Increased demand hasn't slowed Faulk

ST. LOUIS -- The Rams' bye week probably came at a good time for Marshall Faulk, who's been carrying the offense on his back.

With third-stringer Marc Bulger taking over at quarterback the last two weeks, coach Mike Martz has been leaning on his All-Pro running back. Faulk hasn't disappointed, tying his career highs with 32 carries and 39 touches in Sunday's 37-20 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, and totaling 30 touches the previous week as the Rams (2-5) upset the Oakland Raiders for their first victory of the season.

"He's awesome," Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander said. "I was joking around with him and I said, 'You did good today.' He said, 'I did good for an old man.' So I said, 'You did good for any man."'

Faulk has amassed 415 yards in total offense the last two weeks and scored five touchdowns, including his fifth career four-TD game against the Seahawks. He leads NFC non-kickers with 54 points on nine touchdowns, is No. 1 with 49 catches and is back on top in yards from scrimmage with 934 through seven games.

"You can give him the ball and they know it's coming, and they still can't stop it," Bulger said. "Having him out there is great."

Before the last two weeks, Faulk's season high had been 26 touches in week 4 against the Cowboys. But so far, his new do-it-all role is not wearing him down physically. Coach Mike Martz talked to Faulk on Monday and said he was "fine."

"He's a remarkable individual, he's so resilient," Martz said. "He hasn't been in the training room. If there's something bothering him, he'll mention it."

Faulk said he's just trying to help the Rams, who have recovered that bounce in their step after an 0-5 start.

"If that's what my job description calls for, if that's what I have to do for us to win, then that's what I'm going to do," he said. "It's about going out there and doing it."

Having the bye week to rest had nothing to do with Faulk's increased work load against the Seahawks. Martz said it was a combination of sticking with something that was effective, and keeping the pressure off Bulger.

"I didn't think about the bye week, he was just going so good," Martz said. "Just like in the passing game when Kurt (Warner) gets on fire and you throw 17 in a row, you just kind of go with it.

"He was going good and we were playing so well up front."

On Sunday, Faulk became the 15th player to rush for 10,000 yards in his carrer. He also passed John Riggins for seventh on the career touchdown list with 119.

"Right about now it doesn't matter much," Faulk said. "It's just nice when you look back on your career and you think of the numbers, if you want to, it's nice to have them."

Martz gave his team the week off after announcing last week that there would be morning workouts Wednesday and Thursday. He decided to cut players loose because the team is banged up, and has responded after its awful start, although players will report for weight training this week.

Cornerback Dexter McCleon has a nagging hamstring injury, and several other players need to heal from minor ailments.

"We've got so many of these situations, so many of these pulls and strains, that it just got to the point where I felt like with a good win like this we could use the time off," Martz said. "I think this will be a good week to kind of get guys back and get ready to make a final run down the stretch."

Martz also is giving the coaching staff a three-day weekend with the next game Nov. 3 at Arizona, although he'd rather play than rest on Sunday. That's what a couple of victories will do for you.

"I kind of feel like I'm ready to go again," Martz said. "If we could play this week it would be just fine."