Marshall The Great
Monday, March 26, 2007
By Duane Lewis
Director/New Media
As a running back, his style was very fluid and graceful, yet powerful.
As a receiver, his route-running was as good as the best in the league with outstanding hands to match.
Marshall Faulk's arrival in the Gateway City made Rams' football must-see TV. His acquisition on April 15, 1999, gave this team a Pro Bowl running back on the field, one complete with a home run threat as a runner or a receiver.
What he gave the organization and the city was a winning attitude. Marshall had been a three-time Pro Bowler and four-time 1,000-yard rusher in his first five NFL seasons. At the time, the Rams had one player who had been to the Pro Bowl in WR Isaac Bruce.
Simple put, Marshall Faulk was a great football player before he became a Ram.
In the Gateway City, he became a Hall of Famer.
In seven seasons on the field in the Golden Horns, he was the engine that made the Greatest Show on Turf as explosive as it was. He elevated his play on the field, and of those around him in both sides of the ball.
Kurt Warner pulled the trigger, no doubt, throwing to a pair of future Hall of Famers in Bruce and
Torry Holt. But Marshall was Faulk-tacular, equally dynamic as a runner from a handoff or as a receiver out the back field, the slot, or where ever he lined up.
He once said special players make special plays on special days. Every time he took the field it seemed, you were bound to see something special. In consecutive weeks in his first season in St. Louis, Faulk showed the wide range of his ability. In week 5 at Atlanta, he showed his big-play skills in averaging 10.1 yards per carry in racking up 181 rushing yards and one touchdown at Atlanta. The following week at home against Cleveland, Faulk seemingly eluded every Browns' defender from the backfield to the end zone on an electrifying 33-yard touchdown run.
In a comeback attempt that came up short at Tennessee in week 7, Faulk showed his moxie. As we tried to get in position for a game-tying field goal, Faulk single-handedly picked up an injured Az-Zahir Hakim off the ground to get him lined up for a Warner spike to stop the clock and save a timeout.
There was an aura about Marshall that made teammates gravitate toward him and opponents fear him. Every time he touched the ball, he was a threat to score – whether it was taking a screen pass on the left side of the field, taking the ball upfield, weaving across the field dodging and eluding defenders en route to the right side of the end zone, or as simple as taking a handoff off left tackle and racing 70 yards untouched.
In his Most Valuable Player season of 2000, his 11-touchdown barrage over the final three games of the regular season literally and figuratively pushed the team to the playoffs. The season-ending flurry was capped on Christmas Eve in his native New Orleans. Faulk's 39-touch-261-yard-3-TD effort in the Superdome to me remains his masterpiece, as he single-handedly willed the Rams to the playoffs, as he just would not let us lose. He finished the year with a then-NFL record 26 touchdowns – in just 14 games.
One season later, he missed repeating as MVP by one vote to Warner in what arguably was finest season. Among the milestones set by Marshall was a career high in rushing yards, the first player in NFL history with four straight 2,000-yard seasons, and the only second player ever (Emmitt Smith) with consecutive 20-touchdown seasons.
In addition, Faulk posted five 100-yard rushing games (including one 200-yard game), one 100-yard receiving game, nine 150-total yard games, two 200-total yard games, three multi-touchdown rushing games, two multi-touchdown receiving games, three-two touchdown games, two three-touchdown games, and one four touchdown game – again, in just 14 games.
His preparation to win was exceeded only by his will to win. A fierce competitor, he backed downed from no one, and would take on anyone who challenged or questioned his teammates. If statistics are the standard by which greatness is measured, Marshall Faulk is greatness personified and one of the best ever.