Rams Still Firing on All Cylinders

Worst to first: The Denver Broncos think that has a nice ring to it.

That was the St. Louis Rams’ game last season, and on the night the Rams hung their Super Bowl banner and showed off the Vince Lombardi Trophy at midfield, they weren’t inclined to let any dreamers ruin the evening.

The Broncos tried, taking a one-point lead in the fourth quarter before losing, 41-36.

The Rams’ Kurt Warner set a new career high with 441 yards passing in front of 65,956 in the Trans World Dome in the Rams’ first Monday night game since moving from Anaheim.

Warner’s superb performances almost fail to inspire wonder anymore, though the Rams’ 513 yards were more than they had in any game last season, and they had three players with 100 yards receiving--Az-Zahir Hakim, Torry Holt and Marshall Faulk--for only the second time in team history.

The other was the 1951 game when Norm Van Brocklin passed for an NFL-record 554 yards.

The surprise in this game was Denver’s Brian Griese, who didn’t look like the quarterback who was considered a weak link on the 6-10 team that finished last in the AFC West.

Griese passed for 307 yards, completing 19 of 29 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions, and the Broncos played the Rams close on a night when the Ram offense was almost unstoppable.

“That’s a fine football team. We’re an evenly matched team,” said St. Louis Coach Mike Martz, who won his first game as coach after serving as offensive coordinator under Dick Vermeil last season. “Brian Griese, that young man has a heck of a future.”

Denver took a one-point lead, 36-35, with 6:35 left in the game after Terrell Buckley returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown. A two-point conversion attempt failed.

The interception was one of an uncharacteristic three Warner threw as he completed 25 of 35 passes with three touchdowns.

“I’d love to have those three balls back, but I’ve got to give credit to them the way they played,” Warner said. “Brian Griese played very well. I think they’re going to be very good.”

The Ram machine came through when it had to, scoring on a drive that included a 22-yard pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl on third and 14 before Marshall Faulk’s 30-yard run set up Robert Holcombe’s one-yard touchdown run with 2:58 left.

A two-point conversion attempt failed, but the Rams had done their job.

The Broncos’ final possession petered out after D’Marco Farr and Kevin Carter sacked Griese on consecutive plays and Griese’s fourth-and-33 pass fell incomplete.

The Broncos were in the game until the end even though they did not have Terrell Davis for long.

Davis, making his first regular-season appearance since tearing ligaments in his right knee in the fourth game last season, left early in the second quarter after spraining his left ankle.

He looked solid until then, carrying nine times for 34 yards, and is listed as day-to-day.

Olandis Gary, who filled in so well last season, rushed for 80 yards in relief, but Griese carried the day.

“He’s a totally different guy. That’s not the same No. 14 as last year,” receiver Rod Smith said. “He was kind of gun-shy a little bit last year, had some limitations in his game. He figured out what those were and worked on them.

“If we can score 36 points a game, we’ll win a lot of games. When you play a team like this, high-powered as they are, it’s hard.”

The Broncos were preoccupied with keeping Isaac Bruce under wraps, but there’s a problem with that: The Rams go four deep at receiver.

So even though Bruce had only four catches, Holt had six for 103 yards, Hakim had five for 116 yards, Faulk had four for 100 yards to go along with 78 yards rushing in 14 carries, and Proehl had three for 40 yards.

Faulk should never be overlooked as a receiving threat. He rushed for 1,381 yards last season and caught 87 passes for another 1,048 yards, and Monday he scored a 72-yard touchdown off a little swing pass, racing all the way down the sideline to help the Rams take a 28-20 lead in the third quarter.

Hakim made the lead 35-20 after an 80-yard catch-and-run play, and he burned the Broncos with his speed on special teams too, with an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter.

For all that firepower, things began to look dicey in the fourth quarter with the Rams leading, 35-27, after Denver linebacker Al Wilson saved a touchdown with his second interception of the game--this one a terrific play over Faulk in the end zone that made Wilson look more like a cornerback.

Martz took the blame for the call on that play, and absolved Warner of another interception because the receiver dropped the ball.

Denver kicked a field goal on the next possession after a touchdown was nullified because Griese crossed the line of scrimmage before passing.

Then came Buckley’s interception, and the Rams had to buckle down in a way they didn’t often have to last season.

“I think that’s very important,” Martz said. “If it’s 10-7, 10-9, we’ll find a way to win.”

*

NFL REWIND:

WEEK 1

The Cowboys would like to hit pause and start this whole season over. Page 4

*

GOOD START

You couldn’t call what Dennis Miller did Monday a rant, and maybe that’s a good thing. Page 4

*

GALLOWAY OUT

Dallas receiver Joey Galloway is out for the season because of a knee injury. Page 4

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

That’s Entertainment

Key statistics from the St. Louis Rams’ 41-36 victory over the Denver Broncos Monday night compared to the averages from Sunday’s 14 games:

*--*

Rams-Broncos Category Avg. Game Sunday 10 Touchdowns 3.8 77 Points 36 937 Total Off. Yds. 595 44-64 Pass. Comp. Att. 37-60 707 Net Passing Yds. 357

*--*

NOTE: There were four players with 100 yards or more receiving in the Rams-Bronco game and six in Sunday’s 14 games.