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Late field goal gives Rams first win of season

Oct 13, 2008 - 12:02 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LANDOVER, Maryland (Ticker) -- Kicker Josh Brown exorcised demons of Washington past with a 49-yard field goal as time expired to lift the St. Louis Rams to a 19-17 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

Brown also kicked field goals of 51, 25 and 44 yards to give the Rams their first victory of the season.

"I had some demons here," Brown said. "The last time I played here four years ago, I missed a game-winner with a second to go. Today was a good opportunity for me to exorcise those demons and get back on the right track."

Brown wanted to reward rookie wide receiver Donnie Avery, who caught two passes from quarterback Marc Bulger on the winning drive, including a 43-yarder on third-and-13 that set up the winning kick.

He also wanted to get St. Louis in the win column for new head coach Jim Haslett, who took over for Scott Linehan after he was fired on September 29 prior to the Rams' bye week.

"More than anything, Donnie Avery made a good play and we just wanted to capitalize on it," Brown said. "I was just kind of angry because we had a little 32-yarder and then backed up to a 49-yarder, but you can't allow too much to go in your mind."

The extra distance was required because Rams guard Richie Incognito drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the Washington 17-yard line. That did not seem to faze Brown, who has seven game-winning field goals in the final minute or overtime during his six-year career.

"You've got to allow the oportunity to come, live in the moment, and kick the ball," Brown said. "Nothing else matters but that two-second moment."

Brown was with the Seattle Seahawks for the first six game-winners of his career, including three against St. Louis. Too many times the Rams were left on the wrong end of Brown's boot.

"When Josh was with Seattle a couple years ago, he beat us twice with last-second field goals," Rams defensive end Leonard Little said. "So when he came out to kick the field goal, I ran off the field because I knew he was going to make it because he did it to us a lot of times."

The Rams (1-4) drove 45 yards on nine plays over the last 3:40 to put Brown in position to win it. Avery, who made a 12-yard grab on 3rd-and-2 to keep the drive alive, finished with four receptions for 73 yards. His 43-yard grab to put the Rams into scoring position was the longest catch of his career.

"My whole agenda was to go out there and try to beat the guy one-on-one," Avery said. "I saw the ball in the air for a long time and I knew I was behind the cornerback, so I still had to come back to the ball."

Clinton Portis ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries for the Redskins. It was his third consecutive 100-yard performance, marking the first time he has accomplished the feat since he reached the mark over the last five regular-season games in 2005.

Portis capped a nine-play, 73-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run that gave the Redskins a 17-16 lead with 3:47 remaining. He got the march started with a 29-yard scamper around left end and followed with an 8-yard run.

Antwaan Randle El, who caught five passes for 87 yards, kept the drive alive with a 29-yard reception from Jason Campbell on 3rd-and-14. Randle El ran a short slant pattern and raced to the 2-yard line to set up Portis' plunge through the middle of the line.

Portis sensed, however, that the Redskins could not let the Rams keep hanging around.

"We knew that we could not give them the opportunity to stay in the game," Portis said. "We had the opportunity in the first half, but we stuck it to ourselves. They stayed alive and won the ballgame."

St. Louis, which came into the league giving up a league-high 36.8 points per contest, put together its best defensive performance of the season under Haslett, who was the team's defensive coordinator before taking over for Linehan. The Rams registered four sacks and forced four fumbles, recovering three.

"We emphasized swarming to the ball and a by-product of us swarming to the ball is turnovers," Rams linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa said. "We had the ball bounce our way. A lot of it is luck, but when you put yourself in position - that's how it was today for us."

"We're not a big defense, so our idea was to run into the ball and create turnovers," Little said. "They hadn't turned the ball over the whole year, and we just ran into the ball to create turnovers and it so happened to turn our way today."

The Redskins (4-2) came into the game without a single offensive turnover over their first five games of the season, but they committed three - all in the first half - to help turn the momentum in the Rams' favor.

St. Louis took a 10-7 lead on the Redskins' third turnover of the first half. Jason Campbell's pass was batted high into the air by defensive tackle Clifton Ryan but Redskins guard Pete Kendall caught the ball and fumbled.

"A thousand things went through my mind," Kendall said. "I felt like the ball was up forever. I should have gone with my first thought, which was to knock it down. But I felt if I grabbed it and threw it down they might call it a fumble, so I held on and tried to get it back to the line of scrimmage ... that's just thinking too much."

Rams safety Oshiomogho Atogwe scooped up the ball and returned it 75 yards untouched down the sideline for a 10-7 lead with nine seconds remaining in the half.

The Rams managed just 200 yards of total offense and had just eight first downs, but it turned out to be just enough for their first win since December 2, 2007 - a 28-16 defeat of the Atlanta Falcons.

Bulger, who was benched by Linehan before the Rams' 31-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills, returned to the starting lineup and completed 15-of-26 passes for 136 yards. Steven Jackson finished with 79 yards on 22 carries and another 32 yards on three receptions.