Rams and Redskins Are Looking for the Spark

The team in question here is a wild-card playoff team. It could use a momentum transfusion. It kind of flipped and flopped its way through the season’s final weeks and was last seen riding the caboose into the postseason.

People expected more from this team. A few weeks ago, they were talking about division titles and Super Bowls. They spoke of the team’s young quarterback the way you refer to deity.

Then, the team lost a game, then another. Along with it went the division title. The quarterback, it turned out, put his pants on the same way the trainer did.

The team is searching for answers.

The team, of course, is the Rams. Or is it the Washington Redskins? Or both?

“Both teams are a lot alike,” Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs said. “I know both were disappointed late in the season.”

This is what wild-card games are all about, so let’s get right to their triumphs and their failures.

The Redskins were 11-2 and at home on Dec. 7 when the New York Giants came to town. Redskin quarterback Jay Schroeder was good enough to warrant an elbow rub or two with Washington dignitaries. Joe Theismann had become the quarterback emeritus.

The Redskins were undefeated at home until that day, when the Giants thumped them, 24-14. Schroeder, who would later be selected to the Pro Bowl, threw six interceptions against New York.

The Redskins followed that game with a loss the next week to the Denver Broncos.

Washington needed a heralded Joe Gibbs halftime speech, a tossed chair and a 21-point fourth quarter to beat Philadelphia in the season finale.

“It’s the maddest I’ve ever seen him,” Schroeder said of his coach’s outburst. “Though it was well deserved. No question about it, we didn’t play football in the first half.”

Gibbs said his speech was overplayed. But his concern was real.

The Redskins finished the season losing two of their last three games and didn’t look too great in their win.

Schroeder had a great season, throwing for 4,109 yards and 22 touchdowns.

But he also tossed 11 interceptions in his last three games. Not exactly the kind of tuneup you want going into the playoffs.

Gibbs is concerned but not yet panicked.

“Last week in Philly, he did not play well for three quarters,” Gibbs said of Schroeder. “He was mad at himself. But it said a lot about him. It was going so poorly, and he brought us back.”

The Rams have a similar story to tell. They were leading the division by a game and a half with two to play.

In fact, they could have clinched the NFC West even before their Dec. 14 home game against Miami had San Francisco lost to New England earlier in the day. But the 49ers beat the Patriots, and the Rams were beaten by Miami in overtime, 37-31.

It set up a showdown for the title with the 49ers last Friday. The Rams never had a chance in that one, eventually losing, 24-14.

Ram quarterback Jim Everett, who had looked brilliant at times since entering the lineup against New England in Week 11, had a ho-hum night against the 49ers, completing just 13 of 35 passes for 151 yards with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions.

The Rams were left with the fact that sometimes rookie quarterbacks play like rookies.

So there you have it. Two teams that had hoped for more but have settled for less. The road to the Super Bowl is now longer, and tougher.

Enthusiasm has been tempered.

“We’re glad to get in,” Gibbs said. “But we have not played well as of late.”

Schroeder acknowledged that the last few weeks of the season didn’t exactly go according to script. But he also said that any player who can’t get ready for a playoff game should consider another line of business.

“This is for real,” Schroeder said. “You lose one game and you’re out of it. There’s no reason why you can’t get up and get ready to play. It’s a playoff game. It’s one of the biggest thrills you ever get.”

Both coaches, though, are searching for the spark that has been missing the last few weeks.

“You can’t just turn it on one week,” Gibbs said. “But both teams are darn good. One team is going to be really disappointed and one team will have a chance to go on and do something important.”

Chicago Bear Coach Mike Ditka predicted Monday that the Redskins would beat the Rams Sunday, an opinion that wasn’t well received by a certain head coach.

Robinson? No, try Gibbs.

“It’s out of place,” Gibbs said Tuesday of Ditka’s comment. “It’s ridiculous for someone to comment on someone else’s team.”

Ditka said Monday that his team, the Central Division champions, is preparing this week for the Redskins, the team the Bears would play Jan. 4 if Washington beats the Rams.

Ditka said Monday that “nobody is going to beat Washington in Washington. I know the Rams don’t care if that’s my opinion, but it is.”

Robinson mostly laughed off the remarks, but Gibbs was incensed.

“The Bears came here two years ago without their starting quarterback and beat us easily,’ Gibbs said of Chicago’s 23-19 playoff win over the Redskins in 1984. “I think that lays this to rest. We’ve been beaten at home. We were beaten by the Giants here. I don’t know what Mike meant by that.”

Robinson said he thought it might have been Ditka who might have been wrong before.

“Didn’t he predict that Chicago game?” Robinson said? “That you can’t win in Chicago on Monday night?”

Robinson, of course, was referring to the Rams’ 20-17 win over the Bears on Nov. 3.

For the record: Since 1972, the Redskins’ record at RFK Stadium is 90-28 (.763) and they are 7-1 in home playoff games.

Ram Notes Redskin running back Kelvin Bryant checked into Arlington Hospital Monday night after blood was discovered in his urine. He underwent treatment for a bruised kidney. Bryant had also bruised his left ribs in Sunday’s win over Philadelphia. He is expected to be released this morning and may practice with the Redskins today. He’s listed as probable for Sunday’s game with the Rams. Bryant has 43 receptions and 7 touchdowns this season. . . . “He’s OK,” Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs said of Bryant. “It was all precautionary.” . . . Ram running back Mike Guman, who’s been out five weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, practiced Tuesday in full pads. Robinson has until Saturday to decide whether to activate Guman for Sunday’s game. . . . Presumed out of the game, though, are wide receiver Ron Brown (separated shoulder) and tight end Tony Hunter (injured shin) . . . Gibbs confirmed Tuesday that he never was or will he ever be a candidate for the head coaching job at USC . . . Gibbs’ name has been mentioned by some for the job left vacant by Ted Tollner. “There was absolutely no basis (for the story) whatsoever,” Gibbs said.