Rams Notebook : Tight End Hill (260 Pounds) Goes Into Refrigerator Formation

Was that really 260-pound tight end David Hill playing fullback for the Rams on Sunday against the Packers?

“That was me,” Hill said. “Just ask my neck.”

The Rams, following the latest trend in refrigerator look-alikes, had Hill line up in front of Eric Dickerson on several plays against the Packers. The Rams call it The Stack.

But don’t start thinking of nicknames for Hill just yet. A running play for Hill isn’t even in the playbook.

In other words, his refrigerator is empty.

“Maybe when we close this thing (the division title) out,” Hill said of getting a chance to run. “Maybe they’ll give me a play for the Raiders’ game (Dec. 23). Maybe I can run into Howie Long.”

Lucky him.

For now, though, blocking for Dickerson has been a big pain in the neck.

“Pretty soon I’m not going to have a neck,” said Hill, trying to rub away some of the pain. “I’m going to look just like (offensive tackle) Irv Pankey.”

After Ron Brown’s second kickoff return for a touchdown, Packer Coach Forrest Gregg had seen enough. Green Bay kicked off two more times in the game, but the ball didn’t get anywhere near Brown. The first time the Packers tried an onside kick. The second time, kicker Al Del Greco punched the ball down the the right sideline toward the Rams’ other returner, Charles White.

Great strategy, huh?

“No,” Gregg said. “You can’t squib the ball every time or you give them the ball on the 35-yard line. When you kick deep you’re supposed to cover them and we just didn’t cover them.”

Or, in this case, it was a him--Ron Brown.

Green Bay rookie lineman Ken Ruettgers, who attended USC, returned to Southern California just in time to see the Rams get well.

“They may have been a little flat against Atlanta,” he said. “Everybody has been talking that Eric Dickerson isn’t having the year that he had before. I don’t know about that. Every team has their slumps. They played really good ball against us.”

The Rams haven’t had much success against the Packers in recent years. While the Rams lead the overall series, 35-22-1, Green Bay had won the last three meetings.

Asked if defeating the Packers in Anaheim Stadium made the victory more sweet, Dickerson said: “We haven’t beaten them since I’ve been here (since 1982). “We could beat them in Russia . . . I don’t care where we beat them.”

Dickerson gained 150 yards on 31 carries Sunday. It was the same total he had against the Seattle Seahawks earlier this year. Despite the similarities, Dickerson said he was more impressed with his and the Rams’ game against the Packers.

“This is the best game we’ve had as an offense since I’ve been back,” he said.

So much for the home field advantage. This from Green Bay quarterback Lynn Dickey:

“It’s not difficult playing here in Anaheim,” he said. “We just didn’t play well enough to win here today.”

Numbers to think about after Brown’s three-touchdown day:

--Each time Brown had the ball, he averaged about 39 yards.

--He has returned 15 kickoffs for an average of 36.4 yards. If he had three more returns (the NFL requires an average of 1 1/2 kickoff returns per game to qualify for league statistics), Brown most likely would be the NFL leader. Willie Gault of the Chicago Bears began Sunday as the league leader with a 29.5 average.

--According to Ram officials, Brown earned his first professional game ball. “I just get them, toss it to my mother and she catches it,” Brown said.

Brown received praise from Dickerson on two counts. One, Dickerson said Brown’s returns made it possible for the Rams to run a ball-control offense.

“Our offense can kind of do what we want to do,” Dickerson said. “Last week, we came into the game (a loss against Atlanta) and we wanted to run the ball 40 times. We ended running the ball 12 times (actually 13) between two backs.”

Dickerson, who returned kickoffs in high school--”And that’s where I want to leave it.”--also thanked Brown for volunteering for hazardous duty.

“You get a lot of knockout shots there,” he said.

Ram guard Dennis Harrah wonders if anyone will ever be satisfied with the Rams.

“What are we now, 9-3?” Harrah asked. “Is that our record? That’s not bad is it? But I’m sure someone will find something negative to say about us. I’m just going to enjoy it tonight.”

The first half closed with a bizarre sequence of events.

Dickey, driving in the closing seconds, called his last timeout after completing a 24-yard pass to Eddie Lee Ivery at the Ram 20-yard line. But he didn’t realize the Rams had been called for being offsides on the play, automatically stopping the clock with nine seconds remaining.

Dickey ran back onto the field to try to retract the timeout, but the Packers were charged, anyway, and referee Pat Haggerty ordered three seconds taken off the clock to compensate. The penalty was declined and Al Del Greco kicked a 38-yard field goal to make the score 14-10, Rams.

Ram Coach John Robinson argued long and loud with the officials.

“My contention was that the strategic advantage gained by it was more than three seconds,” Robinson said.

Moments later Del Greco executed an onside kick with one second remaining and recovered it himself. Since the ball is automatically dead if a member of the kicking team recovers it, no time expired and the Packers had time for one more play.

Dickey sent three receivers down the right side and Ram safety Nolan Cromwell knocked the pass down at the fou, but a penalty flag was thrown.

Pass interference against the Rams would have given the Packers yet another play from the four, with no time remaining, but the call was offensive (italic offensive) pass interference against James Lofton, one of the intended receivers.

The Rams’ Mike Lansford kicked field goals from 43 and 32 yards but also missed from 40 and 31, breaking a string of 11 straight from within 50.

The Rams didn’t need them, but Lansford said: “The scary part is that you never know when that’s going to happen. That’s what keeps you honest.”

On their last two series, the Rams were leading comfortably but still trying to score, although Green Bay was out of timeouts. On the first, they tried a pass to Henry Ellard in the end zone. The second series resulted in one of Lansford’s missed field goals.

Robinson was asked why the Rams just didn’t fall on the ball and let the clock run out.

“We got a little greedy,” he said. “We also wanted to keep that offense going, it had been so long. We also knew that when we got that last field goal the game was over. Then they had no chance. But it was greed, mostly.”