|
|
 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk had no problems with the ballyhooed defense of the Miami Dolphins. Staging yet another vintage performance, Warner passed for 328 yards and four touchdowns and Faulk totaled 160 yards and scored three times to lead the St. Louis Rams to a 42-10 rout of the Dolphins in their home opener. "We had a great game plan," Warner said. "Our offense was efficient and we were clicking. The guys up front, I can't say enough about them. When you give our receivers time and Marshall Faulk time to work, you give me time to look. This is what we are capable of every week." Billed as a matchup of the NFL's most explosive offense against perhaps the league's best pass defense, the Rams (3-0) dissected the Dolphins (2-1) with Warner's precision passing and Miami had no answer for Faulk, who rushed for 88 yards on 19 carries and caught six passes for 72 yards. Warner effectively used his talented stable of receivers -- Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Az-Zahir Hakim and Ricky Proehl -- and completed 24-of-31 passes while recording his 20th career 300-yard game in 31 starts. St. Louis is 17-3 in games in which Warner has thrown for 300 yards "There is going to come a time years from now when people look back and realize he was one of the best to play the game," Rams coach Mike Martz said of Warner. "You don't line up against a defense of that caliber and do what he has done. He is truly a special player." "Kurt Warner reminds me of someone we just retired. I am talking about Dan Marino," Dolphins defensive tackle Darryl Gardener said. "He's something else. He's throwing nothing but strikes. Everytime I looked up, they were scoring touchdowns." Even with the premier cornerback tandem of Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain, Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt used five defensive backs to help combat St. Louis' fast-break, PlayStation offense. But Warner's pinpoint passing flustered Miami's secondary and the Dolphins' linebackers had trouble covering Faulk. "They have a great offense," Dolphins Pro Bowl middle linebacker Zach Thomas said. "They have so many different things they do. They're always shifting and that makes it difficult." Wannstedt wanted to pound the ball with Lamar Smith in an attempt to keep the Rams' offense off the field. But St. Louis' revamped defense held Smith to 48 yards on 19 carries, foiling the strategy. The NFL's most versatile running back, Faulk caught touchdown passes of 10 and one yard in the first half when the Rams built a 21-10 lead. He added a one-yard scoring run in the third quarter for his eighth career three-touchdown game. Warner connected with Holt on a 45-yard touchdown and reserve Trung Canidate scored on a nine-yard run in the fourth quarter to complete the rout. The Rams totaled 441 yards in offense and the offensive line, led by tackle Orlando Pace and guard Adam Timmerman, allowed only one sack Holt, the NFL leader with 1,635 receiving yards last season, had four catches for 111 yards. Proehl made a leaping three-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter and was one of six Rams with at least three receptions. "For us to put up 42 points, that's what we're used to doing," Holt said. "This week we kind of got into a rhythym and played Rams football." Miami's Jay Fiedler completed 19-of-27 passes for 204 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown to James McKnight, but was intercepted twice and committed a costly fumble inside the Rams 10-yard line. McKnight finished with five receptions for 73 yards. The Dolphins had opened the season with wins over Tennessee and Oakland -- two division winners from 2000. In the victory over the Raiders, Madison and Surtain held Tim Brown and Jerry Rice to a combined four catches for 27 yards. But dealing with the Rams receivers on Sunday was another story. The Rams opened the game with a 10-play, 76-yard drive that lasted nearly seven minutes. Warner was perfect, completing all eight of his passes for 68 yards to six different receivers. Holt caught the first two for 14 and 17 yards and Hakim made a leaping 10-yard catch on a 3rd-and-7 play to the Miami 37. Bruce got into the act with a 17-yard reception and Proehl capped the drive with a leaping three-yard catch in the back of the end zone between two defenders on a 3rd-and-goal play. "That's how we like to play," Faulk said of the opening drive. "That's the tempo we like to set." The Dolphins tied the game with a five-play, 64-yard drive which featured four runs by Smith for 25 yards and penalties on Rams linebacker London Fletcher for unnecessary roughness and cornerback Dre' Bly for illegal use of hands. Fiedler normally rolls to his right, but crossed the Rams defense by rolling left before throwing a short pass to McKnight, who broke tackles by cornerback Dexter McCleon and Fletcher on his 24-yard TD with 2:41 left in the quarter. The Dolphins took over at the St. Louis 43 when Brock Marion partially blocked a punt by John Baker. Fiedler rolled right and hit rookie Chris Chambers with a 27-yard completion and a pass interference penalty on Rams cornerback Aeneas Williams gave Miami the ball at the St. Louis 8. On a 3rd-and-goal at the 6, Fletcher blitzed up the middle and jarred the ball loose from Fiedler. McCleon recovered for the Rams in a wild scramble at the St. Louis 30. "The guy (Fletcher) came free and put his helmet right on the ball," Fiedler said. "I was looking to the left and he knocked it out. I've got to hold onto the ball, whatever it takes." The Rams needed just four plays to reach the end zone. After Faulk rushed off left tackle for eight yards, Warner connected with Holt on a 35-yard play. Holt got behind Madison and Warner lofted a perfect pass down the left sideline to the Miami 27. Bruce caught a seven-yard pass on the right sideline and was thrown to the turf by safety Brian Walker, tacking on another 10 yards for unnecessaary roughness. Faulk then caught a short pass and exploded into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown with 9:32 left in the second quarter. The Dolphins pulled within 14-10 on a 26-yard field goal by Olindo Mare with 3:18 left in the half. A 33-yard pass from Fiedler to Chambers down the right sideline set the Dolphins up at the St. Louis 22. Miami moved to the Rams' 8, but Oronde Gadsden dropped a pass in the end zone on a 3rd-and-7 play and the Dolphins settled for a field goal. But the Rams drove 68 yards and ended the half on a one-yard TD run by Faulk on a fourth-down play. Faulk had two runs for 16 yards and caught an eight-yard pass. The key play in the drive was a 29-yard pass from Warner to Proehl to the Miami 14. Facing a 4th-and-goal at the 1 with three seconds left in the half, Warner rolled to his right, fought off an attempted tackle by linebacker Twan Russell and hit Faulk in the back of the end zone for a one-yard touchdown. Faulk was initially covered in the front of the end zone, but ran away from Walker and found an opening. "The TD he (Warner) threw right before the half was a huge play," Wannstedt said. "We had two guys hanging on him. If we stopped them there, it's a four-point game." On Miami's first possession of the second half, Bly' intercepted an overthrown pass intended for Chambers at the St. Louis 1. The Rams proceeded to take the spirit out of the Dolphins with an 11-play, 99-yard drive which lasted more than nine minutes. Warner hit tight end Ernie Conwell on a 24-yard pass to get the Rams out of their end zone and kept the drive alive with third-down passes of 11 yards to Faulk and 18 yards to Proehl. Faulk broke off a 25-yard run to the Miami 11 before capping the drive with a one-yard touchdown run, increasing St. Louis' lead to 28-10. Holt caught a 45-yard touchdown over the middle midway through the fourth quarter and Canidate scored on a nine-yard run around left end with 2:25 left.
|
