ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The oddsmakers are convinced the St. Louis Rams are for real.

The NFL's only unbeaten team is a whopping 19-point favorite against the winless Cleveland Browns on Sunday. It's the largest spread in a league known for parity since the 49ers were a 24-point pick over the Bengals in December 1993.

"I hope they're right, that's the only thing I can say," coach Dick Vermeil said. "We want to be a great team."

Rams players weren't impressed, either.

"That's for guys who gamble," running back Marshall Faulk said. "We've got to go out and play the game."

It's all coming together at warp speed for the 5-0 Rams, who entered this season as the losingest franchise of the 1990s. They won nine times in Vermeil's first two seasons and haven't fielded a winner since 1989.

But here it is, mid-October, and they're talking not just playoffs but home-field advantage.

"The odds are going up every week," Vermeil said.

The Rams have topped 40 points in successive games for the first time since 1958, and they're outscoring opponents by an average of 36-12. Their offense is ranked second in the NFL, and the defense, led by pass-rushing end Kevin Carter and an airtight secondary, is third.

Another sign the Rams have truly arrived: Vermeil, for the first time all season, didn't field a single question about sensational quarterback Kurt Warner during his Wednesday media session.

"We do it at home, we all take people close to us for granted," Vermeil said. "He just becomes a part of the team and that's how he wants it."

Warner cooled off a bit last week with 111 yards and one touchdown, after throwing for 14 touchdowns and completing 72 percent of his passes in his first four career starts. The Falcons concentrated on stopping the pass, and Faulk made them pay with 181 yards on 18 carries, the second-best day of his career.

And now comes the anticipated victory No. 6 against an expansion team with numbers similar to the Rams' victims, the Browns having been outscored 147-50.

"We have so many young players, they think it's time to go home for Thanksgiving," Browns coach Chris Palmer said. "They're just trying to keep their head above water. It's part of the process we're going through."

That goes for rookie quarterback Tim Couch, who has four touchdown passes and three interceptions in his first five starts. It's not a lot of consolation that last week he was 18-for-23 for 161 yards and had the highest quarterback rating ever by a Browns rookie, 110.3.

"I'm used to going out and throwing for 400 yards and five touchdowns in college," Couch said. "It's a growing process, I understand that. It's something I'm willing to work through and just take my lumps."

The youthful Browns, who have 13 rookies and five first-year players, have made a few strides. They've led the last three games at halftime and last week were ahead of strong Jacksonville 7-6 at the break before losing 24-7.

But they've had trouble sustaining anything on offense, averaging 21 minutes per game, and have scored seven points in the first quarter all season. That accounts for the midweek trade for running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar from the Dolphins for a sixth-round draft pick, an effort to boost the NFL's 26th-rated rushing attack.

Abdul-Jabbar will compete with Terry Kirby, once his teammate in Miami. The Browns ran for a season-best 113 yards against the Jaguars, 71 by Kirby, but he also had a costly fumble.

Rams players are trying not to be cocky. After all, before the season the Browns likely figured this was one game they'd have a chance to steal.

The Rams also have a bit of adversity with a four-game drug suspension given to Tony Horne, the NFL's leading kickoff returner with TD runbacks the last two weeks.

"Any team can beat any other team on a given day, and it's happened already with Philadelphia and Dallas," said defensive end Grant Wistrom, who has 2 1-2 sacks. "So we've got to make sure that doesn't happen to us."

CLEVELAND Season schedule and results

ST. LOUIS Season schedule and results

September 12 Pittsburgh L 0-43 September 19 @Tennessee L 9-26 September 26 @Baltimore L 10-17 October 3 New England L 7-19 October 10 Cincinnati L 17-18 October 17 @Jacksonville L 7-24 October 24 @St. Louis 1:00pm ET October 31 @New Orleans 1:00pm ET November 7 Baltimore 1:00pm ET November 14 @Pittsburgh 1:00pm ET November 21 Carolina 1:00pm ET November 28 Tennessee 1:00pm ET December 5 @San Diego 4:15pm ET December 12 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET December 19 Jacksonville 1:00pm ET December 26 Indianapolis 1:00pm ET

September 12 Baltimore W 27-10 September 26 Atlanta W 35-7 October 3 @Cincinnati W 38-10 October 10 San Francisco W 42-20 October 17 @Atlanta W 41-13 October 24 Cleveland 1:00pm ET October 31 @Tennessee 1:00pm ET November 7 @Detroit 1:00pm ET November 14 Carolina 1:00pm ET November 21 @San Francisco 4:15pm ET November 28 New Orleans 1:00pm ET December 5 @Carolina 1:00pm ET December 12 @New Orleans 1:00pm ET December 19 NY Giants 1:00pm ET December 26 Chicago 1:00pm ET January 2 @Philadelphia 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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