Advertisement

Rams Notebook : Rams Scorched by Bay Area Media : Written Off as ‘Losers’ in Showdown Against the 49ers

Share
<i> Times Staff Writer </i>

Some Bay area media members who had written off the San Francisco 49ers when they were 3-4 going into the first game against the 7-0 Rams have done a U-turn.

Now they’re writing off the Rams before tonight’s rematch at Candlestick Park.

The San Francisco Examiner has been running a Page One box daily counting down to the game, reminiscent of the coverage during last January’s run to the Super Bowl.

The general tone, according to a Ram advance man, is “looking at the game as a slam-dunk (and) the Rams being led to the slaughter.”

Advertisement

Tom FitzGerald of the Chronicle wrote: “ . . . it’s still Halloween for the Los Angeles Rams, who seem to be bobbing for apples and gagging on them. . . . it’s tempting to say the Rams could spare themselves a lot of time, expense and agony by mailing in the loss.”

Columnist Lowell Cohn of the Chronicle: “The 49ers will win the championship of the NFC West. . . . The self-destructive Rams will swing open the door, lie down and ask the 49ers to please walk in, making sure to step right on their throats. . . . They will kick the Rams out into the street with the other NFC West losers, where they belong, and slam the door in their miserable faces.

“It is a fine and lovely thing that the 49ers can beat a bunch of marshmallows like the Rams, but for this season to amount to anything, they will have to whip the Bears (in the playoffs).”

Forty-Niner guard Randy Cross said after last week’s 35-8 win at Washington, after the Rams had lost at New Orleans, 29-3: “I think the pitter-patter at the Rams’ back has turned into thunder.”

Coach Bill Walsh was the only one saying nice things about the Rams, but he’s supposed to.

“Generally, we have a lot of respect for every team we play,” Walsh said. “We have great respect for the Rams . . . a team that is a hard-hitting team but a team that certainly is really legitimate sportsmen, too. You don’t see dirty play from the Rams, just clean, hard-hitting games, and I’d like to think the 49ers are the same way.”

Some Rams were asked for their reactions to the negative stuff.

Linebacker Jim Collins: “We ought to put that on our bulletin board.”

Offensive tackle Irv Pankey: “I don’t read the papers.”

Guard Kent Hill: “We’re still gonna play Monday night, right?”

The Saints’ new interim coach, Wade Phillips, was asked what he thought of the game.

“Don’t discount the Rams,” he said. “We may have woken ‘em up.”

The Rams figure one key to beating the 49ers is to prevent them from getting off to a typical fast start. One way to do that is to win the coin toss.

Advertisement

As the visiting team, the Rams will have the privilege of calling the toss, and they have given it some serious thought.

“We have given the coin toss to Jackie Slater,” said Dennis Harrah, one of the four captains. “He’s the most religious of the four, a strong and active Christian. We figure he’ll be talking to the right Person.”

Harrah has called three coin tosses this season and lost all three.

“I was talking to the wrong guy,” he said.

Wide receiver Bobby Duckworth is under a one-game suspension for missing the trip to New Orleans last week but will accompany the team to San Francisco, anyway--presuming he makes the plane, of course.

Duckworth told Coach John Robinson that he tried to get another flight but could only get standby reservations, so he gave up and watched the game from San Diego without trying to phone the Rams.

“What Bobby did was a dumb thing on his part,” Robinson said. “It also was a serious thing. In my own mind, I had no choice (but to fine and suspend him).”

Two of the big plays that shot down the Rams at New Orleans appeared to be the fault of the quarterbacks, but close inspection of the tapes shows they were partly victims of their teammates’ errors.

Advertisement

The Rams were trailing, 12-3, when Dieter Brock threw an interception to Johnnie Poe instead of the intended receiver, Ron Brown.

What wasn’t immediately evident was that Brown, coming across the middle, suddenly stopped in his tracks as Brock released the ball, giving Poe an easy chance where Brown was supposed to be.

That was Brock’s last play. Minutes later, Jeff Kemp fumbled when sacked by linebacker James Haynes, and linebacker Jack Del Rio recovered on a bounce and ran for a touchdown.

Eric Dickerson confessed later: “That was my fault. I missed the block on Haynes and let Jeff get blindsided.”

The Rams’ passing offense ranks last in the National Football League. What’s wrong?

One expert on the passing game, Bill Walsh, offered this opinion:

“Personnel-wise, they haven’t put together the passing combinations we have because they’ve changed quarterbacks, and rightfully so, from (Vince) Ferragamo and (Jeff) Kemp, and now (Dieter) Brock appears to be their man.

“I think you’ll see steady improvement as the players work together over a period of time. That’s where we’ve had whatever success we’ve had. I just hope it doesn’t fully mature until this season’s over.”

Advertisement

Dwight Hicks, the 49ers’ left cornerback, said Brock might still be having trouble adjusting from 11 years in Canada.

“The dimensions of the field might be hampering him,” Hicks said. “He’s used to a wide-open field. But when he gets time to find his receivers, he puts ‘em in there better than any quarterback in this league.”

Advertisement