By Bob Harris, Special to SI.com

	It remains to be seen what Marc Bulger's numbers will look like without Mike Martz running things. Elsa/Getty Images

"It's different in every job because the system that you're in is different and so forth," Fairchild said. "But overall, it's just play-calling. I've done it. And it'll be kind of interesting to do it again, I think."

In St. Louis, Fairchild gradually has been given more responsibility. He has scripted plays for practice in mini-camps and OTAs (organized team activity) in the spring. He frequently runs offensive staff meetings when Martz has to be somewhere else.

"It seems as each day goes by, Mike can step out a little further and that's helped him as a head football coach," Fairchild said. "It's tough when he's doing two things. So that's kind of the role I've had here. Just to take whatever he will relinquish and try to do it well so he feels good about it.

"This is Mike's show. Mike's the guy."

That being the case, the change to Fairchild might prove to be toughest on Marc Bulger, who joined the Rams in 2000 and has worked under only Martz aside from two days last week when Joe Vitt ran the team while Martz was getting treatment.

According to The Associated Press, Bulger doesn't expect the practice routine to change, but was unsure whether game days would be different.

"All I know in the NFL is coach Martz calling plays," Bulger said. "I think Steve's been with him long enough to know his philosophies. He's taught him a lot about offense, so I'm sure Steve has picked that up and he'll try his best to call like he's learned from coach Martz."

One thing Bulger knows is it will be tough for Martz to stay out of the action. He wouldn't put it past Martz to try to communicate on game day via phone, noting that the coach has already called Fairchild "a couple of times from the hospital."

"I think him having to watch a game on TV, you should put a camera on that because that should be something to see," Bulger said.

But of course, there will be no phone calls on game day. And I suspect the Rams' offense will make a somewhat more conservative turn and shift towards the run with Fairchild in charge.

That might be even more pronounced early on, especially this week with Torry Holt nursing a sore knee (and admittedly at less than 100 percent) and Isaac Bruce likely to miss his third straight game with a sprained toe.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Martz is a genius -- even if at times a rather goofy genius. And that occasional goofiness often works against the Rams. The hope here is a more grounded (pun intended) play caller will result in enough of a change of pace to take the offense to a different place.

And if, in the process, it takes Steven Jackson's game to a new level that would work for me.

Either way, it'll be interesting to watch this one play out.

Bob Harris is co-founder of the FootballDiehards Web site and senior editor at FSP Inc., publisher of Fantasy Football Pro Forecast, DraftBook, CheatSheets and Football Diehards magazines. Harris is a member in good standing of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.