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"The way this entire year has gone, as a player," Aeneas Williams was saying, "I don't know if you could script it any better to have an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl."

Until now, the closest the Rams cornerback had gotten to a Super Bowl (besides the five in the Louisiana Superdome when he was growing up in New Orleans) was six years ago. That's when the Super Bowl sort of came to him -- played in Sun Devil Stadium just down the road from his Phoenix home.

Williams was with Arizona then, halfway through a decade of futility with the Cardinals. He could have left in 1996 when he became an unrestricted free agent. Jacksonville offered a five-year, $17-million contract. The Cardinals matched it. He stayed.

From 1991-2000 he was a six-time Pro Bowl selection on a team with a 56-114 record, five last-place finishes, four head coaches and one winning season.

"I never focused on the losses," he said. "When you focus on the negative side it diminishes your zeal for playing the game."

Still, it was bad enough that Williams told the Cardinals last season he would retire if they didn't trade him or otherwise let him get out of town.

He became a free agent, but Arizona designated him its franchise player, meaning teams unable to pass on him during the season likely would pass on him in the offseason because of the compensation required.

On April 21, just hours before the start of the draft, the Rams acquired Williams in exchange for second- and fourth-round picks.

The Cardinals wound up with cornerback Michael Stone (seven games, no starts, no interceptions), defensive tackle Marcus Bell (13 games, no starts, one-half sack) and another losing season.

And the Rams took the reins off Williams.

"In Arizona," he said, "I was locked on one particular receiver, but what (Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith) and the staff give me is a chance to move around. I blitz sometimes. Sometimes I am at safety. So it really affords the freedom to do a number of things.

"The main thing is to be around and have the opportunity to be where the ball is. That is probably the biggest difference, they put me in a position now where I am able to be around the ball a lot."

Like Sunday against Green Bay, when Williams intercepted Brett Favre twice and returned both for touchdowns.

As an added bonus, the Rams had themselves another a leader, a player worth listening to and emulating.

"He's one of the oldest players we have," Smith told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Williams turns 34 Tuesday). "But he writes down every word at meetings. This is an All-Pro player doing this. Young players see him doing it, and before long, it becomes habit."

Rams wide receiver Ricky Proehl and Williams were Cardinals teammates from 1991-94. "He's always been one of those guys that led by example," Proehl said. "And seeing him over the years and playing with him again now, he's still a guy that leads by example.

"He doesn't say a whole lot, but when he does say something, everybody listens. He demands that kind of respect. He definitely has it from our team. Even though this is his first year, what he's done with Pro Bowls and what he stands for sends a message."

The message Williams sent to quarterbacks was as simple as a stretch of two-lane blacktop: pass at your own risk. His season produced a seventh invitation to the Pro Bowl, 73 tackles, four interceptions (two for touchdowns) and Sunday's pair of picks for scores. And this Sunday, his first trip to a conference championship.

It also helped the Rams improve their pass defense from 27th in the league last season to 10th and reduce their touchdown passes allowed from 32 to 16.

"I don't believe there is such a thing as a "shutdown corner,' " coach Mike Martz said, "but you'd have to almost use that term with him. He comes as close to it as you can imagine."

Fellow cornerback Dre Bly said he "might have been one of the happiest guys when I found out that he was coming here, because he's a Hall of Fame-type guy who works so hard, especially off the field. ... He's a guy who prepares himself every day as if it's his last game, and I think that's why he's been so successful throughout his career."

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