Raiders and Rams Come Through in a Clinch : Brock’s Four Strikes Shatter Cardinals, 46-14
Yogi Berra was wrong. This one was over before it was over.
The Rams blew out the St. Louis Cardinals Sunday with a 36-point first half on their way to a 46-14 victory.
It wrapped up the NFC West title with one game remaining, but that race was over last Monday night when the Rams arose from the dead to knock out the San Francisco 49ers. They seemed to return home before 52,052 with a new resolve.
Dieter Brock threw four touchdown passes, including a pair to tight end Tony Hunter, and Eric Dickerson ran for 124 yards and two touchdowns before Coach John Robinson called them off late in the third quarter.
The Rams, winning their first division title since 1979, which capped a string of seven straight titles, backed into this one like Patton backed into France.
“We’re the Western Division champions, and we deserve it,” Robinson said.
They’ll meet the NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs Jan. 4 or 5. All that is left to be determined is the site--and an encore regular-season finale against the Raiders at Anaheim next Monday night may settle that.
The Rams (11-4) will earn the home-field advantage if they defeat the Raiders, or if the 49ers (9-6) beat the Cowboys (10-5) at San Francisco next Sunday.
The Rams’ second freeway frolic with the Raiders since Al Davis moved his marauders from Oakland to Los Angeles needs no extra incentive. The Raiders beat the Rams, 37-31, at the Coliseum in 1982.
“I want to play those men in black,” Ram guard Dennis Harrah said. “I can’t wait to meet Howie Long out on the field. I know one thing--those boys will be coming after our butts. They like to embarrass people, and I don’t want to be one of the guys they embarrass.”
The Cardinals (5-10) drove 78 yards to a 7-0 lead with the opening kickoff. Halfback Stump Mitchell set up his own one-yard touchdown by throwing a 31-yard pass to Roy Green off a fake sweep to the right.
“That was very scary,” Robinson said.
But the Rams, producing their top total offense of the season with 425 yards, scored the next 43 points and left the buzzards circling over the heads of St. Louis Coach Jim Hanifan and his team, which was rated a Super Bowl contender only three months ago.
The Rams put it away with three touchdowns in the last five minutes of the half in posting their highest point total and largest margin of victory since 1980, their post-Super Bowl season.
Brock, completing 13 of 20 passes for 216 yards, with no interceptions, threw scoring passes to wide receivers Ron Brown for 13 yards and Henry Ellard for 43 after discarding running plays sent in by the bench. Both times he caught the St. Louis safeties creeping up to play the run and hit the receivers on quick slants into the middle.
His 47-yard pass-and-run play down the middle to Hunter was the result of a “read” and a blown coverage by the Cardinals. Hunter also caught a three-yard toss in the end zone for the final touchdown.
Receivers Coach Lew Erber said of Brock: “That guy’s as good as (any quarterback) I’ve ever been around at (reading defenses) at the line of scrimmage. He sees it and he feels it.”
Those Erber has been around include Ken Stabler, Jim Plunkett and John Brodie.
“We knew they were going to press us with the safeties blitzing,” Erber said. “He (Brock) did a great job.”
Dickerson said: “They tried to play eight-man fronts some, but we burned ‘em for touchdowns when they did.”
And when the Cardinals backed off to defend the pass, Dickerson’s blockers had more room to work, providing him with his best support of the season--”for sure,” he said.
The Ram defense was all over the Cardinals after St. Louis’ opening success. At halftime, Dickerson had more yards rushing (109) than the Cardinals had in total offense (80). For the game, St. Louis quarterback Neil Lomax was 9 of 18 for 100 yards and was sacked four times--twice by end Gary Jeter, once each by Shawn Miller and Dennis Harrison--before Hanifan switched to Scott Brunner in the final quarter.
Lomax’s day hit the pits in the second quarter when he missed a handoff in the end zone, fumbled, fell on the ball and was tagged for a safety by Reggie Doss. The Rams scored about every way possible.
