As the Rams wait to see which team will be coming to St. Louis Jan. 10 for
their first playoff game, it was left to coach Mike Martz to put the loss to the
Lions in the season finale in perspective.
The Rams were trying to be the top seed in the NFC playoffs, and a victory
would have done that. But it almost appeared as if the Rams were playing the
second half to avoid being injured rather than closing out Detroit after taking
a 20-10 halftime lead.
Still, the Rams have the No. 2 seed, and Martz was asked if he had been told
before the season that the team would be 12-4 and be in this position, would he
be pleased.
"To win the division, to be 12-4 and have a bye week and at home for the
first playoff game, absolutely I'd be excited about that," he said. "And I think
our team is excited about that. We got caught up feeling pretty good about this
game and really did not play well, probably because of that. And I think it's a
great lesson.
"You've got to come prepared to play every week, no matter who you play and
what the situation might be. Otherwise, they'll take you to task, as they did."
While the Rams were unable to finish the Lions, players noted that it would
still take two wins to advance to the Super Bowl. And that thinking about
possibly heading to Philadelphia for a conference championship game is
premature.
"That's two games away," quarterback Marc Bulger said. "And the only team
we'd have to do that with is Philly. Philly can certainly lose before then. We
can certainly lose before then. So we've got a lot of football before then."
Added defensive end Grant Wistrom, "We just can't get down on ourselves.
We've been a pretty tight unit in this locker room all year long. We have to
keep that focus, keep that drive."
"We still have confidence," tackle Orlando Pace said. "We still believe in
ourselves. We've just got to take a different road to the Super Bowl."
During the off week, the Rams have two days of conditioning and weightlifting
before returning to practice, probably on Monday, for the playoff game Saturday.
Privately, the organization is happy about playing Saturday because it will give
their opponent one less practice day before traveling to St. Louis.
Two of the three possible opponents -- Green Bay and Seattle -- played the
Rams this season. Carolina did not. So coaches spent the week breaking down and
organizing Panthers tapes from the entire season. By late Saturday night, they
will know if Carolina is coming to St. Louis, or whether it will be the winner
of Sunday's Green Bay-Seattle game.
"It's time to look at Carolina," Martz said after his Monday press
conference. "We've made this a one-game season at this point. The second game
doesn't matter if you don't win the first one, right? So it's a one-game season.
That's how we look at it."