Martz, 'Money' replace ill will with confidence

ST. LOUIS -- On the wall outside the entrance to the Rams' locker room is a huge, framed portrait of a $100 bill with Jeff Wilkins' face where a likeness of Benjamin Franklin should be.

It's just the latest example of the love-fest and 180-degree turnaround between the near-perfect kicker and his sometimes mercurial coach. Wilkins, who is 27-for-29 on field goals and hit a game-winning 49-yarder to win last week's overtime game at Arizona, has been nicknamed "Money" by coach Mike Martz.

Hence, the artwork. The word "Money" also appeared for a time above Wilkins' locker in the place usually reserved for individual honors before the embarrassed kicker scratched it off with his fingernails.

"He was certainly money in the game," Martz said.

Wilkins has come a long, long way in Martz' estimation since the end of last season, when the coach called him out in public. On the mid-December day after the Rams were eliminated from the playoffs in a lost 7-9 season, Martz said he'd "lost a lot of confidence" in Wilkins, who scuffed the turf on a 42-yard field goal attempt that never really took flight.

Martz apologized for his remarks a few days later, but Wilkins figured that after six seasons in St. Louis, he was on his way out.

Now, he's back on top. Wilkins leads the NFL with 111 points. The game-winner against the Cardinals was his third of the season, following a 31-yarder at Chicago last week in a two-point victory and a 28-yarder to beat the 49ers in overtime in September.

"I've been on top and I've been down at the bottom, so you learn to deal with all the different situations," Wilkins said. "You appreciate situations like this a little bit better."

The relationship between coach and player couldn't be better. Accuracy will do that for you.

"As rough as that was, the bottom line is he stuck with me and I'm here," Wilkins said. "He could have easily gotten rid of me and he didn't.

"It's one of those things that in the heat of the moment we've all done stuff and said stuff, and what are you going to do?"

Martz never hesitated about putting the game in Wilkins' hands in overtime at Arizona. Before the game, Wilkins told Martz he would be effective from 54 yards and in, and that was good enough for his coach.

"I think he is in a zone," Martz said. "Right now, he's unconscious."

Wilkins was 19-for-25 last year, not a terrible year statistically, but struggled throughout with his form. Because he made so much contact with the ground on his kicks he experimented kicking barefoot for a while.

"I don't think last year was a total failure," Wilkins said. "There was a flaw in my technique that this offseason I really tried to focus on correcting. So far, so good."

The problems might have begun with a knee injury in the 1999 Super Bowl year when he developed some bad habits. Wilkins compared his work in the offseason to that of a golfer altering his swing.

This year, he's also helped his standing on special teams. He saved a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter at Chicago with a hard tackle on kickoff returner Jerry Azumah at the Bears 45, and is sixth on the team with five tackles and two assists on special teams.

"That's the way he is," Martz said. "He's not going to shy away from anything."

Wilkins considers it just part of the job description.

"I used to like it more when I was younger and it didn't hurt as bad," Wilkins said. "I guess that's my only way to feel like a 'real' player, get involved and get a little dirt on the uniform."