Rams’ Play Is Still Perfect
The surprise juggernaut claimed another victim.
The St. Louis Rams, who entered the season with more losses in the 1990s than any team in the NFL, remained the only unbeaten team in 1999 with a 34-3 victory over the winless Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
“We’re No. 6,” Brown Coach Chris Palmer said. “They’ve done the same thing to everybody they’ve played, whether it be the 49ers, or the Falcons, or whoever they played.”
Kurt Warner threw three touchdown passes, two to Roland Williams. Marshall Faulk, after spending the previous night in a hospital with what he termed a “mixture of food poisoning and flu-like symptoms,” had 133 yards rushing in 16 carries, with a 33-yard touchdown.
“I don’t want to bad-mouth any restaurant or anything like that,” Faulk said. “I was going to try to play regardless of how I felt.”
The expansion Browns, 19-point underdogs, were fodder for a team that has made a remarkable transformation after entering the year 45-99 for the decade. The Rams (6-0) led, 14-0, before the Browns (0-7) had run an offensive play and it was 21-3 at halftime.
Brown rookie receiver Kevin Johnson had brashly predicted a victory. In particular, he was treated roughly.
“Our secondary got together during the introductions and they were going to give this guy the business,” defensive tackle D’Marco Farr said. “Somebody was talking to him as soon as he got up and all the way back to the huddle.”
Johnson’s postgame comments were muted.
“I just said what I thought,” Johnson said. “Hats off to those guys.”
Warner raised his league-leading touchdown pass total to 18. He completed 23 of 29 passes for 203 yards and leads the NFL with a 131.5 quarterback rating.
“I’m not worrying about other people’s expectations for me, I’m more worried about what I expect of myself,” Warner said. “When there’s an opportunity to make a play, I expect myself to make it. I get mad about the ones I don’t complete.”
Williams, the starter at tight end while Ernie Conwell recovers from reconstructive knee surgery, had two one-yard scores and has three touchdowns. He had his best game receiving with five catches for 50 yards and had his first two-catch game ever, including high school.
“We kind of hounded him about being just a blocking tight end,” receiver Isaac Bruce said. “So he proved to us that he could catch the ball.”
Faulk set up Williams’ scores with receiving gains of 13 yards and 15 yards, each time to the Cleveland one.
Faulk eluded several would-be tacklers on his 33-yard scoring run in the third quarter. He also had nine catches for 67 yards.
The Rams began the game with an 11-play, 75-yard drive capped by Williams’ first touchdown. Ronnie Powell fumbled the ensuing kickoff at Cleveland 29, and St. Louis needed only four plays to score again, on a four-yard pass from Warner to Isaac Bruce.
Williams’ second one-yard catch made it 21-3 in the second quarter. That was more than enough for a defense that has given up one touchdown the last two weeks.
The last time the Rams were 6-0 was 1985, when they opened 7-0 and won the NFC West at 11-5. They’ve won five in a row at home, their best since 1988-89, and are 3-0 against the AFC Central.