A Former Receiver at Tampa Bay Gets New Life With a Contender : HOUSE FINDING HOME ON RAMS

Wide receiver Kevin House was glad to get out of Tampa the way you would be glad to get out of a root canal.

House, in fact, is so thrilled to be with the Rams these days that he didn’t even mind the standard John Shaw pay cut that came with his new, uh, scaled-down, contract. He didn’t mind going from a starter to a backup in a run offense.

He didn’t mind moving his wife and family out of their just-completed Florida dream house to an Orange County apartment complex.

Yes, there’s something about going from a perennial loser to a Super Bowl contender that makes the heart beat a little faster.

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“In Tampa, everyone wanted to be a leader,” House said. “Because everyone said we needed leaders. We’d end up with everyone talking in the huddle at the same time. It was like, ‘I think I’ll be a leader this week.’ ”

In Tampa, House said, you could “hear the whispers behind your back” whenever you made a mistake.

In Tampa, you could predict losses before they even happened.

“We had the Jets down, 14-0,” House said of a game last season. “Within five minutes they had scored their first touchdown. I saw all our heads drop. And we were still winning. We lost, 62-28. That’s what gets to me.”

House was Tampa Bay’s all-time leading receiver. The seven-year veteran had 275 receptions for 4,722 yards.

But he also was due to earn $400,000 this season on a team that figured it could lose just as easily with guys making half that much.

Yes, it was time for a little housecleaning.

On Oct. 20, Tampa Bay Coach Leeman Bennett released House along with veteran tight end Jimmie Giles and running back Ron Springs.

House said that Bennett called him in and told him the team “wouldn’t be any worse” without House. The Buccaneers were 1-6 at the time and have since improved to 2-11.

Bennett was right.

“It kind of made me nauseous,” House said. “To think they could have that attitude. How long are those people going to put up with that?”

House, only 28, didn’t have time to get depressed. He was signed by the Rams the day after he was released.

Ram receiver coach Lew Erber could hardly contain himself when he saw House’s name on the league’s waiver wire.

“It was an absolute great move,” he said of signing House. “He can still play. You always have that question about a guy’s speed and desire. But he’s like a rookie. He’s born again.”

House joined the Rams for their home game Oct. 26 against Atlanta. It was the same week that Henry Ellard returned from his holdout.

House made news because the Rams were required that week to pay him $25,000--one-sixteenth of his Tampa Bay salary--for the game, about $15,000 more than Ellard would make. Ellard had sat out seven games in a contract dispute before signing a pay-by-the-play deal for about $10,000 a game.

In the Rams’ 17-3 win over the New York Jets last week, House had 2 catches for 77 yards, including 1 for 60 yards and a touchdown.

He started in place of Ron Brown in the second half, leading many to suspect that a change is coming in this week’s game against Dallas at Anaheim Stadium.

Brown, the Olympic sprinter, did not have a catch last week and has dropped passes in each of the last two games.

The Rams are saying only that House will play more against the Cowboys.

House, though, said he is not after Brown’s job. He said he had seen in Tampa how undercutting a teammate can destroy a team.

“Ron Brown needs confidence,” House said. “He’s a young receiver. I’m not here to rock the boat. Starting is not everything. I know, because I’ve been a starter a lot of years.”

House said he has spoken to Brown about his role on the team.

“I try to make Ron feel that I’m not out to get him,” House said. “I’ve been starting long enough to know that people can stab you in the back. I told him I’m here to help him.”

Brown said he believes House and doesn’t feel at all threatened.

“I think we will complement each other,” Brown said. “Anybody who has played as long as he has can help you.”

Erber said that players can understand a team signing a veteran like House. It’s not the same as, say, a high-priced rookie walking into camp looking to beat out a veteran.

“If he can help you, pro players can handle that,” Erber said. “I don’t look at this in the negative sense. If he and Ron Brown split every snap until the Super Bowl, they’ll both be happy.”

Brown has been playing the entire season with a broken bone in his left wrist. He doesn’t even remember how he was hurt. He wears a removable cast during the week but can only rely on a good taping job on game day.

“It bothers me a lot,” Brown said. “Anytime you have a fracture in your wrist, it will bother you.”

If there is a lineup change, expect it to be ever so subtle. The Rams have a way of breaking a guy into the lineup without hurting anyone’s feelings.

Earlier this season, when former Ram Bobby Duckworth was benched in favor of Michael Young, the Rams handled it with care, going with only one wide receiver until third down before sending Young and Duckworth into the game simultaneously.

Something like that might even happen Sunday night.

But players and coaches are determined not to make the House-Brown issue an issue. Doesn’t that type of thing happen only in Tampa?

“Ron’s got all that speed,” House said. “Speed kills. You’ve got to have him on the field. With Henry, myself and Ron Brown, we can scare some people.”

House had planned on retiring after his contract expired next season in Tampa Bay. He would have earned $500,000 with the Buccaneers in 1987, but will instead play with the Rams for about half that amount.

He now says he will play as long as the Rams want him.

“I’m very happy here,” House said. “I’m getting the Kevin House confidence back.”

How do you lose it?

“Being cut will do it,” House said. “Playing seven games and having a team throw to you only three times a game, you can lose it that way. I kept asking myself, ‘What’s wrong with these people?’ ”

The Rams aren’t asking any questions.