ST. LOUIS, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner played with their usual efficiency, Ricky Proehl produced key plays and cornerback Aeneas Williams led another stellar defensive effort Sunday as the St. Louis Rams rolled to a 27-14 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
St. Louis beat San Francisco for the sixth straight time and advanced to 10-2, claiming a one-game lead over the 49ers in the NFC West.
Despite the 49ers' struggles with St. Louis over the last three years, San Francisco safety Lance Schulters had the nerve to label the Rams receivers as, "soft because they don't want to run over the middle and get hit."
"We have great respect for Lance. We think he is one of the premier safeties in the league and I understand those comments because he is very competitive," Rams coach Mike Martz said. "We also use it occasionally to get guys going a little bit."
Proehl especially disproved Schulters' statement, catching six passes for 109 yards, with most of them coming over the middle. One of them was a 15-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
"We're a pretty humble crew and we like to do our talking on the field," Proehl said. "We didn't let it (Schulters' comments) affect us. We went out and played hard and let our play take care of itself."
Often lost in St. Louis' stable of receivers, the 12-year veteran has 526 career receptions and is known for his willingness to make plays in the middle of the field. Proehl's 100-yard game was his first in three years.
"He's a guy that may not get a lot of playing time, but when you need him, he always comes up big," Warner said of Proehl.
"Everything just seemed to go my way today," Proehl said. "When you have such great receivers like Isaac (Bruce), Torry (Holt), (Az-Zahir) Hakim, Marshall, somebody's going to be open and today was my day."
Niners backup running back Kevan Barlow also mugged for the cameras before the game, saying "we're No. 1 in the NFC and they're about to find out."
Instead, the Niners again could not handle St. Louis' myriad of offensive weapons. San Francisco quarterback Jeff Garcia, running back Garrison Hearst and receiver Terrell Owens did little.
Faulk rushed for 88 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown, and caught a three-yard scoring pass, and Warner completed 26 of 42 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns.
Garcia threw for just 146 yards with two interceptions and Hearst was held to 39 yards on 11 carries.
"They did a great job all day defensively," Garcia said. "There's nothing you can take away from them as a defensive unit. We never established a running game, never took control of the line of scrimmage. We couldn't attack their two-deep zone and we just couldn't get anything going. They were a step ahead of us it seemed every single play."
Blanketed by Williams most of the day, Owens finished with three catches for 54 yards.
"They're a heckuva football team," Niners coach Steve Mariucci said. "If this is a battle for first place, then they proved they're the first-place team and we're the second-place team."
All of the ingredients were there for a shootout with the NFC's top scoring offenses, but the Rams rank first in the conference in total defense and flustered the Niners for the second time this season.
In a 30-26 win at San Francisco in September, Garcia passed for only 121 yards and Williams held Owens to five catches for 51 yards.
Warner passed for 321 yards and three touchdowns and Faulk totaled 184 yards in that game.
In five career starts against the Niners, Warner has completed 115 of 174 passes for 1,533 yards and 13 touchdowns with six interceptions.
With 3,636 passing yards, Warner has already surpassed his total of 3,429 last season.
Garcia's struggles were best exemplified in San Francisco's first possession. After overthrowing a pass intended for Owens on the Niners' first play, Garcia completed a three-yard pass to rookie tight end Eric Johnson. But on third and seven, Garcia tossed a pass to his right in the face of an intense pass rush, Williams cut in front of Owens and picked it off and returned it 11 yards to the San Francisco 26.
Rams linebacker London Fletcher was penalized for unnecessary roughness for hitting Owens in the helmet while the receiver was down on the field following the interception, pushing St. Louis back to the 41.
After reaching the 35, Jeff Wilkins converted a 53-yard field goal with 12:31 left in the quarter, but San Francisco was penalized for an illegal substitution, giving the Rams a first down at the San Francisco 30.
The Rams then converted two short fourth-down plays on runs by Faulk. On a fourth and one at the 21, Faulk gained two yards off right tackle. On the second fuorth and one at the 10, Warner could have earned an Academy Award with a fake timeout. With Faulk lined up behind him, Warner walked backward, ripped off his chinstrap and faked a timeout. While the Niners defense appeared to relax, the ball was directly snapped to Faulk, who ran up the middle for four yards.
"They have to have some kind of award for that," Martz said of the fake by Warner. "He did a great job. Maybe he overacted a little bit. The chinstrap was a bit much."
On the next play, Faulk took a pitch to the right, cut inside and raced into the end zone for a six-yard touchdown with 8:23 left in the first quarter.
