LANDOVER - Six yards from a vintage finish, Kurt Warner found himself miles from recovery.

One play from a sweet victory, Mike Martz once again doubled over in agonizing defeat.

And just when the St. Louis Rams thought they had cleared an 0-5 hole, they fell back in.

Warner's sack and fumble yesterday ruined his comeback after a six-game absence, saddled St. Louis with a 20-17 loss and left the Rams' playoff hopes in dire straits.

Before settling for an automatic field goal and overtime, Martz wanted to take one more shot at the end zone with 17 seconds left. The Rams' coach had no timeouts left and needed a quick, safe pass. Nothing wrong there.

But Warner waited too long for his intended target to get open, had the ball knocked out of his hand by the Washington Redskins' LaVar Arrington at the 13-yard line and watched it get recovered by Darryl Gardener. So much for the five-game winning streak crafted by third-string quarterback Marc Bulger, who was unavailable yesterday with an injured index finger on his throwing hand.

At 5-6, with seven teams ahead of them, the Rams lost a golden opportunity to gain ground in the NFC race. Including tonight's game, four of those seven teams will have lost in Week 12.

Yesterday, Martz tried to deflect any criticism of his quarterback by shouldering blame for the play call at the Washington 6.

"That's a shame, to come back and play like that at the end and not win it," he said. "Bad call. I just made a bad call at the end. He [Warner] had to hold it, got sacked. There's another call I wanted to make; should have made it.

"I thought we had a chance. I just wanted to take one throw there and see if we can win it right there. ... I wanted a safe play, something that was benign."

Martz said he should have called for a three-step drop, rather than a five-step drop. Either way, Warner had to get rid of the ball quickly. He didn't.

Warner waited for running back Trung Canidate to pop open across the middle and found disaster instead .

"I was trying to get a quick cross by the back across the middle," Warner said. "They kind of clamped down on that, and I was just trying to move into my second read. He [Arrington] came in there and smacked it out."

Replay official Mark Burns reviewed the play to see if Warner's arm was coming forward when the ball came loose, but the replay views were inconclusive.

Meanwhile, no one questioned Martz's decision to go for the win from the 6 with 17 seconds remaining. And no one criticized Warner for faulty execution, either.

"Coach is an aggressive guy," said wide receiver Torry Holt. "I feel like if we push the ball that close, we can go in. Coach was thinking we'll go in and score. I'm thinking we'll go in and score."

No problem with the call?

"It was fine. I like his aggressive mode," Holt said.

Warner's performance alternated between magnificent and rusty. He took the Rams from their 20 to the Redskins' 6 in the final three minutes, converting three third-down plays, although two came on runs.

"Kurt did a great job bringing us back," Bulger said. "It was great to see him back."

Remarkably, Warner completed his first 15 throws into the second quarter. Then a lull: He hit just five of the next 15. Then a flourish: he hit 14 of his last 19.

Altogether, Warner completed 34 of 49 for 301 yards, two touchdowns and one interception (at the Redskins' 16 under a heavy pass rush). He did it without injured running back Marshall Faulk (foot and ankle) and with a game plan drawn up to throw often.

Martz called 52 passes (49 throws, three sacks) and 17 runs. His counterpart, Redskins coach Steve Spurrier, shockingly called 39 rushes and only 24 passes for Danny Wuerffel.

Worth noting is the fact Warner rarely threw the deep ball, but mostly relied on shorter, check-down routes. The Rams had two scoring drives covering 13 and 12 plays.

"You've got to realize how long he's been out," Martz said. "I thought he did very well. He made terrific throws under pressure. They did a good job rushing him."

Nevertheless, Warner's record this season is now 0-5 to Bulger's 5-0 (Jamie Martin is 0-1). This was the first leg of a three-week road trip for the Rams, who travel to Philadelphia next week and Kansas City the week after that.

"It's only going to get tougher," Holt said, accurately.