Cardinals’ Hopes Buried, but Rams Must Still Dig In
There was only one point of interest when the Rams played the Houston Oilers in their next-to-last game a year ago: Eric Dickerson’s assault on O.J. Simpson’s rushing record.
The Rams’ wild-card playoff ticket was secure, the San Francisco 49ers had the division title in the bank, and the opponents were out of it.
Today’s opponents at Anaheim Stadium, the St. Louis Cardinals, are like the ’84 Oilers--they’ve gone down three times and come up twice--but the rest of the Rams’ talk is about titles, not totals.
Dickerson, with 1,012 yards, is 830 off his ’84 pace. Not only will he not win his third straight National Football League rushing title, but he may not even be selected for the Pro Bowl when the league’s players vote next week.
Somehow, the prospect doesn’t disturb him.
“It’s nice to go to the Pro Bowl, but my main goal is to go to the Super Bowl,” he said.
Dickerson is the sixth-leading rusher in the NFC, ninth in the NFL. After missing the season’s first two games during his holdout, his average per game is down 47.3 yards, from 131.6 to 84.3.
He had the second-best day of his career, 208 yards, and best average, 9.9 in 21 rushes, at St. Louis last season, but Dickerson says he isn’t preoccupied with numbers. The press, he says, is more obsessed with his statistics than he is.
He lectured some reporters this week: “If you all would sit down and look at the films or TV, you would see nine men at the line of scrimmage and seven men to block ‘em. They’re giving us impossible odds.”
Defenses also were stacked against Dickerson last season, when he rushed for 2,105 yards. “But not quite as much,” he said. “And we handled it better.”
Ram Coach John Robinson said: “It’s been a long struggle for him. All along he’s tried his best, and I think he will play extremely well down the stretch.
“We have to win this game, and from then on we play playoff teams. The Raiders (a week from Monday) are a playoff team. Last Monday night we played the team (San Francisco) that I consider right now the best team in the league.”
The Cardinals are not a playoff team, but the Rams (10-4) can clinch the title in the NFC West by beating them--unless the Saints do them a favor by defeating the 49ers (8-6) in a game at New Orleans that will start three hours earlier.
Either way, Dickerson said, would be a relief.
“We wouldn’t have to go into the last game against the Raiders to win the division,” he said.
The Cardinals (5-9) are front-runners for one award: NFL flop of the year. Prominent in preseason Super Bowl speculation, they won three of their first four games, then encountered two four-game tailspins broken by a shocking Monday night win over Dallas, 21-10, and last week’s 28-16 win over the Saints.
One of the major newspapers covering the Cardinals folded. They’ll have a traveling press corps of two at Anaheim today. Then the league told them they couldn’t wear the full-length maroon socks they wore when they snapped their losing streak last week.
“Everything’s kind of gone wrong for them,” Robinson said. “They’ve had injuries. They have the weapons to be a very effective offensive team, an excellent passing team. The best receiver in football, when he’s healthy, is Roy Green. They’re coming back some. they’re starting to score again. We’re nervous about that.”
Green, slowed and sometimes sidelined by toe and ankle injuries, is playing at about 75% of his ’84 All-Pro form and has caught only 41 passes for four touchdowns.
Quarterback Neil Lomax has had an erratic season, with statistics similar to those of the Rams’ Dieter Brock, and Lomax has been sacked even more times, 53.
Defensively, the Cardinals rank 14th but have only 28 sacks and 13 interceptions--half as many as the Rams--and have given up 29 touchdown passes, second only to Atlanta.
Before the season, they looked better than that. The difference between them and the Rams now may be in something Robinson said.
“This is a 16-game survival course,” the Ram coach said. “The guys that can come back like we did are the ones that will succeed.”
Ram Notes
The Rams Saturday placed center Doug Smith on injured reserve and activated utility lineman Russ Bolinger, who had been on injured reserve since the fourth game with a broken arm. Smith, who has an undiagnosed nerve problem, would be eligible to come off injured reserve if the Rams reach the NFC title game. Guard Dennis Harrah has a strained calf muscle but was expected to start today, with Bolinger in reserve. Vince Newsome was expected to start at free safety for Johnnie Johnson, who has a sore hamstring. . . . The Rams defeated the Cardinals in the exhibition season, 39-7, and are 5-1 at home. The Cardinals have lost their last six on the road. . . . The Rams’ playoff possibilities: With a 10-4 record, they are assured of at least a wild-card berth. They can clinch the NFC West title with one more victory or one San Francisco loss. They also would assure themselves of opening the playoffs at home Jan. 4 or 5 against the NFC East champion by finishing with a better record than the Dallas Cowboys (9-5) and the New York Giants (9-5). If they finish with the same record as the NFC East champion, they will travel, unless the champion is Washington (8-6). They have the tiebreaker edge against the Washington Redskins but not against the Cowboys and Giants. But the Redskins can win that division title only if the Cowboys and Giants tie today and both lose next week. . . . Today is Toys for Tots day. Fans may bring new, unwrapped toys to be distributed to needy children for Christmas.