Week #13
Sunday, Dec.09, at TWA Dome, 10:00am PDT
vs
27
  
14
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, center, gets his pass off while under pressure from the St. Louis Rams Brian Young (66) and Jeff Zgonnia (90) in St. Louis Sunday, Dec. 9, 2001. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)
ST. LOUIS (AP) The St. Louis Rams left no doubt who's in charge of the NFC West.

Marshall Faulk scored two touchdowns, Kurt Warner threw for two and the St. Louis defense dominated the matchup of division leaders in a 27-14 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The victory, coupled with the Bears' loss at Green Bay, gave St. Louis the best record in the conference (10-2).

Faulk ran for a 6-yard score in the first quarter, and his 3-yard touchdown catch put the Rams ahead 21-7 at the half en route to a season sweep of the 49ers. Faulk, who has scored five touchdowns the last two weeks, had 88 yards on 25 carries and five catches for 19 yards.

Warner was 26-for-42 for 294 yards and one interception, also hitting Ricky Proehl for a 15-yard score in the first quarter. Warner's 16th interception of the season was his first in two weeks as the Rams, who committed 13 turnovers in their two losses, continued to cut down on mistakes.

The Rams have beaten the 49ers six straight times following a 17-game winning streak by San Francisco in the series. They also took a step toward re-establishing homefield advantage in the Dome at America's Center, where they had lost five of their previous nine.

The 49ers (9-3) won eight of their previous nine, a huge stride for a team coming off a 6-10 season. But they didn't get a first down until the second quarter and were held to 222 yards as Jeff Garcia had his second tough day against the Rams.

Garcia, who entered the game leading the NFC in passer rating, was 13-for-36 for 146 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. In the second week of the season against the Rams, he was 19-for-34 for 121 yards with one touchdown, an interception and a 61.0 passer rating in a 30-26 loss.

Aeneas Williams got both of the interceptions. The first led to Faulk's run for the game's first score, and the second led to a 39-yard field goal by Jeff Wilkins that put the Rams ahead 27-7 with 9:47 to go.

The 49ers' lone score came on a 1-yard run by Garrison Hearst in the third quarter. Hearst was held to 39 yards on 11 carries,

The Rams' defense overcame three big mistakes. Zach Bronson's interception of a scrambling Warner ended up with a punt six plays later, and the 49ers went three-and-out after Wilkins kicked off out of bounds in the third quarter.

A fumble after a catch by Az-Zahir Hakim gave the 49ers, trailing 27-14, one last chance with 3:37 to go. But the 49ers went nowhere in four plays.

The Rams went at the 49ers with a more conservative attack than usual, often running on first down and holding gadget plays to a minimum. They scored on drives of 12, 11 and nine plays.

But coach Mike Martz also was bold at times, twice going for it on fourth down on the Rams' first scoring drive. The second time, Warner faked disgust under center and walked away as Faulk took a direct snap and ran for the first down.



 
FINAL
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Total
San Francisco
0
7
0
7
14
St.Louis
14
7
3
3
27

 
SCORING SUMMARY SFO STL
1st Quarter
STL TD  Marshall Faulk (STL) rushed right side for a 6 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jeff Wilkins (STL) is good.
0
7
STL TD Kurt Warner (STL) pass across the middle complete to Ricky Proehl (STL) for a 15 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jeff Wilkins (STL) is good.
0
14
2nd Quarter
SFO TD Garrison Hearst (SFO) rushed right side for a 1 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
7
14
STL TD Kurt Warner (STL) pass across the middle complete to Marshall Faulk (STL) for a 3 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jeff Wilkins (STL) is good.
7
21
3rd Quarter
STL FG 22 yard field goal by Jeff Wilkins (STL) is good.
7
24
4th Quarter
STL FG 39 yard field goal by Jeff Wilkins (STL) is good.
7
27
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) rushed right side for a 1 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
14
27

 
 
