Bulger confident for playoff debut

ST. LOUIS -- Marc Bulger isn't wasting time worrying about his first playoff start for the St. Louis Rams.

"It's definitely a new experience and I know the level of play is going to go up," Bulger said Tuesday. "But it's still football."

And Bulger, despite his lack of playoff experience, has an 18-4 record as the starter the last season and a half.

So although he's about to enter new territory, Mike Martz's choice as the man to lead the Rams into the playoffs on Saturday against the Carolina Panthers has already established quite a bottom-line track record.

Bulger has a two-time NFL MVP looking over his shoulder, Kurt Warner. And Bulger plays for a team accustomed to success following Super Bowl appearances after the 1999 and 2001 seasons.

So he's ready for whatever extra pressure the playoffs bring.

"It's every week, whether it's the playoffs or not, at quarterback," Bulger said. "If we win this next week, then next week I've never been in an NFC championship game. It'll never end."

Bulger had his ups and downs in his first full year as the starter, throwing 22 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions. In one four-game stretch that threatened to revive a quarterback controversy, he had four touchdown passes and 10 interceptions.

Martz never wavered in his support. Warner, who fumbled six times and sustained a concussion in the season-opening loss to the Giants, didn't get in a game again until filling a mop-up role in the regular-season finale at Detroit.

Now it's clear that the Rams will go as far as their formerly unheralded quarterback, a sixth-round pick of the Saints in 2000 who put in time with the St. Louis practice squad that year, can take them. Ready or not.

"We're going to find out, come Saturday," running back Marshall Faulk said.

Bulger won over his teammates when he went 6-1 last season after Warner was sidelined with injuries. This season, he has built on that comfort level.

"For a young guy with not much game experience, he handles the things he doesn't do well great," Faulk said. "Whenever he makes mistakes, if you look at the expression on his face you can tell that it bothers him for that play right then and there, and then it's gone."

Martz has no worries about Bulger's first playoff appearance, saying every player should approach the game as if it was their postseason debut.

"You have to approach it just like it's your first time and have the same pizazz and enthusiasm," Martz said. "He'll be fine. He's been in big games before and I think he understands how to deal with that."

Bulger believes his best will be good enough for the postseason. He mostly rested his arm during the bye week, and he's not one of those guys who stay up until midnight poring over the playbook and reviewing game tape.

He also knows he's not in this thing alone. The Rams' offense has six starters remaining from the 2001 team that went 14-2 in the regular season before getting upset by the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Bulger was the third-string quarterback that year.

"We have a lot of guys on this team who have been there," Bulger said. "That experience of just going all the way to the Super Bowl and watching how guys prepare, I think will help me."

That includes Warner, who graciously told Martz he should stick with the status quo after Bulger had a big game in Week 2 against the 49ers. Bulger noticed in 2001 that Warner never changed.

"Coach didn't make the routine different and Kurt stayed calm and he prepared like he did all year," Bulger said. "That's what I've tried to learn from him, to prepare the same every week, and then when a big situation arises you don't have to change."