Rams fans were ecstatic with Sunday’s victory in Washington. Our post-game chat here on STLToday.com was a virtual love-in compared to our earlier sessions this season.

Naturally, the perspective in Our Nation’s Capital was somewhat different:

Thomas Boswell, Washington Post: “How can the same team beat the Cowboys in Dallas and the Eagles in Philadelphia, back-to-back, then knock the Rams around for a 368-to-200 advantage in yardage, and a huge 181-76 disparity in rushing yards, yet lose? Simple. Be a good team, with enough chemistry and toughness to close out winnable games against tough foes, but not a great team that beats the NFL’s nemesis No. 1 — the turnover.”

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “The only team that was going to keep the Redskins from winning Sunday was the Redskins. The Rams - 0-4 and breaking in a new coach, Jim Haslett - certainly weren’t up to the task. No, the Redskins were only going to lose if they couldn’t get out of their own way, if they started doing everything wrong they’d been doing right. Darned if they didn’t pull it off. Darned if they didn’t commit their first three offensive turnovers of the season, one of which resulted in St. Louis’ only touchdown. Darned if they didn’t shank a punt that led to another Rams score. Darned if they didn’t give up sacks - two on third-and-short - drop an easy interception and commit 100 other self-destructive crimes.”

Mike Wise, Washington Post: “After the game, (Redskins coach Jim) Zorn alluded to a Rams junk-talking, take-no-guff guard as ‘a little extra curricular.’ But if he watches the tape closely, he’ll realize his team needed the same kind of nastiness that had St. Louis’s Richie Incognito taking on all comers. The man was ready to scrap. The same can’t be said of Zorn’s team yesterday. Clinton Portis, one of the few who performed up to his capabilities, summed up this eyesore when he said his teammates have to ‘continue to play like we are the underdogs, as opposed to playing like we have arrived.’”

RICHIE INCOGNITO, MADMAN

As you know, Sunday was not the first time that Richie blew a gasket.

In due time, the WWE will become an excellent option for this former Cornhusker.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while the Redskins wondered what in the heck happened Sunday:

• Where was THAT Rams defense all season?
• Will the Cowboys spend a couple extra hours on punt blocking this week?
• Will Jon Gruden make nice with Jeff Garcia now that the old guy bailed him out?
• Is Kurt Warner headed to the Pro Bowl in the twilight of his career? Is he battling his way into Hall of Fame consideration?

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: “Pacman Jones gets into a fight with his own bodyguard in the men’s room, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones comes out and says the two were just ‘jivin’’ around. To me, the most disturbing part of this story isn’t Pacman getting into trouble again; it’s Jerry Jones actually using the word ‘jivin’’. What next, Jerry? Are you going to tell us everything’s ‘groovy’ and ‘funkadelic’ between Pacman and his bodyguard? Or maybe you should explain how you’re not going to get ‘bummed out’ by this ‘gnarly’ situation, and the best thing for Pacman and the bodyguard to do is just give each other ‘some skin’ and ‘keep on truckin’’.”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Plaxico Burress is suspended one game and docked $117,500 because he skipped a practice and didn’t phone in. Plax explained he had been dealing with family issues, including dropping his son off at school. It would have saved the family a chunk of cash had the lad followed his role model and simply played hooky.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Kimbo Slice’s loss in 14 seconds during that EliteXC mixed martial arts card in Sunrise has spawned allegations the outcome may have been predetermined. Gee, there’s a shock. That’s like shouting ‘Fix!’ at Wrestlemania? (Kimbo should please go away now. His 15 minutes and 14 seconds of fame are up).”

Bill Simmons, ESPN.com, on excessive baseball celebrations: “I’m not against these celebrations since it’s always fun to watch people pour liquor on each other; it’s always fun to watch the toupees and hair extensions of media members get doused with champagne; it’s always fun to watch drunk people get interviewed on live TV; it’s always fun to see born-agains and recovering alcoholics getting involved; and really, there’s no downside at all. But since it happens four times a year for the World Series champs because of the expanded playoffs, we need to tinker with the actual liquor in the celebrations: Clinch your division and you’re only allowed to celebrate with good canned beer; wild-card clinchers can only be cheaper canned beer, something like Natty Light or Busch. First-round clinchers earn celebrations with those big 40-ounce bottles of Bud or whatever. Pennant clinchers earn celebrations with cheap champagne. And for the World Series, you get good champagne. So there would be a liquor hierarchy that gets better as the clinches get more important.”

MEGAPHONE

“We’re not used to being in the situation we are in. It’s been a long time, but here we are. So how do we deal with it, as players and coaches? It’s easy to slap people on the back and coach and play when things are going well. It becomes a little more difficult when it is not going so well.”

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, on being 1-4.