Winless Rams say Bulger will start against Oakland

ST. LOUIS -- The winless Rams continued their quarterback shuffle Friday, tapping Marc Bulger to make his first NFL regular-season start Sunday against the undefeated Oakland Raiders.

Bulger, who has never taken a snap in a regular-season game, will step in for Jamie Martin, who had replaced injured starter Kurt Warner. Martin sat out most of this week's practices while nursing a bruised left knee.

"Marc's had a heck of a week of practice," Rams coach Mike Martz said of the 25-year-old Bulger, the New Orleans Saints' sixth-round pick out of West Virginia in the 2000 draft. "If he plays like he practices, we'll be fine."

Bulger got the lion's share of the playing time in the preseason for the Rams (0-5), who then were protecting Warner for the regular season and had backup Martin out much of the time with an injured shoulder. Bulger threw twice as many passes as Warner, 85-46, completing 67 percent with three touchdowns and three interceptions.

"All the practice time I got, and the game time especially, helped," Bulger said Friday before being named the starter for a team off to its worst start in nearly four decades. "And we've been running a variation of the same stuff for four or five weeks, and a little bit last year, so between last year and the preseason it helped me out a little."

After being told he'll be under center Sunday against the Raiders (4-0), Bulger insisted he's ready.

"I don't know what else you could want," he said. "It's a great opportunity for me to play. At the same time it's a great opportunity for our team to finally get a win. No one in this locker room feels that we're out of it by any stretch."

Martin, who was to have made his third NFL start with Warner on the mend with a broken finger on this throwing hand, injured his knee in last Sunday's 37-13 loss at San Francisco.

Martin, 32, had fluid drained from the knee Thursday but apparently won't be recovered in time for Sunday's game against the Raiders, the NFL's lone unbeaten team.

In stepping for Warner during a loss to Dallas, Martin was 24-of-37 for 262 yards with a touchdown and an interception, nearly identical to his 232 yards on 23-of-40 passing last week against the 49ers, with a touchdown and two interceptions.

The Raiders' 162 points puts them on pace to score 648 points this season which would obliterate the Rams' high of 540 points set in 2000. Oakland's Rich Gannon leads the NFL with a passer rating of 104.

"We need to play mistake-free football, obviously, and not give up big plays on defense. And we've got to make some big plays on offense, obviously. We can do that," Martz said. "We can't turn the ball over, not against a good team. We just can't do that. So protect the ball."

Through five games, the Rams have six takeaways but 15 turnovers -- only Minnesota has a worse differential.