CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It won't matter who the St. Louis Rams have at quarterback if they keep turning the ball over.
Kurt Warner, out the past five games with a broken finger on his throwing hand, marked his return to the lineup Sunday with four interceptions — one returned 88 yards by Jimmy Hitchcock for the game's only touchdown — in the Rams' 16-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
"I made some throws I wish I could have back," Warner said. "I'm the one out there playing, and when I throw it to somebody else, that's my fault and no one else's fault."
The Rams (8-5) had seven turnovers while dropping their third straight. They have a combined 14 turnovers in the three losses, but seven of them came while Trent Green was filling in for Warner.
"The ball security, we can fix that," St. Louis coach Mike Martz said. "I can't explain it. I wish I could, but we can fix it. And I don't think it had anything to do
with rust (from Warner)."
The defending Super Bowl champions, who looked unstoppable before Warner was injured early in a loss to Kansas City on Oct. 22, struggled in his absence.
The Rams went 2-3 while Green was at the helm, and they eagerly awaited Warner's return. Before the injury, he had thrown for 18 touchdowns and a then-NFL best 2,445 yards.
But last year's Super Bowl MVP was unable to pick up where he left off.
He was sporadic against Carolina (6-7), looking sharp on short passes, but badly overthrowing his receivers on long bombs.
Warner, whose previous high for interceptions in a single game was two, finished 18-for-36 for 189 yards and the four interceptions.
"I made too many mistakes, and it seemed like every mistake I made they capitalized on it," Warner said.
In the third quarter, with St. Louis clinging to a 3-0 lead, he threw inside of Isaac Bruce, who was waiting for him along the sideline at the 12.
Hitchcock, playing about three feet off Bruce, instead caught the ball and went up the sideline untouched — with Warner in pursuit — for the 88-yard score.
"I just got a good break on the ball," Hitchcock said. "Then Kurt Warner was closing in on me pretty fast, but I know that if you let the quarterback catch you, you are going to get flack from the guys."
Warner was again picked off four plays later. Throwing on the run, he again missed Bruce, and Eric Davis came away with the interception on the 26.
Carolina converted the turnover into a 20-yard field goal by Joe Nedney and a 10-3 lead with 10:18 left.
It didn't end there for Warner, who was picked off yet again on the very next play.
After Dre' Bly muffed the kickoff to put the Rams on the 1, Warner threw a deep bomb intended for Torry Holt, but Carolina's Doug Evans pulled it away from Holt on the 38.
"We need to hold onto the football, if we do that we win," Bruce said. "We haven't hung on to the ball these last few weeks."
Nedney added field goals of 23 and 37 yards to seal the win and give Carolina consecutive victories for the first time this season.
"Our defense played about as good a game as you can against arguably one of the greatest offenses of all time," Carolina coach George Seifert said.
Panthers 16
Rams 3
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