When the defense huddles in the middle of the field, it's called "building a house." Before last week, the Rams' defensive house was a crumbling heap. So Mike Martz benched DE Kevin Carter and CB Todd Lyght. The result: the Rams' defense played inspired ball, and they beat the 49ers 34-24. Now, from the outside at least, all seems well in the Lou. "We only ran a few defenses and coverages and simplified things," said FS Keith Lyle.

Of course they made things simple. It's the oldest trick in the (play)book. Any time a defense needs improvement, the emphasis always goes from fooling people to just lining up and blasting 'em. The Rams' game plan was merely to kick the tar out of the Niners.

But even though the defense is back on track, and more than ready for the hapless Carolina Panthers on Sunday, all isn't well in the Rams' house. After the benching, Martz called his Pro Bowl DE complacent and said Carter "never really turned it loose." Carter shot back with an appropriate, "that's bulls---."

This can't bode well for team morale. Not because Martz punished his best defensive player for a lack of effort -- he's got a right to do that. But he publicly humiliated him.

Martz kept things simple on the field, and then made a mess in the locker room. Sure, in both cases he had motivation in mind. Behind closed locker room doors, most coaches say they hate the media -- dismissing reporters as so much vermin. But in this case, a coach used one of the vermin to attack his star. I don't get it. Why would Martz make that accusation in public? Message to NFL coaches: we know you're in charge; the showing-your-manhood thing is played out.

Martz is a good coach. But he could learn something from Tony Dungy's benching of Warren Sapp on October 1. Sapp, after being late for a team meeting the night before a game against the Redskins, spent the first quarter on the sideline. The Bucs lost that game 20- 17 in overtime.

Sapp's early absence had no small impact on the outcome of the game. But the point is this: after the loss, neither Dungy nor Sapp would comment on the incident. They both kept it in the family.

And they should; it's their house.

Alan Grant, a former NFL DB, writes football for ESPN The Magazine. You can e-mail him at alan.grant@espnmag.com.