Ram Notebook : Tampa Bay’s Wonsley: Late Addition Paid Off

Nathan Wonsley, the 5-10, 190-pound running back who scored Tampa Bay’s second touchdown on a 59-yard run in the third quarter, was a last-minute addition to the Buccaneer’s roster this summer.

“I told our scouts we needed another back to come to training camp,” Coach Leeman Bennett said. “Just before we opened, they came in with Nathan, and boy am I glad they did.”

Wonsley gained 108 yards in 18 carries and caught a pass for 8 yards Sunday.

“I was determined to make something happen,” he said. “We had it going our way and they weren’t going to stop us.”

On his touchdown run, Wonsley slipped through a hole in the middle and was all alone until Ram cornerback Jerry Gray dived and caught Wonsley’s feet from behind.

Wonsley, whose name isn’t even mentioned in the Buccaneer media guide, appeared to make the end zone, but the officials marked the ball on the one-yard line. After conferring with replay official Armen Terzian in the press box, the run was ruled a touchdown, however.

“He stretched out and when his knee hit the ground, the ball had clearly already broken the plane of the end zone,” Terzian explained later.

They could have just asked Wonsley.

“I knew I was in the end zone, but I didn’t know what to say,” he said softly. “Then as I was coming off the field, I heard them change it to a TD.”

Hit of the Week: Tampa Bay’s Bob Nelson threw a forearm at punt returner Bobby Futrell that sent Futrell flying . . . and almost senseless.

It was one of those hits that ends up in highlight films.

It probably won’t make the Buccaneer highlights, though. Futrell and Nelson are on the same team.

On the next to last play of regulation, Tampa Bay quarterback Steve Young dropped to pass and then decided to scramble as the pocket collapsed.

He was caught momentarily by Ram linebacker Kevin Greene but escaped and was sprinting down the sideline toward the end zone when the whistle was blown.

Greene had grabbed Young by the facemask--a penalty was called--but he was also ruled down because he was “in the grasp.”

“How could I be legally in the grasp if he illegally had me by the facemask?” Young wanted to know later.

Referee Pat Haggerty, when asked the same question, didn’t shed much light on the matter.

“He was down, no question,” Haggerty said. “He was in the grasp.”

When asked about the legality of that grasp, Haggerty just repeated his answer.

“He was down,” he said.

The Rams found out sometimes the best call is no call at all.

When the captains met at midfield before the overtime, the honor for calling the coin toss to determine which team would receive fell to Buccaneer linebacker Jeff Davis. Fortunately.

The Rams’ luck in the coin toss before games is so bad that Robinson suggested somebody should take his four captains to Las Vegas “and bet against ‘em.”

Guard Dennis Harrah agreed.

“Our luck in the coin toss has been unbelievable,” Harrah said. “But, of course, the visiting team always has the (call), and I was sort of glad of that because, since they’d won it the first time, they got a chance of losing it this time.

“He (Davis) called heads and I saw tails come up and I just screamed, ‘We want the ball! We want the ball! Let’s get this over with now.’

“What an advantage it is to get the football in a situation like that.”

LeRoy Irvin, the Rams’ All-Pro cornerback, played only as the sixth defensive back on third-and-long situations because, he said, “I had a misunderstanding with the doctors.”

Irvin missed Wednesday’s practice because of a shoulder injury.

“They thought I had some nerve damage in my neck and I thought I had a separated shoulder,” Irvin said, “so they kept me out of practice until they got the tests.”

The tests apparently showed that he was well enough to play, but by that time left cornerback Jerry Gray had shifted to Irvin’s right-corner position and Johnnie Johnson had moved in at left corner.

Said Gray: “At the beginning of the week it felt like I was playing backwards, but it was OK today.”

Former Ram Ivory Sully, who plays free safety for Tampa Bay, said that “we were dazed” when the Rams ran up a quick 14-0 lead.

“We were in a trance and couldn’t get out of it,” Sully said. “We made a few adjustments in the second quarter (and) in the second half we finally woke up.

“We played very well in the second half, but when you play against Eric (Dickerson) he makes it happen. He’s a great competitor.”

The Rams hadn’t played an overtime game since defeating the Atlanta Falcons, 20-17, at Anaheim in 1980.

They are 4-1-1 in overtime, with other victories over San Diego in ’75 and Minnesota in ‘79, a loss at Buffalo in ‘80, and a tie at Minnesota in ’76.