Bulger wants balanced attack against Seattle

ST. LOUIS -- Last week, Marc Bulger set franchise records with 62 passes and 40 completions, and the St. Louis Rams lost by 20 points. He'd rather not play catchup this week against the Seattle Seahawks in a matchup of NFC West leaders.

"You want it to be more balanced," Bulger said. "You're not going to win many games in the NFL throwing it 60 or 70 times. It might work in high school and sometimes in college, but in the NFL you've got to have a running game."

Betrayed by a defense that allowed the Giants to build a 27-7 lead in the first half of a 44-24 final, the Rams (2-2) abandoned the run. Steven Jackson and Marshall Faulk combined for only 33 yards on 13 carries.

And Bulger's 442-yard passing day didn't mean much. So this week he wants to diversify.

"We need to have Steven in this game a whole lot more," Bulger said. "When the D-line can tee off, it makes it awfully tough on our linemen, and they're dropping eight guys and it's tough for our guys to get open."

At least he didn't get a sore arm for his trouble. Bulger said any day in training camp is much worse than last week's game.

"I wish you guys would ask me that during camp, how my arm feels," Bulger told reporters. "I throw 1,000 times in the morning and 1,000 in the afternoon."

The Rams will be trying to win their fifth straight over the Seahawks (2-2), including a victory in the first round of the playoffs last season. Both of Seattle's losses have come on the road, although the Seahawks are a missed field goal at the end of regulation last week away from being 3-1.

"There's a lot of reasons this is an important game," coach Mike Holmgren said. "You don't want to have a losing streak against anybody."

The Rams enter Week 5 with major issues, not the least of which is the health of their head coach.

Mike Martz missed much of the practice week with what team doctors believe is endocartitis, a heart ailment, but could be on the Rams sideline on game day. Joe Vitt, the assistant head coach and linebackers coach, ran practices in Martz' absence, but vowed it would not be a distraction.

"We're here to get paid no matter who the head coach is," Vitt said. "At the end of the day, nobody wants to hear our sad story."

As for the Seahawks, there are troubles in the passing game with starting wide receivers Bobby Engram (ribs) and Darrell Jackson (knee) both doubtful.

"It's really tough because both those guys are great players," quarter Matt Hasselbeck said. "Bobby and Darrell are the heart and soul of our passing game, they are our playmakers."

That'll put more pressure on Shaun Alexander, who has a pair of 100-yard games and has averaged 151 yards the last three meetings against the Rams. They're not the only team struggling to contain Alexander, who's working on a one-year contract after being designated as the Seahawks' franchise player.

Holmgren said Alexander has been doing a lot of "non-glamorous thing" such as pass blocking with enthusiasm.

"We're working to keep him here in Seattle," Holmgren said. "If he keeps playing he could have his best season ever and that's saying something. He's a complete player."

Defense has been a work in progress for the Seahawks, who have seven new starters. That includes former Rams Grant Wistrom and Bryce Fisher at the ends.

"We had a step back last week," Wistrom said. "It's no different than the situation when I was in St. Louis when we blew up the defense and we went to a Super Bowl.

"I like this defense more than the one we had last year."

Of course, defense is also a big issue for the Rams after they got picked apart by Eli Manning while surrendering 456 total yards.

"It's embarrassing," safety Adam Archuleta said. "We have to go out there and erase that from our memories. The only way to do that is to go out there and dominate this game."

The Rams also need to restock the tight end position. Roland Williams is out for the season with a knee injury and Brandon Manumaleuna missed last week with a knee problem, forcing the team to bring Cam Cleeland out of retirement and move offensive lineman Blaine Saipaia to that spot.

This is the sixth position for Saipaia, who's been a starter or backup at all of the offensive line spots, but had no receptions in college, let alone the NFL.

"I was a little surprised," Saipaia said. "Whatever it takes for us to win, I'm going to do."