Rams, 49ers Have That Ol’ Monday Motivation

Anyone who watched Eric Dickerson and the Rams demolish the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, Sept. 23, but hadn’t seen them since, must wonder whatever became of that fine football team.

That would apply most to the other players and coaches around the National Football League who don’t get to see one another play very often.

That’s the special motivation about playing on Monday night: your peers are watching.

“It’s an amazing factor, something every player thinks about,” says Ram tight end David Hill. “It’s very rare to see a Monday night football game played badly by either side. A lot of tension is put on Monday night. No matter what you do the rest of the year, people remember how you played in that game.”

Certainly, the Rams would not like to be remembered for the way they played at New Orleans last week, when they were beaten, 29-3.

“The most shocking game of my career,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “My worst loss in terms of not knowing what happened.”

It was so bad that radio station KMPC, groping for highlights, has been using Mike Lansford’s field goal as a promo all week. That game, coupled with the 49ers’ 35-8 win at Washington, put first place in the NFC West on the line at Candlestick Park tonight.

The Rams (9-4) once led by four games, but the 49ers (8-5) have chopped that down to one by winning five of their last six while the Rams were losing four, fumbling for the ripcord all the way. Their fall started with a 28-14 loss to the 49ers Oct. 27 and they still haven’t recovered from the shock.

“It’s a test of character,” Hill says. “It’s important not to make it so important that you can’t function. San Francisco has a lot on the line here, too.”

One thing the Rams have going for them is their success at Candlestick, where they have won 15 and tied one in their last 18 appearances. Also, Dickerson has had some of his best games on Monday night, averaging 144.8 yards in four appearances.

But 49er quarterback Joe Montana has had some of his best games against the Rams, with a career record of 7-2, 17 touchdown passes and only two interceptions. The Rams haven’t intercepted him in 210 passes since 1982.

Tonight’s result won’t settle the issue, but a 49er win would give them the inside track by virtue of sweeping the series, which is the first tiebreaker consideration.

If the Rams win and gain a split, their magic number to clinch would be one--a win over the Cardinals or Raiders in their last two games or a 49er loss to the Saints or Cowboys.

“These kind of games are the most fun,” Robinson says. “We’ve got our backs to the wall, as the 49ers do.”

San Francisco Coach Bill Walsh says: “All I know is that this is one of the most intense rivalries in football, and that the Rams have had a great season and we’re battling uphill all the way. We’re the team that’s behind.”

Robinson believes Walsh’s concern is sincere.

“I’d be worried, too,” the Ram coach says. “He’s one game behind going into the biggest game of the season.”

Others point out that if the Rams had been offered a one-game lead with three to play before the season started, they would have grabbed it.

But, realistically, they haven’t been playing like a first-place team since that loss to the 49ers. Aside from their play on special teams, they have seemed uncertain and uptight, a condition reflected in two key statistics: their offense has been so tentative that they fell to last in NFL passing last week, and their defense is playing so cautiously that it has bagged only nine turnovers in the last six games.

The 49ers haven’t been playing as well as in their surge to the Super Bowl last season, but at least they have been playing with more confidence than the Rams.

“There’s been a state of tension,” says Robinson, who spent the past week looking for ways to loosen the shackles of apprehension binding his squad. His problem isn’t to motivate his team but to get its confidence back.

“The head coach becomes important when you’re in trouble,” Robinson says. “When things are going well, he’s superfluous.”

An objective tonight is to blunt the 49ers’ typical fast start. At Anaheim, the 49ers scored on three of their first four possessions in building a 28-0 halftime lead.

“We’ve got to attack from the beginning of this game, come out of the locker room ready to attack, rather than absorbing their attack,” Robinson says.

That could mean more Ram passes on first down, instead of the customary handoff to Dickerson, and some long passes to the elusive Henry Ellard and the player the Rams call the fastest man in football, Ron Brown.

To Ram fans, Dieter Brock’s strong right arm remains a rumor. He has completed 59.3% of his passes, only one-tenth off Vince Ferragamo’s club record for a season, but has rarely been given the green light to go deep.

Robinson says the press over-reacted when he seemed to be considering a switch to Jeff Kemp last week, but he also criticized Brock’s tendencies to take short dropbacks and then hold the ball too long--reasons he gave for Brock’s 42 sacks.

However, he plans to leave the game in Brock’s hands tonight. Kemp received minimal work with the offense in practice last week.

“We’ve got to be able to eliminate the sacks we’ve had,” Brock says. “We’ve (also) got to be less predictable. It seems like teams know when we’re gonna run, and it puts a lot more pressure on our offensive line to protect when teams know we’re gonna throw in certain situations. We need to open it up a little bit more.”

Robinson concedes: “I think there are some predictable things. When you’re a quarterback, you like to use the element of surprise in passing.”

There is no guarantee the Rams would win even if they opened up and played their best game. The 49ers’ defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown in 14 quarters and, overall, the 49ers may still be the better team.

But the Rams would like their peers to think they gave it their best shot.

Ram Notes Wide receiver Bobby Duckworth is under a one-game suspension for missing the trip to New Orleans, but the Rams did not activate anybody to take his roster spot. . . . The Rams would clinch a wild-card playoff spot with a win tonight.