ST. LOUIS -- Last season, Kurt Warner had the NFL wrapped around his right pinky. A former Arena Leaguer, Warner threw 41 touchdown passes and was Super Bowl MVP.

	Kurt Warner is at the controls of a fantasy team come to life.

A freak snap by backup center Steve Everitt broke his right pinky on Oct. 22 and seemed to snap his good luck. A four-interception return in a 16-3 loss to the Panthers raised questions about his demise. Internally, Rams management became concerned enough to investigate plans to keeping Trent Green next season, knowing that the two quarterbacks would eat up $6.6 million of cap room.

Reports of Warner's fall were premature and stupid. Warner only let the football hit the TWA Dome turf five times in an incredible performance Sunday in whipping the Vikings 40-29. He completed 27 of 32 attempts for 346 yards. True, he didn't throw a touchdown pass. Frankly, he didn't care.

"I don't know," Warner asked a St. Louis beat writer about reports of his demise being premature. "Were you saying that? I take criticism with a grain of salt. It doesn't affect the way you play. You never like to hear people say things about you, that you can't do this or can't do that. You hate that, but you can't dwell on that."

Despite missing five games because of the broken pinky, critics seemed to dwell more on his 14 interceptions than his 18 touchdown passes. Last year, he threw only 13 interceptions in 16 starts.

"It was frustrating being five weeks on the bench," Warner said. "It was a long time since I played the way I'm capable of playing."

	On Target
	Kurt Warner completed 84.4 percent of his passes against Minnesota, tying him with Joe Montana for the fourth-best single-game completion percentage in NFL history, based on a minimum of 30 attempts. Here's how Warner compares to the rest of the top five, including a performance by by Oakland QB Rich Gannon earlier this season.
	Date	QB	Comp-Att, Pct.
	1/2/83	K. Anderson	27-31, 87.1%
	9/4/83	L. Dickey	27-31, 87.1%
	10/15/00	R. Gannon	28-33, 84.8%
	12/10/00	K. Warner	27-32, 84.4%
	9/25/83	J. Montana	27-32, 84.4%

Last Sunday's 16-3 loss to the Panthers made him focus more. "I felt we had a great week in practice," Warner said. "I don't know if there were any practices where the ball hit the ground more than three times."

Critics may have questioned Warner. The Vikings didn't. They came out with a three-man defensive line for the first time this season and dropped eight players, including four linebackers, into pass coverage. Warner picked them apart.

He rifled a 15-yard slant pass to Isaac Bruce to open the game. Twice, he hit Marshall Faulk in the middle of the field with completions of eight and 16 yards. By his sixth consecutive completion, Vikings coach Dennis Green junked the 3-4 scheme after falling behind 7-0 on an 80-yard Rams drive in which Warner had 75 through the air.

"Talking to Kurt, anytime you're a player of that caliber or stature and you have a misfire like he had last week, you are so anxious to get back out there and redeem yourself," Rams coach Mike Martz said. "He was chomping at the bit all week. At practice, he was locked and loaded and he played like it."

Said halfback Marshall Faulk, "That is Kurt. That is what we are used to. There were things that happened last week, and we just couldn't dig ourselves out of it. We came out with that fire today."

Warner accomplished this with not only his arm but his leadership. He showed confidence from the first play of the game, and his teammates followed.

"I wish I could have played last Monday right after the game," Warner said. "I wanted to prove to everybody that that was not me and that is not the way I'm going to play. It's my job to lead this team and they are going to follow."

	“	I wish I could have played last Monday right after the game. I wanted to prove to everybody that that was not me and that is not the way I'm going to play. It's my job to lead this team and they are going to follow. ”
		— Kurt Warner, Rams quarterback

Still, it seemed strange to see a 40-point Rams game and Warner have no touchdown passes. Though they had the swagger back, they twice failed to convert touchdowns near the end zone and had to settle for Jeff Wilkins field goals. In the second quarter, one drive stalled at the Vikings' 8-yard line because Torry Holt was covered in the back of the end zone.

The Rams' offensive play-calling got a little too cute on the next possession. They had a third-and-2 at the Vikings' 3, and they spread the field with five wide receivers. Instead of throwing, Warner tried a quarterback draw and was stopped at the 2.

"The big thing is that we played well and we didn't make mistakes," Warner said. "Last week was a physical thing, and we felt we can correct that."

Next Monday night, though, Warner faces a tougher defense against the Buccaneers in a must-win situation.

"You can't ever doubt yourself," Warner said. Those who did doubt him were wrong.

John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.