Some fans expect Bulger to be what Warner was

[RamWraith]

By Bernie Miklasz
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Wednesday, Sep. 14 2005

So many things changed when Marc Bulger's last pass of a topsy-turvy afternoon
got snatched by a San Francisco defensive back. The Rams' miracle march to
victory was stopped, and the shock waves could be felt all the way in St.
Louis, where Rams fans raged the rest of the night and into Monday.

The loss immediately became Marc Bulger's fault.

We heard the usual catcall: Bulger is no Kurt Warner.

Never mind that Bulger was attacked on all sides by a furious San Francisco
pass rush and managed to complete 19 of 30 passes for 181 yards and two
touchdowns after the ***** jumped the Rams for a 28-9 lead. True, Bulger's last
pass was behind Isaac Bruce, and it wasn't a good throw, but Bruce has made
those type of catches many times before. And it's true that Bulger needs to
have more cool-handed efficiency in the red zone; the Rams are letting too many
TDs dissolve into field goals.

But the reaction to Sunday's 28-25 loss offered the latest look into Bulger's
professional life in St. Louis. Unless Bulger wins the Super Bowl, unless he
wins a couple of MVP awards, unless he plays at the extreme level of excellence
achieved by Warner from 1999 through 2001, he'll never be fully accepted in
this town.

And if Bulger and the Rams go to Arizona and lose to Warner and the Cardinals
on Sunday, Bulger will lose even more status in St. Louis. Bulger's Warner
burden will grow heavier.

Bulger needs to have a beer with Tony La Russa and soak in some friendly advice
about what it's like to follow a legend. La Russa still lives with the ghost of
Whitey Herzog hovering at Busch Stadium. And Warner's specter never drifts far
from Bulger's place in the huddle.

"I could be in a situation where I'm not playing or the expectations aren't
high," Bulger said. "But you've got to win a Super Bowl here. It's obvious if
you want to be compared to that 1999 through 2001 team, you know what the goal
is. You're going to have to win the Super Bowl, and anything besides that is
not going to cut it. I can handle it. Really, it doesn't bother me."

Bulger is a very good quarterback who ranks third in yards per attempt and
seventh in the passer efficiency rating among all NFL QBs since the start of
the 2002 season. But that's not satisfactory to some who saw Warner average 292
yards and throw 98 touchdown passes from 1999-2001, with the Rams scoring 32
points a game.

This was spectacular, and abnormal. It may have been the greatest three-year
run by a QB in NFL history. And no quarterback has come close to repeating
Warner's three-year peak performance.

Not even Warner.

"Everybody expects me to be that quarterback, too," Warner said. "You don't get
rid of it. Thank God you have those years that you do. It's the same way in my
situation, and I know Marc is dealing with it. You have that standard even in
my situation - every year, every time you step on that football field, they
expect you to perform at that type of level.

"And it's hard to do. It was a great run that we had. We had everything going,
we had everything clicking, we were together for a long period of time. And it
was one of those special, special periods.

"Yeah, I feel for Marc. But at the same time, I don't feel too bad for him
because the guy's had nothing but success in the league. You can't get caught
up with what the media says or what the fans want. The guy's played good
football. That's why he's the starting quarterback there, that's why he's been
to the Pro Bowl. He's an excellent quarterback, and has proven it year in and
year out."

Here's what I don't understand: Why can't we appreciate Bulger and Warner? Both
are classy guys, and there's no villain here. The Warner of 1999-2001 was a
once-in-a-lifetime quarterback, but that time has passed. It's true, Bulger is
no Warner. But Kurt Warner isn't Kurt Warner, either.

[Shadesofgrey]

Good stuff...To bad we can't live those 3 seasons over and over again...except for the finish of the 2001 season

[Curly Horns]

Some fans expect Bulger to be what Warner was

Um - News Flash!!

Some fans recall Mike Martz saying Bulger was already the best QB he has ever coached!!

Fans expectations....they must be crazy.

[STLRAMSFAN]

I think Warner had some of the best years I have seen from a QB and he was burying teams. Bulger has not shown that killer instinct to bury a team yet it has always been close games with him. We can get ahead and it looks like we are going to bury a team then he lets them back in the game and they make it close. Granted I have seen some games that he has come back in where he looked at times like Warner used to. But in games when we are ahead he has never had that killer instinct that puts the other team away he lets them back in with either an INT or something.

I don’t want Bulger to be Warner in his prime I want him to be Bulger with a killer instinct and a knack for putting the game away when he has them down. I want to see Fitzpatrick in one game because it’s the 4th quarter and Bulger has taken care of business and buried the team. I don’t know why but it dont look as though MM has as much confidence in him to execute plays as he used to Warner in his prime.

We used to go no huddle with Warner at times but we never see it with Bulger we can be down by a lot and they will p*** around in the huddle. Bulger when he first took over for Warner MM always talked about him going thru his reads to fast and he needed to slow him down. I think he still at times might try to rush things too much. I think with an improved line and better pass protection he could look really good but I still want to see that killer instinct from Q1 to Q4.

[evil disco man]

where Rams fans raged the rest of the night and into Monday.

The loss immediately became Marc Bulger's fault.

We heard the usual catcall: Bulger is no Kurt Warner.

I know it's not the point of the article, but who the hell ever blamed Bulger for the loss? The first play I got to see [when the Vikes/Bucs game switched to the Rams game here] was Bulger's errant pass to end the game, and I didn't even think to blame him, if anyone in particular. You can't blame it on a guy that threw one interception out of 55[?] pass attempts.

