Rams, Redskins: Wild Cards Unfold : Both Teams Holding Similar Hands and Hopes Today

For the Rams and Washington Redskins, the long and winding road to Super Bowl XXI in Pasadena begins here.

Now, a few things about that road. Beware of the pot holes, the divots, the soft shoulder, the construction, the sudden fork.

For of the paths at hand, the Rams and Redskins have chosen the one less-traveled.

With thoughts of division championships a distant memory, the teams meet today in the NFC wild-card game at RFK Stadium.

Both will be in search of momentum that left them weeks ago. Both enter the game fighting season-ending slumps. The Rams (10-6) lost their final two games and the division title. The Redskins (12-4) rallied for 21 fourth-quarter points last week to beat the Philadelphia Eagles and avoid a three-game losing streak.

Their hopes are rooted in recent history, as recent as last season, when the New England Patriots won three games from the wild-card spot and landed in the Super Bowl.

“Both these teams are up there in the top of the league,” Redskin quarterback Jay Schroeder said. “Come Sunday, you’ll see two very good football teams go at it. What happened late in the season is just something everybody goes through.”

The problem is that the two key figures in the game, Schroeder and Ram quarterback Jim Everett, are both going through it, prompting some to wonder whether two men so young can lead a team out of such a dark forest.

Schroeder, 25, had a fabulous three-quarters of a season, good enough to get him to the Pro Bowl as the NFC’s backup quarterback.

But his touch left him late in the year. Half of his 22 interceptions were thrown in Washington’s last three games, including a forgettable six-interception performance in a 24-14 loss to the New York Giants on Dec. 14.

The Giants confused Schroeder with a deep zone defense, the kind the Rams love to play.

“I learn something every week,” Schroeder said. “Every week is a new challenge. Against the Giants, I was trying to force the ball in between the zones and I got myself in trouble. I have to learn to adapt a lot more quickly than I did.”

Schroeder’s final quarter of the regular season may have been enough to pull him from his slump. After three quarters he’d just as soon wipe from his memory, Schroeder rebounded by completing 9 of 12 passes for 128 yards to lead the comeback win over the Eagles.

What the Redskins like about Schroeder is the same thing the Rams like so much about Everett. It’s the innate ability to forget.

“You can’t let what happened the play before, the series before or the week before affect you,” Schroeder said. “If you let it affect you, you’re going to be in serious trouble.”

Everett is heading into the playoffs after his most jittery performance of the season, on Dec. 19 against San Francisco. In the division-deciding game against the 49ers, Everett completed 13 of 35 passes for 151 yards. He had one streak where he completed just 1 of 13 passes and threw 3 interceptions.

But Everett has not been noticeably affected by his successes or failures since entering the Ram lineup in week 11 against New England.

He’s still not ruling out the Super Bowl.

“First they said a rookie couldn’t play,” Everett said this week. “Not that all my games have been good, but we’ll just have to wait and see. I’d like to prove them wrong.”

Everett, in fact, might have made too big an impact on the Rams too fast, his vast talent allowing the Ram family to stray away from the power game that has long been the team’s strength. The Rams feel they may have tipped the scales too far in the other direction.

“I think what’s irritated me most is that it’s like ‘OK, Jim, come on and make a big play,’ ” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “You look at the guy and you say, ‘Hey, bail us out.’ Now a couple of times, he might be able to do that. But you just can’t do that. I don’t think our spirits need uplifting; we just need to get focused.”

Focused for the Rams last week meant a return to full-uniform workouts for the first time since late October. The Rams may turn back today to Eric Dickerson, who at times seemed almost forgotten in recent games.

Against the 49ers, Dickerson was hardly a factor, carrying just 18 times for 68 yards. The Rams would seemingly need to pay more attention to the man who just completed his third 1,800-yard rushing season in four years.

“We haven’t been in pads for a couple of months,” Dickerson said. “We’ve got to get back to good tackling and making good blocks. We’ve got to go back to what we did earlier.”

Dickerson said he’s ready.

“I just want to win,” he said. “I don’t care how we do it. Too much is made of momentum. We can win anywhere when we’re playing good.”

Ram Notes

Remember the last time the Rams played the Redskins in a playoff game? It was Jan. 1, 1984, at Washington, in a game that will be remembered as the New Year’s Day Massacre. The Redskins beat the Rams, 51-7. Washington set a playoff record by scoring 38 first-half points. Then quarterback Joe Theismann was 13 for 16 for 250 yards and 2 touchdowns in the half. . . . It was the darkest chapter of John Robinson’s first season. He called any reference to the game this week “completely irrelevant.” Said Eric Dickerson: “You can’t make amends for three years ago.” Guard Dennis Harrah is claiming to have amnesia. Are the Rams a little touchy? Still, Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs even agreed that the game is meaningless now. “I think the past means more to the media than it does to a football team,” he said. “The game is in the past, it doesn’t have anything to do with it, not when it’s that far back.” . . . Gibbs, though, claims that he has long feared facing the Rams again. “I don’t want to play the Rams,” he said. “I still don’t, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to.” . . . The Redskins have a pair of 1,000-yard receivers for the first time in Gary Clark (74 catches for 1,265) and Art Monk (73 for 1,068). . . . The Redskins have won 30 straight games when one of their running backs has rushed for more than 100 yards in a game . . . Washington running back George Rogers led the NFL with 18 touchdowns.