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Randy Karraker on Faulk

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  • Randy Karraker on Faulk

    The following was posted by Randy Karraker at the herd board:


    Marshall's agent, Rocky Arceneault, has been telling people all off-season that he isn't sure Faulk wants to play beyond 2004, anyway.
    Howard Balzer reported that Faulk would like to end his career as a slot receiver in San Diego. When he asked why not do that in St. Louis, he was told that Faulk knows Martz doesn't have the restraint to limit his touches. See an injured Faulk at the end of 2002, when he should have been on IR.

    Marshall has told several people that the knee isn't responding, but he'll see how it goes in camp.

    After the 2000 season, Faulk could have had a rather serious surgery to combat what doctors said was a degenerative condition. The alternative would allow Faulk to get active (on the golf course?) sooner, but his career would end earlier. He opted for the less serious surgery.

    If indeed Marshall can't play in 2004, the team would most likely have to IR him for a couple of years, like the Broncos had to do with Terrell Davis, so that his bonus wouldn't accelerate into a single year of the cap until Warner is off the books after 2005.

    Now, the hit from Faulk's bonus would be about $8.2 million. After 2004, about 6.2, and after 2005, about $4.8. Unfortunately, the Warner hit this year is about $5.5, in that vicinity, and next year it's $6.7. Having almost $13.9 million in dead money on the books in 2005 doesn't seem that appealing.

    All this being said, all we reported is that there's no guarantee Faulk will be able to go the way he has in the past anymore, but we added that if anyone can play through this, it's Faulk
    Curly ~ Horns

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  • RamWraith
    Faulk still hasn't decided if he'll be back
    by RamWraith
    By Jim Thomas
    ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
    Saturday, Jan. 28 2006

    Rams coach Scott Linehan is on record as saying he wants running back Marshall
    Faulk back in 2006. But Faulk told reporters in New Orleans this past week that
    he's still thinking it over.

    "I'm still a Ram; I'm still under contract," Faulk told the New Orleans
    Times-Picayune. "We'll see. It's hard to say. I haven't made any decision yet.

    "When I play isn't a question. It's if I play. I'm going to play with St. Louis
    if I play."

    Faulk still has three years remaining on a four-year contract extension he
    signed last February. If he retired, was released, or was traded, the Rams
    would absorb a cap hit of about $4.1 million in 2006.

    Faulk returned to his hometown of New Orleans to participate in a variety of
    events to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. He presented a check for $70,000 to
    the Desire Street Ministries on Wednesday on behalf of the Marshall Faulk
    Foundation.

    Faulk grew up in the Desire housing projects. He visited several places where
    he grew up and spent time in New Orleans, taking several pictures at his old
    high school, Carver High.

    He also participated in a food drop for the needy Tuesday, along with Feed the
    Children and the NFL Players Association.
    -01-29-2006, 04:36 AM
  • RamWraith
    Faulk's Finest Hour
    by RamWraith
    Wednesday, December 19, 2007

    By Nick Wagoner
    Senior Writer

    Stuck in a dire situation, Marshall Faulk found himself in a form of football purgatory in 1998. After five years in Indianapolis, Faulk had reached his breaking point.

    All of the struggles, all of the mistakes and most of all, all of the losses had finally caused Faulk to go to management and seek something better. Faulk didn’t ask much; it wasn’t about the money. He could have had plenty of that from the Colts.

    What Faulk wanted was a chance to win. So when he received word on April 15, 1999, that he was being sent to the Rams for a second and fifth round selection in the upcoming NFL Draft, Faulk was less than thrilled.

    “My thoughts when I first came to St. Louis weren’t good,” Faulk said. “I felt like I was in a bad situation and the situation in St. Louis wasn’t any better.”

    Considering that in his five seasons in the league, the Rams had won 26 games or six less than the Colts in that same time frame. Of course, Indianapolis had gone 3-13 the two previous seasons and appeared headed nowhere.

    But that didn’t mean Faulk was thrilled with his new home in St. Louis. As Faulk watches his No. 28 jersey raised to the rafters Thursday night, never to be worn by a Ram again, it’s hard not to imagine how he went from unhappy all-star to man of honor.

    A MINI REVELATION

    Entering the 1999 offseason, the Rams were faced with the task of overhauling a boring offense that scored so little that the scorekeeper at the Edward Jones Dome felt like the Maytag repairman.

    To that end, the Rams aggressively pursued help on the line and at the skill positions. They signed Trent Green to play quarterback and Adam Timmerman at guard. They drafted young receiver Torry Holt out of North Carolina State and hired a young offensive-minded coordinator in the form of Mike Martz.

    While those moves were a step in the right direction, none had the cache that would really draw the attention of landing a Pro Bowl running back such as Faulk. In the days leading to the draft, the Rams finally settled on a deal and Faulk became a Ram.

    With Faulk in the fold, it appeared the Rams had the foundation for an explosive offensive but it remained to be seen how the pieces would come together. Of course, it would have been impossible for those pieces to fit if Faulk never entered the fray.

    Faulk got to St. Louis without a new contract in hand and wasn’t even sure he wanted to be here. After careful consideration, Faulk decided to give the Rams a shot before he made a decision.

    “I took my time and I thought about it and I think the best thing that I did was I decided to go to minicamp and I got a chance to be around the likes of Isaac Bruce, Trent Green, etc,” Faulk said. “I got an opportunity to see that this team was...
    -12-19-2007, 03:44 PM
  • RamWraith
    Faulk will announce his retirement per NFL.com
    by RamWraith
    Just announced on NFL Network.

    Press Conference to be held Monday.

    As always, Faulk knew what he had to do

    By Adam Schefter
    NFL Analyst

    (March 22, 2007) -- For 12 NFL seasons, all the way up until his retirement from the game became official today, running back Marshall Faulk had all the right moves.

