Ragone falls behind in tussle for No. 3 QB

~ The left-hander threw an interception in Thursday's win over the Colts.

ST. LOUIS -- In the battle for the St. Louis Rams' No. 3 quarterback position, Dave Ragone knows he might have dropped back in his bid to unseat Ryan Fitzpatrick.

All four St. Louis quarterbacks saw action in Thursday's preseason-opening 19-17 win over Indianapolis. Starter Marc Bulger, playing the first two series, was 3-for-6 for 51 yards. Backup Gus Frerotte also played just two series, going 2-for-3 for 32 yards.

The real battle is for the third-string job. Fitzpatrick, a second-year player out of Harvard, was 8-for-11 for 51 yards and led the Rams on an 80-yard scoring drive; Ragone, a 26-year-old left-hander, was 7-for-11 for 80 yards but threw an interception in the end zone.

The interception came midway through the third quarter. After the Rams' DeJuan Grove intercepted a Shaun King pass, giving St. Louis the ball at the Colts' 35, Ragone hit Dane Looker with three passes to move the ball to the 14.

After a run resulted in a 1-yard loss, Ragone's would-be touchdown pass to Dominique Thompson was intercepted by Indianapolis cornerback Kelvin Hayden.

"I tried to look him off," Ragone said. "I should have dumped it down. I should have been smarter down there. You learn from your mistakes. That play is done with. I can't take it back."

"You go from here," Ragone said. "It's still early. I wasn't going to make the team in this preseason game and hopefully I'm not off the team after this preseason game."

Fitzpatrick, who was 0-3 as a starter last season after Bulger and then-backup Jamie Martin were injured, drove the Rams to a score in his first drive of the preseason.

Taking over in the second quarter, Fitzpatrick completed three passes in the drive, which ended with Moe Williams running in from the 1.

"I needed to show game management," Fitzpatrick said. "I felt great, very comfortable. From last preseason to this preseason, I feel like I've come a long way."

Frerotte, a 35-year-old veteran with his seventh team, led a first-quarter scoring drive culminated by backup halfback Tony Fisher's 7-yard run.

"I was comfortable and I had a good time," Frerotte said. "It was fun. We had good protection from the line. You have to execute and not turn over the ball, and for the most part that's what we did."