HENRY ELLARD : Rams Receiver Will Settle for Passing Dreams

Now pleeeeeease Coach John Robinson, don’t take this the wrong way.

Your talented wide receiver, Henry Ellard, isn’t complaining.

He’d be the last one to walk into your office and pout about something as trivial as how many catches he had last week.

Receptions? Who needs them?

Besides, Ellard loves the Rams and wouldn’t want to catch you on a bad day and end up having dinner that night in Denver with former tight end Mike Barber.

It’s just that, well, every once in a while, Ellard wonders what it would be like to play for a team that throws the ball on third and 20.

. . . . (fade to daydream) . . . Attention All Editors! Flash! . . . SAN DIEGO--Quarterback Dan Fouts on Sunday threw for 658 yards and 7 touchdowns, 6 going to Henry Ellard, but it still wasn’t enough as the Buffalo Bills rallied for 50 points in the fourth quarter to nip the Chargers, 68-67, before a crowd . . . . . . (Announcer) Welcome back to the Orange Bowl, ladies and gentlemen. It’s first and 10, and the Dolphins have the ball on their own one-yard line. Miami, naturally, shifts into its no-back offense. Dan Marino fades back to pass, he’s looking deeeeeeeep for Ellard and he’s got him at the 40. You can forget it pal, Ellard’s going all the way!!!!!

“You know, sometimes I think about that,” Ellard said. “You see receivers like (Marks) Clayton and Duper in Miami, and I wonder what I would have done if I was in that situation. You wonder what you might do if you caught the ball 60 or 70 times a season. It’s nice to think about something like that.”

Ellard usually does his heavy thinking in between blocking drills for Eric Dickerson.

Let the truth be known, Henry Ellard is quickly being acknowledged as one of the great break-away receivers in the National Football League today.

Anyone who saw his 64-yard run and aerobic dance to the end zone two weeks ago against Atlanta would attest to that.

Ellard is in his third season and has already been to the Pro Bowl as a punt returner. Billy (White Shoes) Johnson, of the Falcons, the reigning King of NFL Punt Returners, is already lauding Ellard as the second-coming of himself.

It seems the only thing keeping Ellard from having a street named after him is his lacking number of at-bats.

So what does it take to be a great receiver these days? Well, last season, Art Monk of the Washington Redskins caught 109 passes. Todd Christensen of the Raiders had 80. The Cardinals’ Roy Green had 78, Clayton 73. Henry Ellard had 34. So far this season, he has 16. . . .

It’s no secret that Gen. Robinson prefers to win a war on the field with his ground troops. He adheres to the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy in football.

The Rams went to the playoffs the last two seasons because they had the best back in football in Dickerson. And Gen. Robinson wasn’t afraid to send him to the front.

And there’s no denying the Rams are 5-0 this season, so who’s complaining?

Well, Dickerson for one. He called the Rams bland offense “vanilla” after last Sunday’s win over Minnesota (Note: Dickerson was not later dealt to Denver).

All trading aside, Robinson really does recognize the talent of Ellard and vows to get the ball in his hands a little more as the season progresses.

“He’s one of those big-play guys,” Robinson said. “Our object is to give him 10 opportunities a game to get his hands on the football. That’s what we’re shooting for.”

But, remember, Ellard isn’t really complaining. The fact that he’s not on a roadside billboard yet isn’t keeping him awake at night.

And besides, Anaheim seems like Hollywood when you grew up in Fresno.

“It (notoriety) is coming along, slowly but surely, as the seasons go by, “ Ellard said almost poetically as he prepared for the Rams meeting Sunday in Tampa against the Buccaneers. “And that’s better than coming all at once. There’s a lot more pressure that way. I like it this way. I don’t like a whole lot of attention on myself. I don’t thrive on it.”

But Ellard did have to undergo an attitude adjustment when he signed with the Rams.

In his senior season at Fresno State, Ellard caught 62 passes for 1,510 yards and 15 touchdowns. The Bulldogs loved to pass, and Ellard just loved it.

But Ellard came to the Rams the same year Dickerson did, so it took a while before people started remembering his name.

It didn’t help that Ellard held out for more money before his first training camp only to spend most of his rookie season in the training room (bad hamstring, bad shoulder, bad karma).

“Everyone wanted to know how good Henry Ellard was and why he held out,” Ellard said. “But there I was sitting on the sideline, thinking people were saying, ‘This guy ain’t nothing, he’s always getting hurt.’ It was kind of hard to accept.”

It’s a safe bet that Ellard has been accepted now into the Rams fraternity.

His catch and run against Atlanta was a thing of beauty, something you’d expect from Lynn Swann. It was more poetic than athletic.

“I actually didn’t know what I did until I looked at the video,” Ellard said. “There were a couple of moves I made that I didn’t know I made. I don’t know exactly what my feet are doing. Sometimes I amaze myself with some of the things I do. I have to run the film over and over and see myself do it. It’s a good feeling.”

Not for cornerbacks. And there’s more bad news. As if Ellard isn’t graceful enough, he’s thinking of taking up dance in the off-season to help improve his pirouettes to the end zone.

“I’ve thought of taking some ballet classes,” Ellard said. “For one thing it would help flexibility, and being a wide receiver, gracefulness is a part of it, being smooth through your pass routes. It has something to do with ballet and dance.”

You can guess the next question.

“No, I would hope I would never actually have to put the leotards on,” Ellard quickly said, picking up his cue. Just think, though, Robinson could be a fan of Swan Lake and might give Ellard the lead in his offense.

It just could mean more passes.

“Here?” Ellard said as he looked around Rams Park as if someone had just said a dirty word. “That would be nice. But when you’ve got a weapon like Eric Dickerson, you have to use him. I have to take a secondary role.”

And Ellard thus proved that he’s not only fast, he’s wise, too.