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ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Marshall Faulk sparked an offensive explosion in the second half with three touchdown runs as the St. Louis Rams pulled away for a 41-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Faulk scored from one yard in the third quarter to give the Rams (3-0) the lead for good, 24-17. He added a pair of short TD runs in the final period to put the game out of reach. Faulk rushed for 134 yards on 25 carries and added seven catches for 65 yards as the Rams racked up 529 yards of total offense, including 291 in the second half. Kurt Warner shook off an interception on the first drive of the game to complete 23-of-34 passes for 394 yards and two touchdowns. He has thrown for 1,216 yards over the first three games, establishing an NFL record for most yards passing in the first three games of a season. Isaac Bruce had eight catches for 188 yards and a touchdown for the Rams, who have scored at least 30 points in nine straight regular season games, extending their own NFL record. "The game reminded me of the way we used to play them," Bruce said. "We came out tough and then in the end, you just have to hang on. They usually ended up scoring a whole lot of points and we used to bow to them. Today, we found a way to win." St. Louis has defeated San Francisco three straight times after dropping its previous 17 to the 49ers, dating to 1990. The Rams have won 13 straight at home, setting a franchise record. "Since we were so dominant for so many years, I know what it feels like," San Francisco wide receiver Jerry Rice said. "They don't have to play their best football to win games." Jeff Garcia completed his first 10 passes before ending up 21-of-34 for 290 yards. Terrell Owens added six catches for 108 yards and a score for San Francisco, which has given up 115 points overall and has started off 0-3 for the first time since 1979, Bill Walsh's first year as coach. "I think we made some progress today," San Francisco coach Steve Mariucci said. "I think this team's going to...will have to grow up a little bit, going through a game like this against the caliber of teams like the Rams have." The 49ers lost starting defensive tackle Junior Bryant to a strained neck late in the third quarter. He was taken off the field on a stretcher, but X-rays and a CAT scan were negative and Bryant traveled home with the team. The Rams took a 24-17 lead in the third quarter, helped by a 15-yard pass from Warner to Az-zahir Hakim on 3rd-and-9 and a pass interference penalty on cornerback Pierson Prioleau which put the Rams on the San Francisco 1. Faulk ran it in for the score on the next play. "We kind of got rolling in the second half," St. Louis coach Mike Martz said. "What happens is, I think we kind of have what we think these guys are going to play defensively, based on what we've seen the last two to three games and they don't do that. So it takes a us a good quarter to try and regroup." A 25-yard field goal by Wilkins on the first play of the fourth quarter extended the Rams' lead to 27-17. But Garcia engineered an eight-play, 80-yard drive, including his own 13-yard run to the St. Louis 12 which set up his touchdown pass to Owens on the next play. But Faulk, who had 70 yards of offense in the first half, sealed the win on a four-yard scoring run with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter and added a one-yard touchdown run with 1:42 remaining. "We started to click and to play our style of ball," Faulk said. "I was able to put together yardage towards the end of the game. I got a lot of those hard, grinding yards when we were trying to run the clock out." Warner got off to a shaky start on the Rams' first drive as he was intercepted by linebacker Winfred Tubbs, who returned it to the St. Louis 29. On the next play, Garcia connected with fullback Fred Beasley down the left sideline for a touchdown. After his pickoff, Warner came right back on the ensuing drive to complete 4-of-5 passes for 47 yards to set up a 47-yard field goal by Jeff Wilkins. Garcia, who completed his first 10 passes of the game, went 3-for-3 for 56 yards on a 62-yard drive which resulted in a 21-yard field goal by Wade Richey with 10:45 left in the second quarter. Warner completed 4-of-5 for 73 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tony Horne which tied the game at 10-10 with just over five minutes remaining in the first half. After Garcia ran for 10 yards to the St. Louis 20, he again utilized a running back as a receiver when he connected with running back Charlie Garner on the next play for a scoring strike with 2:14 left in the half. "I was proud of the way we fought and how hard we played and we executed pretty darn well, particularly in the first half," Mariucci said. But the Rams struck right back as Warner, on first down, found Bruce, who beat rookie cornerback Ahmed Plummer for a 78-yard touchdown catch to level the game at 17 with 1:53 remaining. "It all just came together well," said Warner on the touchdown pass. "I just let it go and tried to throw it as far as I could and he (Bruce) caught it." St. Louis had a chance to take the lead late in the half when defensive back Dre' Bly intercepted Garcia and returned it 22 yards to the San Francisco 23. But Warner threw his second interception of the game on the next play when rookie safety John Keith picked him off in the end zone.
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