HERE THEY GO AGAIN : Ram Controversy at Quarterback : Brock to Start in Exhibition Opener, but That Doesn’t Make Kemp No. 2

The quarterback controversy, an enduring feature of the Rams’ 40 years in Southern California, recycles once more with the introduction of Dieter Brock at Anaheim Saturday night.

The 34-year-old repatriate from the Canadian Football League is scheduled to start the 40th Times Charity Game against the Houston Oilers.

Coach John Robinson, trying to minimize great expectations, said: “I would prefer Saturday night not be the culmination of his (Brock’s) career. I don’t think any of us has the ability to watch one game and say, ‘He can make it,’ or, ‘He can’t make it.’

“But I still have to be a judge. If Jeff Kemp (the incumbent) is a better quarterback than Dieter Brock, we’ll play Jeff Kemp (in the regular season).”

Few people--except perhaps Kemp--doubt that Brock also will start the season opener against the Denver Broncos Sept. 8. That’s why the Rams decided to pay Brock a lot of money and trade Vince Ferragamo to Buffalo.

Robinson said he based his decision to start Brock this week on his judgment that “he’s playing the best (in practice)--plus, there’s a curiosity factor. Everybody wants to see him, including me.”

But if the position is indeed competitive, as Robinson implies, it starts with Advantage, Kemp: a familiar game on a familiar field with familiar teammates and familiar plays.

Brock, a native of Birmingham, Ala., will be playing his first game under American rules and on American soil in 11 years.

“The last game was the Senior Bowl in 1974,” said Brock, a product of Jacksonville (Ala.) State. “I wasn’t very impressive. We got beat the last play of the game when Lynn Swann caught a touchdown pass.”

Swann was representing USC on his way to a successful National Football League career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I don’t even remember who threw the pass,” Brock said. “Danny White (of the Dallas Cowboys) was the other quarterback on our team.”

From there Brock went to the Winnipeg Jets, where he spent 9 1/2 seasons and won two CFL Most Valuable Player awards until a contract dispute sent him to the Hamilton Tiger Cats in 1983.

Saturday’s rival quarterback, Warren Moon of the Oilers, remembers Brock well from his own six seasons with Edmonton in the CFL. Moon moved to the NFL last year.

“When I first started watching him when I got up there, he was more of a deep passer,” Moon said by phone from training camp at San Angelo, Tex. “One of the knocks against him was that he didn’t go for the short ball enough.

“After my first two years they changed coaches at Winnipeg, and he became a more efficient quarterback because he started dumping the ball off and using his backs a lot more.

“He always had the ability to go up the field deep, so it really made him tough to stop. He was using everyone in the offense.”

Brock talked to Moon after signing with the Rams.

“I told him to try to get into town as early as possible and start learning the offense,” Moon said, “because he has been up in the Canadian league for a long time, and the philosophy of the game is a lot different.

“There’s more situational football down here. It’s more like a chess game down here, where you’re trying to outfox your opponent. The field is broken up into different zones--nickel, short yardage--and all those situations require different plays and personnel, (with) the defense changing constantly.”

Brock said Wednesday: “I feel like I know everybody and I feel pretty comfortable with our offense.”

Robinson said: “I think he understands what we’re doing. Once in a while the vocabulary may mess him up a little.”

Another problem is learning the signals assistant coach Bruce Snyder uses on the sideline. The Ram quarterbacks don’t call their own plays.

“I’ve never had that before,” Brock said. “It’s something I’ve got to get used to. I feel like I know most of them. There may be a few that are confusing to me. But now that I’ve got the game plan, I’ll start trying to memorize all the signals.”

Although speculation concedes Brock the starting assignment, he feels he is still playing catch-up with Kemp.

“It’s still very competitive, and I’m sure it will stay that way for a while,” he said.