Kerry Collins was the can't-miss kid against the suddenly vulnerable St. Louis Rams.

Collins completed 14 of his first 15 passes as the New York Giants built a 17-point second-quarter lead and held on for a 26-21 victory over the defending NFC champions Sunday.

The error-prone Rams are 0-2 for the first time since they went 4-12 in 1998, the year before Kurt Warner led them to their first Super Bowl title. St. Louis' offense has produced 37 points in two games, and the Rams have trailed at the half in their last four games, including a 14-3 deficit in their loss to the Patriots in the last Super Bowl.

Jason Sehorn scored his fourth career touchdown on a 31-yard interception return, and Matt Bryant kicked four field goals for the Giants (1-1). Bryant is 6-for-6 this season.

Marshall Faulk fueled the Rams' second-half comeback with a pair of touchdowns and finished with 87 yards on 14 carries. But he was stuffed on 4th-and-inches and fumbled. Michael Strahan recovered at the Rams' 40 with 2:53 left.

The Rams got the ball back, but William Peterson sealed the victory when he intercepted an underthrown ball from Warner at the St. Louis with 1:43 to go.

Warner was 26-of-39 for 266 yards and two interceptions.

Collins, who threw three interceptions in the Giants' narrow opening loss to San Francisco, was 22-for-26 for 307 yards and kept his mistakes to a minimum against a defense that gave him plenty of time to pick his targets.

Adam Archuleta picked off a tipped pass in the third quarter to give the Rams the ball at the Giants' 37. St. Louis trailed only 20-14, but Warner fumbled it back two plays later at the New York 17.

Collins connected on all but one of his 12 first-half passes for 146 yards, leading the Giants to 195 yards in total offense and a 17-7 halftime lead.

Faulk cut the gap to a point on a 1-yard run on the Rams' opening drive of the second half, and his second-effort 8-yarder got his team to 23-21 with 8:24 remaining.

New York had to settle for a 20-yard field goal from Bryant on its first possession of the game, but the Giants followed with another impressive drive, capped by a 28-yard touchdown pass from Collins to rookie tight end Jeremy Shockey, who easily outran linebacker Tommy Polley on a sideline pattern for a 10-0 lead.

Sehorn's interception return of a ball tipped by Kenny Holmes, who had a sack earlier in the same series, gave the Giants a 17-0 lead with 9:44 to go in the half.

The Rams finally got on the scoreboard with a 6-yard pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl, who caught a ball thrown well behind him with 4:38 to go.

St. Louis blew a few scoring opportunities: Jeff Wilkins was wide left on a 34-yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter, two plays after a false start penalty negated a 20-yard touchdown pass to Faulk. A delay of game call effectively ended a drive late in the half.