Rams Trip, Don’t Fall

Even a poor performance by Marshall Faulk couldn’t stop the St. Louis Rams, still the NFL’s only unbeaten team.

Faulk, who didn’t fumble all last season, coughed up the ball twice Sunday before leaving with a strained right knee that could sideline him for up to a month.

The Rams beat the New York Giants, 15-14, anyway. Backup Trung Canidate scored on a one-yard run with 4:16 left and the Giants’ potential game-winning drive ended when a pass to Joe Jurevicius popped out of his hands on a hit and into the arms of Grant Wistrom at the St. Louis 27-yard line.

Faulk had a total of 63 yards, a season low.

“I took a couple of shots and just didn’t take care of the ball well,” he said.

Besides Faulk’s woes, the Rams didn’t get a touchdown pass and Kurt Warner was sacked six times, four by Michael Strahan.

“Too much Strahan,” said Warner, who was knocked out of the game for a play. “Way too much Strahan.”

Still, the Giants (3-2) fell short.

“It’s tough to accept this,” said Strahan, who has eight sacks in the last three games. “I definitely felt we deserved better than we got.”

The Rams (5-0) were held to three field goals by Jeff Wilkins before the fourth quarter, when Sam Garnes was called for interference on Canidate in the end zone to give St. Louis a first down at the one.

“Any call like that is a good call,” Canidate said. “He kind of tugged on me a little bit.”

Referee Gerry Austin said Garnes “had him by the shirt, took a step away from him.”

Giant Coach Jim Fassel didn’t agree with the call and complained vociferously. He didn’t want to talk about it after the game, however.

“That’s enough,” Fassel snapped the second time the subject came up. “One more question about the officials and I’m done.”

Canidate, who entered the game with only nine carries as the backup to Faulk, the NFL’s most valuable player last year, scored his touchdown on the play after the interference call. The two-point conversion attempt failed.

The Giants were driving for a possible game-winning field goal before Wistrom’s fumble recovery with 1:04 to go sealed the victory. Adam Archuleta hit Jurevicius just as the ball arrived at the St. Louis 27, popping the ball into the air for Wistrom.

“We always stress if you hustle to the football good things will happen, and that’s all that play was,” Wistrom said. “I happened to be at the right place at the right time.”

The Giants also were hurt by an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Ron Dayne for shoving the ball in the face of Brian Young in the fourth quarter, a call that pushed them out of field-goal position.

“Someone jumped over the pile and hit me late, so I hit him with the ball,” Dayne said.