The Dieter Meter Is Going Upward : Robinson Says He Was Partly to Blame for All the Knocks Brock Was Taking

A visitor to Southern California last week might have been puzzled by the public censure being directed at one of the community’s prominent citizens.

“What did this guy do, steal the Christmas fund from the orphans’ home?” the visitor might have asked.

“Worse,” would have been the reply. “He played quarterback for the Rams when they lost to New Orleans.”

It was so bad for a while that Dieter Brock almost went back to using his real first name, Ralph.

One columnist went so far as to write that Brock couldn’t play quarterback for a Pop Warner League team, but Brock wasn’t without his defenders.

“Yes, he could,” they said.

Then Monday night in San Francisco, when Brock showed that he could also play quarterback for the Rams and beat the San Francisco 49ers in the process, Joe Namath, who had blistered him on another telecast in September, was moved to comment: “I like Dieter. I think he’s a good quarterback. He’s just playing in an archaic offense.”

Said Brock: “I guess he felt sorry for me.”

It’s a long-standing tradition to roast Ram quarterbacks, but for most of the season leading up to last week’s peak, Brock was discussed in terms usually reserved for purse snatchers.

Ram Coach John Robinson said: “He’s been taking the worst shots I’ve ever seen a guy take. There’s been some pretty ugly things said. It got to the point where it was an ‘in’ thing to knock Dieter Brock.

“He’s played quarterback in 13 games, had major surgery in the middle of it and won 10 of those. He’s had to overcome a lot of problems--and I’ve probably been one of the biggest.”

The Rams rank next to last in passing in the National Football League, mostly because they have thrown the ball less than anyone else. Personally, Brock ranks considerably higher--14th among NFL passers--but the heat has been focused on him.

Robinson blames himself for (a) rushing Brock back into action after he’d missed only one game to have a kidney stone removed, and (b) failing to let Brock play his kind of game--the passing game.

“In my mind, our offense wasn’t doing what we talked about doing in the off-season,” Brock said this week. “You can take it a lot better when you’re winning. Still, there was that thought, ‘Why aren’t we doing some of the things we worked on out here for two months after I signed?’ ”

Robinson intended to have a wide-open passing attack this season. At least he said he did.

“I suppose from what we started out to do, somewhere we got off the trail,” Robinson said.

“We went through that stretch where we were so defensive-oriented that we probably played the game too conservatively. But we were winning that way while struggling on offense, so I was very hesitant to change it.”

But the situation became desperate when the defeat at New Orleans reduced the Ram lead over the 49ers in the NFC West to one game. Robinson indicated to reporters the next day that he was considering changing quarterbacks at San Francisco--without telling the quarterbacks.

Brock’s wife, Kathy, said: “He was kind of hard to live with last week.”

Brock said: “I’m always tough to live with after we lose.”

Especially after he has been yanked for the first time in his memory.

But this was different. Robinson, who had been his steadfast defender all season, suddenly seemed to be doubting him. Because they wouldn’t play until Monday night, the players had two days off after the New Orleans game. For Brock, they were two long days.

“I didn’t relax too much because I was thinking about what was going on,” he said. “I was thinking about going over and talking to him (Robinson). There were some things I wanted to tell him.”

So, he did. Brock wouldn’t say what he told Robinson--but Kathy did.

“He told Robinson he was just doing the same thing that Jeff (Kemp) did last year, (that) anybody can go in there and hand off,” she said.

Brock is the third quarterback to lead the Rams into the playoffs in three years under Robinson. If the Rams beat St. Louis at Anaheim Sunday, or the Raiders a week from Monday--or if the 49ers lose to New Orleans or Dallas--he’ll be the first to lead them to a division title since 1979.

“I’ve enjoyed the year,” he said. “Winning takes care of a lot of things. Overall, I feel like I’ve done what’s been asked of me, (although) not as much as I’d like to.”

The criticism, he said, hasn’t been as rough as it was when he walked out on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in ’82 in an effort to break his contract or force a trade, but it’s been bad enough.

“Last week, when we lost to New Orleans, after the week before we’d beaten Green Bay pretty good, they were putting all the blame on that one game,” he said. “And all on me, it seemed like.

“Then all that stuff started with you guys thinking he was going to make a quarterback change. I was thinking, ‘How can I go from having a really good game to being not worth a (bleep), all in one week?’ I just didn’t think I was that damn bad.”

