Brock Spends a Night in Hospital, Suffering From Small Kidney Stone
Ram quarterback Dieter Brock, suffering from a small kidney stone, admitted himself to Chapman General Hospital in Orange Sunday night following the Rams’ 28-14 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Brock was released Monday morning but was not at Rams Park Monday for team meetings.
By drinking an excess of fluids, Brock will try to pass the stone naturally by Wednesday.
“Hopefully, it will pass in a couple of days,” Brock said by phone from his home in Villa Park. “They’re going to take another X-ray Wednesday. Unless it flares up again, I hope it won’t be a problem.”
The alternative, Brock said, may be minor surgery. His status for this week’s game against New Orleans isn’t immediately known.
Brock said the stone didn’t bother him during Sunday’s game, in which he passed for 344 yards and set a Ram record for pass completions with 35.
But at home Sunday night, the pain intensified. Brock called the Ram team doctor, Toby Freedman, who told him to go to the hospital.
Brock received intravenous medication all night and said he felt groggy when reporters talked to him on Monday. The medication was to ease the pain, not dissolve the stone.
He was first bothered by the kidney stone the night before the Ram game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 20.
Monday, Brock managed to joke about a very painful subject.
When asked if his run-oriented coach, John Robinson, would even allow him to pass the stone, Brock replied: “Not unless we’re four touchdowns behind.”
The Rams not being able to run the football is like Flipper not being able to swim, right?
Well, it’s time to take a look at a fish out of water.
Can you name the running back who, in his last five games, has rushed for 26, 55, 75, 68 and 61 yards, respectively?
It is, in fact, Eric Dickerson or, as he’s becoming known around these parts, “Ol’ One-Yard And A Cloud of Dust.”
What’s wrong with Dickerson, the NFL’s rushing leader the past two seasons?
Or, to grasp the larger picture, what’s wrong with the Rams running offense, once one of the most feared weapons in football?
“There is not the crispness in the running game that there was early in the season,” Robinson said Monday. “It seems like we’ve taken a giant step backward.”
The Rams gained only 82 yards rushing in their loss to the San Francisco 49ers Sunday. They had only 130 total yards the week before and 134 yards two weeks before.
Dickerson, of course, missed all of training camp and the Rams’ first two games because of a contract dispute. There’s no denying he’s having his problems.
“Our lack of success (at running) is making him indecisive at times,” Robinson said. “Our lack of success is making us press.”
Robinson, who’s had a history of coaching great running football teams, is calling this the big “Running Game Slump.”
But don’t point the finger at Dickerson, he says. This is a team effort.
“Of the 15 plays we ran Sunday, there were different errors by different persons on every play,” he said. “We can’t get any rhythm with anything we’re doing. The frustration is mounting.”
No one has simple answers, though it’s probably a combination of factors, one being the various injuries to the line. Guard Dennis Harrah will return this week after spending a month on injured reserve with a torn thigh muscle. Tackle Bill Bain has been in and out of the lineup with assorted injuries.
Add this together with Dickerson’s late start and you end up with an offense with a severe case of the blocking blahs.
Dickerson, obviously concerned, didn’t want to talk about it Monday.
Some writers asked Dickerson between team meetings if he had a few minutes to spare for an interview.
“I don’t have 30 seconds,” he said. In other words, he had to run.
Just how meaningless are statistics? Let’s recap Sunday’s loss to the 49ers, a game San Francisco dominated from start to finish. The 49ers outgained the Rams in total offense by only 28 yards, 429 yards to 401. The Rams had more first downs (25 to 23) and more yards passing (344 to 303). Great game, huh?
“If someone just handed you the stats, you’d say it was an even game,” Robinson said. “But it wasn’t an even game at all. They kicked the hell out of us.”
And gee, who really had the better game at quarterback? Was it Brock (35 of 51 for 344 yards) or the 49ers’ Joe Montana (22 of 30 for 306 yards)? It was Montana, of course, though you wouldn’t know it unless you saw the game.
Ram Notes
The Rams defense, the best thing about the Rams so far this season, got quite a jolt when the 49ers scored 28 first-half points Sunday. Did the 49ers uncover the secret to moving the ball against one of the league’s stingiest defenses? “No,” Ram defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur said Monday. “We just didn’t do a good job of tackling.” In other words, don’t expect the Rams to panic and re-vamp their defense because of one game. “They picked on us a couple of times,” Shurmur said. “But they did nothing that people haven’t tried in the past.” . . . The Rams report no serious injuries from Sunday’s game. Guard Dennis Harrah, on injured reserve for the past month with a torn thigh muscle, returns this week. The Rams will have to make room for Harrah on the roster, but John Robinson said that decision won’t be made until later in the week.
