He Makes His Stand in Corner : Mickey Sutton Arrives on Scene to Shore Up Ailing Ram Secondary
Mickey Sutton arrived in town so late that the Rams didn’t even have time to get his name or mug shot in the media guide.
One day it seemed Mickey wasn’t here and the next he was starting cornerback for the Rams.
No one was really sure how or why.
Rams Coach John Robinson compared Sutton with the mythical baseball player, Shoeless Joe Hardy.
“He just kind of came out of nowhere,” Robinson said.
And Robinson was right. It turns out Sutton played two years in the United States Football League.
Still, starting Sutton at right cornerback didn’t make much sense. But that’s where he lined up when the Ram defense took the field against the Houston Oilers last Tuesday night.
And before you knew it, he was running back the opening kickoff 34 yards. It was Sutton getting beat deep for a touchdown. It was Sutton recovering a fumble to set up a touchdown. It was Sutton returning another kick 55 yards to set up another. “I was happy to get the opportunity,” Sutton said. “It couldn’t have worked out better.”
As is often the case, Sutton got the opportunity at the expense of others. The Rams’ secondary has been riddled with injury in training camp. Safety Johnnie Johnson is recovering from minor knee surgery. All-Pro cornerback LeRoy Irvin is hobbling on a bad ankle. Cornerback Gary Green is out for the year and maybe forever with a bad disc in his neck.
It was a good time to be Mickey Sutton.
“He’s been very good,” said Rams secondary coach Steve Shafer, the man who found Sutton. “He’s been impressive from the first day.”
It turns out this was one of those friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend stories.
Shafer knew a friend (Pokey Allen) of Sutton’s agent, Ken Stanniger, who’s based in Montana.
Allen told Shafer about Sutton, and, after doing some homework, the Rams signed him to a free-agent contract in early May.
With the season-ending injury to Green, it appears that Sutton is going to be responsible for more than just working out the wide receivers.
Sutton is fighting with defensive backs Elbert Watts and Lucious Smith for a spot on the team, but Sutton seems to have an early edge.
He was burned deep by the Oilers’ Drew Hill for a 61-yard touchdown, but the Rams kept throwing Sutton back in.
When the team lost Green, a four-time Pro Bowler, you might have expected the Rams to scream for help. But they kept talking about how they had guys like Sutton to pick up the slack.
“That was really good to hear that they’re not in a panic state,” Sutton said. “It shows that they have confidence in you. And you want to show them they’re right.”
Sutton played at the University of Montana and then for Hamilton in the Canadian Football League. After the Tigercats released him in 1983, Sutton signed with the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL. When that franchise folded a year later, he was picked up by the Birmingham Stallions for the 1985 season before becoming a free agent.
In Birmingham, Sutton got the chance to guard former NFL receiver Jim Smith every day in practice.
That didn’t hurt, either.
“He was a quality NFL receiver,” Sutton said of Smith. “It was a good experience for me. This is what I’ve worked for. I want to come in and be successful.”
Sutton isn’t exactly the guy you want tackling the tight end. He’s only 5-foot 8-inches and 165 pounds, but he relies on quickness and positioning to make up for his size.
The Oilers worked the young cornerback to death in the opener. On Hill’s touchdown, Sutton said he just read the wrong coverage.
“It’s a demanding position, and everyone knows it,” Sutton said. “I made a mistake and they scored a touchdown. But you have to keep your confidence. You can’t get down. If they know you’ve lost your confidence, they’ll go right after you.”
And you know teams are going to test Sutton again and again.
“I know they’re coming my way,” he said. “If I was a quarterback on the opposing team, I’d do the same thing.”
And if things don’t work out here, Sutton figures he might draw attention elsewhere.
“I knew coming in they had two good cornerbacks (Green and Irvin),” Sutton said. “I figured if I did a good job and didn’t make it with the Rams, someone else might see me.”
Ram Notes Quarterback Dieter Brock, not expected back until Monday after bruising his left knee in the exhibition opener, practiced in full pads on Saturday. Rams Coach John Robinson said it had nothing to do with a fear of losing his job. “If Dieter were the starting quarterback and there were no subs, he still would have been out here. He’s a tough guy.” . . . In an effort to keep some of his veterans fresh, Robinson gave 31-year-old safety Nolan Cromwell the afternoon practice off. . . . Rams owner Georgia Frontiere and her dog were spectators at Saturday’s practice. . . . The Rams have a light practice tonight and resume two-a-day practices on Monday.