His only interception in that game occurred when receiver Ron Brown stopped running as Brock released the ball to where Brown should have been. But he was better in San Francisco, despite a disastrous first quarter, when he was sacked twice and the Rams produced a minus 15 yards.

“I kept saying, ‘I’m not going to worry. I’m going to keep playing,’ ” he said. “I can remember telling myself that on the sideline: ‘Get it going. Just keep firing away. Whatever happens at the end, we’ll deal with it then.’ ”

Eventually, the coaches signaled in a couple of pass plays. Long pass plays. Brock considered calling time out to make sure he had read the signals right.

Instead, he just threw them. Henry Ellard caught one in the end zone but stepped out of bounds. Later, Ellard caught one on a tip from 49er cornerback Ronnie Lott to tie the game.

Brock said: “You get lucky sometimes and come up with some of those. We’ve had a couple of close calls in the end zone that we haven’t got. To be able to make some big plays, you have to give it a chance. If you don’t give it a chance, you won’t ever come up with any.”

Brock is starting to sell Robinson on that philosophy.

“My whole premise has always been that if you run the ball well, everything comes,” Robinson said. “I think he’s becoming a very strong manager of our team. He understands the game very well. The 49ers tried a lot of (confusing) stuff, and he picked it up easily.

“Probably the thing that sticks out in my mind the most is how competitive he is and how hard he’s played. The most inglorious days he’s had he was victimized, either by me or poor performance by the team.”

Brock played at Atlanta only 13 days after his surgery.

“I probably made an error in playing him so soon,” Robinson said. “If that had been one of the favored guys in the league, it would have been made up as the eighth wonder of the world. (Team doctor) Bob Kerlan said that was the most amazing comeback he’d ever seen.”

One rap on Brock is that he gets sacked too much--44 times in 14 games so far.

“I don’t like to take the sacks, but there are times when it’s best to take it,” he said. “What’s worse: getting picked off or having a sack?”

The wives of Kemp and Brock sit together at home games--the home-grown Californian and the newcomer from Birmingham.

“Stacy and Kathy have become real good friends,” Kemp said. “Tuesday, Dieter and I had to baby-sit because Stacy took Kathy to some fashion show luncheon.”

The Brocks bought a home in Villa Park right away and will live there year-round, raising their three daughters. This will be their first Christmas away from Alabama. They still like California, despite the rude reception Brock received.

Kathy Brock said the media criticism has bothered her more than the fans booing her husband.

“Dieter expected to have to prove to the players, coaches and fans what he could do,” she said. “But he didn’t expect the media to come down so hard.”

Kemp said: “For him, coming from Canada, where there wasn’t as much of it, it may have caught him by surprise.

“Quarterback is the one position that is probably most similar to what L.A. is used to in terms of a star . You can draw a parallel to all the movie or TV stars the city is used to.”

Kemp said his first impression of Brock hasn’t changed.

“Very quiet, and basically, I was surprised to see someone who could be so focused on football without really being distracted or even seemingly interested in other things,” Kemp said. “It was just football, football, football.”

Said Kathy Brock: “We just kind of go through football (season) without him. He’s always been that way.”

Brock brings home game films to watch almost every night. He returned home from San Francisco at about midnight last Monday and stayed up to watch a videotape of the game.

“He was so happy and wound up he couldn’t have gone to sleep, anyway,” Kathy said.

The Brocks don’t subscribe to a paper.

“If there’s something lying around, I’ll pick it up and read it,” Brock said. “It’s not that I’m afraid to read it, but some of the stuff that’s been in there kind of gets you down, if you let it, just at that moment. ‘Gosh, how can he write that?’ But I forget about it right away.”

Ram Notes Center Doug Smith, who has been experiencing mysterious numbness and disorientation in recent weeks, was declared out of Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Anaheim. Tony Slaton will start again, with guard Dennis Harrah listed as the emergency backup. Coach John Robinson said that Russ Bolinger is a future possibility at center. Bolinger, on injured reserve since he broke an arm in the fourth game, started working out in pads this week and should be mended before the playoffs. . . . Fans may contribute to the Toys for Tots program Sunday by bringing new, unwrapped toys to the game. . . . The Rams fell 14,300 tickets short of a sellout at the deadline for lifting the local TV blackout Thursday.

‘I’ve enjoyed the year. Winning takes care of a lot of things. Overall, I feel like I’ve done what’s been asked of me, (although) not as much as I’d like to.’