by BY JIM THOMAS ¿ jthomas@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8197 , St. Louis Post-Dispatch

DETROIT - As with many things in the game of Football, timing is everything when it comes to the celebratory Gatorade shower.

"It's got to be perfect," defensive tackle Leger Douzable said. "It can't be too early, 'cause he'll see you. If it's too late, he might be already on the field."

But like so many things this season for the woebegone Rams , it didn't come easy. When Douzable and safety James Butler - both former Giants who were with coach Steve Spagnuolo in New York - found the orange Gatorade bucket, it was ... empty.

"So we had to put water in, get the ice," Butler said. "We had to do all that."

But they did it, and so did the Rams .

After 17 consecutive losses, over 378 days, St. Louis' long gridiron nightmare is over. Steven Jackson's 25-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 38 seconds to play gave the Rams their first victory of the season, 17-10, and their first victory since Oct. 19, 2008.

As he got on the Ford Field elevator for the ride down to the victorious Rams locker room, general manager Billy Devaney grinned and said, tongue in cheek, "I'm going to Disney World."

As she left the victorious locker room, Lucia Rodriguez - daughter of the late Georgia Frontiere and one of the team's three owners - smiled and said, "I'm thrilled. Hopefully, the spell is broken."

Inside the locker room, tight end Randy McMichael presented a game ball to Spagnuolo, who was still wet from the improvised "Gatorade" shower.

"It was an honor to be able to deliver him the game ball with his first win in the National Football League," McMichael said. "And I know for a fact it won't be his last. I told him how much we appreciated that with all the stuff we've been through, all the support that he's given all of us. You could see the emotion that was in him."

For once, Spagnuolo didn't try to hide those feelings in his comments to the media.

"It's special," he said. "I know I'll remember it for a long time. What makes it most special is the people that it happened with. This is a special group of guys. They've been through a lot, especially the guys that have been around. They never quit, they bought in, stayed with it. Never leaned the other way. ... I feel proud to be part of that group."

It may have been a warm and fuzzy postgame locker room, but that wasn't the case late last week at Rams Park. As reported Sunday by the Post-Dispatch, Spagnuolo closed the doors to the media for the final plays of Friday's practice because he wanted to chew out the team in private.

Team sources said the topic was intensity, effort, playing hard - or lack thereof. It was a distinct change of course for a coach who always tries to be positive.

"But at some point you've got to put your foot down," fullback Mike Karney said. "And he did that. I think our team responded well - offensively, defensively and special teams."

"He just put the onus on us," defensive end Leonard Little said. "Somebody has to step up; more people have to step up for us to win. Today, a lot of people stepped up."

None more than Jackson, who rushed for a season-high 149 yards and finally got to "roll the dice" - his signature TD celebration - with his first touchdown of the season. Jackson entered the game as the NFL's leader in yards gained after contact - with 384. He added to that total on nearly every carry Sunday at Ford Field.

On at least two carries, no fewer than five Lions defenders got at least a hand on him. Whatever was in his way, Jackson was going to try to knock out of his way. On one occasion, it happened to be umpire Bill Schuster, who got bulldozed by Jackson.

"Steve was a man the whole game," Little said.

"Best running back in Football, without a doubt," McMichael said. "We call him 'The Beast.' "

Obviously, Jackson got a lot of help up front, from a revamped offensive line that featured Adam Goldberg at right guard in place of the injured Richie Incognito, and rookie Jason Smith at right tackle making just his third NFL start. And from Karney at fullback.

And from Mark Setterstrom, who came off the bench in the second half once left guard Jacob Bell left with a blow to the head and a probable concussion.

"When Jacob got dinged we had to put another guy (Setterstrom) in there, but they didn't seem to skip a beat," Spagnuolo said. "Steven stayed effective."

With the score tied 10-10 and overtime looming, the tight ends got into the act. McMichael and Daniel Fells lined up side by side on the right side and sealed off the perimeter to give Jackson some running room on his game-winning run.

