LANDOVER, Md. -- In a somber locker room where a lineman, punter and defensive back all were lamenting their role in a 19-17 loss, cornerback Shawn Springs had a reminder for Redskins fans.

"We're still a good team," he said.

Even playing several levels below their potential, the Redskins led at the two-minute warning before watching it slip away to the previously winless Rams.

That all became a distant memory when Josh Brown's 49-yard field goal with no time left, his third of the game, sent St. Louis off the field with its first win of the year. A 43-yard pass from Rams quarterback Marc Bulger, reinstated as the starter after Scott Linehan was fired as coach, to Donnie Avery on third and 13 kept the drive alive.

At halftime coach Jim Zorn marched into the locker room and let the players know they were beating themselves, but the team couldn't stop making mistakes.

And in a league where winning the turnover battle usually means victory, the Redskins' offense couldn't extend its perfect mark.

"I think we all knew we wouldn't go a whole season without turning the ball over offensively," guard Pete Kendall said. "But it seemed like the floodgates really opened today. Instead of one or two we had three fumbles."

Kendall was responsible for the most dramatic. With the team in field goal range and the first half coming to a close, he caught a tipped pass. As he started running with the ball, linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa knocked the ball loose. Safety Oshiomogho Atogwe picked it up and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown.

The lineman took the play hard, standing by his locker after the game to tell reporters that he should have knocked the ball down. He didn't head into the showers until the locker room had vacated of everybody except a few players and the cleanup crew.

But Kendall's mistake was far from the only one. After a late-game botched punt, rookie punter Durant Brooks will be under fire this week. The award-winning college punter has been inconsistent since making his pro debut, and he heard some dissatisfaction from the FedEx Field crowd yesterday.

"That wasn't a good enough day," he said. "The fans deserve better, and I need to pick myself up."

His first three punts didn't look pretty but got the job done, save for a 34-yard return from Dante Hall on the third. With that in mind and the team pinned against the goal line, Brooks sent a punt toward the Rams' sideline with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

It had some distance but flew out of bounds quickly, netting just 26 yards and leading to a St. Louis field goal.

Brooks said that if the team chooses to bring in other punters to audition this week -- something Zorn hinted at -- he'll try to take it in stride as part of his maturing as a player. He's also making an effort to not "overthink" his kicking.

"It's hard. I've tried to talk to as many veterans as I can -- get as much advice as I can," he said. "Sometimes you get a little too much advice and start thinking, get all cluttered up from taking advice."

The offensive miscues and special teams mistakes were enough to overshadow a solid performance by the defense, which allowed eight first downs.

At the end of the game, however, they were unable to come together for one more stop that could have sealed a Redskins victory -- allowing St. Louis to drive down the field for Josh Brown's game-winning field goal. And while the Redskins made several mistakes, at the end of the day any one of them could have made the difference in the final score.

"It's not like they shouldn't have won," Santana Moss said. "They should have, because we did the things that we did not to win. . . . It hurt because we didn't play our best."

With two more struggling teams on the horizon, the Redskins will regroup and try to find a way to keep from making costly mistakes in the future.

"There are so many plays that you can look back and say 'If I had just done that', or made a play on the ball," Jason Taylor said. "There's a lot of things you can look at that will keep you up all night.