Adam Archuleta scored a defensive touchdown for the Rams (4-2), winners of three straight games.
"That's something we wanted to establish as a defence," he said. "We hadn't been getting turnovers through the pre-season and the first few games."
Marc Bulger completed 18 of 30 pass attempts for 264 yards and two touchdowns, both to Holt, who finished with six catches worth 124 yards.
Marshall Faulk dekes Jeff Gooch in Monday's 28-21 Rams win.(AP Photo/James A. Finley)
"We put it together tonight for some big plays," Holt said. "I wish we could wind it back to 1999 and make it look easy.
"But now, it's a challenge to us as football players and as a team to get those big plays."
Michael Clayton caught eight passes for 142 yards for Tampa Bay (1-5), which has dropped five of six games.
Brian Griese finished 27 of 40 for 286 yards and two major scores with one interception.
Holt got behind two Bucs defenders and hauled in a 36-yard touchdown pass from Bulger to cap an eight-play, 77-yard drive to put the Rams in front 28-21 with 10:46 remaining.
The Buccaneers moved to the St. Louis 21-yard line on the ensuing possession, but Jerametrius Butler intercepted a Griese pass intended for Clayton in the end zone to thwart a potential game-tying drive.
The Rams took over and moved into the Tampa Bay end of the field and had a chance to put the game away, but Jeff Wilkins missed on a 44-yard field goal attempt and the Bucs got another chance with 1:09 left in the fourth quarter.
Tim Brown had a reception and was tackled by Aeneas Williams and Rich Coady at the Rams' 15, but fumbled the ball and Butler recovered with 26 seconds left.
Bulger needed to run just one play to end the game with Tampa Bay out of timeouts.
With the game tied at 14-14 midway through the third quarter, the Rams began a drive at their own 31.
On the first play, Ian Gold intercepted a Bulger pass intended for Holt to give the Bucs the ball at the St. Louis 15-yard line.
Michael Pittman had some room around the left end on the first play of the drive and gained about eight yards before Archuleta pulled him down.
The ball came loose just before Pittman hit the turf and Archuleta quickly got to his feet, picked up the ball and raced 93 yards for a score to give the Rams a 21-14 advantage.
"It's very frustrating," Pittman said. "I had one of the biggest turnovers and I feel bad about it. "I feel like I let my teammates down. Turnovers killed us."
Griese faked a handoff to Pittman going right and rolled to his left, finding Will Heller alone in the end zone with less than a minute to go in the third quarter to tie the game at 21-21.
After a quick touchdown by the Rams to start the game, Tampa Bay needed just six plays to tie it.
Griese completed consecutive passes to Clayton for 28 yards to begin the drive.
Heller then caught a short pass and crashed down to the one before Mike Alstott rumbled into the end zone to make it 7-7 with 9:14 remaining in the first quarter.
The Rams had an 82-yard punt return by Shaun McDonald called back, nullifying a score.
St. Louis was later forced to punt and the Bucs moved 66 yards to take the lead.
Griese completed a pass to Clayton for a 44-yard gain to set up a five-yard touchdown strike to Pittman that put Tampa Bay ahead 14-7 with 13:02 left until halftime.
A bad exchange by Griese and centre John Wade led to a fumble that was recovered by Rams defensive end Leonard Little at the Bucs' five-yard line with just over three minutes left in the opening half.
After three plays moved the ball to the one, Marshall Faulk squeezed through the middle of the line and stretched forward to cross the goal line to tie the game at 14-14.
It marked the 100th rushing touchdown of Faulk's career.
The Rams needed just 2:20 to open the scoring on the game's first possession.
On third-and-nine from the Rams' 48, Bulger completed a pass to Holt at the Tampa Bay 25 and the speedy wide receiver outraced Bucs safety Jermaine Phillips to the end zone to give St. Louis a quick 7-0 lead.
with files from Sports Network
