The Rams (2-11) were very much in Sunday's game before Brown's 42-yard field goal attempt, which would have cut the deficit to seven points, sailed wide right in the second quarter. The Arizona Cardinals answered with a field goal that made it 20-7 at the half, leaving St. Louis' offense in a futile game of catchup.

"That's probably the most disappointing play of the game," Haslett said.

Arizona clinched the NFC West title with the 34-10 win.

Brown has had a solid first season with the Rams after leaving the Seahawks for a five-year, $14.2 million free agent contract, most ever for a kicker. He's 24-of-29 on field goal attempts, beating the Redskins on Oct. 12 with a 48-yarder as time expired, and can hit the long ones given his 6-for-8 showing from beyond 50 yards.

Considering that the Rams are the lowest-scoring team in the NFC with a 13-point average, any miss can be deflating on the sideline.

"You kind of feel that," Haslett said. "You fight to get back down there and keep it within one score at the end of the half, and then you miss it. That's a big swing."

Brown was 4-for-4 against the Dolphins on Nov. 30, accounting for all the Rams' points in a 16-12 loss. But he was wide left on a 40-yarder the previous week against the Bears on the first play of the second quarter, costing the Rams in a game they trailed 14-0.

On Nov. 16 at San Francisco, Brown was wide left on a 48-yard attempt to leave the Rams empty-handed after they mounted a decent drive from the opening kickoff.

"That's why I said it was the most disappointing play of the game," Haslett said. "We missed the field goal and let it get away from us. The guy is a good kicker. I see him kick every day in practice.

"Why he gets these, I don't know."

Brown tweaked his right groin in practice on Thursday, but Haslett didn't think it had anything to do with the miss. To help the injury heal, he said Brown probably wouldn't kick much in practice this week in preparation for Sunday's home game against the Seattle Seahawks.

Cutting down on turnovers would make the kicker a lot less important. The Rams have committed 21 turnovers the last six games, five of them blowout losses, including three against the Cardinals.

"Obviously, three turnovers and a missed field goal, that's the stuff you've got to eliminate from your game," Haslett said. "Take the scores from yesterday and go through the league and see the teams that lost and you're going to see the turnovers are going to be a big factor."

Haslett wasn't interested in revisiting his decision to pass on a scoring opportunity at the end of the first half, even though it was a bit of a longshot.

Starting at their own 22 with 59 seconds to go and one timeout left, the Rams botched a screen pass with Jackson dropped for a 5-yard loss. Then, after Arizona called a timeout, Haslett decided to have quarterback Marc Bulger kill the clock and try to make up the 20-7 deficit after the break.

"Why risk it? Why risk another turnover or something happening putting us back some more?" Haslett said. "You can say there's nothing to lose, but I think there's a lot to lose."

Haslett said offensive tackle Alex Barron, benched the first half after reporting 20 minutes late for a team meeting on Friday, would be back in the lineup this week. Utility lineman Adam Goldberg started in place of Barron, a first-round pick in 2005 who had made 47 consecutive starts.