October 13, 2002 09:57 PM | General
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
October 13, 2002
ST. LOUIS – West Virginia University is getting quite a reputation for developing Cinderalla NFL quarterbacks.
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| Former West Virginia quarterback Marc Bulger passed for three touchdowns and rushed for another to lead St. Louis to a 28-13 win over Oakland Sunday. |
First it was backup quarterback Jeff Hostetler taking over for injured Phil Simms late in the 1990 season and leading the Giants to a Super Bowl victory over Buffalo.
And now more than 10 years later, Marc Bulger has rejuvenated the hopes of the St. Louis Rams with an unlikely 28-13 victory over the Oakland Raiders Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.
Bulger completed 14-of-21 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for another TD to help St. Louis snap its five-game losing streak.
Bulger, announced by Coach Mike Marz as the team’s starting quarterback earlier this week, was taking over for second team quarterback Jamie Martin. Martin was injured against San Francisco after subbing for starting quarterback Kurt Warner.
“We were 0-5 and there was no pressure on me, I could just go out and play and wing it and just see what happens,” said Bulger after the game.
Bulger’s performance Sunday is the continuation of an unlikely professional football journey that has taken him from obscurity to leading one of the NFL’s prominent franchises.
“If you know you can play, you don’t worry about it,” said Bulger. “You’ll get your chance.”
Bulger, owner of 25 passing records at WVU, was a sixth round draft pick by the New Orleans Saints in 1999 but was cut before the start of the regular season. Bulger spent two weeks on the Atlanta Falcons practice squad in 2000 before being claimed off of waivers by the Rams.
Last year he was the team’s third-string quarterback and was inactive for all 16 regular season games.
On Sunday a better Hollywood script couldn’t have been written to describe the circumstances surrounding Bulger’s first NFL start.
St. Louis was winless in five games after going to the Super Bowl last season. The Rams had lost consecutive games to Denver, New York, Tampa Bay, Dallas and San Francisco and were trying to avoid becoming the first team in NFL history to lose its first six games after coming off a Super Bowl season.
It was also the franchise’s worst start in almost four decades.
Facing St. Louis was perhaps the NFL’s hottest team in Oakland, which came into the game leading the AFC West with a 4-0 record and was averaging 40.5 points and 461.5 yards per game.
Compounding matters was the fact that Bulger’s very first possession as an NFL quarterback began at his own three yard line after the Rams stopped the Raiders on fourth and goal.
Bulger’s very first NFL pass resulted in a 17-yard gain to Issac Bruce, and then he found Torry Holt for a 50-yard bomb on his second throw. His third pass resulted in a seven-yard touchdown to Bruce.
He completed his first seven passes in a row before finally misfiring on a third and 20 late in the first quarter.
Bulger also completed a 13-yard TD pass to Holt in the second quarter, and found running back Marshall Faulk for a 10-yard TD strike in the fourth quarter to expand St. Louis’ lead to 21-6.
Bulger scored the St. Louis’ final touchdown with 13:11 left in the game on a quarterback sneak to give the Rams a commanding 28-6 lead.
"You can't say enough about a guy who comes in in such a big game and plays with such poise," Warner said. "He played the way he had to play to win this football game."
Now that Bulger has helped lead St. Louis out from the ranks of the winless, he will next concentrate on getting them back into the divisional race. His next assignment comes Sunday, Oct. 20, against Seattle.