TEAM STATISTICS
SFO
STL
First Downs 16 23
Third Down Efficiency 5-14 7-17
TOTAL NET YARDS 218 361
Total Plays 59 72
Average Gain Per Play 3.7 5.0
NET YARDS RUSHING 76 115
Rushes 23 30
Average Per Rush 3.3 3.8
NET YARDS PASSING 142 246
Pass Completion 13-36 26-42
Yards Per Pass 4.0 6.4
Times Sacked 1 4
Yards Lost To Sacks 2 24
Had Intercepted 2 1
PUNTS 5 3
Average Punt 39.8 39.0
PENALTIES 5 7
Penalty Yards 30 48
FUMBLES 0 1
Fumbles Lost 0 0
Time Of Possesion 24:29 35:31
    
   
    
Passing
49ERS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Jeff Garcia 13 36 146 36.1 4.06 1 2 0 2
RAMS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Kurt Warner 26 42 294 61.9 7.00 4 24 2 1

Rushing
49ERS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Garrison Hearst 11 39 3.5 11 1 0
Kevan Barlow 5 20 4.0 9 0 0
Fred Beasley 2 8 4.0 7 0 0
Terry Jackson 3 6 2.0 3 0 0
Terrell Owens 1 2 2.0 2 0 0
Jeff Garcia 1 1 1.0 1 1 0
RAMS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Marshall Faulk 25 88 3.5 15 1 0
Kurt Warner 4 19 4.8 23 0 0
Isaac Bruce 1 8 8.0 8 0 0

Receiving
49ERS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Terrell Owens 3 54 18.0 25 0 0
Eric Johnson 4 38 9.5 19 0 0
Tai Streets 1 20 20.0 20 0 0
J.J. Stokes 1 15 15.0 15 0 0
Fred Beasley 1 9 9.0 9 0 0
Garrison Hearst 1 6 6.0 6 0 0
Kevan Barlow 1 2 2.0 2 0 0
Justin Swift 1 2 2.0 2 0 0
RAMS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Ricky Proehl 6 109 18.2 24 1 0
Torry Holt 5 66 13.2 16 0 0
Isaac Bruce 3 44 14.7 24 0 0
Jeff Robinson 1 26 26.0 26 0 0
Marshall Faulk 5 19 3.8 8 1 0
Ernie Conwell 2 14 7.0 9 0 0
Az-Zahir Hakim 2 10 5.0 7 0 0
James Hodgins 2 6 3.0 6 0 0

Kicking
49ERS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jose Cortez 0 0 0.0 -- 2 2 100.0 2
RAMS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jeff Wilkins 2 2 100.0 -- 3 3 100.0 9

Punting
49ERS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TOUCHBACKS
Jason Baker 5 39.8 -- -- -- --
RAMS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TOUCHBACKS
John Baker 3 39.0 -- -- -- --

Kick/Punt Returns
49ERS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Vinny Sutherland 4 89 22.2 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
RAMS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Trung Canidate 2 41 20.5 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
Az-Zahir Hakim 0 0 0.0 -- -- 3 46 15.3 -- --

Defense
49ERS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS INT/TD
Jeff Ulbrich 9 5 4 0.5 2 0 0 -- --
Derek Smith 7 5 2 0.5 2 0 0 -- --
Dana Stubblefield 6 6 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Lance Schulters 6 6 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ahmed Plummer 6 5 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jason Webster 6 4 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Bryant Young 5 5 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Rashad Holman 5 5 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Julian Peterson 4 4 0 1.0 9 0 0 -- --
Chike Okeafor 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Andre Carter 3 3 0 2.0 11 0 0 -- --
Jamie Winborn 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Zack Bronson 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Ronnie Heard 1 1 0 0.0 0 1 0 -- --
Bobby Setzer 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
RAMS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS INT/TD
Rich Coady 9 7 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
London Fletcher 5 3 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Aeneas Williams 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 2 -- --
Tommy Polley 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jeff Zgonina 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Mark Fields 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Adam Archuleta 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Tyoka Jackson 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Sean Moran 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Kim Herring 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Grant Wistrom 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Dre' Bly 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Brian Young 2 2 0 1.0 2 0 0 -- --
Chidi Ahanotu 1 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Dexter McCleon 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ryan Pickett 1 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --

....