Rams: 'We're back'

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ The lull is over for the St. Louis Rams, who are ready to defend their Super Bowl championship again. <br><br>``We're on our way to recovery and we're feeling good,'' Marshall

Tuesday, December 12th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ The lull is over for the St. Louis Rams, who are ready to defend their Super Bowl championship again.

``We're on our way to recovery and we're feeling good,'' Marshall Faulk said after running for a team-record four touchdowns in Sunday's dominating 40-29 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. ``I'm feeling good.''

``We're back,'' cornerback Todd Lyght said.

The Rams (9-5) began the year 6-0, but then lost five of seven. That slump included three straight losses at home, where they had won 14 in a row.

Last week they bottomed out, committing seven turnovers in a 16-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Entering the Vikings game, they were in must-win mode just to make the playoffs. Now the picture is looking a lot better, although they have a tough finishing stretch at Tampa Bay next Monday and at New Orleans on Christmas Eve.

``It's just like we talk about every Monday,'' coach Mike Martz said. ``This is a big game. It's a huge game, shoot. This is it, it's fish or cut bait.''

But if the playoffs began today, they'd have the fifth seed as a wild card team and would be opening at Philadelphia. A victory at Tampa Bay would secure a playoff berth.

``I hope we showed them the Rams at the top of their game are going to be a tough team to beat,'' said Kurt Warner, who completed his first 11 passes and finished 27-of-32 for 346 yards. ``But it takes more games than one, so we've got to keep it up.''

Martz has no doubt it can be done, with Warner and Faulk back on track and all other phases suddenly clicking. The offensive line has allowed two sacks the last two weeks and gave up none on Sunday, and the defense and special teams also held up their end.

``We haven't been this way for quite some time now,'' Martz said. ``That old feeling is back.''

Vikings coach Dennis Green said all it took was getting Warner, who missed 5 1-2 games with a broken little finger on his throwing hand, and Faulk, who missed two games with a knee injury and was sub-par the first two games after returning from arthroscopic surgery, back on track.

``They've got a guy who was MVP who wasn't playing and a guy that was probably runner up for MVP that wasn't playing for a lot of games, too,'' Green said.

``I'm not sure they would have five losses if Marshall Faulk played every single game and if Kurt Warner did. At least I don't think they would lose at home.''

Faulk touched the ball only 10 times in a loss to the Saints in Game 12, and again was underutilized last week against the Panthers with 94 yards rushing and 34 receiving and 20 touches.

On Sunday, Martz took off the shackles. Faulk had 135 yards on 25 carries, topping 1,000 yards rushing for the fourth straight season, and caught six passes for 43 yards.

Faulk, who set an NFL record with 2,329 yards rushing and receiving last year, regained the NFC lead at 1,796 _ nine yards ahead of Minnesota's Robert Smith. Edgerrin James of the Colts was first in the NFL with 1,821 entering Monday night's game against the Bills.

``I think what it says is Marshall is back physically, completely,'' Martz said. ``As you look at Marshall's production before the injury, it's very similar to what he had.''

Another key to the victory was the Rams' second turnover-free game of the season.

``Nobody has stopped us all year long but the Rams, but us,'' said wide receiver Torry Holt, who caught a career-high nine passes for 172 yards. ``We were just focusing and we made plays.''