Rams News

Banks accepts the blame for Rams' defeat
09/13 09:50 PM

By Elizabethe Holland
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

In a game's worth of disappointing moments, Tony Banks' final moment in the Rams' 38-31 loss to Minnesota on Sunday left him prone on the turf, slathered with Vikings and mere inches away from a tie.
Considering his foul luck against the Vikings at the Trans World Dome, it almost seemed a fitting ending.
The quarterback's rough moments were many. He tossed a career-high four interceptions, three of which started scoring drives for the Vikings. And on the last play of the game, he found himself on the ground, the football in his grasp, staring up at the scoreboard and wishing it indicated something other than no time remaining and the tell-tale signs of a second loss for the Rams.
The loss, Banks said, sat squarely on his shoulders.
"I don't see who else's shoulders you could put it on," he said. "If I didn't make the mistakes I made . . . we win this game by a touchdown, maybe two."
Banks, the receiver of hearty boos from the fans, completed 25 of 45 passes for 283 yards and one touchdown.
The touchdown, one of the brightest points of the Rams' performance, came early in the fourth quarter on an 80-yard pass to Isaac Bruce. The pass was the longest of Banks' career, adding a sliver of silver to the cloud that plainly hung over the third-year quarterback after the defeat.
But it wasn't enough to cheer him. For that matter, had the Rams won, Banks still wouldn't have been the tiniest bit giddy about the game.
"Even if we would have won, it would have been tough," he said. "I feel like I let my family down. I mean, we spend a lot of time together as teammates. They know I'm going to give full effort at all times, and it's just disheartening to not be able to pull it off for them because they played their hearts out. Even though I had a pretty terrible game, we had a chance to win this football game."
What made it most terrible for Banks were his interceptions, three of which came in the first half. Of them, only one could be attributed to a bad read, he said. That was the first one, on the Rams' second possession in the first quarter.
The pass was intended for Bruce, but was picked off by Vikings safety Torrian Gray at the St. Louis 27. It ultimately turned into a field goal for Minnesota and put the Vikings ahead 17-7.
Last week against the New Orleans Saints, running back Jerald Moore said his first major mistake of the game - one of three fumbles - affected the rest of his game. Banks said that wasn't the case for him after his first costly mistake.
"I've had bad games before," he said. "I've had games where I've struggled early and then pulled off the win at the end. I think I cleared it out of my mind as well as anybody can (clear it out). . . . You don't throw the pass I threw to Isaac with something like that on your mind.
"So I knew we had a chance. Things were open the whole game. Sometimes the pass rush got to me, but things were still open so I had confidence that we were going to be able to move the football - if I could just stop turning the ball over."

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