ST. LOUIS – It only hurt Kurt Warner when he breathed.
There wasn’t much room for that activity, either, not the way Donovan McNabb kept bringing the Eagles back and back, leaving the St. Louis quarterback, who was wearing a hanging flap to protect ribs stupidly bruised a week ago during garbage time against Green Bay, at ongoing risk of the one, hot shot, that could shoot the NFL’s surest shot right out of the Super Bowl tournament.
Through the miracles of modern painkillers, the weekly miracles of St. Louis’s killer offense, Warner’s trust in “a lot of Eagles he knew who weren’t the kind of guys to cheapshot the quarterback,” he faced Philadelphia and yesterday’s NFC Championship game with justified courage.
Warner knew he had the most devastating quick-slant attack in the history of the NFL, plus its offensive player of the year, Marshall Faulk, who yesterday protected the Rams QB better than all those other things combined.
When the second half began, the Rams’ wide-open offense told the Eagles to open wide and stuffed Faulk down their throats. It was Marshall to the right, Marshall to the left, all Marshall! Marshall! Marshall! all the time.
Faulk got the ball seven straight times towards a Jeff Wilkins field goal that cut the Eagles lead to 17-16, five more pops on a 10-play drive that ended with Faulk bulldozing the final yard, five additional carries on a 7-play drive that culminated with Faulk battering in again from the one.
Holy Larry Csonka! The all-seeing (of the holes), all-knowing (of the closest pursuit), all-purpose-back for our times, turned into the Human Battering Ram to get St. Louis to the Super Bowl with a 29-24 win over the Eagles.
“He probably is one of the most unusual players to ever play this game,” said Rams coach Mike Martz. “When you have somebody like that, you’d be remiss if you didn’t give him the opportunity to win it for you.”
In the end, the Eagles defense, the best in the red-zone in the league this year, succumbed not to the Rams’ patented quick strikes and big plays, but to tear-his-head-off kinds of yards. On his first score, Faulk’s helmet wound up in Jeremiah Trotter’s hands.
In truth, Faulk took a painful blow to the hip in garbage time against the Packers, too, but Warner had to be protected yesterday at all costs. Faulk proved not only better than Novocain, but better than anybody else on the field, too. In the Dome at America’s Center, renamed the Edward Jones Dome, you name it, Faulk did it, running 31 times for 159 yards and catching a huge 10-yard pass to set up a first-and goal before what proved to be his game-winning score.
“Marshall, to me, just did what Marshall does,” said Warner. “I’ve never seen anybody so patient, get so many extra yards I know other backs won’t get because he has such great vision and patience.
“He was stringing out some runs and then, boom, he’d hit up there six or seven yards. When you get those kinds of chunks, you don’t always have to make the long throw down the field. You can make the short one.”
The Rams hit slants at will until they got to the twenty, when the Eagles’ will, at least in the first half, seemed stronger. Tired of settling for field goals, St. Louis turned it over to Faulk. The best playoff performance of his career may have included his two toughest yards on two scoring plunges – Trotter’s possession of the Ram back’s helmet after one of them providing visual proof.
“It’s football,” Faulk shrugged. “I didn’t lose any teeth.”
Or, any sleep last night, guaranteed, after carrying the ball 31 times. “I left it all out there,” he said. “They know I’m getting the ball. I know it. Best man wins, that’s basically what it is.
“I have to take the hits when teams decide to say, ‘You are not going to throw the ball. You have to run it.’ “
The Rams said fine, we have Marshall Faulk, so we will, keeping the ball for an exhausting 12:37 of the third quarter. The greatest aerial show in the history of the game wanted so badly to take it on the road to New Orleans, it was willing to run most of the way there. When the going got tough, it was Faulk who kept the Rams going.
DOG DAYS
A look at biggest Super Bowl lines:
SUPER BOWL/FAVORITE/UNDERDOG/SPREAD
XXVIV (1995) 49ers/Chargers19
III (1969) RavensJets18
I (1967) Packers Chiefs14
XXXI (1997) PackersPatriots14
II (1968) PackersRaiders13½
XXX (1996) CowboysSteelers13
IV (1970) ChiefsVikings12½
XXXII (1998) PackersBroncos12
XXIV (1990) 49ersBroncos11½
XIV (1980) SteelersL.A. Rams10½
