Editor: Joe Bryant. Game Recap Contributors: Mike Anderson, Michael Brown, Chris Burtt, J.D. Caldwell, David Dodds, Bobby Elder, Jim Enochs, Joel Faulhaber, Michael Flynn, Kevin Goldblum, Clayton Gray, Bob Harris, Fred Hebert, Jesse Hilsenrad, Drew Kendall, Jeff Lewis, Joey Matusek, Justin Oliver, Steve Prosapio, David Shick, Cody Smith, Scott Smith, Jeffrey Stout. Seattle 20 at St. Louis 37 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Seattle Seahawks: Seattle very well could have been shut out in this game. Their first two touchdowns were the result of poor special teams and getting burned on a blitz. Even their 3rd TD was a defensive fumble return. Koren Robinson came up big with two catches that he broke for a 79 yard TD and an 80-yard catch that ended at the 2-yard line. Darrell Jackson, however, was non-existent during the game. Seattle suffered eight drops from four different players, two each for Alexander, Jackson, Robinson and Mili. Seattle completely gave up on RB Shaun Alexander when his last six carries resulted in 0, -1, 5, 0, -4, 1 yards. He was replaced by Maurice Morris during garbage time. The Seattle defensive line was blown off the ball all day. For the fourth time in six games they gave up over 200 yards rushing. St. Louis Rams: Marshall Faulk is officially back to being "The Man". 32 carries and 11 targets in the passing game total 43 plays run for Faulk. Even with the game well in hand Faulk came back off the bench to score his 4th touchdown. Marc Bulger took what the defense gave him and didn't try to win the game by himself. Bulger played very well hitting all the correct people, making the correct reads, and spreading the ball around. Bulger displayed a very strong, but sometimes inaccurate arm. It is apparent that Jamie Martin wasn't kidding when he said that Bulger is the best passer of all the St. Louis quarterbacks, including Warner. He simply lacks experience. Isaac Bruce and Tory Holt didn't see many balls today due to the effectiveness of the running game. St. Louis simply chose to win the game running Faulk instead of looking flashy with the pass. The St. Louis defense suffered a painful loss with the injury to Aeneas Williams (broken leg). As Williams was being carted off the field, you could see the emotion on his face. Defensive Coordinator Lovie Smith must have handed out some fines two weeks ago for lazy play, because the St. Louis defenders were flying to the ball and gang tackling this week again just like they were against the Raiders last week. WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW Seattle Seahawks QB: Trent Dilfer: 8-25-232 yards passing (1 TD, 2 INT). Trent Dilfer's numbers would have looked much better if his receiving corps didn't rack up 8 drops on the day. In the third quarter after an 83 yard slant to Robinson, Dilfer had a chance to make a huge play with Mili wide open in the end zone, but he under threw the ball so poorly it was picked off. This play killed any hope Seattle had of remaining in the game. Late in the game Dilfer took a shot to the chin and Hasselbeck came into mop up. When asked about the injury after the game he commented that it will be fine. "There is nothing broken like my pride is," Dilfer said. "I got banged around pretty good, but that is how it goes." RB: Shaun Alexander: 12-30 yards rushing, 1-16 yards receiving (4 targets). Alexander is still a good player on a bad team. In the first quarter he was the focus of 6 of their first 12 plays. His injury from the previous week didn't seem to bother him. His two best runs of the day (8, 9 yards) were both when he made something out of nothing. Maurice Morris: 2-21 yards rushing, 1-12 yards receiving (1 target). Morris took advantage of his garbage time and was effective. If Alexander goes down with an injury, Morris is an adequate backup running back. Whether he can be effective or not on this team is a different story. WR: Darrell Jackson: 0-0 yards receiving (3 targets). All three of Jackson's targets were in the first half and two of them were drops. Jackson disappeared in the second half. Koren Robinson: 3-166 yards receiving (7 targets). Robinson was the recipient of two gifts from the St. Louis defense. On the 79 yard touchdown the safety tried for the INT and Robinson ended up with a big play. On the 83-yard reception, Seattle caught St. Louis in the blitz. Both plays were simple 10 yard slants. Robinson had two drops in the game. TE: Itula Mili: 2-22 yards receiving (9 targets). Mili was wide open in the corner of the endzone when Dilfer threw his first interception. He was also targeted two plays previous in the corner of the endzone. Mili dropped two balls. Pass Defense: Springs and Lucas held Holt and Bruce to 6 catches for 82 combined yards through the first three quarters. The defensive line failed to put pressure on Bulger. He was given lots to time to survey the field. Rush Defense: Seattle continued to show their inability to stop the run, just as they've done all season long. For the 4th time in 6 games they gave up over 200 yards rushing to an opponent. Special Teams: Maurice Morris got Seattle the lead with a kick return for a TD just before halftime. He also had a 56 yard return called back due to an iffy holding call. Jeff Feagle's punting was outstanding on the day- 5 punts, 4 inside the 20 with a 45 yard average. Rian Lindell missed his only FG attempt on the day of 48 yards. /**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/** St. Louis Rams QB: Marc Bulger: 22-40-265 (1 TD, 1 INT). Marc Bulger's numbers were helped by targeting Faulk early and often through the game on short dump passes. Having the run game established early helped keep the pressure off him. Marc Bulger - played well by finding open receivers, spreading the ball around, and reading the defense. Bulger took what defense gave him and did nothing more. Bulger ended up 22 for 40 with 265 yards a TD and an INT. Bulger seemed to throw the conservative routes underneath to Faulk but did take chances downfield including a deep 52-yard pass to Torry Holt. RB: Marshall Faulk: 32-183 rushing yards (3 TD), 7-52 receiving yards (1 TD, 11 targets). Faulk demonstrated in the first quarter his ability to carry the whole offense. St. Louis ran 13 plays in the first quarter and 10 of them went to Faulk for a total of 82 combined yards. WR: Tory Holt: 3-71 receiving yards (6 targets). If not for a 52 yard reception late in the game, Holt would have been held to 19 yards. In the second quarter he was targeted inside the 10 yard line and once over the middle, but dropped what might have been a touchdown. He was not targeted in the first quarter at all while St. Louis was establishing the run game. Isaac Bruce: 4-63 receiving yards (6 targets). Bruce seemed to be Bulger's preferred WR target early in the second quarter. Bruce made a catch in the back of the endzone but only got one foot down. The other incomplete pass thrown Bruce's way was inside the 10 yard line. Ricky Proehl: 2-37 receiving yards (4 targets). Both Proehl's catches were in 3rd and long situations. He is the number 3 WR in the offense ahead of Wilkins. Terrance Wilkins: 3-32 yards rushing, 1- -2 receiving yards (1 target). St. Louis is forcing themselves to get Wilkins involved in the offense in someway. He had 3 carries on reverses. TE: Ernie Conwell: 3-38 yards receiving (4 targets). St. Louis ran a fake screen to Faulk then came back to the other side of the field to run a TE screen for Conwell. Pass Defense: Trent Dilfer was hit hard throughout the game. 153 of Dilfer's 232 passing yards came on two plays when St. Louis got caught in a blitz and when a safety tried for the INT instead of making a tackle. Dilfer was sacked 3 times and knocked from the game in the fourth quarter. Rush Defense: Totally shut Shawn Alexander down. Alexander was stopped for no gain on 6 of his 12 carries. Special Teams: Jeff Wilkins was 3/3 on FG attempts with 2 hitting the crossbar and bouncing over (45, 47). The kickoff coverage gave up a return touchdown to Maurice Morris and another 56 yard kickoff return that was called back due to an iffy holding call.