After a year away from the post season, the Rams are going back with a vengeance. On Monday, they reserved a spot in the playoffs and Sunday, they earned the NFC West championship by holding off the Seahawks 27-22. Things looked shaky for St. Louis when Orlando Huff sacked Marc Bulger in the end zone for a safety on their second play of the afternoon. But the Rams responded with two touchdowns in quick fashion, thanks to a patient defense and opportunistic defense. St. Louis drove 87 yards in a ten play, 87-yard drive that ended with a five yard run into the end zone by Marshall Faulk. Then 18 seconds later, the Rams had the ball back when Travis Fisher picked off Matt Hasselbeck and took the ball to the Seattle 24. Two plays later, Marc Bulger connected with Isaac Bruce in the end zone and it was soon 14-3. Though the Rams never trailed, the Seahawks made it interesting. In the fourth quarter Seattle made it 24-22. That was the intro for the “Marshall Faulk Show”. St. Louis went on a ten-play drive that featured Faulk in every single play, driving 57 yards and ending with a Jeff Wilkins field goal. Faulk entered the drive with 34 yards rushing and finished with 85 on the ground. Faulk says he didn’t expect to get the ball every time, but says he isn’t surprised, “You never know, you never know. If my number was going to get called, I was going to be there to respond. That’s my mindset.” The Seahawks drove into Rams territory with less than two minutes to go. The Rams got some help on that drive when Seattle wide receiver Bobby Engram tripped over a line judge who had fallen down near the end zone. That snafu kept Engram from possibly catching a pass thrown to him in the end zone. The game ended on a heave to the end zone that fell to the ground. Mike Martz was almost at a loss for words after clinching the NFC West, “I’m very excited and pleased for this football team. They just continue to fight and stay at it and somehow pull one together. So, I’m kind of speechless, actually. I don’t know what to tell you. ” Marc Bulger had 230 yards passing and two touchdowns with an interception. Torry Holt caught six of those passes fro 100 yards. He has 100 receptions on the season and joins Isaac Bruce as the only other Ram to do that.