Brunner was even less effective than Lomax against the Ram reserves, throwing two passes that were intercepted by backup Ram safety Tim Fox, who dropped a third one in the end zone.
Dickerson, who scored on runs of one and two yards, became the third Ram runner to top 5,000 career yards (5,049) and moved to second on the club’s all-time touchdown list with 46, behind Elroy Hirsch’s 55.
The best thing the Cardinals did was to keep the ball away from Brown on three kickoffs. They tried a couple of squibs, one of which Brown returned for 14 yards, and finally an onside kick that Jim Laughlin of the Rams gobbled up at the St. Louis 45-yard line.
Even then, they seemed relieved at avoiding Brown’s fourth scoring kickoff return of the season.
Otherwise, the Rams’ special teams--their most consistent unit all season--maintained their high level of play. Rookie Dale Hatcher had to punt only three times but dropped two inside the Cardinal 20.
The safety was set up when Mike Lansford’s kickoff glanced off J.T. Smith’s foot and rolled out of bounds at the one-yard line.
Lansford was Smith’s chief tormentor. He also knocked the ball loose from the Cardinal kickoff returner with his first unassisted tackle of the season, Nolan Cromwell recovering for the Rams.
The victory raised the Rams’ home record to 6-1. The Cardinals have lost seven straight on the road. They close out at home against Washington on Saturday.
Hanifan said: “They (the Rams) moved up and down the damn field, and we were just hanging on for dear life. I don’t think our team quit. If they had, the score might have been 70-14.”
Mitchell, who was held to 69 yards in 18 rushing attempts, said: “They put a lot of pressure on Neil, and we couldn’t protect him. Things just snowballed after that.”
The Cardinal defense sacked Brock only once and took the NFL lead in touchdown passes allowed at 33.
The Rams played without center Doug Smith, who went on injured reserve with an undiagnosed nerve problem Saturday, and without free safety Johnnie Johnson, who has a sore hamstring but probably will play against the Raiders.
Harrah, hurting with a partially torn calf muscle, left after the first half, allowing Bill Bain and Russ Bolinger to get some game time.
Rookie linebacker Kevin Greene played left end in the nickel defense for the first time, replacing Doug Reed, but the Rams had no other significant new wrinkles.
“We blocked well,” Robinson said. “Eric had some places to run and ran very aggressively.”
Robinson also praised the play of Brock, something he has done almost every week, with the exception of the New Orleans game two weeks ago.
“There’s no question,” Brock said, “if anybody’s been behind me, he’s the one.”
The 34-year-old refugee from the Canadian Football League also hinted that he was winning the run-minded Robinson over to his air-minded philosophy.
“He’s got to the point where he’s more at ease with the passing game,” Brock said, “and more at ease with me throwing the football.”
The Rams are assured of their best regular-season record under Robinson, after 10-6 and 9-7 records in his first two seasons.
“I think our team’s coming on,” he said, “playing with a lot of life and enthusiasm. We’re looking forward to the Raider game. They’re the champions of their division, so it’ll be great.
“I defy anybody to evaluate the teams in the playoffs, other than Chicago. I would like to play at home, (but) it doesn’t matter, really.”
If the Rams go no farther, Jeter will have had his best season in his nine years as a pro--the first six with the New York Giants.
Jeter said that when he awakened Sunday morning he thought to himself: “This is it, man. This is as close as you’ve ever been.”
He explained: “I haven’t won a title of any kind since college. I tried to seize the opportunity.”
Brock said: “It’s a little premature to be talking about the Super Bowl.”
Harrah, a captain and team leader since Jack Youngblood retired, said: “We still have a lot of hard work ahead of us. I’m not going to jump up and down (even if he could) patting myself on the back.”
Ellard said: “I think we’ve got a little respect since we clinched today. They’ll look at us a little more seriously.”
Dickerson said Sunday’s win meant that the Rams won’t be playing in the wild-card game Dec. 29. He phoned home to his Great Aunt Viola in Sealy, Tex., last week.
“I told her if we won this one, I’d be home for Christmas.”
So will the Cardinals, but it won’t be the same.