Rams 28, Falcons 16: The Redemption of Gus Frerotte, Sort Of

You'll have to forgive me if I was a little bit surprised to see Gus Frerotte littering completions all over the field in a first half against the Falcons that included three touchdowns. This was the guy, after all, who couldn't transfer the ball about a yard from the center to the running back last week. But there he was today against the Falcons, all Steve Young and ish.

That lasted solely through the first half, however, as the real Frerotte showed up in the second. As Chris Redman was giving the Falcons new life operating under center, Frerotte was sucking the life from the Rams. He sandwiched two Redman touchdown drives with interceptions, allowing the Falcons to score 16 unanswered points.

The Birds began on a potentially game-winning drive with under two minutes to go in the game, but the Rams defense bailed out an offense that had long packed it in (and a quarterback apparently hellbent on self-destruction). O.J. Atogwe intercepted Redman and set the Rams up at midfield to close out the game.

Luckily the Rams won this one, their first home victory of the season. It's been a tough enough season in St. Louis, and the Rams have already had a couple of second-half collapses this season (see: Cleveland and Seattle). Those two teams, at least, are playoff contenders. To blow a 21-point lead to the Falcons, as the Rams were perfectly intent on doing, would have to be considered the lowest point of the season.

Not that the Falcons played a bad game -- they out-gained the Rams in yardage, converted more third downs, and ran for more yards per carry -- and when Redman came in the game the offense responded like someone far better than Chris Redman stepped into the huddle. Roddy White and Alge Crumpler got theirs, as is always the case, and Jerious Norwood got fewer carries than Warrick Dunn despite being way, way, way better than him (11.8 ypc vs. 1.7), as is always the case. As for the Rams, Frerotte favored Torry Holt (135 yards and a touch), especially in that big first half. But it was Steven Jackson's 165 total yards that powered the offense.

Each team owned a half, the Rams just made the one play they had to when it mattered. Everything about the contest was about even, split in half. The Rams and the Falcons -- equally bad.