49ers fail to contain the Faulk offensive

St. Louis (7-1) rebounded from its first defeat and the loss of MVP Kurt Warner, who wore a headset on the sideline after breaking his finger last week at Kansas City.

In his first NFL start since 1998, Green didn't look much like Warner until it counted most.

The Super Bowl champs scored the game's final 17 points, piled up 447 total yards — 283 after halftime — and shut out San Francisco (2-7) in the last 23 minutes. The game also was a solid return for Bud Carson, who took over the Rams' defense last week.

Instead of a high-scoring duel between two of the NFL's most prolific offenses, fans at 3Com Park saw punts, penalties, dropped passes and frustration.

Green, who was 22-of-39 for 310 yards, struggled early, but led three late scoring drives with a big assist from Faulk, who had 144 total yards while tying the Rams' team record with his four TDs.

St. Louis won its 12th straight NFC West game and beat the 49ers for the fourth straight time.

Rams kicker Pete Stoyanovich added a 46-yard field goal with 3:45 to play. San Francisco's final drive ended with 2:13 left when Mike Jones tipped a long pass away from Terrell Owens.

The 49ers lost their fourth straight despite another strong game from Jeff Garcia, who was 26-of-44 for 244 yards and two TDs. He even led San Francisco with 51 yards rushing. Owens caught eight passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

Faulk, the NFL's leader in total yards from scrimmage, rushed 19 times for 83 yards and caught six passes for 61 yards. Isaac Bruce had eight catches for 126 yards.

Tied 24-24, the game turned when Charlie Garner's 75-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter was called back on a holding penalty against 49ers center Jeremy Newberry. Az-Zahir Hakim returned San Francisco's resulting punt 30 yards, and Faulk slipped into the end zone four plays later to catch an expertly thrown pass by Green.

Green also led a 78-yard scoring drive late in the third quarter, hitting Faulk with an 18-yard TD pass that tied the game.

When San Francisco's Travis Jervey returned the opening kickoff 68 yards, it appeared the promised offensive fireworks show would come to pass. Garner scored on a 4-yard run just 95 seconds into the game.

But things settled down as neither team could establish a consistent rushing game and San Francisco's young secondary controlled the Rams' passing offense. Faulk didn't catch a pass in the first half as San Francisco grabbed a 17-14 lead.