Martz learns a lesson from preseason error

ST. LOUIS -- Mike Martz knows well how preseason games sharpen player focus and help them purge mistakes before the games that matter. And with a blush of embarrassment Friday, the St. Louis Rams coach conceded how exhibition games can even expose goofs of his own.

On Thursday night in the Rams' preseason finale at Oakland, Martz watched the Raiders take a 27-24 lead with 38 seconds left when third-string quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo hit Alvis Whitted for his second TD reception of the game.

On the extra-point try, Martz -- angry that Oakland had scored -- saw the holder drop the ball and looked away, never seeing Sebastian Janikowski boot the ball through the uprights to push the margin to four points.

"I saw the kick, and the kick to me looked like it went off to the left, and I turned," Martz said. "I just kind of thought they missed it, and 'Good, we'll get down there and tie it up.'

"Just like a knucklehead, I didn't look at the scoreboard and made the assumption" the Rams were just down by three.

Behind third-string quarterback Jeff Smoker, the Rams marched downfield. At Martz's behest, Smoker threw a sideline pass -- a 10-yard completion that put St. Louis at the Oakland 34 with 9 seconds left -- to set up a possible field goal.

A field goal, with St. Louis down by four?

"Smoker came over and the look on his face was, 'What, are you nuts?'" Martz said. "Then I realized I was screwed up, and we threw it in the end zone."

Smoker's desperation pass into the end zone was intercepted as time expired.

Moments later, Martz came clean about his lapse and called it "the dumbest thing I've ever done as a football coach."

He asked "Can you imagine Jeff Smoker telling me what the score was?"

The next day, Martz still winced about being asked to retell it all.

"It's hard for me to stand here in front of you today and admit to that," he said, his face turning red. "I could have kept it quiet, but I'm just being very honest with you."

Why admit it in the first place, a reporter asked.

"Well, it happened. It's the truth, isn't it?" Martz replied politely, his voice quieting. "Sometimes the truth does hurt."

By Friday, Martz was lamenting that the goof was "getting a lot more attention than I want it to get."

"I think in a regular-season game I'm a little bit more tuned in, maybe," he said.

Martz expects to prove that Sept. 12, when the Rams open the regular season at home against Arizona.