When When you take a look back at the best and worst of 2006, it’s interesting that more attention is garnered in my opinion to games right here in our own division – namely games against sickly green feather toting bird propers.

There were many wonderful plays this season. Some were from our newest stars while some were classics from the classics themselves. There were also some plays that broke our hearts, not to mention tipped the very delicate scales away from the Rams bid to enter the post-season tournament. Given the level of play in the NFC last year, it’s apparent that one good or bad break was all it took to deny many contenders this year from potential uprisings – Rams certainly included.

The magical ones were certainly spectacular.

Number 3 – Ladell Betts was on his way to the end zone at the Edward Jones Dome and with him was any hope or prayer that the Rams had left of still making a go toward the post-season, there was nothing stopping him from icing the game. Nothing until O.J. Atogwe snuck up behind him and by some miracle was able to reach around and punch the ball out of his hands while he was in full stride. The Rams recovered that ball and proceeded to take it the other way for the score that sent the game into over-time.

Number 2 – Same game, with the Rams trailing 28-14 in the third quarter, Marc Bulger dumped off on a crossing pattern to Steven Jackson.. Jackson reached out and scooped the ball out of the air one-handed and then proceeded to romp 64 yards for a touchdown while at the same time putting a move on the Redskins Sean Payton that left half the city of Washington D.C. wondering if he was really stuffing his jock-strap. I nearly considered this to be the number one play of the year, and it would have been except for …

Number 1 – This will come as no surprise to anyone who was anywhere close to a television last season. It went down not only as the Rams biggest play, but one of the biggest in the NFL. And who more was fitting to wear this accolade than the great and powerful Torry Holt. It was week six and the Seahawks were in town trying to do their usual evil deed at the Ed. It was a thrilling game start to finish, but in the fourth quarter the Rams had found themselves down 27-21 with a mere minute and 54 seconds left in the game when Marc Bulger reached way back to all things holy in his life and heaved the bomb of his NFL career down the sideline. By the grace of powers beyond man, Holt somehow ran under the rocket shot and still lunged forward to catch up to the football. As he reached for the ball, he tipped it up in the air and juggled it for a good fifteen yards while no one at the dome dared breathe. As he finally gathered it in and raced untouched to the end zone, it was sheer bedlam in St. Louis as the Rams mounted a one-point lead on their chief nemesis. By a cruel twist of fate, the Seahawks still won out in the end on a last second field goal by the man soley responsible for killing the Rams season – Josh Brown.