"That was especially special because it was him, and the way he did it," Spagnuolo said. "That's Steven. Breaking all those tackles, and busting into the open. He was determined to get into the end zone. That's what he's all about."

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A LOOK BACK AT A YEAR OF PAIN

Here is recap of the Rams' winless streak, which dated back to 2008:

0-1 10/26/08 at Patriots 23-16

0-2 11/02/08 vs. Cardinals 34-13

0-3 11/09/08 at Jets 47-3

0-4 11/16/08 at 49ers 35-16

0-5 11/23/08 vs. Bears 27-3

0-6 11/30/08 vs. Dolphins 16-12

0-7 12/07/08 at Cardinals 34-10

0-8 12/14/08 vs. Seahawks 23-20

0-9 12/21/08 vs. 49ers 17-16

0-10 12/28/08 at Falcons 31-27

0-11 09/13/09 at Seahawks 28-0

0-12 09/20/09 at Redskins 9-7

0-13 09/27/09 vs. Packers 36-17

0-14 10/04/09 at 49ers 35-0

0-15 10/11/09 vs. Vikings 38-10

0-16 10/18/09 at Jaguars 23-20

0-17 10/25/09 vs. Colts 42-6

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UP NEXT Nov. 15 vs. Saints, noon, KTVI (Ch. 2)

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Rams 3 7 0 7- 17 DETROIT 0 2 0 8- 10

FIRST QUARTER

Rams : FG Jo.Brown 41, 3:57.

- Drive: 11 plays, 57 yards, 5:53.

- Key Plays: Bulger 22 pass to Burton; Bulger 15 pass to Avery; Peterson 14-yard roughing the passer penalty on 3rd-and-9.

- Score: Rams 3, Detroit 0.

SECOND QUARTER

Det: K.Smith safety, 12:07.

- Score: Rams 3, Detroit 2.

Rams : Fells 36 pass from Jo.Brown (Jo.Brown kick), :54.

- Drive: 8 plays, 91 yards, 2:07.

- Key Plays: Jackson 26 run; Bulger 13 pass to Amendola.

- Score: Rams 10, Detroit 2.

FOURTH QUARTER

Det: Stafford 4 run (Morris pass from Stafford), 13:51.

- Drive: 10 plays, 82 yards, 4:55.

- Key Plays: D.White interception at Detroit 18; Stafford 9 pass to FitzSimmons on 3rd-and-6; Stafford 13 pass to Pettigrew; Stafford 36 pass to B.Johnson.

- Score: Rams 10, Detroit 10.

Rams : Jackson 25 run (Jo.Brown kick), 1:38.

- Drive: 4 plays, 62 yards, 0:48.

- Key Plays: Delmas 13-yard defensive pass interference penalty on 3rd-and-3; Jackson 17 run.

- Score: Rams 17, Detroit 10.

A: 40,857.

Rams

team statistics First downs 21 Rushing 7 Passing 11 Penalty 3 Third-down efficiency 3-12 Fourth-down efficiency 1-1 Total net yards 362 Total Plays 62 Average gain 5.8 Net yards rushing 150 Rushes 26 Average per rush 5.8 Net yards passing 212 Sacked-Yards lost 0-0 Gross-Yards passing 212 Completed-Attempted 18-36 Had Intercepted 1 Yards-Pass Play 5.9 Kickoffs-EZ-TB 5-3-1 Punts-Average 5-44.6 Punts blocked 0 FGs-PATs blocked 0-0 Total return yardage 66 Punt Returns 4-26 Kickoff Returns 2-40 Interceptions 1-0 Penalties-Yards 5-27 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 Time of possession 27:57

RUSHING att yds avg lg td Jackson 22 149 6.8 26 1 Bulger 3 1 0.3 5 0

PASSING att cp yd td lg in Bulger 35 17 176 0 27 1 Rating: 51.6 Brown 1 1 36 1 36 0 Rating: 158.3

