Rams hope Panthers turn down the volume

ST. LOUIS -- After a noisy Monday night in New Orleans cost the St. Louis Rams four timeouts, Kurt Warner is anticipating more peace and quiet this weekend.

When the Rams (11-2) resumed practice Thursday, the quarterback still could hear the music that blared in the Superdome whenever plays were relayed from the sideline. Music, not fired-up fans.

"It was so loud in the huddle, we had guys squatting, laying on the ground, looking up at me just because nobody could hear," Warner said. "I've never been in a game that loud.

"I was trying to call a play with all this other gunk going on."

During the game, the team covered the ear holes in his helmet. This week they're doing remedial work on hand signals in case it's loud again Sunday at Carolina (1-12). Then again, the Rams aren't as concerned because the Panthers game will be outdoors.

"I think after last week they've got everything ready just in case we go through that again," Warner said. "For some reason, I don't believe Carolina is going to be quite that loud.

"They've got a little different kind of fan base than in New Orleans, but you're never sure."

Besides the blown timeouts, the tactics didn't seem to bother Warner much. He was 23-for-32 for 338 yards and four touchdown passes, three to Isaac Bruce, as the Rams clinched their third straight playoff berth with a 34-21 victory.

Coach Mike Martz referred to Warner, who has a phenomenal 130.7 passer rating this month, as "Mr. December." He's completed 68 percent of his passes for 974 yards with 10 touchdowns and one interception in victories over Atlanta, San Francisco and New Orleans.

Warner has thrown 16 interceptions this year, but only one in his last 97 attempts.

"Right now, Kurt is playing better than he's ever played," Martz said. "Better than the '99 season. He's lights-out right now and at the top of his game."

This, despite getting the plays in bits and pieces, which turned Warner into something of a code-breaker.

"The hard thing in our offense is you can get a key word, but we can have nine or 10 plays with that same word," Warner said. "So it's hard to decipher what they want."

On a handful of occasions when the time clock was running down, Warner improvised.

"There's times I just called some plays," Warner said. "Coach doesn't have a problem with that. He always tells me to have some plays ready if that happens."

Perhaps joking and perhaps not, Warner said all of the plays he called were successes.

Martz noticed this ability early in Warner's first season as a starter in 1999, when the phones went out against the Falcons and the quarterback called two or three plays.

"He has a good feel for all that stuff," Martz said. "I would trust his judgment and play selection; it'd be impeccable."

The Rams elected not to protest the Saints' tactics, although Warner labeled them a dirty trick. He noted that there was no noise when the Saints were in the huddle.

"If the fans are loud, that's one thing," Warner said. "If they want to do it for everybody, we'll all deal with it.

"But when they turn it up for one team, I think that's a little ridiculous."

On the other hand, Warner saw a slight plus in the noise.

"It made us focus a little bit more," he said. "It may have been an underlying positive from the whole thing in that you really had to pay attention and really know what was going on."