and turning turnovers into scores for us.”

With another patchwork offensive line that started Nick Leckey at right guard and rotated Rob Petitti and Brandon Gorin at right tackle, not many expected the offense to be able to generate much.

But the energy of those aforementioned play makers was precisely the medicine for what had ailed the offense for most of the season. That unit showed signs of life against Cleveland before losing running back Steven Jackson to a back injury.

Jackson returned at full speed Sunday though he admittedly went through an adjustment period where he had to acclimate himself to contact again. Receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce looked like their old selves. Drew Bennett became the red zone target many envisioned with a 3-yard touchdown catch and McMichael did likewise with a 2-yard score.

With so many play makers coming up with big plays, the play calling had a better rhythm and it was clear that the offense many thought could rival The Greatest Show on Turf before the season was hitting on all cylinders for the first time this season.

“There’s a lot to be said about playing loose even though you have to be pretty tight mentally,” Linehan said. “Arthur Ashe once said the greatest competitors are physically loose and mentally tight. I think that’s the way we played.”

That wasn’t any more evident than on McMichael’s touchdown catch. With the game knotted at 7 and the ball at the New Orleans’ 2, the Rams wanted to punch it in for their second touchdown and first lead in a road game this season.

On a play the team has worked since May, Bulger handed to Jackson who took off right tackle. As the Saints overpursued, Jackson “threw” it to a wide open McMichael who had released from the line. McMichael hauled it in and Jackson had his first career touchdown pass. It was the type of imaginative, creative play call that a team with nothing to lose and plenty of energy would call.

“He shotputted it to me,” McMichael said. “That was one of those things where the ball was like ‘Oh man someone is going to come knock this away from me, come on, come on get here.’ We have been running that play since May and I was wondering when we were going to call it. It was perfect and coach made a great call. I don’t think I will ever catch an uglier ball in my life.”
The offense wasn’t the only side of the ball coming up with big plays, either. In addition to Atogwe’s interception and the fourth down stop, linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa came up with his second interception of the season.

Of course, those interceptions wouldn’t have come without the relentless pressure that Haslett and the defense had on quarterback Drew Brees. In the first half alone, Haslett estimated the defense blitzed Brees on 16 of 18 plays.

As the likes of Will Witherspoon and Tinoisamoa repeatedly got in his face, Brees forced some bad passes. Those passes turned into interceptions which turned into momentum.

“I think the guy that makes the whole thing go is the quarterback,” Haslett said. “We figured we won’t let the quarterback sit back there and pick us apart like he did in the fourth quarter. We were going to take some chances and risk some things and get after him and try to disrupt him.”

By the time Haslett and the defense backed off the blitz to protect the large lead, the defense had put together a thoroughly dominant performance. At the end of the third quarter, the Saints had 95 yards on 24 plays and a time of possession of just 12:03 of a possible 45 minutes.

When the clock hit all zeros, the score was a lot closer than the game, but none of that mattered to Linehan and the Rams. For the first time this season, the Rams were able to savor the flavor of a victory, something they won’t take for granted anytime soon.

“I’ll never treat a win without all the respect in the world that comes with it whether you score 37 points or two,” Linehan said. “You have got to enjoy them all. It’s hard to win in this league and we have proved that this year. You can get in a downward spiral that is hard to come out of. I think once guys stick together and understand that we have eight games left, now seven that regardless of what happened in the first eight, we need to focus on the last eight. That was what made me feel the best.”