PASS RECEIVING rec yd avg lg td Burton 5 54 10.8 22 0 Karney 3 18 6.0 9 0 Jackson 3 17 5.7 12 0 Bajema 2 43 21.5 27 0 McMichael 2 16 8.0 9 0 Fells 1 36 36.0 36 1 Avery 1 15 15.0 15 0 Amendola 1 13 13.0 13 0

INTERCEPTIONS no yg avg lg td Butler 1 0 0.0 0 0

PUNTING no yd avg tb i20 lg Jones 5 223 44.6 1 3 51

PUNT RETURNS no yd avg fc lg td Amendola 3 28 9.3 1 12 0 Butler 1 -2 -2.0 0 -2 0

KICKOFF RETURNS no yd avg fc lg td Amendola 2 40 20.0 0 23 0

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS Laurinaitis 6 1 0 Bartell 6 0 0 Long 4 0 1 Lenon 3 4 0 Butler 3 1 0 Q. Butler 3 1 0 Dahl 3 1 0 Atogwe 2 4 0 Little 2 1 1 Ramsey 2 1 0 Hall 2 0 0 Vobora 2 0 0 Ryan 1 3 0 Asiodu 1 1 0 Wade 1 1 0 Chamberlain 1 0 0 Douzable 1 0 0 Grant 1 0 0 Smith 1 0 0 Gado 0 1 0

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Lions

team statistics First downs 17 Rushing 9 Passing 8 Penalty 0 Third-down efficiency 6-16 Fourth-down efficiency 0-2 Total net yards 289 Total Plays 68 Average gain 4.3 Net yards rushing 127 Rushes 33 Average per rush 3.8 Net yards passing 162 Sacked-Yards lost 2-6 Gross-Yards passing 168 Completed-Attempted 14-33 Had Intercepted 1 Yards-Pass Play 4.6 Kickoffs-EZ-TB 2-1-0 Punts-Average 7-46.3 Punts blocked 0 FGs-PATs blocked 0-0 Total return yardage 92 Punt Returns 2-15 Kickoff Returns 4-77 Interceptions 1-0 Penalties-Yards 8-67 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 Time of possession 32:03

RUSHING att yds avg lg td Morris 14 63 4.5 15 0 Smith 16 45 2.8 12 0 Brown 2 15 7.5 11 0 Stafford 1 4 4.0 4 1 PASSING att cp yd td lg in Stafford 33 14 168 0 36 1 Rating: 46.0

PASS RECEIVING rec yd avg lg td Smith 4 49 12.3 19 0 Johnson 2 43 21.5 36 0 Pettigrew 2 17 8.5 13 0 Fitzsmmons 2 17 8.5 9 0 Brown 2 13 6.5 8 0 Morris 1 19 19.0 19 0 Heller 1 10 10.0 10 0

INTERCEPTIONS no yg avg lg td White 1 0 0.0 0 0 PUNTING no yd avg tb i20 lg Harris 7 324 46.3 0 3 52

PUNT RETURNS no yd avg fc lg td Northcutt 2 15 7.5 1 15 0 Downed 1 0 0.0 0 0 0

KICKOFF RETURNS no yd avg fc lg td Williams 3 66 22.0 0 24 0 Northcutt 1 11 11.0 0 11 0

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS Buchanon 5 0 0 Delmas 4 1 0 Sims 3 4 0 Simpson 3 2 0 Foote 3 0 0 James 2 3 0 Peterson 2 2 0 Hobbs 2 1 0 Avril 2 0 0 Follett 2 0 0 Hill 2 0 0 Levy 2 0 0 D.White 1 1 0 Ciurciu 1 0 0 Faggins 1 0 0 FitzSimmons 1 0 0 Jackson 1 0 0 Pearson 1 0 0 K.Smith 1 0 0 Cohen 0 1 0 Fluellen 0 1 0 Manuel 0 1 0

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