[Rammuscleman]

Here's what I don't understand: Why can't we appreciate Bulger and Warner? Both
are classy guys, and there's no villain here.

I have a villain.

Ego-maniac Martz.

[txramsfan]

I have a villain.

Ego-maniac Martz.

Yea, the same guy who never takes the credit for a win but always seems to deflect the media from the players when they lose. Such an ego-maniac. However, this is way off topic. It ruins what the original poster was trying to do. Everything dosen't have to turn into a smear campaign.

[AvengerRam]

Truth is, when Marc succeeds or fails, I'm really not thinking about Kurt Warner or 99-01.

That run was about more than just a QB playing at a high level. It was about Marshall Faulk and Adam Timmerman before they got old. It was about Ernie Conwell and a healthy Tom Nutten. It was about Az Hakim, Ricky Proehl and a younger Isaac Bruce. It was about an offense that the league hadn't figured out yet. It was about a whole lot of things other than Kurt Warner alone.

I'm happy with Marc Bulger at QB. He's not the best QB in the league, but he's good enough to win a Super Bowl.

[Rambos]

Unless Bulger wins the Super Bowl, unless he
wins a couple of MVP awards, unless he plays at the extreme level of excellence
achieved by Warner from 1999 through 2001, he'll never be fully accepted in
this town.

Sounds like Young following Montana, that should be the standard. I for one don’t want to go back to the Dieter Brock days, the bar has been set high.



+---------------------------------------+-----------------+
| Passing | Rushing |
+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+
| Year TM | G | Comp Att PCT YD Y/A TD INT | Att Yards TD |
+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+
| 1985 ram | 15 | 218 365 59.7 2658 7.3 16 13 | 20 38 0 |
+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+
| TOTAL | 15 | 218 365 59.7 2658 7.3 16 13 | 20 38 0 |

"I could be in a situation where I'm not playing or the expectations aren't
high," Bulger said. "But you've got to win a Super Bowl here. It's obvious if
you want to be compared to that 1999 through 2001 team, you know what the goal
is. You're going to have to win the Super Bowl, and anything besides that is
not going to cut it. I can handle it. Really, it doesn't bother me."

Young made it to the hall, I would love to see Marc end up there as well.

[RamsFanSam]

Here's my take on this KW/MB thing:

Warner...the pigskin had more frequent flyer miles than most of us will ever see. At times had enough blocking to fling the ball halfway to China. Good accuracy. Still missed some passes, still made turnovers. Weenie factor (from injury):7 Overall grade:A- but slowly losing steam.

Bulger...never seemed to toss 'em long very often. Doesn't have the O-line to give him the time to pass over 50 yards. Good accuracy. Still misses some shots, still makes turnovers. Weenie factor:3.5 Overall grade:B+ but still improving.

So how can you really compare two QB's who have different styles, different offenses, different characteristics, etc? You can't. Best that can be done is understand that both of them are two of the best out there, otherwise they wouldn't have been starting QB's for very long.....at least not with Martz. Kurt is not a lock to be in the HOF, but due to him being at the helm of a team that was 4-12 the previous year and taking them to the dance, well, he has a better chance than Bulger. Warner was a nobody who just got the job by fate...and ran with it, BIG TIME. Now, if he doesn't put up numbers like he used to, people trash him. Bulger has to match those numbers, or people trash him. Bulger puts up good numbers....really good, but not quite KW numbers. KW doesn't even do that anymore.
AV had it right. It wasn't just KW, or MB. It is everyone involved in the offense, from Martz down to the uniform lady. (Think about it....if she forgot to take the pins out of the QB's jock strap she just mended, wouldn't that affect the play?)
Both QB's are good. Leave it at that.

[STLRAMSFAN]

I don’t see any Ram ever playing the QB position as well as Warner did from 1999-2001. I don’t think Warner has or ever will play as good as he did then. It was not just the people around him he was great during that time and Bulger is not playing to that level and probably never will. Warner has fallen since then because of injuries, expectations, age, and shaken confidence (mental).

Today I would hands down want Bulger over Warner but that does not take away from Warner having the best three year run of any QB that ever wore a Rams uniform and possibly the best ever in the NFL.

I don’t think Bulger is the best or will ever be the best in the NFL but I think he fits our system well. His one major downfall is not being able to put teams away when he has the lead instead he lets them back in it. Our biggest win last year was by 13 points and in games when he had the opportunity to put them away he would throw a silly INT that is the last thing you want when you are up on the other team. You don’t want to give up valuable field position when you are up on the other team and don’t have to score. With that said he is not what has been holding us back right now its DB’s, OL, and ST.

As for comparing Bugler to Warner anyone that wants to set back and say he is not Kurt Warner is wasting their time its not about one position and its not about the past. That’s like all the great teams that try to talk smack about their history when they suck now. Who cares about your history you cant root for your history that outcome has already been decided.

[sbramfan]

It's such a non issue at this point. We're over it.

Any Rams fan that hasn't got over the KW thing, would not still be a Rams fan.

I personally, think KW ran Mike Martz's offense better than Marc Bulger, in terms of finding the open man, knowing when to dump the pass to the RB, hitting players in stride, and the deep ball.

But Bulger is a solid, accurate QB as well and it's definitely not a concern on this team. We just need to protect the guy, so he at least has the opportunity to look somewhat like the KW of old.