Rams' defense has come up empty-handed

St. Louis has not forced a turnover through its first two games.

By R.B. Fallstrom ~ The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- A lack of opportunistic play is partly to blame for the St. Louis Rams' 1-1 start.

Last year, the Rams led the NFL with 46 takeaways en route to a 12-4 record and NFC West title. This year, after two games, they have none.

Combined with St. Louis' five turnovers, it's not a recipe for success.

"It's a concern," coach Mike Martz said Monday, a day after a 34-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. "That'll come, I think. We work on it. I think we're all disappointed that we don't have some, but you just keep working at it."

Personnel is likely a big factor in the lack of big plays on defense. The Rams are short in the secondary after cornerback Travis Fisher broke a forearm in the preseason, and he'll be out indefinitely. DeJuan Groce started in Fisher's spot on Sunday but left with a sprained right knee on Atlanta's second possession.

Kevin Garrett, a fifth-round pick last year, and undrafted rookie Dwight Anderson played the rest of the game with Anderson getting almost all of the snaps in the second half.

Also, the defensive line is making do a bit after end Grant Wistrom signed a free-agent deal with the Seahawks in the offseason.

The Rams' best chance for a takeaway against the Falcons ended up being a big play for the opposition. Cornerback Jerametrius Butler missed what appeared to be a sure interception when the ball deflected off his fingertips, and Alge Crumpler ended up with the ball for a 33-yard reception.

Butler was playing with two dislocated fingers from the opener against the Cardinals.

Martz said Michael Vick's dominating day against St. Louis mitigated against turnovers. The slippery Vick ran for 109 yards and added a touchdown pass against a defense that mostly sat back and waited for Vick to pick his spots, then chased him in vain.

"I think when you've got a guy like Vick running around back there it's hard just to get to him to tackle him, let alone take the ball away from him," Martz said. "That's tough, that's hard."

From 1990 to 2000, teams that were minus-3 in giveaway-takeaway ratio, as the Rams were in the opener, lost 89 percent of the time. Teams that were minus-2, as they were on Sunday, lost 82 percent of the time.

"I know we work on the strip drill all the time," Martz said. "And obviously the picks will come as people start throwing the ball down the field a little bit."

The Rams have another dubious distinction heading into Sunday's game against the Saints. They have the worst average starting field position after a kickoff, 18.9 yards, meaning they'd be better off taking touchbacks.

First-round pick Steven Jackson, the backup to Marshall Faulk at running back, averaged a mediocre 19.7 yards on three returns against the Falcons. He also drew a personal foul penalty for taunting when he threw the ball at a Falcons player after a fourth-quarter touchback.

Martz said Jackson will be used less on the return game as he becomes increasingly involved in the offense. Jackson had three carries for 10 yards on Sunday.

"The ideal guy would be a guy like Tony Horne that's a threat to take it the distance at any time, that's what you'd like to have," Martz said. "We don't have that right now."

Horne had five touchdown returns for the Rams from 1998-2000, one of them in the playoffs, but the return game has struggled since he left.