Saturday, November 19, 2005
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
1. Warner’s Return
With all of the drama surrounding the Rams this season, this year’s biggest storyline entering the season has gone almost forgotten. Forgotten, that is, until this week.
Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner’s return has been circled on the calendar of many fans in St. Louis since the schedule was released before the season. Warner’s season has been up and down, with some injuries mixed in and it appeared that he might not be the starter when this game came around, but he will be under center Sunday after throwing for 693 yards in his past two games.
Warner has struggled to get the Cardinals in the end zone this year, though, throwing for just three touchdowns, but he appears to be playing his best in time for this emotional rematch.
After the amazing three-year run Warner put together in St. Louis, he will likely be roundly cheered by the fans at the Edward Jones Dome.
“I’m sure the reaction will be favorable for him and it should be, he did a lot in the community and for this team,” quarterback Marc Bulger said. “There’s no reason to boo him. I think he’ll have a good reception.”
That reception will be easy to justify considering Warner led the Rams to a pair of Super Bowl appearances, including one championship and two MVP awards. Warner spent last season in New York with the Giants, so he didn’t get a chance to return to the place where he made his name.
Now, he is making his first appearance in the Gateway City since his departure before last year. Warner still has the tendency to hold the ball too long and will cough it up if he is hit.
Still, Warner had a good outing against the Rams in the first meeting, throwing for 327 yards, but he couldn’t get his team in the end zone in that game and he still strikes fear into the heart of the Rams defense.
“He played really, really well, and I looked at a guy who, if we don’t get something done, he’s going to beat us,” defensive lineman Tyoka Jackson said. “That’s what I saw. I saw a guy slinging the ball around and trying to go for your heart. That’s what we’re going to get when he comes here. I’m sure there are going to be a lot of fans in the stands that are fired up for him, but we can’t let him have a party in our stadium. He plays for the enemy now. He’s not a teammate anymore.”
2. Running Rams
Heading in to last week’s game against Seattle, the Rams fully expected to run the ball early and often. But a variety of circumstances dictated that running back Steven Jackson would get 17 carries for 70 yards only three weeks after putting together a pair of big games to help the Rams win.
Jackson said later that he wasn’t surprised that he didn’t get the ball more, but the funny thing was Jackson was the only...
-11-20-2005, 08:19 AM
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