By Dave Goldberg
The Associated Press

Nothing makes more sense in this wacky season than what happened Sunday in St. Louis. The Rams, the NFL's biggest flop, got their first win against the unbeaten Oakland Raiders.

The 28-13 victory by St. Louis simply demonstrates that on some days, the breaks will finally be with you. Except, perhaps for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Consider:

- Rich Gannon's first pass goes 53 yards to Jerry Rice. Ho hum. Except that the Raiders go for it on fourth-and-1 from the St. Louis 3 and the play is stuffed. Third-string quarterback Marc Bulger, making his first NFL start, then marches the Rams 97 yards. The drive is capped by his 7-yard pass to Isaac Bruce to give St. Louis a 7-0 lead.

- In the second quarter, the Raiders punt but are penalized for an illegal man downfield. So they punt again and Terrence Wilkins - who had failed until Sunday to fill the shoes of the departed Az-Zahir Hakim - returns it 55 yards to the Oakland 15. On the next play, Bulger finds Isaac Bruce for a 13-yard touchdown pass.

- In the third quarter, the Raiders are closing in. Sebastian Janikowski misses a field-goal attempt from 35 yards, Three plays later, Marshall Faulk breaks loose for 40 yards, setting up a 10-yard TD pass he catches from Bulger early in the fourth quarter.

Go back to the summer of 2000.

Martz is sitting with a beer in his office at the Rams' training camp at Macomb, Ill., schmoozing to a couple of visitors about his favorite subject: quarterbacks.

"I really like a kid named Bulger from West Virginia," he said at one point. "I worked him out before the draft, and then the Saints took him."

The Saints cut him, in part because they acquired Aaron Brooks in a trade with Green Bay. The Rams signed him last year, but he was inactive for every game. With Kurt Warner out with a broken pinkie and backup Jamie Martin having injured a knee last week, Martz started Bulger on Sunday.

"Marc's had a heck of a week of practice," Martz said Friday. "If he plays like he practices, we'll be fine."

They were.

Bulger passed for 186 yards and three TDs and scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. He didn't turn over the ball, taking sacks when he had to.

With Bulger out there, Martz had no choice but to give the ball to Faulk, something his critics had been demanding. All he did was gain 158 yards on 25 carries (losing a few in garbage time) and catch four passes for 22 yards.

The defense played well, too, better than it has all season. And when Grant Williams, filling in for the injured Orlando Pace, broke his leg in the second quarter, the offensive line protected Bulger reasonably well and opened holes for Faulk.

There's still time for the Rams to go 11-5.

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EMMITT'S CRAWL: Emmitt Smith ran for 59 yards on 13 carries Sunday as the Cowboys edged the Panthers 14-13. That gives him 365 yards on the season, 175 short of Walter Payton's career record of 16,726 yards rushing.

Smith has been remarkably consistent this season.

He's had between 52 and 70 yards in every game. He's had no fewer than 11 carries and no more than 18 in any game.

That puts him on course to break the record in Detroit on Nov. 3. The Cowboys are at Arizona next week, then host Seattle. At the pace he's going, Smith would need a breakout game (100-plus yards) to get the record before the trip to Michigan.

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