John Robinson One of the Few Impressed With Play of Brock

Considering that John Robinson has had nine quarterbacks in 10 years as a head coach, Dieter Brock could be just a passing fancy.

In seven years at USC and three with the Rams, Robinson was unable to form lasting relationships with his quarterbacks, who kept changing with the annual fashion trends. What’s new in the fall line?

This year it’s a 34-year-old rookie with a strong arm but legs of lead, and Robinson says he’s going to keep him around. He can’t understand why when people try to explain the Rams’ 6-0 start despite minimal impact by Eric Dickerson, few mention special teams or Dieter Brock.

“It’s almost as if they don’t count,” Robinson says.

It’s time to accept Brock, the Canadian Football League refugee, among the elite of National Football League quarterbacks, Robinson says.

“Particularly, after seeing (Miami’s Dan) Marino Monday night and (San Francisco’s Joe) Montana last weekend,” Robinson said.

Robinson said that over the last three games Brock, by completing 73% of his attempts, has the highest passing rating in the league (108.8). Robinson concedes that the offense has become better balanced over that span, but no more productive because the running attack, stunted by Dickerson’s holdout and injuries to the line, has dropped off about 40 yards a game.

But what is a balanced offense, anyway?

If it’s the number of runs compared to the number of passes, the ’85 Rams would register “tilt.” The Rams are running 59.5% of the time, highest in the league, and close to the 60.2% last season that Robinson hoped to correct.

But Robinson’s definition of balance is “a club that can take advantage of what’s presented to it. I don’t think it’s the pass-run ratio at all. The offense I would like is, if we can beat you to death with the run, we’ll do that, and if we can pass you to death, we’ll do that.”

Robinson is convinced Brock could do that, although he senses that most people aren’t. They look at the seven sacks of Tampa as evidence of infirmity, with Brock standing interminably rooted to the ground until (a) the throw or (b) the sack.

Robinson: “One of the arts of the game is to wait until the last instant before throwing the ball. After standing there a long time, he has come up with any number of good plays.”

And 21 sacks.

Robinson said: “You think it’s insecurity and uncertainty. I think it’s a tough guy standing in there under severe pressure trying to make a play.”

The Rams had to give up the ball after three of the seven sacks at Tampa. But after three of the other four, Brock got up and completed important passes. That’s the quality that interested Robinson when he studied Brock on film last winter.

“We’ve been saying all along he’s here to compete,” he said. “Anybody who’s going to make him give up had better bring a gun.

“He is not a scrambler, but people have a perception of him that he doesn’t read defenses and doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Critics say Brock locks in on his primary receiver and misses others that might be open.

Robinson loses his patience and demands: “Who says that? I don’t know who our primary receiver is.”

Brock remains soft-spoken and seemingly unaffected by all the talk--negative and positive. He won’t really say anything to cultivate a controversy--at least not to the U.S. media.

Although he’s from Alabama, he may be less wary of the Canadian press after 11 seasons in the CFL. Last weekend, before the Tampa Bay game, he spoke with Dick Bacon of the Montreal Gazette, who asked the same questions U.S. journalists have been asking: How difficult has it been to adjust to a different size field? A different number of players? Different rules?

“To be honest with you, it’s just another season for me,” Brock said. “I haven’t taken it any different than I’ve been playing in Canada. I’m taking the same attitude about it. I come to play. I practice hard. I learn what I’m supposed to do.

“As far as dropping back and reading coverages, it hasn’t been that big an adjustment for me. The big difference may be in the offensive line and the defensive line--bigger people. The receivers I had in Canada are as good as . . . there’s not that much difference in what I’ve got here.

“To me, it wasn’t that big of a deal. A lot of people are gonna make it a big deal.”

The only difficult adjustment, Brock said, has been learning to play a different style of offense in which the pass is not primary.

“John Robinson had really stressed how we were gonna get some balance in the offense,” Brock told Bacon. “Now, I haven’t seen that yet. I know we can throw the football. We have some good stuff in the offense. It’s just a matter of using it. Twenty times the last two weeks. It’s gone down. The first game was 29, then to 24 to 20.

“It’s kind of like a running back. If you don’t throw the ball much, you’re not gonna be in a rhythm. That’s the only thing that concerns me. I know if I threw the ball 30 or 35 times a game, I could be successful doing that.

“But the thing is, this team is gonna run first and throw second. We’re not ever gonna throw the ball a lot. We’re just gonna try to make the most of when we do throw it. That’s just John Robinson’s style. It’s gonna be hard to break that. He’s been doing it his whole career, too.”

Robinson leaves little doubt that his philosophy is fixed.

“I had great fear with Eric gone that we would lose our ethic about running the ball,” he said. “I was petrified by that. I’m happy to say it didn’t happen.”