Week 13: Atlanta at St. Louis

Are you ready for some (bad) football?

The Falcons and Rams will have a battle seen by few in the Edward Jones Dome, where St. Louis is 0-5 this season. Both teams lost last week, although the Rams’ defeat was much closer.

St. Louis, in fact, had a good chance to win its third straight game last week against Seattle. But on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 27 seconds left, backup QB Gus Frerotte fumbled the snap from center. He recovered it but was immediately crushed at the 5, and the Rams’ disappointing season continued.

Whether Frerotte is the Rams’ QB again this week is questionable. Starter Marc Bulger left with a concussion in the first quarter. He’s a possibility for this week but would have to pass the NFL-mandated series of concussion tests to play.

The Rams’ defense, at least, is playing better. St. Louis played a 3-4 alignment about 80 percent of the time against the Seahawks and flummoxed them for much of the game. They were led by LB Will Witherspoon, who is having a great year that’s getting lost in the shuffle.

The Rams are so desperate at offensive line that veteran Todd Steussie, who had only three practices since Aug. 30, started at right guard Sunday and played every snap. That’s part of the reason the offense often flounders.

At least it may be livelier in the stadium this week. RB Steven Jackson made a public call last week for some hip-hop music to be played at the stadium – he’s tired of the generic arena rock music.

The Falcons went up 10-0 on Indianapolis on Thanksgiving night, then were pummeled the rest of the way to end up with a 31-13 loss. They will have had 10 days to think about that one by the time Sunday comes.

QB Joey Harrington is the latest “permanent” starter named by coach Bobby Petrino, who earlier put that label on Byron Leftwich before rescinding it. Harrington has started all three of Atlanta’s wins this season. WR Joe Horn (hamstring) could help him Sunday – he has returned to practice and may start again.

Coach Bobby Petrino, in the first year of a five-year contract, has been getting asked this week about whether he might be in consideration for one of the prime college coaching jobs that have been opening up. One questioner was owner Arthur Blank. Petrino assured him he wasn’t going anywhere. Some Falcons fans aren’t that happy about that, given that New England wide receiver Randy Moss has three more TDs than the entire Atlanta offense.

St. Louis by 4