ST. LOUIS (AP) -St. Louis Rams coach Scott Linehan stopped short of backing Marc Bulger on Monday, a day after the quarterback said some offensive players don't care. He said he didn't even address the issue at a team meeting.

But he didn't mind the out-of-character rant from the soft-spoken Bulger after a 34-20 loss to the Cardinals, either.

``My reaction is it was a competitor venting a little bit about a loss,'' Linehan said. ``Sometimes you've just got to get something off your chest.''

Linehan said he had no problems with effort or commitment from any of his players, just that the team overall has failed. After a fast start in Linehan's rookie season as head coach, the Rams (5-7) have lost six of seven.

Linehan said Bulger's words should carry weight because he's been working on his role as a team leader.

``There can be some things said out there on the field, too, to those guys,'' Linehan said. ``It doesn't have to be a coach, so I feel really good about the fact that guys want to step up and be heard.

``If that happens, it can be accepted not only by the team or the coaches, I think the players now can start kind of policing themselves. I think that's a good thing.''

Bulger refused to name the offending players, although he absolved running back Steven Jackson and wide receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce. His biggest issue was with mistakes that have been repeated on a weekly basis, seemingly fingering tackle Alex Barron and center Richie Incognito, a pair of second-year players.

Bulger had three interceptions Sunday, and in the last four games has been picked off six times with only three touchdown passes. Those numbers would seem to indicate he's an unlikely source to pop off.

Yet he was totally to blame for only one, a hurried throw while the Rams were trying to get one more play in before the 2-minute warning at the half. Jackson accepted blame for the second interception because he had the ball in his hands, and the third was on a desperation heave on the final play of the game.

``I've made a hundred mistakes and I want to reiterate, I'm not perfect,'' Bulger said. ``But I care, and there's definitely more than one person I think in this locker room that could not care less.

``But they get their paycheck on Monday and it's OK.''

Defensive end Leonard Little said on Sunday that he would not have not gone public with his frustration.

``You guys do your thing and you guys are going to report all of this stuff, but we just can't point fingers,'' Little told reporters. ``We should keep it amongst ourselves.

``That's the way it should be and that's the way it's always been.''

Barron was the NFL's most penalized player last year in his rookie season, according to a New York Times survey, with 18 calls. The Rams' first-round pick has nine false starts this year, two of them on consecutive plays against the Chiefs earlier this year.

Incognito, a third-round pick last year who missed his rookie season recovering from knee surgery, has had problems mainly after the whistle. He was penalized for unnecessary roughness Sunday and two calls cost the Rams dearly against the Seahawks last month.

One was a personal foul when he crashed into the pile at the end of a Steven Jackson touchdown run after Jackson's helmet popped off. Then a holding call wiped out a 2-point conversion pass that would have put St. Louis ahead by 3 late in a game they ended up losing by a point on a last-second field goal by Josh Brown.

Linehan noted that Barron ran down the Cardinals' David Macklin after an interception in the fourth quarter. Barron also had a fumble recovery.

``They're young players, they're coming along fast, and that's what we've got to do as a team,'' Linehan said.

But Bulger said topics like attention to detail have been brought up weekly, and then on game day it's the ``same old story.''

``You can say stuff to some guys, but it goes in one ear and out the other, obviously,'' Bulger said. ``Some guys listen and they try, I don't mind that.

``But when we get embarrassed by a (2-9) team and you think it's OK and keep making the same mistakes, it's not OK.''

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.