Dahl, Rams finish home season with winning record

Even with a back-up quarterback and already eliminated from playoff contention, the St. Louis Rams continued to surprise the league.

After upsetting New Orleans two weeks ago, St. Louis won its second game in a row in a 23-13 win over Tampa Bay at home before it hits the road for the regular-season finale in Seattle.

Ex-Greenwave and Wolf Pack lineman Harvey Dahl returned last week against New Orleans after injuring his knee against Seattle at home two months ago. St. Louis was a yard shy on the last two downs of upsetting Seattle on Monday Night Football before the Seahawks defense sealed the 14-9 win with the goal-line stand.

St. Louis, which finished the home slate with a winning record (6-2) with the two losses coming against San Francisco and Seattle, can end the year at .500 with a victory on Sunday.

“Well we had a really good week of practice and I was very pleased with today’s outcome,” Rams coach Steve Fisher told the team website. “The guys were very excited to get back in the building again for two weeks in a row. It was important to them to have a winning record here at home, which is a tremendous feat considering the circumstances and the start. So, I’m very happy for them.”

Not being able to develop a running game early in the season spelled doom for the Rams’ playoff chances but with a young lineup and playing in the toughest division in the NFL, they have an opportunity to end the year with a thunderous bang. After Arizona ended Seattle’s two-year home winning streak on Sunday, St. Louis can provide the knockout punch and send the Seahawks spiraling down from the overall No. 1 seed to a wild card.

The Rams finished with 129 yards on the ground, including 104 from rookie running back Zac Stacy, who also scored a touchdown.

“You should know that by now,” Rams running back Zac Stacy said about the offensive line helping the running game. “But it all started up front like always. We did a good job because it was a good defense, so we did a good job of executing. They had the momentum going early in the run game as far as stopping us on a couple plays, but we just settled down and got it going.”