Warner out at least a month

ST. LOUIS -- If the St. Louis Rams are to recover from 0-4, they'll have to do it with a quarterback preparing for his second career start instead of MVP Kurt Warner.

Warner broke the little finger on his passing hand in the first quarter of Sunday's 13-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and backup QB Jamie Martin, who threw only three passes last season, will be running the offense for at least the next month.

It's the latest blow for a winless team that had been favored to go to its third Super Bowl in four years.

"We've got to get new marquee players," coach Mike Martz said. "The same thing happened with Trent Green. You all remember Trent's situation?"

Warner, an undrafted free agent and former No. 3 quarterback, got his big break when Green tore ligaments in his knee in a 1999 preseason game against the San Diego Chargers.

Warner broke the same finger two years ago, and the Rams lost three of the five games he missed, falling from favorites for a second straight Super Bowl to wild-card playoff losers. He'll be wearing headphones and dispensing what he called "pointers and tips" from the sideline next week at San Francisco.

"I'm going to do everything I can," Warner said. "I'm going to help him as much as I can. Any questions he's got, anything I can possibly do, sending in the plays, anything, I'm here to help him."

Warner was injured after throwing his eighth interception, to go with a single touchdown pass, in four games. He landed on his right arm after taking a hit from blitzing safety Roy Williams on an errant screen pass that was intercepted by Greg Ellis in the first quarter.

"As I threw it, he just pushed me, basically," Warner said. "I don't know what happened or what position I was in. I just knew I landed on it awkwardly."

The team will evaluate the injury today to see if surgery is needed on the finger. It was first broken when backup center Steve Everitt missed the snap count during a 54-34 loss at Kansas City on Oct. 22, 2000.

"It's not exactly the same injury," Warner said. "I guess they think it may be a little bit worse, because it's kind of down in the joint a little bit. I asked them a time frame, and they said similar to what it was the last time."

Warner said he initially thought he had dislocated the finger.

"We tried to pop it back in, and obviously it wasn't popping back since it was broken," Warner said. "And then we took the X-ray."

Warner and other players said the Rams would rally around Martin, who was 24-for-37 for 262 yards with a touchdown and an interception against the Cowboys. Martin, 32, entered the year with 115 career passes -- about three games' worth for Warner -- in eight seasons.

He also was out most of the preseason with a mild shoulder separation, missing the last four games as third-stringer Marc Bulger got the bulk of the work.

"Jamie's a very, very good quarterback, and he's going to be very good for us," Warner said. "You saw once he settled down today, he did a lot of good things and put us in a position to win."

Martin said he knew Warner was hurt when he came off the field holding his hand.

"I think I did some good things in there," he said. "I was a little shaky at first and had to get a feel for what was going on. I just haven't played in a while."

Last week, Martin took no snaps with the first-string offense.

"That's the way we do it," he said. "But we're just out of training camp, or not too far away, so I got plenty of snaps there."