    We watched feet that moved as if he were dancing with the stars. We watched hands so dependable, it was as if they were drenched with stick-um. We watched plays that no other running back in the game could make.

    Yet for all the yards he gained, for all the passes he caught, for all the touchdowns he scored, what fans couldn't see was one of the primary reasons -- maybe the primary reason -- Faulk should be taking up residence in Canton four years from now.

    It was what was under the helmet.

    Faulk didn't just have a beautiful mind, he had a football mind.

    Outside of quarterbacks, and maybe even including quarterbacks, there weren't any players any smarter than Faulk. He was the proverbial Smartest Guy in the Room. To this day, his former head coach Mike Martz thinks Faulk might just be the smartest player he has ever coached.

    With his vision and awareness, Faulk understood the game in a way others did not. He knew where each player was supposed to be on each play.

    Especially himself. Faulk knew when it was safe to leave the backfield to go out for a pass, and he knew when he had to step behind to pick up a blitzing safety, as he did in Super Bowl XXXIV, on the play in which Kurt Warner threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Torry Holt to give the Rams a 16-0 lead.

    Of all his attributes, this was Faulk's greatest: the centerpiece of the Greatest Show on Turf could beat you with his brawn or his brains.

    The same brains that made him so effective on the football field made him a great analyst in his rookie season at NFL Network. He saw things other analysts did not. He made comments few others could. Few have ever started their TV careers with as much success as Faulk had over the past year. He was, unquestionably, the TV Rookie of the Year.

    And now, Faulk has used that same brain to make his latest and last intelligent football decision. Instead of taking another hit, Faulk has dished one out himself. He has informed the Rams, and the football world, that he's retiring.

    Faulk, who grew up on the streets of New Orleans before going on to star in Indianapolis and St. Louis, is smart enough to recognize that this is the right time to go.

    One more time, Faulk is scampering away, unable to be brought down.
    -03-22-2007, 01:34 PM
  • RamWraith
    Faulk talks as though he's retired
    by RamWraith
    By Jim Thomas
    ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
    08/17/2006

    Although Marshall Faulk didn't officially close the door on his NFL career Wednesday, he sounded very much like a man who has played his last football game.

    On the one hand, Faulk wouldn't eliminate the possibility of playing in 2007.

    "The knee is coming along slowly," Faulk said. "I'm taking it year to year. I'm working out. I'm rehabbing And that's it. If it feels good enough to where I can go out there and feel comfortable with what I can do, then fine. If not, I'm fine. I'm OK."

    On the other hand, Faulk spoke of his playing career in the past tense on several occasions, including when asked if he has come to grips with the fact that his career might be over.



    "I've come to grips with that a long time ago," Faulk said. "I gave myself five years (in the NFL), then I gave myself 10 years, and I ended up playing 12. I've been fortunate."

    Faulk answered questions Wednesday in a conference call to promote his hiring by NFL Network as an analyst. It marked his first comments about his continuing knee problems and the probable end of his NFL career since it was confirmed four weeks ago that he needed more knee surgery and would not play in 2006.

    Exploratory surgery at the end of July revealed that Faulk needed a reconstruction of the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee before he could play again. Faulk said Wednesday that he has yet to decide whether to have the surgery.

    "I'm going to take the next two to three months and rehab this thing and see how it goes," Faulk said.

    If he decides on surgery, Faulk said it will be done "not just for football, but for life."

    After dominating the league at his position for the better part of a decade, Faulk said it hasn't been easy making a definitive decision on his football future.



    "Your emotions get in the way, and your love for the game gets in the way," said Faulk, 33. "What I'm trying to do is just be smart about it. And understand that your body is the ruler. It'll let you know. You only get one to live in. So I have to take care of it the best that I can and do what's best for myself when it comes to that."

    Despite months of speculation about his future following the 2005 season, Faulk said he didn't make up his mind about sitting out this season until the week before training camp.

    "I knew that my knee just wasn't responding the way that I wanted it to," Faulk said. "I was a little down. But I was realistic about it. I knew that there was no way possible for me to play on the leg the way it was at the present time."

    No one in the Rams' organization expects Faulk back in 2007. He is still being paid by the...
    -08-17-2006, 04:22 AM
  • RamWraith
    Those rumors about Marshall Faulk retiring this summer?
    by RamWraith
    BY JIM THOMAS
    Of the Post-Dispatch
    07/29/2004

    MACOMB, Ill. -- Those rumors about Marshall Faulk retiring this summer?

    "I heard about it," Faulk said Thursday. "And it was news to me. Hopefully that answers the question."

    In other words: No.

    Faulk plans on playing in 2004. Why else would he show up for his 11th NFL training camp?

    But in his first comments on the topic, Faulk indicated broadly that retirement could be a possibility after this season.

    "This is probably the first year that I've thought, 'Man. If the body isn't acting right, what do I do?' " Faulk said. "Do I fight through it? Or do I not play?

    "That's something that I'm going to have to evaluate at the end of the season, similar to what (Aeneas Williams) does."

    Other than that, Faulk couldn't provide any sure answers on his right knee, which underwent clean-up surgery during the offseason. Or his future.

    How's the knee?

    "I don't know," Faulk said. "I practiced (Wednesday). I looked at film, and it looked pretty good. Of course, I'm critical about a lot of things that I do. But I felt pretty good about what I did (Wednesday) and how my body responded."

    Faulk said he can understand the questions about his knee, the possibility of retirement, or concerns about his productivity. He's anxious to find out himself.

    "Those are good questions," he told reporters. "It's things people should ask. Those are the things that are going to be answered this year. I feel up to the challenge. And we'll find out. As the season goes on, you guys will find out also."
    -07-29-2004, 01:34 PM
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