Rams mirror '99 team with win

Kicker Jeff Wilkins, former YSU standout, sprained his left ankle in the first half.
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The St. Louis Rams want to party again like it's 1999.
The Greatest Show on Turf won the Super Bowl that season, and the kind of big plays that marked that team's championship highlighted Monday night's 28-21 victory over Tampa Bay.
A defense that had only two takeaways in five games got four against the Buccaneers, including Adam Archuleta's 93-yard fumble runback. Torry Holt, a rookie in '99 and now an All-Pro receiver, had two long touchdown receptions.
One week after a sensational comeback win in Seattle in which the Rams began to look like, well, the Rams, Archuleta believes the team is ready to go on a roll.
"We need some consecutive wins," the safety said. "We have had a couple of tough games and we've been battling the entire season. We're just trying to get on a run."
Fumble return
Archuleta ran untouched down the sideline after stripping Michael Pittman of the ball. It was the biggest of a bunch of takeaways, giving the Rams a 21-14 lead.
"That's something we wanted to establish as a defense," Archuleta said. "We hadn't been getting turnovers through the preseason and the first few games."
Holt, who had a 52-yard TD reception on the first series, got the winning points on a 36-yard pass, beating double coverage with 10:46 remaining. Holt finished with six catches for 124 yards.
He'd like nothing better than to have the Rams of 2004 turn into the Rams of five years ago.
"We put it together tonight for some big plays," Holt said. "I wish we could wind it back to '99 and make it look easy. But now it's a challenge to us as football players and as a team to get those big plays."
Marc Bulger threw for 264 yards and Marshall Faulk's 1-yard run gave him 100 career touchdowns rushing, the sixth player in league history to do that. Top draft pick Steven Jackson split backfield chores with Faulk and contributed 78 yards overall.
Keeping it close
The game stayed close in part because Brian Griese and Michael Clayton had big nights for Tampa Bay.
Griese finished 27-of-40 for 286 yards and Clayton had eight receptions for 142 yards.
The Bucs got to the St. Louis 15 on the final drive, but Aeneas Williams forced Tim Brown's fumble and Jerametrius Butler recovered.
Former Youngstown State standout, Rams kicker Jeff Wilkins, sprained his left ankle in the first half and missed two field goals. Martin Gramatica missed two for Tampa Bay.