Bummed-Out Saints Will Try to Take Rams’ Minds Off 49ers
If this is Dec. 1, it must be the New Orleans Saints, but in a lot of minds the Rams (9-3) are playing the San Francisco 49ers (7-5).
They’ve been playing them every week since the defending Super Bowl champions started stripping away the Rams’ four-game lead in the NFC West with a 28-14 trouncing at Anaheim five games ago, and now the Rams are left partially disrobed as division title contenders with half that advantage and four games remaining.
They’ll play the 49ers for real at Candlestick Park a week from Monday on a night that will test the Rams’ worth, regardless of what happens today.
But first things first. The Rams, losing their third game in four weeks, fell into a trap in Atlanta two weeks ago, after the 49ers lost at Denver the previous Monday night.
“I think we were seduced a little bit prior to Atlanta by the Monday night 49er game,” Coach John Robinson said. “ ‘Oh, boy, they lost.’ It made you relax a little. We were injured and we were tired and it was the second trip East in two weeks--that kind of stuff--but the thing we were most concerned with, that I got involved with, was the 49er game. Instead of saying, ‘If we don’t beat Atlanta, we’re in trouble,’ and meaning it, we gave lip service to it.
“That’s one of a lot of distractions--trying to get another team to take care of your business for you. I think we resolved as a team after Atlanta that we weren’t gonna worry about anybody else.”
The Rams won’t be distracted by the scoreboard today. The 49ers’ game at Washington won’t start until this one is about over.
Captain Dennis Harrah, asked if he was thinking about the 49ers’ hot pursuit, said: “To tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought about ‘em until you mentioned it. I hope we learned our lesson in those four weeks.”
But the 49ers keep creeping into other Ram minds. Even Robinson commented a few days ago, “The 49ers could have a tough game this week.”
Defensive end Reggie Doss said: “You can’t help thinking about ‘em. We had the opportunity a few weeks ago to put ‘em out, but we let those games slip away.
“The feeling is that we’ve got to win each game. The pressure’s on. . . . Our backs are against the wall.”
Backs against the wall? With a two-game lead? With the second-best record in the National Football League?
“All we have to do is beat New Orleans and San Francisco and it’s over,” Robinson said, somewhat oversimplifying the task.
He believes the loss to Atlanta got his players’ attention.
“After the shock of what happened in Atlanta, and what happened to the Jets (Thursday at Detroit), and what St. Louis did to Dallas a month ago, that’s what makes every win so precious,” he said. “What I feel is that we’re gonna close out the season playing as hard as we can each time.
“We’re trying to say, ‘It’s the stretch drive, baby, let’s go.’ There is that feeling.”
The feeling in New Orleans is more difficult to figure. Even people close to the Saints (4-8) aren’t sure how they are going to respond to the abrupt resignation of Coach Bum Phillips six days ago and the sacking of three front office executives by the new owner, Tom Benson.
“Objectively, you’d have to think it’s negative,” Robinson said. “It can’t be positive. There’s a chance the team might be able to say, ‘OK, we’ll show ‘em.’ If they got off fast (in the game) they might turn it around. But initially it would be negative.”
Doss said: “It seems like when we go in and physically dominate ‘em for the first quarter and maybe get a couple touchdowns ahead, they kind of just like die.
“I don’t know if they’re gonna try to win it for Bum or not, but it’s gonna be real physical. I’m almost positive they’re gonna try to run it down our throats.”
Robinson agreed. “I think they’re gonna come out with two tight ends and give the ball to Earl Campbell 40 times,” he said. “If they can control the football against us that way, it’s gonna be a very close game.”
That’s what the Falcons did with Gerald Riggs on another day when the Rams were looking the other way.
Ram Notes A rumor published in New Orleans had Jack Faulkner, the Rams’ administrator of football operations, as a candidate to become the Saints’ new general manager. Faulkner said: “I don’t know anything about it.” . . . Earl Campbell, brought from Houston by his old coach early last season, had his best game in Bum Phillips’ swan song at Minnesota last Sunday, rushing 35 times for 160 yards as the Saints broke a six-game losing streak, 30-23. . . . The Saints’ starting quarterback will be Bobby Hebert, who played for Oakland in the United States Football League last season. He only watched at Anaheim Nov. 3 when the Rams sacked Dave Wilson seven times and Richard Todd twice in a 28-10 victory. . . . The Rams rank 24th in offense and sixth in defense, the Saints 25th and 23rd.