As Usual, Rams Find Toughest (and Oddest) Way to Win, 14-7

The Rams, ever so lacking in grace, plowed their way back into first place in the NFC’s Western Division Sunday with a 14-7, take-two-aspirin and call-the-trainer-in-the-morning win over the Atlanta Falcons at Anaheim Stadium.

The Rams (6-2) did it strangely, as usual, relying on the golden arm (that’s right, arm) of Eric Dickerson for one touchdown and the running of linebacker Mark (Crazy Legs) Jerue for another.

They did it, of course, with defense, as if any Ram game would be complete without a linebacker or a cornerback saving the offense with a game-clinching interception.

This week’s fill-in-the-blank savior was Jerry Gray, who picked off a Turk Schonert pass with 5:57 left and returned it 17 yards, saving a game that seemed doomed to go to overtime.

They did it, naturally, without much of an offense save for Dickerson, who strapped the rest of the guys on his back again and carried 30 times for 170 yards, putting him over the 1,000-yard rushing mark after eight games.

But most of all, the Rams did it with grit and muscle and sweat, taking the Falcons out back to the woodshed and teaching these upstarts a lesson they won’t soon forget.

Just two weeks ago, the Falcons had beaten the machismo out of the Rams in Atlanta, leading some to believe that they had displaced the Rams as the kings of grind-it-out, Rambo football.

But faith in the Rams was restored, as this was more a barroom fight than a football game, with players breaking chairs over each other’s heads and bodies flying through glass windows.

How tough was it?

“It was like a fight between Ali and Frazier,” Gray said. “There’ll be a lot of guys in the trainer’s room for both teams.”

“It was like a fist fight,” Ram quarterback Steve Dils said.

“The most physical football game I’ve ever had one of my teams play in,” Ram Coach John Robinson said.

It was tough.

Jerue, who’s making some people forget about the injured Jim Collins at inside linebacker, could have been the Rams’ offensive and defensive player of the game.

Deciding there might never be a point scored by either offense, Jerue intercepted a Dave Archer pass early in the second quarter and ran 22 yards into the end zone to give the Rams a 7-0 lead.

“Archer had pressure in his face,” Jerue said. “He had no time to look for a second receiver. He made a wrong decision.”

Jerue was at it again a few minutes later, putting a hit so hard on Falcon back Gerald Riggs that Riggs fumbled the ball to Ram noseguard Greg Meisner, who picked it up and ran 15 yards to the Falcon 15-yard line with 4:23 left in the half.

In case Riggs didn’t notice, there was a message attached to that hit.

“They put a challenge to us,” Jerue said of the Falcons. “They wanted to run the ball down our throats. We had something to prove. I just wanted to prove that we are a physical team. I just wanted to shut down Riggs.”

Jerue did more than that on one play, as Riggs’ fumble set up the Rams’ second touchdown.

Which brings us back to Dickerson and his arm. There a lot a great things you can say about Dickerson, but no one has yet compared him to Dan Marino.

Nor will they.

“In practice, the guys say that when I pass, it (the pass) looks like a bird,” Dickerson said.

Whatever it looks like, it fooled Atlanta.

On first down at the Falcon 15, Dickerson took a handoff from Dils and seemed headed around right end as usual.

But Dickerson pulled up suddenly and lofted a soft pass toward tight end David Hill, who was wide open near the back of the end zone.

Stopwatches popped open to catch the hang time.

“It took a while to come down,” Dickerson said, “but it did.”

Hill, who did a little toe-dance to keep both feet in bounds, made the touchdown catch with 4:05 left in the half to put the Rams ahead, 14-0.

A crowd of 56,993 was left stunned by the innovative play, especially since it was produced by the league’s least innovative offense.

As it turned out, assistant coach Bruce Snyder was the mastermind.

“You know I would never call a halfback pass,” Robinson said, half-jokingly.

Hill had made his plea for the play to quarterback coach Dick Coury.

“I told him if he called that play, 30 seconds later he would be cheering,” Hill said. “We watched the film (of the last Atlanta game), and they were really flying up to tackle Eric. Even if it didn’t work, they’d have to think about coming up. . . . In the huddle I told Eric that whatever he did, not to throw it out of the end zone.”

Hill had slipped behind former Ram cornerback David Croudip, now with the Falcons.

“It was my fault,” Croudip said. “They warned us in practice all week.”

Dickerson has thrown three passes in has career. Two have been to Hill for a total of 16 yards and the other was intercepted.

For you Ram quarterback watchers, Dickerson’s career efficiency rating is 79.8.

After the Dickerson-to-Hill touchdown, the Rams wouldn’t score again. And while the defense proved that it is ready for next week’s game with the Chicago Bears, the Ram offense (with the exception of Dickerson) sputtered along as usual.

Dils, starting in place of Steve Bartkowski, completed 7 of 16 passes for 92 yards and was intercepted twice. He also fumbled once.

He also threw a nice pass to Michael Young in the second quarter that seem destined to result in a touchdown. But Young came up a yard short when he fumbled after being hit by Croudip and James Britt.

Dils also threw another nice pass to Young in the third quarter. The results were equally disastrous.

After a 12-yard gain to the Falcon 37, Young fumbled again when hit by Croudip and corner Scott Case.

Cornerback Britt picked up this fumble and returned it 65 yards for the Falcons’ only touchdown.

Sure, the Ram offense still has some problems, but Robinson wouldn’t even address such questions afterward, preferring to remember only his team’s gallant physical efforts.

And the Rams did have their moments.

The defense was good enough to chase starting quarterback Archer out of the game in the fourth quarter, after he had failed to get his team a first down in the second half.

“It was time to give Turk (Schonert) a chance to move it,” Falcon Coach Dan Henning said.

The Ram offense had its moments, too, however brief.

After Gray’s interception with 5:57 left, the Rams, behind Dickerson, used up the rest of the clock, driving 45 yards to the Falcon 23.

The Rams accumulated 234 rushing yards against Atlanta and 335 yards in all. The defense, which allowed Riggs 141 yards rushing two weeks ago, held him to 43 in 15 carries this time.

And Dickerson was just Dickerson. He now has 1,030 yards this season and is just nine shy of Lawrence McCutcheon’s all-time Ram record of 6,186.

He was just a part of the wondrous return of good ol’ Ram football, where heads meet heads and may the healthiest team win.